apartment therapy changing the world, one room at a time

I really like the idea of "green" construction rebates.

no floating risers? really, how many people ever get injured on that one? How many have gotten injured in the Apple store in Soho?

I don't see how the new rules regarding closed stairs and vertical ballisters have anything to do with safety - I guess I'm glad I don't like in Nanny York...

What a joke. Have NYC building codes been so lax in the past? Most of these so called "changes" were already required in the International Building Code required to be used virtually everywhere else.

The staircase rule is HUGE in New York, where the real estate developers are a much larger power block than is obvious - everyone thinks it is Wall Street, but it isn't.

One of the real criticisms of the City has been that, despite the lessons learned on 9/11, developers were not building stairs in the recommended safer way because of loss of rentable square footage. The fact that they are now being forced to change is a major, major win - I'd love to read what is in the new codes for skyscrapers. Read the engineering report that was issued explaining how engineering failures contributed to the tragedy and you'll understand this issue. http://www.usatoday.com/news/nation/2002-09-25-high-rises-1acov_x.htm

For those of you on the outside of government, it is easy to criticize and say that this is peanuts. Spend some time working in government and advocating for change from within and see how much work is involved to make things happen, then talk to me. There are laws, litigation, multiple layers of government (City, State, Federal), special interests, changes in philosophy when administrations or commissioners change...

The floating staircase rule sucks! Monika1 is right, how many people get hurt on something like that? So much for beautiful, minimalistic staircase design...

I think the point of abolishing floating staircases has less to do with everyday injuries than it does with the potential for disaster in an emergency. Sort of like rules against keeping plants etc. on your fire escape.