Inspectors hand out hundreds of violations after porch review

CHICAGO -- City inspectors have found hundreds of building violations since they fanned out into neighborhoods to inspect porches after last month's fatal collapse, city officials said.

Building inspectors have so far visited 683 properties to examine porch systems and other building elements such as electrical wiring, said Carrie Coughlin, a buildings department spokeswoman.

As of Wednesday, inspectors reported violations at 545 properties, with 230 -- or 42 percent -- of them serious enough to be referred to the city's Law Department for action in Housing Court, Coughlin said.

She said she didn't know the exact location of the properties or who owned them.

Another 261 properties with code violations were forwarded for an administrative hearing and 54 properties had minor violations, Coughlin said.

The city last week filed complaints on 15 properties owned by Phillip Pappas and LG Properties, who own and manage the apartment building where the porch collapsed June 29, killing 13 people, said Law Department spokeswoman Jennifer Hoyle.

At least 50 people -- mostly professionals in their 20s -- were standing on a porch at a weekend party when it gave way. The city has said the porch was constructed illegally, without a permit.

Since the incident, 726 residents have called the city's nonemergency line to complain about their porches.

City inspector general Alexander Vroustouris has urged reinspections of hundreds of buildings on the South Side, after accusing a building inspector of misrepresenting inspection reports.

Vroustouris said Boris Gurevich, 44, often punched in at work but then went home to relax or remodel his house. He ran errands, even visiting a museum, while getting paid, investigators discovered during an undercover surveillance between March and October 2002, Vroustouris said.

Former inspector fired

The city fired Gurevich in February, Vroustouris said.

"Since he was falsifying attendance records, he was also misrepresenting which buildings he was inspecting," Vroustouris said. Those buildings should be rechecked "to ensure the safety of citizens," he said.

Gurevich declined to comment when contacted Thursday by The Associated Press.

Cook County State's Attorney Richard Devine has charged Gurevich with felony theft for allegedly stealing thousands of dollars in a ghost-payrolling scheme for allegedly not working while getting paid.