Brown acts on balcony tragedy
Governor signs bill targeting construction that led to collapse
SACRAMENTO — Gov. Jerry Brown on Thursday signed legislation inspired by last year’s deadly Berkeley balcony collapse that seeks to prevent another tragedy by requiring the state to study the problem of inferior construction.
Senate Bill 465, authored by Sens. Loni Hancock, D-Berkeley, and Jerry Hill, D-San Mateo, would require the Contractors State License Board and the Building Standards Commission to research how to protect the public from negligent contractors and report back to the Legislature by 2018 with recommendations.
Early in the morning of Jan. 16, 2015, the fifth-floor balcony at the Library Gardens apartment complex on Kittredge Street collapsed, killing Olivia Burke, Eimear Walsh, Eoghan Culligan, Niccolai Schuster and Lorcán Miller, all 21 and from Ireland, and Ashley Dono- hoe, 22, of Rohnert Park; Donohoe and Burke were cousins.
“This bill is an important step toward preventing another tragedy,” Brown said in a news release. The new law will take effect Jan. 1.
The lead firm that built Library Gardens, Segue Construction Inc., of Pleasanton, had paid more than $25 million in construction defect-related settlements in the three years before the tragedy. Yet the Contractors’ State License Board apparently did not know about the settlements, which involved water infiltration problems.
“The new law provides the Contractors State License Board with the tools to take action against bad actors in the construction industry,” Hill said in a statement. “My colleagues in the Legislature and I are deeply grateful to Jackie Donohoe, Ashley’s mother, and Aoife Beary and her mother, Angela, for their testimony on behalf of SB 465 and their courage in sharing how their families’ and friends’ lives have been forever changed by a preventable construction failure.”
Berkeley officials who in- spected the site later on the day of the accident found the cantilevered joists of the balcony completely shorn off about 16 to 20 inches from the exterior building face, with a torn waterproofing membrane hanging over the joist ends. The deck joist ends protruding from the exterior wall appeared to be severely dry-rotted, according to a subsequent city report.
Hancock, in a statement, said:
“It is my fervent hope that this measure brings at least some comfort to the families of the young people killed when this balcony collapsed. Perhaps knowing that this law will help prevent similar tragedies for other families will ease their pain.”
But Carrie Olson, a former member of Berkeley’s Design Review Committee, said the bill signed Thursday does little to remedy a true failing.
“Yes, construction companies do shoddy work and cut corners,” Olson said in an email Thursday. “But isn’t that why we have inspections?
“Shouldn’t the city have been prepared then to make sure a balcony built five sto- ries off the ground was built to never fail?” Olson continued.
“I believe it (the bill) sweeps the responsibility of the city to oversee construction at each critical step under the rug,” Olson said, adding, “It is wrong of us to turn our heads and pretend this law will make sure tragedy does not happen again.”
Joe McHugh, minister of state for Ireland’s Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade, who traveled from Dublin to attend the signing, said, in a statement:
“I would like to express my sincere thanks to all those involved in the signing of this very important bill, which is aimed at ensuring more robust building standards in an effort to ensure that the tragic balcony collapse which occurred last year will never happen again,” said, adding: “In particular, I deeply commend the selfless courage of the families of those injured or those who lost lives in the passionate pursuit of this outcome today.”
Ashley Donohoe’s parents, Jackie and George Donohoe, Ashley’s younger sister Amanda, and Olivia Burke’s uncle, Dermot Burke, attended Thursday’s signing ceremony in Sacramento, according to Hill’s office. Also present at the signing were Ireland’s consul general in San Francisco, Philip Grant; and Celine Kennelly, president of the Irish Immigration Pastoral Center in San Francisco.