Did DCRA fail in its oversight of collapsed condo construction

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The DCRA insists it investigated previous complaints on the site and found no violations.

WASHINGTON There are many questions about the city agency that is supposed to regulate the construction of buildings following the collapse of a condominium under construction on Kennedy Street in the northwest on Thursday afternoon.

A neighbor whose house was broken said the Department of Consumer and Regulatory Affairs (DCRA) had not done its job.

The workers boarded Friday at the home of Ed Constable and Madeline Caliendo. Ed told WUSA9 that he must have escaped from his house, next to the collapsed construction site, without his shoes.

The couple said they have been complaining to DCRA for years about what they say are unsafe conditions at the site.

“We’re furious. I guess we’re thankful that there is no one in the building and that there is no situation in Miami,” Caliendo said.

On Friday, the Moses family was on a pilgrimage to their broken home. It’s two doors down from collapsed condos.

“Tyra needs clothes … do you need clothes? I can go get them if I have to go through a window,” Melvina Moses told her mother.

The teams securing the building let them in to retrieve what little they could in the cupboards and the refrigerator. They do not know now if they will ever be able to back down.

“Every time I hear a big boom I’m scared. I have problems with that,” said Athena Moses, as her daughter and granddaughter loaded their car.

DCRA director Ernest Chrappah insisted at a press conference on Friday that the agency had investigated several complaints but found no prior trespassing in the property.

But Grandma Preston says Kennedy Street reminds her of her home. “Another,” she said, was the first thing she thought of when she heard about him.

Preston’s house is barely standing after she said DCRA allowed crews to renovate a row house next door to dig under her basement without a permit.

“How many people have to die before he says’ OK… enough?” She said.

“I’m not surprised. I’m absolutely pissed off. I want more than answers. I want change,” said Janeese Lewis George, a member of Ward 4 DC.

Mayor Muriel Bowser said the city is still trying to figure out what caused the Kennedy Street condos to collapse.

The only comment so far from developer Ralph Kennedy LLC is that he is relieved that his workers are surviving, that he will cooperate with the investigation, and has suggested that Thursday’s severe storm could be the cause of the destruction.

RELATED: Northeast DC Construction Project Collapse Damages Car, Home Porch

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