Railjunkie wrote: ↑Wed Aug 17, 2022 11:52 pm
Nah, I will save you the trouble. The only thing done to the building is the removal of loose impediments and a smoke stack. The south wall is still pulling away and trains are still rolling past at 15mph. I just went by the building last Friday and only noticed cosmetic changes. To lag the walls back together one would think you would need more than four hard hats and a couple of man lifts which is about the only equipment that was there during the shut down.
Apparently CSX and Amtrak think the risk of
a taller smokestack plus the knock-on effect of a wall falling down was much greater than
the entire wall falling down, so is willing to slap a slow-order on the track once the stack was down. It's still going to suck hard if the timing is
juuuust right.
To a person outside looking in... the risk of both still feels too great to risk an accident and impending lawsuits. Yeah, the stacks were like 99% likely to fall down if someone looked at them funny (and there were a lot of people doing that), but the building's at a, what, 80% chance of falling down without remediation?
Could everyone sigh a breath of relief if the building was just plain-old demolished? Sure! Going to happen soon?
Not this year, if this latest TimesUnion article is accurate. In summary, the owner (Evan Blum) has until:
- Sept 16th to "all roof, windows and doors weathertight; seal the exposed concrete along the upper southeast corner of the building; remove all combustible materials and graffiti and register the building as a vacant building."
- Oct 18th to hire an engineer and perform a structural condition assessment to be submitted by Dec 18th.
- Nov 18th to install safety netting along the eastern and southern walls to restrain any further debris falling off.
The second deadline is interesting because Blum has cast doubt that the repairs ordered by the city are needed. So the city's saying "Okay, get your engineer out there and have him say what's needed to be repaired." Or, in other words, "put up or shut up."
Given Blum's history... I think it'll go to the courts and they're going to say to him "Nope, you owe big time."