JOHN E. OSBORN P.C.
testifies on New York City
Council's
PROPOSED REFORM
TO THE
ENvIRONMENTAL CONTROL BOARD
On Thursday, June 19,
2008, Alex Truitt from the law firm, John E. Osborn P.C., testified
before the Small Business and Governmental Operations Committees of
the New York City Council on Intro. No. 777.
Intro. No. 777 proposes many modifications to
the New York City Environmental Control Board.
John E. Osborn PC represents major real estate owners and
developers, as well as construction managers and one of the major
companies providing scaffolding, hoisting and sidewalk bridges. John
E. Osborn P.C. has day- to- day involvement with the Environmental
Control Board.
The key points raised by the law firm include: (a)
Detailed recommendations relating to the development and
implementation of
technology to upgrade recordkeeping through electronic case
management, including online adjudication and payments, more
efficient administration of case conferences, hearing and appeals,
electronic case scheduling and adopting other ways to make the ECB
more efficient and to increase its public accountability;
(b) Recommendation that the City of New York allocate
sufficient financial resources to implement the important reforms
included in the legislation so that the effort to implement the
reforms would not be stymied; (c) Failure of the ECB to adequately
assure that the respondent receives the notice of violation and the
resulting effect of defaults on the respondents; (d) Improving the
selection process and training of administrative law judges; and (e)
Shortening the adjudication process as it currently is unreasonably
lengthy and appeals sometimes take years to be decided.
John E. Osborn, P.C. believes that the amendments
proposed to the NYC ECB by Intro. 777 will promote better
efficiency, professionalism and quality of the ECB’s adjudication
process, but unless these legislative changes are accompanied with
specific reforms, the changes will not be effective.
THE DOLLARS AND SENSE OF DESIGNING GREEN
On June 27th, John E. Osborn Esq. spoke at a continuing education program for architects and engineers at NYU’s Real Estate Institute.
The attendees learned to identify and work with materials, methods and systems, construction documents and contract administration in order to facilitate the obtaining of LEED certification, while maintaining schedule, quality, budget and life cycle savings.
Topics included an examination of the architect's responsibility for achieving sustainable design and the role of site selection, hazardous waste clean up and storm water and erosion control toward achieving LEED certification.
New
York Construction Law
On April 17th & 18th, the
attorneys of John E. Osborn, PC presented a two day continuing
education seminar for architects and engineers at Pratt Institute
entitled "New York Construction Law."
The program detailed the
law's influence on all the aspects of the construction process,
from the very beginning of a project, through
completion, closeout, and beyond. The attendees were made aware of the
problems, issues, and concerns that can arise during major phases of
a project and left with a better understanding of how the law affects
their day to day operations. Topics included: bidding and contract
formation, contractor claims, owner defenses, contract clauses,
bonds, New York Lien Law, defending architects' claims and
environmental law.
Thank you to Joel
Sciascia, General Counsel of Pavarini McGovern, Christopher McCabe of
Quinn McCabe, LLP and Mike Salgo for lending their expertise to the
program.
EXPECTING
THE UNEXPECTED: LESSONS LEARNED FROM THE 2007 MIDTOWN STEAM PIPE EXPLOSION
On March 19th, John E.
Osborn, Esq. moderated a panel discussion for BOMA/NY that examined the July
2007 steam pipe explosion, the events of the day and its aftermath. Lessons
learned and best practices were discussed to help define how building owners and
managers can better prepare for future incidents and guard against property
losses and business interruption in the days following a tragic event.