According to Chris Palmer at the Philadelphia Inquirer, after receiving a complaint by a neighbor, Philly L&I officials visited 2136 Market Street and deemed the structure safe to continue work.
Many would be surprised to know that L&I inspectors are not engineers, have no engineering backgrounds, and receive no formal training on the structural integrity of structures and buildings. How do I know this? In 2009, I sued L&I (and won) on behalf of a developer whose property was wrongful demolished by L&I. At issue in the case was the arbitrary nature in which L&I declares buildings “unsafe” or “imminently dangerous.” (The case is Bullard v. City of Philadelphia in case anyone is interested in googling it and reading about it .)
The L&I inspector, who made the demolition decision, testified at his deposition that L&I inspectors are not required to be engineers, to have engineering backgrounds, receive no training on the structural integrity of buildings and structures and L&I maintains no manuals as to when a building is deemed in danger of collapse. Instead, L&I inspectors rely on common sense he said.
More than common sense is needed to prevent the next tragedy.
Wally Zimolong
Wally represents contractors (and subcontractors) and developers. His clients build and develop residential, commercial, and industrial properties nationwide. Wally enjoys working with the owners of the businesses he represents because they tend to be entrepreneurs and all around interesting people.
