Far From Florida, Mayors Fear Prospect of a Collapse in Their Own Cities

Some places are weighing new inspection requirements for aging structures, while others are focused on enforcing existing rules.

KANSAS CITY, Mo. — When it rains outside in Kansas City, Mo., it also rains inside the rickety underground garage at City Hall, where parking spaces for the mayor and city manager sit below rebar and crumbled concrete that musty storm water can easily seep through. The garage’s decay had long been obvious to Kansas City leaders. After all, they park there. But fixing it had not been an urgent priority until nearly 100 people died last month in the collapse of a condominium building in Surfside, Fla. Since then, the pedestrian plaza above the publicly owned City Hall garage has been fenced off, dozens of municipal workers have been told they must soon park elsewhere and officials have discussed how to identify and fix other decrepit structures in the city. Across the country, local officials have looked nervously to their own skylines and wondered whether a crisis might be looming. Since the tragedy in Florida, plans to step up inspections, enforce existing rules or crack down on problem properties have emerged in Los Angeles County, Washington, and Jersey City, N.J.