Long Beach : Quake Law Gets Responses on a Third of Targeted Sites

Nearly one year after a Long Beach earthquake ordinance targeted 600 old buildings for repair or demolition, more than two-thirds of the structures remain unsafe, a city engineer has reported.

“It was our goal to receive a definite answer on a plan of action for each building by January, 1991, but we didn’t get a really great response,” senior engineer Marek Chludzinski said.

With 437 of the 600 buildings still untouched, the City Council is seeking to issue bonds that would help property owners comply with the earthquake ordinance.

“I’m still after about 100 owners who have not responded to our notices. Some are hard to locate because we have old data, and we’ll have to do some investigating. We are pressuring people,” Chludzinski said.

The ordinance, considered one of the toughest in the state when it was introduced more than a year ago, was modified last July to be more in line with Los Angeles requirements, and now offers owners greater flexibility in repairing their buildings, Chludzinski said.