-
Dec10
Lexington’s Government Plays Russian Roulette with Students’ Lives
5 CommentsPosted December 10th, 2009 7:29 am
Pigs in the Parlor as always calls it right on Lexington’s refusal to protect its students from deathtraps.Evidently the Lexington-Fayette Urban County Government is willing to gamble that no students will actually die from the government’s conduct, or at least hopefully they won’t die before next year’s elections.
From the story, which is worth reading in its entirety by clicking here:
Seven lucky Transylvania University students cheated death early this morning when they awoke to find that their illegal North Broadway boarding house was on the verge of bursting into flames. They escaped unharmed. After it was inspected by Code Enforcement, the structure they were living in was condemned.
Check out this morning’s Herald-Leader story, and pay particular attention to the fact that this beautiful old (circa 1900) 3-story brick-facade house also apparently had no primary source of heat—these kids were using space heaters to keep warm. Space heaters! Think about that. I’ll come back to it in a minute.
Fortunately, this morning’s extra-curricular activity didn’t result in any fatalities—but if the only thing that will bring this community to its senses is a fatality or two (or seven in this case)—just be patient.
5 Responses to “Lexington’s Government Plays Russian Roulette with Students’ Lives”
-
Jon Marsh December 11th, 2009 at 8:51 am
The LFUCG need take total reponsibility for lack of interest towards public safety in this case. The recommendation they made that a “voluntary property inspection program” be implemented is at best total ignorance. Code enforcement should require annual inspections of dorm style rental housing.Whatsmore, Minimal standards should be placed on the rental units requiring smoke alarms, carbon monoxide alarms, and fire extinguisher placement. Construction or remodeling building permits should require the installation of fire sprinkler systems no if an’s or but’s about it. LFUCG officials whether elected or appointed need to look outside the box they have their heads in. If anyone had died in this home as a result of fire, imagine the enormous pain and loss the families of those who lived in the house would be enduring, imagine the risk you submit Lexington firefighters to in these uninspected landlord delights, and look at what the cost would be to the city…It would have been in the millions,and millions if a life or lives were lost or if a firefighter was injured or worse-killed because of public officials complacency and ignorance of what public safety is all about.
-
Jon, I don’t know if you ever read “All The King’s Men”, by Robert Penn Warren. It of course was loosely based on Huey Long of Louisiana, but it also said a lot about Kentucky politics. In that story, a school that was built with cheaper materials was audited. The auditor found the danger, identified it, but nothing happened. Until 3 children died when the stairwell collapsed.
I am convinced there will be a catastrophic loss of life soon, and even then I’m not sure if the city’s leadership will respond with any protection.
-
Blue Bluegrass » Blog Archive » Lexington Fire Station Closures Endangering the Public December 21st, 2009 at 6:00 am
[...] willing to endanger all citizens near the fire stations that have had temporary closures adopted. Two weeks ago, when their substandard rental housing heated by space heaters caught fire, the first responders on the scene were from Lexington’s Fourth Street Fire Station—one [...]
-
Blue Bluegrass » Blog Archive » Would Anyone Like for A Fraternity to Move In Next Door? February 18th, 2010 at 6:08 am
[...] Of course not. Yet that’s exactly the nightmare of some wonderful established residential neighborhoods with adjacent properties being turned into 9-bedroom fraternity boarding houses near the University of Kentucky. These are the same sort of deathtraps that frequently are heated by space heaters, waiting to burst into flames fr… [...]
-
Blue Bluegrass » Blog Archive » Important Business in Lexington’s Urban County Council: Stopping the Destruction of Neighborhoods by Student Housing Slumlords March 9th, 2010 at 6:01 am
[...] It was just in December that seven Lexington students cheated death in a slumlord firetrap. As was pointed out at the time, evidently the Lexington-Fayette Urban County Government is willing to gamble that no students will actually die from the government’s conduct, or at least hopefully they won’t die before next year’s elections. [...]
Recent Comments