Zhuang presses on enforcement of unpermitted after-hours work

Thank you, Chair.

And Commissioner, I have a question.

So after our variance, some of you guys issued the variance.

If you guys did not issue the variance, they're still doing the work.

Is there any punishment?

Yes, if we're able to capture a contractor doing work outside of their allowed hours, then there are violations and other follow-up actions we could take as an agency.

So you mean catch their activity there, you guys have an inspector come during that time?

Yes.

But the community have recordings saying during this time they have a 24-hour camera there.

They start work before 5 o'clock in the morning and then still doing the work 9 o'clock at night.

This happened in my district in 2024.

Also recently, also this year, we called DOB, called 311.

When 311, DOB come, it's only during work hours.

So during not working hour, what's the plan?

punishment and how the community reached to DOB?

So I can't speak to what the action of someone putting a camera on another person's property, but I can say that when we do get information about after work,

after work hours, we try to work with the community to triangulate and schedule inspections if we can and be able to go and capture that action if it's happening during an hour that makes sense for that violation.

Additionally, we work with your office, we work with other community groups, but we do need to have an inspector who is viewing the action and can attest to it to write the violation.

Okay, because I actually personally sent to city administration some videos after hours that the same developer sent to on 2501 86th Street.

They are coming on Palm Sunday night around 9 o'clock doing the work.

And they also come Sunday doing the work.

And they also come before 6 o'clock in the morning doing the work.

It's all captured by community, and it's public information.

Everyone knows that.

You can find at least 10, 20 people testify that.

And also for the...

the worker safety.

When the community worker going to do the construction doesn't wear helmets, who they should report to?

They should absolutely call 3-in-1 if they see any dangerous condition so that we can send one of the specialized units to go and inspect and see if something is not being done appropriately.

And as far as, just to go back to the after-hour variance question, I think our most successful collaborations on going after that is when we work with you or a community member and try to triangle if Sundays are typically where you're seeing the infraction happen.

If it's Tuesday, Wednesdays, and Thursdays before 7 a.m., we can absolutely plan with our resources in advance to have someone there to capture that.

Because those people, they are playing games with the community.

They don't respect the community at all.

They can come in the middle of the night, start the work, and then they can come very late in the evening time, start the work.

We called many times, but...

We have videos, we have pictures, and the people don't wear helmets.

I just checked my phone in May, just a few days ago, October.

Some people come to 2501 86th Street, they don't wear helmets at all.

They're going to construction sites.

And I think the

The community already reported 311.

Nothing was done there.

I mean, we have done, as you know, and the community knows, we have done many inspections of the site of 2501.

That said, our obligation is to respond to all that 311 complaints that come forward.

So there's no limitation on how often we're going to be responsive and continue to evaluate things.

If there are particular...

Time slots or moments where you feel like this is repetitive action.

Right after this hearing, we can coordinate with your office and make sure that we're positioning our resources to be there where it's most actively happening.

We want to be helpful in capturing activity that shouldn't be happening and issue the violations if appropriate.

Okay, thank you.

Can we just send you pictures and tell you?

Again, we need to have an inspector who can evaluate that.

Everyone deserves due process in this issue, and so we have to make sure that we're respecting each right as well.

Okay, thank you.

Thank you, Council Member Joanne.

Council Member Wilson, with a follow-up.