City Proposes Inspection Reforms After Legionnaires’ Outbreak, And What Else Happened This Week In Housing

The Adams administration wants to expand the Strength Department s maximum to inspect cooling towers atop buildings after an outbreak in Harlem stemming from bacteria discovered in towers at two city-run properties killed seven people A woman holds up a city flier notifying Harlem residents about the Legionnaires Ailment outbreak in their neighborhoods William Alatriste NYC Council Media Unit Mayor Eric Adams wants to expand the city s ceiling to inspect buildings for Legionnaires malady and strengthen penalties for property owners who fail to comply with cooling tower regulations after an outbreak in Harlem killed seven people this summer and sickened more than a hundred others The Strength Department on Friday declared it had concluded its scrutiny into the cluster of Harlem cases which executives stated stemmed from cooling towers contaminated with Legionella bacteria at two city-run properties in the neighborhood as the Daily News first announced Harlem Hospital at Lenox Ave and a nearby construction site overseen by the NYC Economic Maturation Corporation at West th St Both sites have since been cleaned and remediated functionaries explained function d u ac var s d createElement 'script' s type 'text javascript' s src 'https a omappapi com app js api min js' s async true s dataset user u s dataset campaign ac d getElementsByTagName 'head' appendChild s document 'u kmqsczew vunxutxmd' We must ensure that we learn from this and implement new moves to improve our detection and response to future clusters Adams revealed in a report Friday calling the outbreak an unfortunate tragedy Former Gov Andrew Cuomo among the candidates running against Adams in November s general voting for mayor has called for an independent probe of the matter saying it raises troubling questions about whether City agencies complied with their own inspection and enforcement standards Legionnaires malady is a type of pneumonia caused by the bacteria Legionella which can grow in stagnant water and sicken people who breathe contaminated water vapors it cannot spread from person to person New York City building owners are currently required to register their properties cooling towers and monitor their water quality three times a week according to the Wellbeing Department which called the city s regulations among the the greater part rigorous and protective laws in the country But Strength Department inspections of cooling towers dropped to a near-record low in the months before the Harlem outbreak which the agency blamed on staff shortages according to reporting by the news site Gothamist Mayor Adams on Friday proposed several measures to strengthen the city s testing and enforcement mechanisms including expanding the number of inspectors requiring building owners to test for Legionella every days during cooling tower operating periods instead of the current days and increasing fines for related violations Here s what else happened this week ICYMI from City Limits Struggling to pay rent or facing eviction from your apartment City Limits spoke to experts about what tenants can do if they ve fallen behind on their payments More migrant youth a large number of of whom are or were not long ago living in city shelters are seeking guidance on how to deal with their immigration hearings as the Trump administration continues to pursue courthouse arrests Both the city and federal governments want to make it easier to involuntarily hospitalize people experiencing homelessness and mental fitness issues but such policies just push suffering out of view until it resurfaces again often worse writes op-ed author Josiah Haken CEO of the homeless outreach group City Relief ICYMI from other local newsrooms About families who get CityFHEPS housing vouchers will soon have to pay a higher portion of their income on rent one of several reforms the city is making to rein in spending on the assistance venture The City reports The Trump administration is moving ahead with the redevelopment of Penn Station but no longer plans to tear down an entire Midtown block as part of the process according to Gothamist The City Council is demanding the NYPD stop surveilling residents housing campuses via Big Apple Connect the mayor s free internet plan according to New York Focus The newsroom s reporting previously revealed how police have used the initiative to tap into video cameras at NYCHA buildings To reach the editor contact Jeanmarie citylimits org Want to republish this story Find City Limits reprint guidelines here The post City Proposes Inspection Reforms After Legionnaires Outbreak And What Else Happened This Week In Housing appeared first on City Limits