Let's get buildings back into shape

To the editor:

I recommend the following to lower the risk of future events like the recent Florida building collapse: Communities in the south and the west must adopt and strongly enforce up-to-date codes for building construction and maintenance.

These codes must take into account not only traditional engineering standards, but also the possibility of a terrorist attack — as occurred on Sept, 11, 2001 — and the potential environmental threats from warming, like loss of water supplies, and flooding — especially from storms and hurricanes, which are on the rise in frequency and intensity.

Remember, it turned out that the World Trade Center was not as structurally protected from collapse by airplane impact as the much older Empire State Building.

Also, we don’t need more master builders like Robert Moses or the Trump family who neglect public interest in favor of higher profit.

Donald Trump told a community planning board meeting in New York City once that he loved to build in Houston because there were no building codes.

But the result of that absence was that Houston got so covered in concrete that water from a hurricane had no way to drain into the soil, so the whole city flooded during one.

Another element we need is a construction labor force that has the bar power to stand up to management on issues of public safety and their own, and the education to recognize and stop dangerous methods.

In the parts of the United States I referred to, almost all the labor is non-union, poorly educated, subject to deportation threats, and fearful of upsetting the boss with safety complaints. The construction industry needs to return to union labor — without the nepotism or unlawful discrimination that sometimes plagued the past — for the sake of not only construction workers, but also society at large.

Alan Saks

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