Where is Mayor de Blasio’s new buildings commissioner?

Experts are calling for new leadership

Bill de Blasio on the campaign trail
Bill de Blasio on the campaign trail

Six months after taking office, the Department of Buildings is still without a new commissioner.

Robert LiMandri, the city’s former buildings commissioner, resigned at the end of the Bloomberg administration. In the meantime, acting commissioner Thomas Fariello has been leading the department. Experts, however, are calling for new leadership. “I think the agency needs a leader. It does fires and emergencies very well, but the new commissioner would be setting the direction for further agency redesign,” former buildings commissioner Patricia Lancaster told Capital New York.

According to Capital, Maggie Kwan, an executive with high-rise experience at Tishman Construction, is a possible candidate. The de Blasio administration did not confirm this.

Sign Up for the undefined Newsletter

The search for a new commissioner has been ongoing, Capital reported.

“They’re looking for diversity but not at the expense of excellence,” Lancaster told the website. “So it’s taking them a while.” [Capital NY] — Claire Moses