Inspectors confirmed that several structural violations were committed against the building
They say the building closure will not affect the setup of the Cultural and Book Fair
Taken from Diario Libre
Last week, inspectors from the New York City Department of Buildings closed the offices where the Dominican Commissioner of Culture in the United States (Codocul) operates, due to multiple violations of the city's municipal housing and building code.
The Commissioner's headquarters is located in the building at 541 145th Street in Upper Manhattan.
In response to concerns from cultural managers, community activists, political leaders, and elected officials, including Congressman Adriano Espaillat and Councilman Ydanis Rodríguez, Culture Commissioner Lourdes Batista Jakab called a press conference this Monday to explain the situation.
He said the closure of the building, which includes a Pentecostal church and several businesses owned by Dominican merchants, was due to the authorities' report specifying the violations, including the use of the basement for a school where both Codocul and the church offer music and Bible classes to the children who attend.
“Officials from the New York City Department of Buildings went to the building where the commissioner operates and placed signs on the door advising that the place is partially closed,” the commissioner explained.
The inspectors also stated in the report that they were unable to gain access through the front door when they went to conduct the inspections, and they also cited illegal structural modifications.
“What I did was renovate part of the space occupied by the commissioner, but I didn’t make any modifications to the building,” the official added.
She recounted that she contacted the Dominican architect José R. Díaz, who investigated the nature of the violations. “He sent me the building's occupancy certificate, which dates back to 1963, before I was even born,” the commissioner stated.
“We arrived at the commissioner's office on September 3rd of last year and the only thing we did in the structure was refurbish the place and the people who have been there, including the press, can see that we did not alter anything there, we painted and changed a deteriorated carpet for a wooden floor, so the place is as we received it,” he said.
“We didn’t build any infrastructure or construct anything on the site, we simply renovated and we want to make that quite clear,” he added.
Batista assured that the closure of the building will not affect the setup of the First Cultural Fair and the XII Dominican Book Fair scheduled for October 15, 16 and 17, 2021 at George Washington High School in Upper Manhattan.
The fair
Regarding the fair, he assured that the event is gaining momentum. “The Dominican community deserves its fair and has been waiting for it for several years. We have continued with the preparations for the fair and have already contracted the hotel where the writers, artisans, and artists from the Dominican Republic and other participating states will be staying,” he reported.
