License and Inspection Officials Answering More Building Safety Calls From Concerned Residents
By Cherri Gregg
PHILADELPHIA (CBS) - Tomorrow marks the one year anniversary of the Center City building collapse that claimed the lives of six people. And over the past year, the public has stepped up to keep Philadelphia's Licenses and Inspection department on their toes.
L&I is reporting a 71-percent increase in the number of calls, emails and complaints about imminently dangerous buildings and unsafe construction in the past 12 months.
"We went from about four or five thousand requests to about 20,000 requests," says L&I Commissioner Carlton Williams, "the incident on Market Street has made people more concerned."
He says skyrocketing requests for inspector visits, public input and review of city code has led to changes within L&I, including 27-new inspectors (soon to be hired), an expanded emergency services unit, public outreach on how to identify illegal instruction and proactive inspections.
"Now our inspectors stop in on people," he says, "they're going out checking for licenses, going out looking for permits."
And so far, Williams says its working.
"Last year we issued 225 stop work orders for people we found not in compliance with the building code," he says, "previously we had 55 stop work orders-- so it's up 400-percent."
But even with increased vigilance and more staff, Williams says L&I can't be everywhere all the time.
"Do we have enough resources? No," he said. "So we need the public's eyes and ears to let us know what's going on."
Glen Corbett chairs the special L&I Investigatory Commission. They launched a website last month and have received a few dozen comments from the public but want more.
"We're interested in hearing their interactions with L&I," he says, "if they want to meet with us that is a possibility and we offer anonymity as well."
The Commission's report with its recommendations for the city will be released in September. If you would like to provide input to the commission on your interactions with L&I go to www.phila.gov/specialadvisory. To report a dangerous property to L&I go to http://www.phila.gov/li or call 311.