L&I Bribery Monument

Last week I blipped about the recent disaster at a building demolition site in Philadelphia. A Slavation Army Thrift Store was destoyed when the wall of the adjacent 4-story building collapsed in the wrong direction. Two employees and four customers died, thirteen were injured.

I'm going back to this because Ronald Wagenhoffer, the building inspector of the site has committed suicide. If you are interested, Read this article and take care to look at the faces of the victims. I was especially moved by the beaming face of 24-year old Anne Bryan, who was an art student at the Philadelphia Academy of the Fine Arts. PAFA is a very serious art school that's hard to get into.

As you'll see in this local news piece, the "B-word" --B for Bribery --is being avoided in the Media.

Everybody here knows that the inspectors from the city's Department of Licenses and Inspections (known as "L & I") take bribes.

Ronald Wagenhoffer was 52, a little younger than I am. He shot himself in the chest with a shotgun in his pickup truck on a quiet street. He left a full life because he was ashamed of himself. I respect his decision and I understand that one does not need to be a total sleaze-bag to find himself in the construction industry and a city job that has been all about bribery for centuries.

Today is Father's Day. I wish my Dad had the integrity that Ronald Wagenhoffer had, but he does not.