In Pam Loiacano's 15 years of working for the city of Beaumont Texas, she has never had as many dangerous structures on the demolition list as there were on Tuesday's council meeting agenda.

Since Hurricane Rita, the city has tagged 600 structures as dangerous, with 63 of those buildings penciled in for demolition approval during a public hearing Tuesday - up from the pre-storm average of 35 structures every month or two.

"There's a tremendous amount (of debilitated homes) out there that aren't suitable," said Loiacano, a field supervisor for the building codes department who addressed the council. "When the storm came, it weakened everything.

Eventually, they are all going to give up and fall."

Of the 63 structures, 50 were ordered for demolition. Twelve other property owners were allowed to enroll in a work program that gives them time to get the buildings up to code. One of the properties was taken off the agenda.
Many of the property owners who appeared at the council meeting conveyed the same message: contractors to fix the homes have been hard to come by.

One property owner told the council she unknowingly had an unlicensed contractor do repair work, only to find out later he didn't get the proper permits. She since has hired another contractor and may be out the original money spent.

"They are desperate and calling people off the street," said Loiacano, adding that her office is glad to help property owners figure out procedures and tell them if their contractor is bonded.

And her timeworn but realistic advice: "If it sounds too good to be true, it is."
Some of the buildings were in poor condition before the storm, but Rita beat them up even more. Many area property owners simply did not have the time or resources to address the problems immediately.

Councilwoman Bobbie Patterson said she thought the council should try to be as considerate as possible with the property owners in light of the obstacles most people in the city faced after the hurricane.

"Because of the storm and because of the difficulty with contractors, we'd like to be a little lenient," she said.

Even so, the problems are getting worse with each heavy rainfall, Loiacano said.

"We have a dangerous situation. The more rain we have, the more the structure weakens," she said.

This was the case with the June 21 demolition of the two-story building next to Night's Uniform Co. on Park Street. After a heavy weekend rain, the second floor collapsed and caused the walls to bow outward. An emergency demolition was ordered and the old building was razed.

At Tuesday's meeting, the former Star Store building on the corner of Orleans and Crockett Streets was approved for demolition - just a few doors down from the Night building.

"Rita's evidence is very prevalent," Loiacano said, adding that the next demolition meeting in August or September should have the same number of structures on the list - if not more.

"It's a bad situation but we'll keep chipping away at the rock."