“Another Crane Collapse” (Editorial, May 31)?
Maybe it’s time the Local 40 ironworkers took over the erecting of all the cranes in New York City like they used to.
The people erecting these cranes need to know what they are doing.
Annie Questel
Rockaway
Deaths caused by transfats: zero. Deaths caused by crane collapses: nine.
Maybe Mayor Bloomberg should concentrate on falling cranes and the city’s lax inspection and weak oversight and worry less about what New Yorkers are eating.
I’m guessing that the taxpayers of New York expect the government to keep cranes from falling on their heads, not reminding them that fast food is bad.
Scott Dale
Rochester
It seems that some construction companies are taking unsafe shortcuts and treating fines, if they are caught, as a cost of doing business.
I suggest borrowing an idea from traffic-law enforcement: A company convicted of a violation should not only pay a fine, it should get points against its license. If it gets too many points, its license should be suspended or revoked.
Martin W. Helgesen
Malverne
The blame should go to Bloomberg. He sits on top of all of this, and the media give him a free pass, tragedy after tragedy. These highly publicized incidents are only part of the big picture. Lots of corners are being cut on just about every job in the city.
Safety procedures are routinely ignored from top to bottom; general contractors use unqualified and incompetent sub-contractors; OSHA rules are not enforced and corruption washes over the entire industry.
The clean-up should start at the top.
Ray Hagemann
Staten Island
Which would be worse – to find that inspectors cut corners, or to find that inspections were done correctly, yet the collapse still happened?
How thorough are these inspections, even if done properly? Are they just checking off boxes, or are they actually able to determine the structural integrity of a crane?
A lot of troubling questions remain.
Jeanne Babin
Mobile, Ala.
After decades of erecting buildings, why are we suddenly moving backward into an age of ignorance in which construction has become a public health hazard?
While I respect those workers who toil away to construct our dwellings, we have been left vulnerable to incompetence and a general lack of care.
Can we please put people who are qualified and competent on a job that can potentially take the life of hundreds of pedestrians every day?
Lowell Flax
Manhattan
The Post adds a thoughtful voice to the debate over construction regulation and inspection since Friday’s tragic incident.
Approximately $26 billion worth of construction is conducted every year underground, on bustling streets and into the skies around New York City. All of it is accomplished with minimal disruption or danger to the millions of people who live, work and visit this, the world’s leading center of commerce, tourism and culture.
That all of this construction activity can be conducted as a thriving metropolis continues about its business is a testament to the ability of government, architects, builders, engineers and countless others to work cooperatively and with a shared mission to get the job done safely.
Everyone agrees that this recent string of construction accidents is unacceptable. In order to do better, however, we must take your paper’s lead and resist the urge to scapegoat, reflexively point fingers or reach for easy answers that serve short-term political interests but do little to enhance public safety.
Richard Anderson
President
NY Building Congress
Manhattan