Yet Another Rowhome in Philadelphia Collapses; Owner Had Racked Up L&I Violations
The Daily News’ William Bender is back on the house collapse beat in Tuesday’s Daily News, reporting on a house collapse at 61st Street and Glenmore Avenue in Southwest Philly. One home collapsed Sunday night, displacing five. L&I inspected the block, and deemed 16 more homes unsafe.
Fortunately, no one was hurt in the collapse. Unfortunately, it’s not going to be easy to find the owner:
The Glenmore Avenue rowhouse that collapsed Sunday night had received dozens of L&I violations dating back to 2006. Mulderig said L&I had not been able to reach the owner yesterday.
“The owner happens to be an LLC that only has a P.O. box,” he said. “That makes it very difficult for us.”
The houses on one side of Glenmore back up to the train tracks, so neighbors theorize Amtrak trains have causes damage to the houses. But it’s an ongoing problem with Philadelphia’s aging housing stock — as Bender reported back in March, L&I does not even know how many buildings have collapsed in Philadelphia.
