Nutter launches investigation of L&I inspections
Mayor Nutter ordered the city's inspector general Monday to investigate if the Department of Licenses and Inspections has followed new safety rules put in place after the deadly Center City building collapse.
Mayor Nutter ordered the city's inspector general Monday to investigate if the Department of Licenses and Inspections has followed new safety rules put in place after the deadly Center City building collapse.
The mandate stems from a report in Sunday's Inquirer that L&I failed to properly inspect more than 80 percent of private demolitions over the last nine months.
Nutter called the Inquirer report "tremendously troubling." He vowed to hold officials and inspectors accountable, depending on what Inspector General Amy Kurland discovers.
"We must get to the bottom of it to find out whether or not inspections were conducted," Nutter said at a Monday afternoon news conference. "Are there pictures? Are there details and data and the like that are supposed to be in place as a result of past, or even more troubling, new regulations and laws that have been put into place."
After the collapse of the Market Street Salvation Army thrift store in June 2013, which killed six people and seriously injured 13, the Nutter administration and City Council created new demolition requirements in an attempt to prevent another tragedy.
Sunday's article showed that many of those requirements were not being followed. Out of 82 private demolitions, only 14 were correctly inspected following the new guidelines, according to L&I inspectors who examined the records for The Inquirer.
L&I chief of staff Beth Grossman disputed the story's findings but offered no details. She declined further questions Monday, citing the pending investigation.
Sunday's report followed a series of Inquirer articles in the last year pointing out L&I failures, including construction completed without inspections, demolitions without permits, and uncertified building inspectors.
City Controller Alan Butkovitz has also released various reports citing persistent problems at L&I. On Monday, Butkovitz questioned Nutter's delay in taking action.
"These very same findings have been presented in several investigations and reports by my office over the last two years, and it's alarming that the mayor waits until the last few days in office to address them," Butkovitz said in a statement. "It's another deflection by the mayor to avoid the real issue."
Neither Nutter nor Kurland would predict how long the audit would take. Nutter will leave office in January. The investigation could continue into the next administration.
Former City Councilman Jim Kenney, who is widely favored to win the mayoral election, has said he would replace L&I Commissioner Carlton Williams.
Williams was not at Monday's news conference. Nutter has defended Williams' leadership as recently as last month, when Butkovitz called for his firing.
On Monday, Nutter said that Williams was complying with the investigation.
"I'm not going to prejudge," Nutter said. "I do not know ... which is frankly why we are here today."
Nutter said there are "too many unknown pieces of information" and wants Kurland to take a deep look at the demolition oversight process.
"What's troubling here is that these are inspectors, they know what their job is, they've been trained, they know what the law is," he said. "What I want to get to is the bottom line of what happened or didn't happen, and then we'll let the chips fall where they may."
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