The Philadelphia Weekly’s Tara Murtha has taken a thorough look at the aftermath of the Windermere fire for today’s paper. The piece, “Burning Questions in West Philly Apartment Complex Fire,” fleshes out all the parties in this tragic story – from the residents protesting for access, to the owners’ PR agent to a spokesman for the Mayor’s Office. The story also introduces us to a little known city agency that seems to share in some of the responsibility – Philadelphia’s County Animal Rescue Team (PHL-CART).
Many of us have been following this story for more than a month. Murtha’s piece is a must-read for a look behind the emotions and blame to see what a breakdown in communication between a city government, its residents and private enterprise looks like.
February 23rd, 2011 at 9:30 pm
Actually, Philly CART is an all-volunteer nonprofit group that is overseen by Samantha Phillips at the Office of Emergency Management and a state employee who oversees PA SART (State Animal Response Team). It’s an odd public-private arrangement, and the volunteers really aren’t to blame here–they signed up to help, not to get bogged down in this bureaucratic mess. Ultimately, OEM is the agency we should be putting under the microscope.
February 24th, 2011 at 9:34 am
Thanks for clearing that up Lou. Sounds like a good example of what happens when good intentions run into a bureaucratic machine.