Building collapse led to L&I overhaul

CENTER CITY (WPVI) -- On the one year anniversary of the Center City building collapse, city officials are looking back to evaluate what caused the fatal incident, as well as new policies and procedures they have put in place.

L&I has been completely overhauled from top to bottom in the last 12 months. Commissioner Carlton Williams says they are cracking down on dangerous demolitions.

But while the department is moving in the right direction, Williams says more work needs to be done to ensure the city's safety.

"We are much better than we were a year ago at this time," Williams said.

A year after the catastrophe on Market Street shook the very foundation of Philadelphia's Department of Licenses and Inspections, Commissioner Williams and Councilman Curtis Jones are looking back to discuss what went wrong.

"I think everybody could take responsibility; I don't think we are going to point fingers," Jones said.

Jones chaired City Council's investigation into the collapse that uncovered decades of lapses in safety standards, permitting and inspections.

"If we had it to do all over again we would have did it before we lost the lives," Jones said.

The victims, Jones says, are the motivation for overhauling L&I and putting 75 recommendations in place to make construction projects in Philadelphia safer.

"It was the wild, wild west of demolition," Jones said.

The changes include:

"It is higher than any other standards in the country at this point in time and we believe it is necessary in trying to prevent tragedies like that from happening again," Williams said.

What happened on Market Street, Williams says, was a culmination of years of bad practices and bad policies.

"We feel some sense of responsibility. That is what our inspectors sign up to do, we protect the public," Williams said.

Now, a new unit has been established in Williams' department to oversee site safety, issue stop work orders at dangerous demolition sites, and identify buildings that are an imminent danger.

"We had to put our money where our mouth was," Jones said.

City Council upped L&I's budget by $1.9-million and gave them an additional $3-million to help demolish 625 residential structures that were deemed to be unsafe.

"I certainly believe it puts us closer to being much safer. There is no guarantees in this business. An accident or situation can happen at any time," Williams said.

Since the collapse, L&I has issued 225 stop work orders at unsafe and illegal construction sites.

L&I's focus is now cracking down on those unsafe properties and being proactive.

Commissioner Williams says the community has been a big help in that and says they often rely on complaints from citizens to identify anything that looks dangerous.