Document: Charges Against Westchester Ave. Building Owner

The owner of a Westchester Avenue building that already had his chance to rectify fire hazards, according to village hall.

In fact, authorities say he did fix the problems, which included overloaded extention chords and multi-plug adapters. But a report released Wednesday by the Department of Code Enforcement says that as soon as inspectors cleared the case and issued a new Certificate of Occupancy to the building and shop owners in 2010, those extension chords and adapters went right back in again.

It was an overloaded adapter that was identified as the source of Monday's fire, which shut down a section of Westchester Avenue and shuttered businesses in the building indefinitely.

Instead of playing another cat-and-mouse game, as authorities say they've been doing with landlords across the village, they're bringing Nunez to court.

Although Assistant Village Manager Christopher Steers says building and code staff have identified more than 100 violations altogether, the initial appearance ticket details 42 charges. At a rate of $1,000 per day, per charge, that means Nunez and his realty company are accruing fines at a rate of $42,000 a day.

Part of the reason inspectors are taking a hard stance: It turns out they were duped the first time around, when they inspected the building in 2010. Although they found a long list of violations the first time around, a complete walk-through after Monday's fire revealed spaces that were hidden or blocked off during last year's inspections. Those spaces contained "the majority of new violations," according to Steers.

Click on the multimedia box above to view a copy of the appearance ticket, with details of all 42 charges against Nunez.

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