Former commissioner suggests prosperity trumps safety at L&I

IS THE DEPARTMENT of Licenses and Inspection's primary focus economic development or public safety?

That question was one of several at the forefront yesterday during City Council's fourth hearing held to investigate the Center City building collapse that claimed six lives in June.

Bennett Levin, one of two former L&I commissioners who testified before Council yesterday, said the department's focus has shifted away from public safety.

"L&I has equivalent public safety responsibilities to the Police Department and/or the Fire Department, but we tolerate and even accept sloth and unaccountability in the name of political expediency and economic development," said Levin, who was the department's commissioner under Mayor Ed Rendell.

Levin said the collapse of a four-story building onto a neighboring Salvation Army thrift store was one of several tragic incidents that indicates a history of lax enforcement, which he claimed was deliberate because stricter inspections could squelch development.

He cited the massive fire at One Meridian Plaza in 1991 that killed three firefighters. L&I was blasted at the time for a perceived culture of corruption and for dropping the ball on fire inspections of high-rise buildings.

He also pointed to the death of Common Pleas Senior Judge Berel Caesar, who was killed after debris from a building struck him on the head on Broad Street in 1997. The building had been cited for code violations that were never addressed.

Then there was the Pier 34 collapse along the Delaware River Waterfront in 2000 that killed three women. L&I said then it was the owner's, not the city's, responsibility to ensure the pier was structurally sound.

Lastly, he pointed to the death of two firemen last year in an abandoned Kensington warehouse. Residents had complained to L&I that the building was a potential fire hazard.

Councilman Curtis Jones Jr., chairman of the Special Investigatory Committee said there is a "need to re-evaluate if economic development drives L&I or public safety."

Mayor Nutter said in an emailed statement that L&I has improved in recent years.

"The former commissioner has a right to his opinion as a private citizen, but many things have changed in the Department of Licenses and Inspections in the almost two decades since he was in city government," Nutter said. "I cannot comment on what happened prior to this Administration, but the Department has made significant improvements in recent years while maintaining its mission of public safety."

Fran Burns, who was L&I Commissioner under Nutter until she left the office last year, rejected the idea that the city would sacrifice safety in the name of progress.

"That's absolutely not true," Burns said of claims that L&I was driven by economic development. "The mission and function of the Department of Licenses and Inspection has always been life safety."

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