Announced this week, Jimmy Oddo has been appointed as the new Commissioner of the New York City Department of Buildings, leading the agency's multifaceted efforts to promote the safe and lawful use of nearly 1.1 million buildings and over 40,000 active work sites.

Commissioner Oddo has most recently served as the Chief of Staff for Deputy Mayor of Operations Meera Joshi, where he helped oversee the city's infrastructure agencies, including DOB, the Department of Environmental Protection, the School Construction Authority, and the Department of Design and Construction. Prior to his time in the Deputy Mayor's Office, he served as the Borough President of Staten Island from 2014 to 2021 and as a member of the New York City Council, representing the 50th district from 1999 to 2013.

A sincere thank you to Kazimir Vilenchik, P.E., for his exemplary service steering the helm at the Department as Acting Commissioner since November 2022. He will be joining Commissioner Oddo's senior leadership team as First Deputy Commissioner, a position he held prior to serving as Acting Commissioner.

Read the Press Release

From May 1st to May 5th, DOB is celebrating National Construction Safety Week with educational outreach events across the City aimed at spreading awareness of the importance of proper safeguards on the job site, and re-energize efforts to spread a culture of safety in the construction industry.

Along with our government agency partners, DOB staff will visit active construction sites throughout the week in all five boroughs with our DOB safety-branded food truck in tow. At each work site, we will talk directly with contractors and workers about important topics like fall prevention, proper work site housekeeping, the dangers of working under the influence, and Site Safety Training (SST) requirements.

We have also kicked off a new "Safety Starts With Me" Public Service Announcement campaign with television and public transit ads, sending the message to contractors, safety professionals, and workers, that everyone on the work site has a responsibility to raise their voice and take action if they spot unsafe conditions

Watch our "Safety Starts With Me" PSA

Watch our "Spring Cleaning on Your Worksite" PSA

Read our 2022 NYC Construction Safety Report

Last week, DOB forensic engineers and inspectors played an instrument role in the city's multi-agency emergency response after a major building collapse in Lower Manhattan, performing structural stability inspections at the site and investigating the cause of the collapse.

While that investigation is ongoing, the Department is closely monitoring demolition operations of the collapsed building, so that this necessary work does not endanger the public or the neighboring buildings.

DOB inspectors also conducted an animal rescue operation at a neighboring property in the days after the collapse and were able to reunite an owner who had been evacuated with their two cats.

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Learn more about the Department's cat rescue efforts

The 2023 Benchmarking compliance deadline for calendar year 2022 data reporting is rapidly approaching. Property owners of large buildings, who are required to submit benchmarking reports, must get their 2022 calendar year information to DOB by May 1, 2023.

Collected annually every Spring, this data increases transparency regarding properties' annual energy and water usage - the first step for building owners and tenants in making their buildings operate more efficiently - and is what is used to obtain the building's Energy Grade. To date, DOB has already received more than 200,000 reports for buildings throughout the City since the benchmarking requirement first went into effect.

NYC has some of the most forward-thinking building sustainability laws in the country, resulting in some truly green buildings. The NYC metro area was recently recognized by the US Environmental Protection Agency, which counted 256 ENERGY STAR certified buildings, and put our City at #5 on their 2023 ENERGY STAR Top Cities list.

Assistance with benchmarking is available via the NYC Sustainability Help Center, Monday through Friday 9:00 a.m. to 5:00 p.m. by emailing Help@NYCsustainability.orgor by calling (212)-566-5584.

The mission of the Department of Buildings includes transmitting important, useful information to the public. But given the busy life of an average New Yorker, how is one supposed to stay in the loop of the latest info?

Fortunately, DOB has you covered, with our active social media platforms, that has information on breaking buildings news, upcoming DOB events, severe weather updates, and to give recognition to public servants working at the agency.

Most of our content on these platforms is of a serious nature, but it can certainly veer into lighter fare, such as building-themed poems during National poetry month, and even an Earth Day-themed music playlist.

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