Philadelphia’s City Controller is calling on Mayor Nutter to fire the head of the city’s Licenses and Inspections as part of his new report.
“First and foremost, Mayor Nutter should immediately appoint new leadership at L&I,” said City Controller Alan Butkovitz. “Illegal demolitions, non-permitted construction and excessive overtime cannot continue when life safety is a daily mission. The Mayor has the opportunity to take action today and improve safety before the end of his Administration.”
Butkovitz says he sent a list of 100 dangerous properties to L&I Commissioner Carlton Williams seven months ago. While Butkovitz says action has been taken to demolish some of those properties, he also claims there are buildings in the city that are “now in worse condition and on the verge of collapsing.”
Butkovitz also called on L&I to eliminate dangerous and unsafe buildings as part of his 10-step action plan for reform. His other steps include the following:
- All inspectors need to be certified
- All inspection reports need to contain adequate documentation of work completed
- Inspectors need to be rotated on a regular basis
- Overtime needs to be monitored and approved by appropriate supervisors
- Only fully certified inspectors should have access to update internal inspection records
- Internal divisions and assignments need to meet the overall mission of L&I
- Specific neighborhoods that have the most dangerous, vacant properties need to be targeted
- L&I needs to conduct probationary performance reports for all newly hired civil service employees
“Hundreds of imminently dangerous homes across our city are only one-brick-away from crumbling to the ground,” Butkovitz said. “Enough is enough. With life safety at stake, there is no time to delay, for even another day, any of these action steps."
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Williams told NBC10 he’s not stepping down and called Butkovitz’s report faulty.
“There’s a lot of Monday morning quarterbacking you have to deal with,” Williams said.
Williams claims there’s been a sharp decrease in the number of dangerous buildings in the city. He also provided a chart which he says supports those claims.
“It’s decreased by more than half over the last three years,” Williams said.
Mayor Nutter also responded to Butkovitz’s report calling it a personal crusade against Commissioner Williams. He also said Williams would remain the head of L&I.
“We’re not going to get distracted by that kind of nonsense or ego or narcissistic personality disorder that seems to compel the need for constant public attention,” Nutter said.
Butkovitz later responded to Nutter’s comments.
“That’s a lie,” Butkovitz said. “This is about a life and safety issue. How can the mayor say that’s a personal vendetta? My God that’s a sin! That’s a sin for him to say that!"
Butkovitz claims his report highlights real public safety issues that haven’t been addressed two years after the deadly Market Street building collapse.
“I thought he was sincere,” Butkovitz said. “I thought he had a real empathy for the victims. I am absolutely befuddled why he doesn’t want to do this.”
Nutter says extensive changes have been made however and that the city has invested four million dollars in new equipment and software for building safety.
