Friday, February 17, 2012
How do we get laws like this here?
From Fox 5:
The architect of a Hollywood Hills mansion where a ceiling collapsed and killed a firefighter during a blaze was charged Wednesday with involuntary manslaughter as a result of his shoddy work, prosecutors said.
Gerhard Becker, 48, was charged after investigators found grossly negligent construction at the newly built, 12,500-square-foot home, authorities said.
Becker left the country after last year's fire and was arrested when he flew from Spain to Los Angeles on Saturday. He remained jailed and, if convicted, could be sentenced to up to four years in state prison.
8 comments:
Was the building inspected by some kind of government agency ?
If so, why does the government agency have some kind of culpability ?
If the government agency has no culpability, then the government agency is a waste of our time and money.
How about going after self-certifying architects who know it doesn't meet code or know the resident will keep the plans according to code as provided.
End self-certification.
Super Halal Meat 253-06 Hillside Avenue in Bellerose,Queens
Why is the New York City Buildings Department and Fire Department unable to enforce fire code violations on this building? The city has been aware of these violations for almost 2 years.
The owners of this building have numerous fire and safety code violations that haven't been enforced or fixed.What is the city waiting for a fire? These are serious violations that both the Fire Department and Buildings Department have documented. ALL city agencies will say, until the Mayor and City Council change the laws they are powerless to do anything. So what are they waiting for?
THE LAWS NEED TO BE CHANGED NOW
OK - I'm confused (granted, didn't watch video 'cause download speed is way too slow) but the Hollywood Hills reported recently by the NY Times is in California? Yes, we have big problems here in NYC... BUT, as Anan #1 points out, new buildings are inspected, and numerous engineer's reports are also required during construction. Finally, very rarely - like almost never - is the architect also the builder... the architect may be responsible for errors in design, but not necessarily errors in executing the design.
You put something illegal in your house or you illegally convert and it leads to deaths and you get charged. It's that simple. Don't give me nonsense about "we have inspections" when you don't have to let them in.
If you don't let the Buildings department in or give them a ladder for access the Buildings Department will leave never to return unless the complaint is called in again.
This system sucks and needs to be fixed
Just drive around Richmond Hill and see the blatant offenders of NYC building code . It's so far out of control that it would take decades to unwind.. It's so obvious that the DOB inspectors are being paid off every day!
Here's the story: http://www.latimes.com/news/local/la-me-firefighter-killed-20120216,0,512896.story
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