In terms of quality of life issues, one of the really stupid things about DOB’s BIS system is that IT DOES NOT TRACK WEEKEND PERMITS. There is an assistant commissioner who keeps a spreadsheet of weekend variance applications and permits, but you won’t find the information online. So if you want to know if the building next to you has a permit to wake you up at 8:00 am on Saturday, you can’t. I don’t even know if 311 operators can look up this information.

So we are left with inundating 311 with complaints about off-hour construction, that are then only inspected the following Monday, when the chance of finding illegal weekend construction is pretty much nil. Given the stock the mayor puts into information technology, this is just plain idiotic.