Remember that crane inspector who swore up and down that he didn’t inspect the East 51st Street crane following a complaint on 4 March? Turns out he was right – unfortunately, it also turns out that he told DOB that he had inspected the crane. Rather than actually show up and do his job, he simply signed off on the complaint, noting “crane is erected according to approved CN. #39/08, CD#3774”.

This certainly inspires great confidence in the integrity of the inspection process. If an inspector can’t be bothered to look at a crane that is allegedly not braced to a building, a bona fide life safety issue, what can we expect from DOB inspectors when it comes to the more mundane quality of life complaints that are lodged with great regularity? Exactly how many “unsubstantiated” complaints were really just plain uninspected?

Fubar indeed.

[Just to be clear, at this point the inspectors actions (or lack thereof) do not appear to have played a role in the tragedy that befell Turtle Bay. The accident last Saturday occurred when the crane operators were extending the superstructure of the crane itself, and there was at least one actual inspection after the 4 March uninspection.]