enrique norten south beach safety questioned

8/12/2019 Enrique Norten South Beach Safety Questioned

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MIAMI MIRROR – TRUE REFLECTIONS

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Foreman with helmet in hand & workmen ducking as debris falls from 321 Ocean Enrique Norten project

IS ENRIQUE NORTEN’S SOUTH BEACH PROJECT SAFE?

On Ducking the Construction Debris

17 July 2014

By David Arthur WaltersMIAMI MIRROR

Miami Beach —I was fortunate to escape injury from falling construction debris during myphotographic survey of the beachfront stretch of four blocks along Ocean Drive that the localreal estate elite’s political bureau spot zoned for the benefit of the developers and owners ofthe so-called 321 Ocean Enrique Norten development at 321 Ocean Drive.




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I had entered the pedestrian detour in front of the project only to find myself nearly trapped atthe other end, which was barely wide enough to squeeze through sideways. As I was doing that,debris started falling on my head. I was alarmed, as I immediately recalled the day I was walkingto work in New York City and a person was decapitated in front of me by a piece of sheet metal

flying from a skyscraper under construction —since then, nets have been required to catchfalling debris.

I squeezed through the narrow passage, and took a photo of several workmen ducking as thedebris fell on their hardhats. The foreman himself did not have his hardhat on, an apparentOSHA violation. I noticed a Coastal Construction sign above them on the building. The wordingwas illegible from the distance, something to do with safety. I could not make out a licensenumber as required by state law for advertising, and figured the sign itself was not permitted bythe city Planning Department.

Indeed, it was several unpermitted signs erected onsite in the past, including “321 OceanEnrique Norten” and “Coastal – Coast Condominiums,” that had caused me to take a keen

interest in the project in accord with my Broken Signage Law Theory, that wherev er the city’s

signage laws are scoffed at with impunity because they are not proactive enforced by the policepower, more serious violations, endangering the public health and safety, will more likely befound. The ‘321 Ocean Enrique Norten” sign did not even bear a registered architect’s number

as required by state law. A lawyer who handles regulation of architects said Enrique Norten, a




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so-called starchitect from New York and Mexico who is lauded by the local power elite, is notregistered in Florida. Nonetheless he is advertised as the “designer ” i.e. the master architect ofthis and other major local developments.

The 321 project was initially “phased permitted,” under a program recently introduced in a

modified form by the new city manager and his building official. Phased permitting normallyallows construction to proceed on very large projects in several defined phases without firstobtaining a comprehensive master permit for a whole project. In Miami Beach, it appears thatthere is only one phase per project for the whole project; the projects, although they may beconsiderable in size, are nowhere near the size of phased permitted projects throughout thenation, such as dams, gas transportation pipes, railroads, large waste disposal facilities, and soon. Normally, phased permitting is not used for small projects because it can be costly andsubject to delays from one phase to the next.

The City of Miami Beach requires that phase permitted projects be inspected by privateinspectors, and that it be held harmless for defects in construction that might result in damage,injury and death.

In fine, phased permitting is a confession of incompetence by City of Miami Beach officials whowish to boost real estate development.

The debris falling on my head brought all that to mind again, particularly the private inspectionsand lack of governmental liability for damage, death and injury. The practice of allowing privateinspection companies hired by developer/owners to substitute for government inspectors has

been widely criticized for the inherent conflict of interest private inspectors have when theirpay depends upon pleasing their masters. Of course they could lose their licenses formisconduct and negligence; that is, if only the police power was competent. But it is notcompetent. Everyone knows that the whole nation is in trouble, not because there are notenough laws, but because many laws go unenforced, or are randomly or selectively enforced.

Quality control studies in several localities have demonstrated that the inherent conflict ofinterest of private inspection companies has indeed resulted in inferior quality construction ascompared to construction inspected throughout by government inspectors. Such a qualitycontrol study should be done for the City of Miami Beach, provided it is a truly independentstudy, which a sorry history of outside audits by meretricious professionals makes highlyunlikely.

In any event, private inspections are supposed to be under the supervision, so to speak, ofpublic inspectors, meaning that the building official for the City of Miami Beach should be

enrique norten south beach safety questioned

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