On June 5, six people died when a brick party wall
of an adjoining building undergoing demolition collapsed onto the busy
Salvation Army Thrift Store at 22d and Market Streets. A seventh person was
nearly fatally injured. Our 24-year-old daughter, Anne Bryan, was among the
victims.
This disaster was foreseeable; explicit warnings
were given but ignored. This avoidable catastrophe is a stain upon
Philadelphia.
We have resolved, in the memory of Anne and all
the victims, to do everything in our power to prevent another demolition
disaster. A grand jury investigation is underway to identify and charge those
criminally responsible. We hope more arrests beyond the one to date are
forthcoming. The disaster demonstrates there is a crying need for strengthened
public safety that involves significantly improving - perhaps overhauling - the
Department of Licenses and Inspections. We urge Mayor Nutter to appoint, with the
support of City Council, a special independent commission to conduct a review
of L&I - probing the structure, staffing, budget, policies, and procedures.
These are areas that will not be the focus of the grand jury or any of the
other pending inquiries.
No one should welcome this recommended level of
inquiry more than the current leadership and employees at L&I, where
staffing levels have been significantly reduced. After the deadly One Meridian
Plaza high-rise fire in 1991, independent post-incident reviews took place that
were largely responsible for fundamental changes in city fire prevention,
including code enforcement, regulations, and oversight. As a result, lives were
saved.
In the wake of the Salvation Army store collapse,
the mayor, through an executive order, tightened demolition regulations, and
City Council issued a report recommending changes in those regulations.
Investigations by the city's inspector general and controller are ongoing.
We support these efforts and the grand jury, but
it is imperative that there also be an independent commission to systematically
and deeply examine all aspects of the city's demolition and construction
oversight and enforcement. The commission must examine legal structure,
training, staffing levels, and organizational-reporting relationships - and
make informed recommendations of changes that will bring Philadelphia into the
forefront nationally of best practices. The city, with its history of
architecture, design, and construction, should lead, not languish with
third-world disaster outcomes, in its licensing and inspection abilities.
The mayor has said he intends to appoint such a
commission, with details to follow. To succeed, the commission must have the
independence, expertise, resources, time, and authority to do a proper job. It
should include nationally recognized experts (many of whom are based in or near
Philadelphia, including on our world-class university campuses). We have been
contacted by a number of experts and shared their interests and backgrounds
with the Mayor's Office. The commission must also be insulated from political
influences.
Safety starts at the top. The fact that no one at
L&I has taken responsibility for well-documented failures that allowed the
Salvation Army store collapse to happen is indicative of the problem. We hope
that one result will be to require the L&I commissioner to:
Be a highly qualified, nonpartisan professional
whose credentials include state certification as a professional engineer. This
is just as vital as having a law enforcement professional serve as police
commissioner, or the health commissioner be an experienced medical
professional.
Sign off in all cases where a demolition could
endanger any adjacent occupied building.
Sign off, with a supervising deputy mayor, in
cases where a demolition could endanger an adjacent occupied store.
Fundamental changes that start at the top will
serve to remind these individuals in leadership positions that they are
responsible for protecting the public from demolition and construction
disasters.
Time is of the essence; we cannot afford to be in
a state of denial.
Source: Philly.com
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