Building Collapse @ 22nd & Market (Philadelphia: lawyer, contractor, inspections)

[phillies2011]

Originally Posted by tintin19119

So if you are one of the many working poor. Who are scared to death because you live next door to one of these death traps, I guess you are just SOS. I know for a fact , there are investors who tried to buy some of these properties and the city wanted them to pay the back taxes on these dumps.The city will let them collapse before they let them go at market value. They're not going to get the back taxes on most of these dumps.Talk about not looking at the big picture. A safer block and a new tax base. Not Philly, we want our money NOW!

wtf? So property owners should be able to neglect their properties, not pay any taxes, blight their neighborhoods, then eventually sell the property for a huge windfall of cash and not be forced to pay any of the taxes owed? You're arguing that Philadelphia should collect a LOWER percentage of the taxes owed to the city?

This is your plan?

I am thankful you have no role in the planing of this city.

[phillies2011]

Apparently now six are dead. So senseless, so sad. Counting the fire fighters who died last year in the buck hosiery building, there is a lot of blood on the hands of negligent property owners. hopefully these tragedies will push the city to finally start taking care of business with these scumbags.

[nifear]

yikesss... someome in the crowd calling out Nutter during the press conference, saying it's his fault and he's a murderer.


annnd then to commercial we go...

[tintin19119]

Originally Posted by rotodome

Fair enough point. I wasn't really considering a situation like that in my statement, but that's because I don't really think it's the same situation here, at all.
In a Rappaport-esque case of willful neglect, I think the owner should be on the hook for any and all consequences of that neglect.

I agree with you 100%

[KaaBoom]

Originally Posted by MikeNigh

I never heard of anything like this happening before... When was the last time something like this happened somewhere? It just seems like conscious neglect of some sort had to have been in play.

Unfortunately, it happens way too often. There are a lot of incompetent demolition contractors all over. The results are just usually not quite this devastating. I hope the contractor gets manslaughter charges for this.


Vancouver Demolition Fail (Part One) - YouTube


Fail: Demolition Gone Bad! - YouTube

[tintin19119]

Originally Posted by phillies2011

wtf? So property owners should be able to neglect their properties, not pay any taxes, blight their neighborhoods, then eventually sell the property for a huge windfall of cash and not be forced to pay any of the taxes owed? You're arguing that Philadelphia should collect a LOWER percentage of the taxes owed to the city?

This is your plan?

I am thankful you have no role in the planing of this city.

You do know the city owns a lot of these dumps?

If these properties were worth what taxes that are owed on them. The city would have sold them at a sheriff sale already. Stop paying your taxes and see what happens to your house. It will be put up for sheriff sale. We are talking about dangerous dumps , that the city should have went after YEARS ago. Now they are not livable and are falling down. So now they are sitting there bringing down the value of the block. Some have druggies and prostitutes squatting in them.Instead of the city selling them for what they worth and letting these investors fix them up and rent or flip them,which the city can start collecting TAXES off of them again.Plus the value of the neighborhood will go up which means more TAXES. I always said ,some people can`t see the bigger picture.

[drive carephilly]

why do people keep trying to put this on the owner of this building. There was nothing structurally wrong with the buildings until the demolition started.

Not saying there aren't slumlords out there who should be dealt with but in this particular instance this is ALL on the demolition crew for being complete idiots . . .and killing people in the process.

[drive carephilly]

Originally Posted by MikeNigh

I never heard of anything like this happening before... When was the last time something like this happened somewhere? It just seems like conscious neglect of some sort had to have been in play.

is that sarcasm?

because just in the last 5 years, of the more high profile stuff i can think of off the top of my head there was the daycare evacuation on Washington Ave (near 6th St) because of the idiot demo crew working next door.

There was the row of houses (5 in total IIRC) that came down at 16th & South because someone messed up demo-ing the corner property.

Same thing happened to 3 big townhouses on Spring Garden around 17th or 18th.

There were 2 or 3 houses lost to a stupid demo crew in QV around 5th & Christian.

Not high profile but L&I ordered an old lady on my block out of her house for 6 weeks because the idiots next door almost brought down the house they were working and if their house went the houses on either side were going with it.

[Debbie1125]

Originally Posted by Angus215

Quality philadelphia union labor, no doubt

It was non union labor.

[Debbie1125]

Originally Posted by cpomp

Its amazing how much negativity I saw in the aftermath of this too. I was looking at new sites with various videos and stories and while there was a lot of support, so many people use this a time to back Philadelphia for being nothing but a crumbling ghetto. So many negative people out there..

Yeah, Philly.com is notorious for comments bashing Philadelphia regardless of the issue or what the article is about. That's why I stopped posting there.