Thread by @MarketUrbanism

It’s amazing how America has some of the strictest fire rules in the world when it comes to construction, but then nobody from the city ever checks to make sure you’ve even got a smoke detector. Seems like possibly lower hanging fruit

https://twitter.com/NYCFireWire/status/1387529991257305095

When I was co-op board president we tried to inspect units once a year to make sure they were working (since, like most buildings in the city, it didn’t have sprinklers and god knows what was going on inside the walls with the wiring), but we couldn’t legally make tenants open up

In new buildings, you’ve got sprinklers and fire-rated double stairs and electrical that’s likely up to code and hardwired smoke alarms. And if you try to suggest that sprinklers or double stairs in masonry/steel buildings might be overkill, people act like you’re a monster

But somehow with older buildings with none of that – in a city where preserving these older buildings is the top land use priority!! – it’s just like uhhh well they’re grandfathered in and tenants have rights so what’re you gonna do 🤷‍♂️