Over 500 DC 37 members in the Dept. of Finance are now working at new locations after moving out of a dingy and dreaded Brooklyn building infested with mice and plagued by poor air quality, filthy carpeting and numerous other health and safety violations.

Responding mainly to union pressure over the terrible working conditions, the city decided not to renew the lease for its offices at 25 Elm Place.

Since the beginning of the year, the Finance Dept. has transferred the staff from Elm Place to alternate sites, including the Brooklyn Municipal Building and offices on Broadway and Maiden Lane in Manhattan.

“People were getting sick left and right at Elm Place,” said Dan Nichols, a member of Electronic Data Processing Personnel Local 2627, who now works at a clean and comfortable office at 59 Maiden Lane in downtown Manhattan.

“It was horrible at Elm Place. We didn’t even have a bathroom on the fifth floor,” said Tax Auditor Sharon Steadman, a member of Accountants, Actuaries and Statisticians Local 1407.

“Now everything is new and renovated,” she said. “We are really ecstatic to be here at 59 Maiden Lane,” said Clerical Associate Sheryl Williams, vice president of Finance Administrative Employees and City Investigators Local 1113. “It’s a really beautiful building.”

In contrast to Elm Place, at Maiden Lane the elevators work, the offices are clean, the lighting is good and there are no rat sightings, said Ms. Williams. She hasn’t heard of any complaints from her colleagues about working conditions at the new offices.

Professional Division Director Stephanie Velez, White Collar Director Sherwyn Britton, Director Lee Clarke and Principal Program Coordinator Lisa Baum of the DC 37 Safety and Health Dept. worked with Local 1407 President Maf Misbah Uddin, Local 2627 President Ed Hysyk and Local 1113 President John Cummings to encourage the city to address the concerns of members who worked at Elm Place.

In 2000, union pressure led the department to install two new air conditioning compressors on top of the building. More recently, the union has supported the plans to move members out of the sick building.

Mr. Nichols said the only complaint he had heard about the move was from members who were upset about a longer commute. “That’s understandable,” he said, “but the main issue was our health. The question is: On balance, are people happier? The answer is, ‘Yes.’ ”