26 The QUEE NS Courier • december 18, 2014 for breaking news visit www.queenscourier.com Build it Back looking to speed up and localize the Sandy recovery process BY SALVATORE LICATA [email protected] @Sal_Licata1 The new Build it Back program is adding staff and hiring new construction managers in a bid to speed up the Superstorm Sandy recovery process. The program is now hiring up to three new construction management firms for Sandy-stricken areas, hoping to increase the number of rebuilding projects getting underway. Along with hiring new managers, Build it Back is also looking to hire a local workforce of low-income residents who were affected by the storm to be part of the rebuilding process. “This new procurement hits two of the city’s recovery goals: expanding our construction capacity to meet the needs of homeowners as quickly as possible and expanding our local workforce initiative to keep construction jobs within Sandyaffected communities,” said Amy Peterson, director of the Mayor’s Office of Housing Recovery. “Since the mayor’s overhaul, this has been a year of significant progress, and we expect the onboarding of new construction firms — who will deploy new strategies to target entire neighborhoods — will continue to accelerate the city’s Sandy recovery.” There will be separate competitions for the new construction managers in the three boroughs hit by Sandy: Staten Island, Brooklyn and Queens. The city will hire up to three new firms, one for each borough if possible, that will focus on specific neighborhoods within each borough. Once hired, the construction managers will sign a contract with a clause that will encourage them to have at least 20 percent of employees be Sandyimpacted residents. They will have to provide the city with full-time staff member tracking to make sure it is in compliance with the Sandy Recovery Hiring Program. For the possible Sandyimpacted workers, they will be given job training and then have a chance at an apprenticeship to work on the construction team. As the process moves along, construction managers will be asked to “bundle” homes that have much of the same structural damage in a particular neighborhood to deliver a higher volume of completed projects. When the new system came in at the beginning of the year, there was no construction started. Now, there have been 933 rebuilding projects started and over 1,951 reimbursement checks given out totaling $34 million throughout the city. Calamita Tailoring ITALIAN IMPORTED Suits • Shirts Ties • Pants Leather Jackets Coats All Men’s Clothing Custom Made Clothing & Alterations For Ladies & Gentlemen 12-57 150th St. • Whitestone, NY 11357 “Finally, there’s a men’s clothier that lives up to the high demands of my business and casual wardrobe” Wishing You A Very Happy Holiday And New Year! Legally Speaking By: Scott Baron, Attorney at Law A WILD GOOSE CHASE Q: My mother fell down the basement stairs on premises owned by my boyfriend’s sister, who had permitted him to stay in her apartment while she was on vacation. He invited me to join him, and I came with my mother, who suffers from dementia. After my mother had eaten breakfast, she rose, and I saw her take two or three steps. The next thing I knew, my mother had slipped and fallen down the basement stairs, which are around the corner fifteen feet away. I had not noticed that something was slippery and do not know what, if anything, my mother slipped on. A: An owner of property has a duty to maintain her premises so that they are reasonably safe. This duty extends to any hazardous condition about which the owner has actual or constructive notice. Except where the owner created the defective condition, it is necessary to establish that the condition either was known to the owner or had existed for a period of time sufficient to have allowed the owner to discover and correct it. Even if any floor is inherently slippery, for a person in your mother’s state of health, that alone is not sufficient to support a cause of action for negligence. It is fatal to the suit that there simply is no evidence that a defect caused this fall. At best, your attorney may be able to find evidence of some prior injury or complaint about the floor, in order to support an inference that the very same hazardous condition still suggested. However, to look for such proof is most likely a wild goose chase, and moreover the courts generally disallow that kind of inference as speculation. Advertorial The law responds to changed conditions; exceptions and variations abound. Here, the information is general; always seek out competent counsel This article shall not be construed as legal advice. Copyright © 2014 Scott Baron & Associates, P.C. All rights reserved. 159-49 Cross Bay Boulevard, Howard Beach, New York 11414 1750 Central Park Ave, Yonkers, NY 10710 718-738-9800, 914-337-9800, 1-866-927-4878 THE COURIER/File photo
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