First published in The Manhattan Mercury

Beware of commission candidates who seek unnecessary regulation

To the Editor:

At Saturday's Citizen for a Better Manhattan (CBM) forum for City Commission candidates, Jayme Morris-Hardeman and Jim Sherow came out in favor of additional regulation of Manhattan builders. Bruce Snead said he would consider the ordinance. I am not surprised to see that all three have now been endorsed by CBM.

I have been in the construction business for more than 20 years, and safety has been and always will be my personal concern. It is redundant and unnecessary to have local taxpayers finance another government program that is already provided by experts - OSHA. It is a company's responsibility to ensure the safety of its employees in concert with OSHA standards.

OSHA resources are available through the Manhattan Area Builders Association and directly from the agency. It is my personal experience that OSHA is diligent and frequent in its inspections of job sites.

Let the industry in cooperation with existing OSHA policies govern our work. And vote for City Commission candidates who trust their fellow citizens to act in their employees' best interests without needless, redundant and costly city government intervention.

Tom Tavtigian, President
Veteran Builders Inc.

206 Southwind Place, Suite 1A