A Reddit reader reported that he’d made a complaint to the city’s 311 call center on Tuesday to report unsafe conditions at the demo site, but the city didn’t check into it because he didn’t know the property’s exact address. He contacted the center again after the collapse, saying they didn’t stop that tragedy but that similar conditions existed at another nearby demolition site.
The intake worker’s response? They needed the exact address.
Of course, even if this worker hadn’t been dangerously indifferent, the city probably doesn’t have enough building inspectors left that they would have sent someone, anyway.
The video below shows demolition work on the building Sunday afternoon. That’s a subway entrance in front of the building:
So it was stupidity after all? A lack of funds to pay enough inspectors to prevent such things as this from happening is the height of stupidity.
I just read somewhere (one of your friendly Philly blogs, I believe) that the architect responsible for approving the demolition plan signed off without reading the thing. I feel a lawsuit coming on . . .
The owner is reputed to be deep in organized crime and is in bankruptcy proceedings.