Inspect Your Porches

Because the City is admitting they aren't up to the job:

• Chicagoans were warned today to check their shaky porches and avoid overloading them — nearly six years after the Lincoln Park porch collapse that killed 13 young partygoers.

  Although City Hall is no longer conducting a blitzkrieg of inspections, Buildings Commissioner Richard Monocchio urged residents to protect themselves by visually inspecting porches and using them responsibly.

We're sure that every single property owner is going to run out and instantly be qualified to conduct porch inspections, then run to Home Depot and spend thousands of dollars in these economic times when everyone isn't spending money to address a problem that has existed since the structure was built. Illegally no doubt. And maybe three owners and two real estate flips ago.

So instead of actually hiring to perform the required inspections, the City is admitting they aren't going to do them. But the next time a half-assed porch comes down, you can bet Commissioner Monocchio is going to be there with a battalion of building inspectors (some of whom might actually be older than 17-years and not related to union bigwigs) writing up every damn violation they can find to generate revenue.

Safety takes a back seat to $$$. Still.