CHICAGO (CBS) – Residents and owners of older high rises in Chicago were racing against the clock to fight a proposed state mandate that they say would force many residents to move.
WBBM Newsradio’s Lisa Fielding reports some said sprinklers are necessary to save lives and property in Chicago’s oldest tall buildings, but others said there have to be less costly options that are just as effective.
“If we have to retrofit sprinklers in our building, we’d be looking at a bill just for the work of around $9 million, which broken down would be enough to cause many people in my building – who are on fixed incomes and probably myself – to say we can’t afford $40,000, $50,000 in special assessments, said Allen Lipscher, president of Waterford Condominium Association on Lake Shore Drive.
High-Rises Fighting Sprinkler RuleWBBM Newsradio's Lisa FieldingLipscher and hundreds of high rise condo owners have been fighting a proposed rule by the Illinois State Fire Marshal that imposes retrofitting requirements for high-rise buildings built before 1975.
Lipscher said the cost would be ruinous for many homeowners.
“This would be a giant project. We are a poured-concrete building. That would entail bringing in standpipes, drilling holes through the floor to bring in the main pipes,” he said. “We would have to have pipes run the center of our hallways hanging from our ceilings exposed. Over each door they would drill through the wall, and bring into your whole house and it won’t look pretty as a retrofit.”
“We just think to spend $9 million, especially when we’ve already spent money on all the other things, it’s something we can’t afford. If this law passes, many of us will have to sell and move,” he added.
It started in 2003, when a fire took the lives of six people trapped in a stairwell at the Cook County Administration Building at 69 W. Washington St.
In an effort to prevent further high-rise fire deaths, the City Council enacted the life-safety ordinance, which required all pre-1975 buildings 80 feet and higher to submit a professionally-prepared evaluation and to implement certain safety features by Jan. 1, 2012.
By late 2011, half of the residential high-rises had not submitted reports, much less implemented the safety features, so the City Council gave them more time, to Jan. 1, 2015.
Chicago’s ordinance gives high-rises a choice: retrofit for sprinklers or install alternative safety features, such as fire-resistant stairwell doors and frames, and one- and two-way voice communication systems.
Virtually none of the owners have opted for sprinklers.
Lipscher said The Waterford has already implemented much of the city’s Life Safety and High Rise Ordinance, and other safety measures as required.
“It’s a continuing process. We have fire people coming in all the time to make sure lights and fire stairs and doors are working. We will have elevators that have automatic recall, an enunciator system, fire doors in the trash chutes and many other safety improvements,” he said. “Now the addition of sprinkler systems is too much. The city is happy with what we are doing and with the progress we’ve made. They are watching it closely and at the end of 2014, all the buildings will be done and now this got thrown into the mix. The City doesn’t know what to do either.”
Lipscher urged building owners to write letters to the state’s Joint Committee on Administrative Rules, which will take up the proposal on Aug. 12.
Currently, Chicago requires sprinklers only in new residential high-rises. Many condominium associations and the Illinois Association of Realtors have come out against this new mandate for older buildings.
Kirsty and her husband Mark are dedicated to care for their dogs and the dogs are included in many aspects of their lives, such activities include camping trips, a pint in the pub. . not to mention on their wedding day! Beautiful picture below:
but in October 2011 Grace began to show respiratory problems. They turned out to be breathing faster when her right side. Kirsty took her to the emergency vet and the vet said that one of her lungs was noisy and a chest infection diagnosed and prescribed anti-biotics. Kirsty requested that Grace must be weighed as they had noticed that they had gained 2 pounds in weight during the last 8-12 weeks and Kirsty, (being as usual on the ball) wanted to make sure that Grace would be the right dosage.However – Grace seemed to be no progress on the anti-biotics and Kirsty had reservations about the original diagnosis so she took grace to her usual vet for a second opinion. His diagnosis contradicted what the previous vet had thought as one of her lungs worrying quiet was, ' the lung on the same side that grace was having problems sleeping on '. He booked her for x-rays and the results came a lot of fluid (pleural effusion), a common symptom of pleural mesothelioma. But I have to say that that pleural effusion may occur also in other lung related conditions. The fluid had to be evacuated manually using a syringe and in total-2 litres were removed.Grace was then referred to a more specialized veterinarian for more extensive tests including an ultrasound. She had her build up of fluid drained from her chest again, and ' frusimide ' a drug used to prevent the construction of fluid was prescribed. Her blood work indicated that Grace lose protein which they thought was the cause of the fluid (protein release from entropathy). In all of this grace protein levels remained low but Kirsty and Mark gave her a high protein diet to try and counteract and they managed to a normal layer.Kirsty felt unhappy and perplexed by Graces treatment in so far as she felt that she was not offered much in the way of a statement about Graces condition, and the loving sensitive person she is-she found it heartbreaking to see Grace endured long recovering time after her anaesthetic procedures.Kirsty then took Grace to see veterinarian's Don Sheehan ' on Bridgewater Court, Manchester, one of the most respected veterinary practices in the North-West. He studied all Graces ' tests and mentioned as a possible diagnosis mesothelioma. Kirsty asked the dreaded question ' was the terminal? ' and the vet been answered ' yes '. Graces ultrasound was repeated and her breast emptied of liquid again. Then at a later appointment that Grace returned to the surgery for a thorocoscopy and biopsies on her chest wall, that a specialist surgeon was called to perform the procedure with specialized equipment, would be different Grace have to endure an operation to open up her breast.The biopsies confirmed that Grace had fingernail size lesions on her chest wall, and they then ' Liverpool small animal Oncology Department ' was mentioned. Kirsty and Mark discussed the best possible course of treatment for her. Her first treatment (December, 2011) had to a pleural port mounted, this would allow the liquid to be drained from her chest without the need for subsequent anesthetic.Although Kirsty realized deep down that Grace disease was terminal she was desperate to try and to give her the best possible chance and decided to try IV (intravenous) chemotherapy on Grace. Unfortunately, Grace did not respond to the chemotherapy (carboplatin), so that this was discontinued after one cycle.For the next next 3 months-Grace quality of life was quite comfortable, with a regular dose of steroids and the port left to drain from a buildup of fluid. Unfortunately-Grace passed lost her battle with mesothelioma on 21 March, 2012. The only 2 reasons that really comforted me during following Grace story on Rakesh facebook profile page is: reason 1 – see how Kirsty and Mark cared for her, and it was incredibly heartwarming to see. Grace enjoyed a selection of delicious home-cooked meals (lamb was one of her favorites), a King-size duvet to sprawl on and her own Chair with propped-up pillow: see below There Is one facebook post where Grace could not get so comfortable on her quilt-Kirsty in the middle of the night with her gets up and goes down with her to see that she settles on her favorite bank. Reason 2-is how happy and relieved I was that it was Kirsty who had saved her!