Los Angeles council expected to pass costly natural disaster rules

A new bill has been passed by the Los Angeles City Council that will prompt a series of retrofits upgrades to buildings that are vulnerable to collapse in an natural disaster.

An additional 1,500 brittle concrete buildings are also on the list to be improved, authorities explained. “If this passes, well be saying, nobody died in this natural disaster because of the action the council took.”.

Gross is anxious renters will shoulder significant costs from the retrofits.

“I think we’re doing better than San Francisco”, Councilmember Gil Cedillo.

The law did not address how upgrades are to be paid for. One proposal is to divide the costs 50-50 and cap possible monthly rent increases at $38. The Department of Building and Safety will tell owners if their building needs to be retrofitted.

Los Angeles Mayor Eric Garcetti holds a model joint of an earthquake-resistant ductile iron pipe during a January 16, 2015, media event in Northridge. A plan organized by the mayor in December focuses on strengthening major water systems, ensuring telecommunications systems will be able to function after a quake, as well as identifying and retrofitting weak buildings. Taller concrete buildings can cost millions of dollars to strengthen. Owners of soft-story buildings would have up to seven years to comply with the mandate, while owners of the concrete buildings would have up to 25 years.

Studies estimate that a massive natural disaster in the Los Angeles area could kill up to 18,000 people and cause a few $250 billion in damage.

U.S. Geological Survey seismologist Lucy Jones, the mayor’s quake science adviser who was a consultant for the council, was on hand for the vote.

“Imagine it happening in the middle of the day”, Englander said. “Today we had that opportunity”.