An insider's opinion of the building collapse in Philly...
as luck would have it, I ran into a long-time acquaintance who is a significant member of the group which performs long-term planning for the city. He told me that for years, they have been attempting to clear out this corridor which would extend all the way to Amtrak's 30th St. Station in order to build high-rise commercial and residential properties. He was appalled, as were many (including yours truly) who watched the demolition over the past few days, at the lack of compensatory engineering which would ensure that the adjacent properties were safe from catastrophe. (I myself had wondered, since I drive past it every day for 35 years, how the fileted a building out from between others without the brick walls collapsing). As was mentioned in another post, these buildings were owned by a porn executive who had operated the Forum Theater (XXX - almost good enough for the Lounge here) and a "Bookstore"/peep show. (There were ALWAYS people walking into each of these establishments, day and night - even when I come into town at 5 AM, there they are.) He felt that it would be doubtful that there would be a REAL investigation into this: that TPTB will pay off the victims quietly and "life goes on" - he was really upset about this. He said a few more incriminating things which I can't post because it would reveal who he is, and you just never know.
I reminded him of the parking garage collapse at the casino in Atlantic City, where the experienced concrete guys refulsed to work in the area where they felt that the structure was inadequately shored up during construction, i.e. no "return" walls, and almost all those hurt or killed were the apprentices and young workers. He had forgotten about that, it had been so many years ago.
It really is horrendous stuff, and RIGHT HERE in the downtown. We have literally thousands of buildings like this, and you just can assume that this will happen again and again. Very sad.
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