Lindsay Has Not Complied With Building Safety Orders

Los Angeles Councilman Gilbert Lindsay is among a minority of owners of older buildings in the city who have failed to comply with earthquake safety orders, The Times has learned.

As city officials stress earthquake safety in the aftermath of last week’s temblor, city records show that the powerful Central City-South Central councilman failed to meet a deadline last month to submit plans for demolishing or reinforcing a brick commercial building he owns in South-Central Los Angeles.

Lindsay’s building, one of about 1,500 in the delinquent category, is a small single-story, storefront building on Central Avenue in southern end of the councilman’s district. It bears a fading sign from past campaigns identifying it as the reelection headquarters for Mayor Tom Bradley and Lindsay.

D. C. Davis rents living space in the rear building, and one storefront operates as a second-hand store. Davis said in an interview that there was no damage to the building from the earthquake Thursday.

Although Lindsay has not been cited, Donald Hubka, a senior city building inspector, said failure to meet the deadlines--or receive approval for extensions--for any building that is occupied is a violation of the city’s seismic safety ordinance. The ordinance was adopted in 1981 to reduce the risk of deaths and injuries in a major earthquake. Because Lindsay has not contacted the city inspectors, Hubka said, the councilman is “in violation.”

Because of a work backlog in the Building and Safety Department’s earthquake safety unit, notices of violations are not sent to delinquent property owners immediately, Hubka said. Violators “are in the process of being cited,” he said.

Lindsay said he did not file the required plans with the city because he has been too busy and he has not decided whether to tear down or sell the building.

“I’m not ready to make up my mind yet,” he said. “It’s legal for Building and Safety to extend me all the time I need, when I finally come to a conclusion of what I want to do. I always aim to comply with the laws of my state. I help make the laws.”

His chief deputy, Robert Gay, said that while Lindsay might be in technical violation of the law, he could not be considered in actual violation until he is notified that the deadline has passed. “If you don’t (renew) a DMV license on time, you still have an option of going down and paying a late fee and taking care of it. . . ,” he said. “When he gets the (delinquent) notice, I’m sure he’ll comply.”

Records show Lindsay was ordered by certified mail last December to comply with the city’s earthquake safety law, which requires potentially hazardous, unreinforced buildings to be torn down, vacated or brought up to code. That city law was strengthened and its implementation accelerated after the devastating Mexico City earthquake of 1985.

Lindsay had until Sept. 13 to file a structural analysis of the building and plans to demolish it or bring it into compliance with city codes. The actual demolition or construction work does not have to be completed until 1989, but the law sets deadlines for building owners to make gradual progress toward compliance.

Councilman Hal Bernson, who authored the city’s major earthquake safety ordinances, said the intent of the council was that the various deadlines for compliance be met. “The intent was to get these buildings strengthened to protect the citizens as quickly as possible,” Bernson said.

Hubka said each of the series of compliance dates given to property owners is considered a legal deadline. At this point, the owners of most of the more than 7,000 potentially hazardous buildings are in compliance with the deadlines, he said.

While about half of the affected structures are behind schedule, most of those have filed for and obtained deadline extensions, he said.

Lindsay’s failure to meet the earthquake safety deadline is the second instance in recent weeks raising questions about his diligence in complying with the law.

The Times reported last month that, at the request of the Los Angeles city attorney’s office, the state Fair Political Practices Commission is reviewing one of Lindsay’s campaign fund-raising committees for possible violations of state reporting laws.

Numerous inaccuracies and omissions in reports filed by Lindsay have made it impossible to determine from the public record how more than $300,000 passed through a committee controlled by the councilman, The Times reported.