Comments | blackorchid1: News at 11

blackorchid1

News at 11

Mar 15, 2006 17:30

Okay, not really news, just random updating. And not really at 11. At 5:30pm. Oh, never mind about that subject line then.

Tonight: Pie does phase 4 of the big project of doom. When she's done she's coming to my place to do more work on it with me. I will update web sites. Watch soon for the TOKink site to have complete schedule and workshop ( Read more... )

twbc, 9icb, tokink, work, friends, pietime

Comments 4

hwynym March 15 2006, 23:02:48 UTC

On a side note, three friends are temporarily homeless while the building next to them threatens to fall on the building in which they live. That is NOT pie. It's quite disruptive, in fact. But at least they're (relatively) safe staying with friends until they can go home.Is that due to construction, or is the building next door just falling apart ( ... )

blackorchid1 March 15 2006, 23:16:37 UTC

The people in question are living in what's basically a slum. The owner is waiting to sell them so they can be torn down and turned into fancy condos. The building next door had an application in to tear it down but the city didn't approve it. The wall caved in on Monday night, right next to the building my friends live in. The fire department has deemed their building unsafe in case the building next door collapses into it.

Here, there is no such law requiring people to cover the cost of moving, etc. They can sue for it, but it's not likely to be resolved in time. They were offered to stay at shelters. Not such a great option. They aren't allowed to go into the building because there is caution tape around it to show where it's unsafe. Again... not great.

So maybe the owner of the building *should* be responsible for costs, but here he's not legally obligated to do so.

hwynym March 16 2006, 03:59:23 UTC

I see - well, there's no *law* here, except that the builders were in violation of the building code (these were the fancy condos going up AFTER the tear-down of the other buildings...) because they were doing things that they were told NOT to do - which caused the damage to the adjacent buildings.

So, the city came down hard on them. They could have appealed, but they knew they'd lose more that way, so they put everybody up in hotels and paid for their violation in so many ways.

Your friends probably could take the owner of the adjacent building to court on their own, but it IS a time and money drain to do that...sometimes it's better to pick one's battles.

blackorchid1 March 16 2006, 04:01:34 UTC

Yes, especially since the owner of the adjacent building is the same as the owner of theirs.