L&I relies on interns to research who owns dilapidated properties

[seand]

PUT IT IN WRITING: One of L&I’s biggest hurdles when it comes to enforcing maintenance rules is finding irresponsible property owners. They might be dead, or moved out of the city, or just hard to track down. So last fall, the agency announced it was hiring a team of interns to help locate these landowners.

Sometimes, says L&I spokeswoman Maura Kennedy, these interns make mistakes.

City Howl: It's not her house!

Are these unpaid interns?

[seand]

So if they are accepting interns, would they accept volunteers?

[billy ross]

City Howl: It's not her house!

Are these unpaid interns?

Whenever an organization with famously lax policies decides to get strict, they're going to lash out and get the wrong people by accident, since they don't have well-developed policies ensuring the protection of innocent parties. Developing this savior faire is intimidating, and it is one of the reasons some organizations resist cleaning house as much as they do.

It used to be that Philadelphia Electric Company, as the only privately owned, for profit utility locally, was the most strict and crackerjack local utility, and you just couldn't steal electricity from the electric company. Philadelphia Gas Works, on the other hand, was the most befuddled, and stealing from them was like taking candy from a baby. Philadelphia Water Department was in between, but closer to the gas company, because PWD let the Water Revenue Bureau handle their collections. Of late PWD has gotten much more involved in hammering people to pay water bills, and PGW has gone ballistic in going after any and all comers that it thinks owes it gas. PGW has stepped on some toes in the process, but it has learned quickly, and now you dare not steal from PGW. If they catch you, you're in huge trouble (They give you a possibly huge bill, for one, and they may even just lock your gas and throw away the key - they've done both to me, and either one is awful). The electric company? They don't care so much - I heat my vacant units with electric in freezing snaps, because the gas company makes darned sure that the gas is off, and if it somehow slips through the cracks, they're gonna come calling, and someone's gonna pay them their money down. If the electric company figures out that there is significant electric being used when there is no account set up, they just give you notice that they'll shut you off, then they shut you off. They don't then send the bloodhounds after you like the gas company does. It sounds like L and I decided to bite the bullet and not be a pushover anymore. Good for them.

[whatever]

Whenever an organization with famously lax policies decides to get strict, they're going to lash out and get the wrong people by accident, since they don't have well-developed policies ensuring the protection of innocent parties. Developing this savior faire is intimidating, and it is one of the reasons some organizations resist cleaning house as much as they do.

It used to be that Philadelphia Electric Company, as the only privately owned, for profit utility locally, was the most strict and crackerjack local utility, and you just couldn't steal electricity from the electric company. Philadelphia Gas Works, on the other hand, was the most befuddled, and stealing from them was like taking candy from a baby. Philadelphia Water Department was in between, but closer to the gas company, because PWD let the Water Revenue Bureau handle their collections. Of late PWD has gotten much more involved in hammering people to pay water bills, and PGW has gone ballistic in going after any and all comers that it thinks owes it gas. PGW has stepped on some toes in the process, but it has learned quickly, and now you dare not steal from PGW. If they catch you, you're in huge trouble (They give you a possibly huge bill, for one, and they may even just lock your gas and throw away the key - they've done both to me, and either one is awful). The electric company? They don't care so much - I heat my vacant units with electric in freezing snaps, because the gas company makes darned sure that the gas is off, and if it somehow slips through the cracks, they're gonna come calling, and someone's gonna pay them their money down. If the electric company figures out that there is significant electric being used when there is no account set up, they just give you notice that they'll shut you off, then they shut you off. They don't then send the bloodhounds after you like the gas company does. It sounds like L and I decided to bite the bullet and not be a pushover anymore. Good for them.

The city can go after them self. For doing demolition without permits and wrecking neighbors house, for digging up contaminated soil without permits and allowing years of fugitive dust , including bricks dust (silica and asbestos) to waste the neighborhood for years. The city can go after them self for choosing proven bad contractors who wrecked the E Penn Project and the city can go after them self for colluding and perpetuating hate crimes and denial of civil rights. L&I is suppose to protect health and welfare not expose people to cancer and deadly disease factors for years with doing anything about it except commit more and more crimes. PWD is not suppose to allow secret and illegal trucking away of contaminated soil and they should know where their streams are so when they look at building plans they know what the under surface is like- for the stability and safety of new projects.

City corruption has destroyed generations of lives and now they are punishing the people because the city failed to nurture a city with industrial posions that make people into criminal and cause illness and poverty. We get Dilworth Plaza so City Council can walk through pretty spaces and children are put in school conditions that destroy their lives? Now they are going to Harass and NOT HELP people whom the city cronyism has harmed.

Why don't they just fix the houses for people? They steal enough money from the feds to feed hungry lawyer's padded bills to help many. Now they are targeting the sick, the hungry and poor. I guess the Sheriff sales vultures want more flip overs.

[govtstatistic]

Every scheme has a fall guy

[sharkey]

The City can't do anything right. An L&I Inspector tried to issue a violation to me for one of my properties. It came to my correct mailing address, but in the name of the previous owner of the house in question--from whom I bought the place 20 years ago! When I called him to inform him that the notice was incorrect he asked me if I got the other notices sent to several other addresses---none of which I've ever owned, used as a mailing address, or had any connection to. When I told him that, he gave up in disgust and dropped the vioaltion.

[sharkey]

I have been to hearings at the L&I Board of Review where people had to file an appeal and take off from work to argue it, all because the city's employee was too stupid or lazy to figure out the correct address of the property in vioaltion and just guessed (incorrectly.) In one case the property in vioaltion was next door to the poor homeowner that was victimized by this incompetence and when the city attorney inquired as to who owned the lot the homeowner blurted out "YOU DO." The overgrown vacant lot was owned by the City, but the stupid inspector just assumed it was part of the property of the adjacent house and wrote up the violation.