13 Investigates the history of complaints against a dilapidated building after one of its walls came crashing down into residential yards during the May storm.
As he looked outside the backdoor window of his home, Jamey Moore watched the May 16 storm roll into Houston.
"Everything dramatic like that feels like slow motion, but, I mean, in reality, it probably was, like, five seconds. It kind of fell like dominoes. The top bricks came down first, and then it kind of just almost like a wave," he said. But, the city started demolishing the building last week after 13 Investigates began digging into the vacant property's history of complaints dating back to 2010.
That complaint was closed during a follow-up inspection a month later because the landscaping was maintained and "secured from unauthorized use.
Houston City Council Member Mario Castillo said he used to live near this vacant building. He remembers the roof collapsing when he moved to the neighborhood in July 2019. "When you have three city departments involved - Neighborhoods, Public Works, and Legal - it creates opportunities for things like this to slip through the cracks for the ball to be dropped, and I think that's why we see such a struggle with getting these buildings either demolished or made safe because there's so many folks involved," Castillo said. "Some department is doing this, some department is doing that.
Houston Building Code Violation Demolished Building Houston Department Of Neighborhoods Houston Public Works Department Uninsured Property Owner 13 Investigates 14940767
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