The Department of Buildings has issued 1,342 summonses — worth about $2.1 million in fines — for illegally smoking at construction sites since September 2008, but there are still too many workers lighting up, the New York Post reported. The summonses were issued as part of a crackdown prompted by the deaths of two firefighters in an August 2007 blaze at the former Deutsche Bank building, which was sparked by a cigarette. About $900,000 has been collected, with the remaining $1.2 million in penalties still to be adjudicated. Tishman Construction had the most violations in each of the last two years. “We strictly enforce smoking regulations on all job sites and have terminated individuals who have been caught smoking,” said Tishman spokesperson John Gallagher. [Post]

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From the March issue: There’s a recession. Deals are scarce. Commissions are shrinking. It’s a great time for broker rustling.
Commercial services firms are aggressively poaching their
competitors’ brokers and research analysts, figuring they will be
better positioned to win market share once a rebound takes hold. The
slow transaction volume means fewer money-making deals are tying
brokers to their firms, creating ripe opportunities for rival firms to
exploit the age-old tension between the lower-ranked agents and their
senior producers. [more]

From the February issue: As New York City construction firms get slammed by the downturn, they are turning to more modest projects, in some cases taking on multimillion-dollar renovations rather than the multibillion-dollar skyscrapers. While it’s clear that the collapse of the New York development market has taken a toll on builders and brokers, there may be nobody in the industry hit as hard as construction firms. As banks have largely cut off financing for new projects and cranes have been mothballed, thousands of contractors have lost their jobs. “It’s having a devastating impact on the construction market,” said Lou Coletti, president of the Building Trades Employers’ Association, which represents 1,700 construction management and contractor firms. “There are very few, if any, new projects moving forward.” To combat that lack of work, major New York construction firms are bidding for much smaller projects and diversifying into public-sector work, while other firms have been forced into bankruptcy protection.[more] [more]