North Philly sounded the alarm over demolition practices

VALERIE RUSS, Daily News Staff Writer russv@phillynews.com, 215-854-5987 Posted: Saturday, June 8, 2013, 3:01 AM

THREE WEEKS before Wednesday's fatal demolition in Center City, Evelyn Gray said she argued with an inspector from the city's Department of Licenses and Inspections about a demolition next door to her North Philadelphia business.

She said workers were tearing down a building on Cecil B. Moore Avenue near 17th Street when the L&I inspector came by.

"I said, 'Shouldn't they have a [water] hose to keep the dust down? And the bricks are falling down into the gates. They could fall and hit somebody.'

"And he said, 'They are doing the right thing. They have the permit papers posted and a fence around the site.' "

She told him: " 'You are going to tell me that this is up to par, with this guy sitting on a brick wall, straddling it without wearing a hard hat, and using a hammer to knock out the bricks on the same wall he's sitting on?"

"I asked him, 'Why don't they have to use a water hose to keep the dust down?'

"And he said, 'That's the way they take down houses now.' "

North Philadelphians have been raising these types of concerns at an increasing rate in recent years as the area has become more attractive to Temple University students.

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North Philly sounded the alarm over demolition practices