OUR OPINION: Stop Passing The Buck!

Two good, dedicated firemen died this week battling a fierce, wind-driven multi-alarm fire that should never have been had the City’s Dept. of Licenses & Inspections used common sense.

A long-abandoned factory owned by out-of-town investors has been the source of complaints and petitions from worried neighbors. So how long does it take to seal it off or bring it down?

With the City, it seems forever, since no one in its bureaucracies wants to make the decision for fear of a lawsuit or some other legal retribution. So the bureaucracy sends citations, summons, and judgments to the absentee owners, who no doubt would have welcomed the demolishment but could not afford it themselves.

We know it costs money to demolish buildings, but why must the City Administration continue to weigh in on the economic side of the ledger rather than on halting the continued deterioration of the building even a child would know was a danger? How much longer must our firefighters have their lives placed in situations made more dangerous because of bureaucratic delays in doing what needs to be done?

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