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Surfside official told residents building was safe, despite engineer's warning
11–20 of 83 posts
Re: Surfside official told residents building was safe, despite engineer's warning
#12I have no idea how these things work - so I'd really like some data on what percent of reports come back with similar warnings? Was this like the only building in the city to have such a bad report? Or do a sizable amount of buildings get warnings like this?
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Re: Surfside official told residents building was safe, despite engineer's warning
#13I have no idea how these things work - so I'd really like some data on what percent of reports come back with similar warnings? Was this like the only building in the city to have such a bad report? Or do a sizable amount of buildings get warnings like this?
Public records requests might get us this first info. It's probably not the only one to get such a report. I'm sure those have already been filed with the state if they exist, we'll see a fancy visualization from a major newspaper.
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Re: Surfside official told residents building was safe, despite engineer's warning
#14Re: Surfside official told residents building was safe, despite engineer's warning
#15Earlier quoted context omitted.
This was an independent report done on behalf of the condominium by an engineering firm they chose to do the report.
That does not contradict at all what I said. Why the downvote? Also, have you read the report?
>Also, have you read the report?
Yes, it's publicly available and even linked to in this thread.
Re: Surfside official told residents building was safe, despite engineer's warning
#16Earlier quoted context omitted.
That does not contradict at all what I said. Why the downvote? Also, have you read the report?
>Also, have you read the report? Yes, it's publicly available and even linked to in this thread.
That’s why I asked. I just read it myself and it doesn’t say that a catastrophe is imminent. It looks relatively mundane.
Re: Surfside official told residents building was safe, despite engineer's warning
#17I'm sure every day in the US there are many, many reports of structures with damage that needs to be fixed immediately (my house was one of them). Almost all of them don't collapse. Obviously there is a problem with the credibility of the reports because of conflicting incentives. Inspectors are usually from construction companies who want to get work, so they will always find something wrong with a building. Edit: I…
That could be a bad assumption. In some circumstances, inspectors with ties to construction companies may have incentives to add to the sales funnel, but I believe, anecdotally, that inspection companies tend to have no ties with construction companies to avoid the optics of exactly what you are describing.
Anyone that's ever gone to a mechanic knows getting inspection come from the place that's supposed to do the work is a crap shoot.
Re: Surfside official told residents building was safe, despite engineer's warning
#18I have no idea how these things work - so I'd really like some data on what percent of reports come back with similar warnings? Was this like the only building in the city to have such a bad report? Or do a sizable amount of buildings get warnings like this?
A lot of buildings have similar warnings but since they don’t collapse typically they will be ignored.
The millennium tower in SF for instance, has been sinking and tilting for years, could probably just suddenly collapse one day not unlike this building in Surfside. The carnage would be immense though, as it is a massive building.
At the end of the day, if you want full peace of mind you need to live in your own detached home and be aware of your own buildings issues and correct them.
Re: Surfside official told residents building was safe, despite engineer's warning
#19Having read the report, I am stopping my monthly contributions to NPR.
This is straight up quote mining as far as I'm concerned. Nothing in the report would lead me to believe the structure was in imminent danger if I were a resident / board member / inspector etc.
This is trash journalism.
Edit: I would like to note the following for people following this story:
The report author has stated:
“among other things, our report detailed significant cracks and breaks in the concrete, which required repairs to ensure the safety of the residents and the public.” [1]
However, such language about 'safety of the residents' is not present in his report. It has further been reported that the report author did not make such disclosures to residents at a condo board meeting.
"Not once did Morabito share with us any sense of urgency, at least not the residents," Alvarez said, who lived on the 10th floor. "He never said the building was falling apart. He said the repairs were to bring the building up to today's standards of beauty." [2]
1. https://www.msn.com/en-us/news/us/surfside-condos-neighbors-...
2. https://www.msn.com/en-us/news/us/surfside-official-was-sent...
Re: Surfside official told residents building was safe, despite engineer's warning
#20Earlier quoted context omitted.
This was an independent report done on behalf of the condominium by an engineering firm they chose to do the report.
That does not contradict at all what I said. Why the downvote? Also, have you read the report?
The report is signed and stamped by the principal PE (professional engineer) not a construction company. These PEs are licensed by the state.
It’s linked in the thread and is very readable.
The report is rather matter of fact and lays out on page 7 what the problem was and what needs to happen to fix. This was 2018. Because a lot is unknowable these reports don’t tend to give a timeline for structural failure, but it does give some serious warnings.