Morning Headlines: Strawberry Mansion Building Collapse Leaves One Injured
Last summer’s building collapse at 22nd and Market.
An operational database of L&I complaints/incidents will be up and running by late 2015 — hopefully. Until then, building complaints and collapse incidents get public notice only in news accounts, like those about the building collapse in Strawberry Mansion on Monday.
The Daily News’ William Bender estimates it’s the fifth collapse in the past month. The building, which was cleaned and sealed by L & I in 2006, had been reported several times by local resident Mary Felder to no avail.
At 9:00pm on Monday, Pele Lewis was standing on the corner of Myrtlewood and Oakdale when debris from the structure’s sudden disintegration hit him on the shoulder. Lewis, who was taken to Temple University Hospital, was quoted as saying: “The whole jawn came down.”
From the Daily News:
[The intersection] is a gathering place for neighborhood residents. Yesterday, children were playing football there.
“The kids were playing there two hours before it collapsed,” Felder said. “It could have been much worse.”
The falling debris from the collapse also smashed a car on the block.
As for Lewis’ injury? L&I Spokeswoman Rebecca Swanson maintains the department never received injury reports related to the collapse.
• Another building collapse: ‘The whole jawn came down’ [Daily News]
Meanwhile, in news elsewhere…
• Want to play Tetris on a skyscraper? [Philadelphia Business Journal]
• Inquirer Editorial: License to neglect [Inquirer]
• Pathan Chemical site redevelopment set to begin soon [Northeast Times]
• Final sentencing held in $14M mortgage fraud [Philly.com]
• Part of a Point Breeze Parking Lot Turning Into a Home [Naked Philly]
• One take on Philadelphia neighborhoods [Philly.com Real Estate]
