The Question Every New York Tenant Wants Answered… Answered!
By The Real Estate Desk August 30, 2010 2:56 pm
reprints
Ever wondered if your landlord is a slumlord?
Now you can know.
Public Advocate Bill de Blasio (profiled by The Observer in June), has created a Web site at www.pubadvocate.nyc.gov/landlord-watchlist — to be launched at some point today — that allows visitors to search a database of slumlords. According to the Daily News, the list is based on “tenant information, media reports and data on the worst health and safety violations from Department of Housing Preservation and Development inspectors.”
Mr. de Blasio has shown himself keen on using the Internet to broaden constituent access to information. In June, he launched an online guide to help New Yorkers form grassroots coalitions. He’s been a key proponent of making City Council earmarks available and searchable online (prompting Speaker Christine Quinn to do the same).
And, in a move that seems engineered to earn him media kudos, he told The Observer in June that he also wants to make an online, searchable database to track the progress of Freedom of Information Act requests.
