Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1929-06-08
Disregard Of Zoning Regulations.


the building inspectors ONCE has
emphasized the existence Of certain
faults in need of correction. Whether
the District ofrcials concerned knew OF
these faults and pointed them out to the
Investigators, or whether the investiga-
tors unearthed them and pointed them
out to the District officials, does not
make a great deal of difference. But as
the District of1cials and the bureau are
in agreement now as to the existence of
the conditions complained of there
should be united effort to find a
remedy.
The Bureau of Efficiency finds par
ticular fault with the administration of
the coming regulations, or that part Of
the regulations coming under the Office
Of the building inspector. Col. Och
mann. commenting on the report, states
that it is not surprising that cases are
discovered in which the Zoning regula-
tons are being violated. And it is not
surprising when one examines the Sys-
tenn in the District of ferreting out these
violations. There is no system. It Is
largely q hit-or-miss proposition.
For instance: There are ffty-two men
on the pay roll at the Office of the build
ing inspector. Ten Of these are field in
spectors on general inspection work by
districts throughout the city. There are
five. elevator inspectors and one fire
escape inspector. There is one super
visor, and the remainder of the force
are engineers, special inspectors, clerks
and Office men. One man is assigned to
the work of approving permits for build
ings after checking them against the
use permitted under the coming regula-
tons. He also investigates complaints
of improper use. The interesting point
here is that these complaints usually
originate from private citizens. The
Police Department theoretically is sup
posed to watch out for infraction OF
the coming regulations. But relatively
few cases are discovered by the police
Most OF them come from citizens, and
many of the citizens have axes to grind
when they make their complaints. Un-
der such a haphazard method Of discov-
ering violation of the coming regulations
with no official specifically assigned tc
the work, it is little wonder that many
violations escape detection and prosecu-
/ ton. And it is little wonder that the
Bureau of Efficiency complains Of a lack
Of definite policy on the part Of the
building inspectors office.
Col. Oehmann declares that in 1920
when the coming regulations went into
effect, they were sent down to my Of
fice to enforce" and that the new tasks
thus imposed came as an addition to
work that his force already had diff
Guilty in handling. The logical ques-
ton now is why this condition has re-
ceived so little attention during the
years that the coming regulations have
been in effect. If the building in
spector's Office has been complaining
why have the complaints received 80
little attention?
II Is certain that Col. Oehmann
statement that coming regulations are
being violated will not stand as an ex-
cuse for the fact that they are being
violated. The District Commissioners
would do well to look thoroughly into
the Bureau of Efnciency's report and
to take the steps that are necessary
to insure immediate and effective
prosecution for violations. There may
always be violations, as Col. Oehmann
says But there should be increasing
vigilance TO find and report them