Mayor Bloomberg was busy last week signing three new laws concerning transient occupancy, accessibility, and signage.
Intro 404A created new fines for illegally converting apartments to transient use. State legislation addressed the issue of building owners renting out units for less than 30 days at a time in residential buildings last year, but the City Council is imposing $1,000 to $25,000 fines depending on the number of units illegally converted or the number of offenses.
Intro 797A retroactively requires all buildings with accessible entrances to post signs directing visitors from inaccessible locations to the accessible ones. The rules also require directions to accessible rest rooms and warnings if, say, an elevator exits to an inaccessible area. Signs must also contain telephone numbers to call or instructions for using accessible entrances that may be locked. Owners have until August 1, 2013 to comply.
All signs required to be posted by the City will have to have QRC codes (those square bar codes) or similar technology so smart phones can instantly access city records on the project or property under Intro 771A. The law is effective in one year. It will change the look of building permits, for example, because there are city records to access, but not no smoking signs because there would be no additional information to check.
The lead paint issue keeps fading. The number of children with blood lead levels above 15 micrograms per deciliter, which triggers a home inspection by the Department of Health, dropped 24 percent in 2011, from 448 to 342, according to the Departments annual report to the City Council. More and more of the children with elevated levels in recent years are foreign born and come here with high lead levels rather than being poisoned here.
RSVPs for our November 8th dinner are rolling in and YES, we will provide an additional discount to $500 per person on your second table. The more the merrier.