One of the key jobs of any city government is to promote public
safety
– that’s why we trade some of our property rights for the
greater good of building codes, zoning restrictions and building
easements. Public safety is why we have traffic lights, stop signs,
speed limits, crosswalks and parking restrictions.
One of the key jobs of any city government is to promote public safety – that’s why we trade some of our property rights for the greater good of building codes, zoning restrictions and building easements. Public safety is why we have traffic lights, stop signs, speed limits, crosswalks and parking restrictions.
But we’re stunned by city officials’ willingness to ignore the glaring public safety risk posed by unreinforced masonry buildings.
“Certainly there was a tragedy in Paso Robles, but the magnitude of the tragedy was far less than the one in Iran,” Gilroy Fire Marshal Jackie Bretschneider told reporter Peter Crowley.
Bretschneider was echoed by Gilroy Building Department head Jim Fruit, who told Crowley, “Granted, there are buildings (here) that pose dangers, but those dangers are a whole lot less dangerous than in the rest of the world.”
It’s a mistake – a potentially fatal one – to look at the rubble and ruin in Bam, Iran and feel comfortable. It’s much more appropriate to look at the death and destruction in Paso Robles and be alarmed about downtown Gilroy.
What’s the point of requiring owners of unreinforced masonry buildings – the most likely to crumble during a big temblor – to report them to the city without also requiring them to make buildings meet earthquake safety standards established 30 years ago? We can’t find one, but that’s the current policy of the city of Gilroy.
The city wouldn’t ignore a building with faulty wiring, improper plumbing, inferior framing, insufficient parking spaces or even one lacking necessary permits. But it’s willing to turn a blind eye to unreinforced masonry buildings simply because they’re expensive to fix.
It’s expensive to pull permits, to build facilities to code and to comply with zoning laws, but all of them are quite rightly required.
It’s long past time that all commercial buildings in Gilroy be required to meet the state earthquake standards established three decades ago.
We’re incredibly lucky that we haven’t been shaken by an earthquake that’s injured or killed anyone by falling masonry.
Let’s heed the warning the Paso Robles quake issued: Retrofit all unreinforced masonry buildings, before someone pays for the oversight with a lost limb, or worse, a lost life.
