"Champion" of bringing I-Codes to New York City passes away.

by Nick Reiher

In 2006, ICC Government Relations Senior Vice President Sara Yerkes presents a plaque to Provenzano for her work to have the I-Codes adopted in New York City.

In the months following the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks on the World Trade Center, New York City officials believed it was time to review building codes that had not been updated in 33 years. All parties agreed it was time for updated codes. But after a panel commissioned by Mayor Michael Bloomberg recommended the relatively new International Codes in 2003, ICC supporters had a fight on their hands from groups who favored adopting other codes. Clearly, a strong leader would be needed to keep the subsequent city hearings focused amid the heated rhetoric from both sides of the issue. And that came in the form of Madeline Provenzano, a tiny but passionate city representative from the Bronx who was in charge of the powerful Housing and Building Committee. Although a term-limit ordinance barred her from serving on the council when the city adopted the I-Codes in 2008, Provenzano, who died Dec. 7 at 78, was a driving force in guiding the initiative during those tumultuous early years. "She will forever be in my memory as a big part of the New York City transition to the I-Codes and as one of the nicest elected officials I have had the honor to work with," said ICC's Sara Yerkes, Senior Vice President of Government Relations who worked extensively with Provenzano on the issue. "She was smart, interested in doing the right thing for New York City's residents. She was a no-nonsense chair, an action-oriented person. Things got done." Dorothy Harris, a former Deputy Secretary of State in New York and currently ICC Vice President of Government Relations, made a presentation to the commission in support of the city adopting the I-Codes. She said the ICC had a great partner in the late city representative. "She was very knowledgeable on the issues and with the process," said Harris, now Vice President of State & Local Government Relations for the Code Council. "And she was well respected by nearly every sector of the building community." And she was fearless, said Ron Piester, Building Standards & Codes Division in New York State and a former ICC Board of Directors President. The union plumbers wanted the other codes, he said, and they let Provenzano and other city officials know it. But she never backed down. At one point during a committee hearing in December 2004, the New York Times reported that Committee Chair Provenzano, who represented the East Bronx, threatened to throw out a group who got too rowdy. "Take it outside," she was quoted as saying after uttering a mild expletive. Piester said it was no accident Provenzano led that influential city council committee. Before her election to the city council in 1997, the Staten Island-born Provenzano, widowed with three small children at age 30, served her Bronx community for decades in city government. She was the longtime chief of staff to Councilman Michael DeMarco, who stepped down after 26 years to take a seat on the state Supreme Court. When the Bronx Democratic Party nominated Provenzano to replace him, she became the first woman to represent the 13th Council District. In addition to the updated building codes, she championed updated computer facilities in every school and library in her district, increased funding for school repairs, new branch library after school programs, drama, art, a state-of-the-art roller hockey rink, free tennis lessons, invigorated sports programs, and renovated parks. She was honored by myriad groups, including a host of Little League organizations, The Jewish Community Council of Pelham Parkway, Waterbury Hockey League, Santa Maria Youth Ministry, Edgewater Park Volunteer Fire Department, Select Women's Assistance Network, and the Congregation Sons of Israel. She also received the Government Award from Il Leone di San Marco, Italian Heritage and Culture Committee. For all her work, ICC recognized Provenzano after the I-Codes were adopted in 2008. Piester said it was much deserved. "She took a real political chance," Piester said. "She could have found a way to sit back and let others run with it. But she didn't. She had a vision that there was a better way, and the ICC represented that. She was our champion."

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