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Councilman Speaks Out About Building Collapse Documents Released

By Todd Quinones

PHILADELPHIA (CBS) - A city councilman says the newly released documents indicate the demolition work could have and perhaps should have been stopped days before the collapse which killed six people.

Thirteen days before this wall came crashing down, a city councilman contends there were troubling signs surrounding the demolition work.

The City of Philadelphia is now releasing hundreds of pages of documents related to the deadly center city building collapse (see previous story).

The documents include permit files from L&I, as well as Health Department files about asbestos at the 22nd and Market site.

The documents reveal 13 days before the collapse, the demolition company, Griffin Campbell, was issued a violation by the city's Department of Public Health for improperly having a dumpster on site that contained suspected asbestos containing material.

City Councilman Jim Kenney is part of an investigative city council committee probing the collapse.

He says the asbestos-related violations along with 311 calls to the city indicating safety concerns about the demolition were part of several clear red flags that should've triggered an effort by the city to further investigate or even stop the demolition days before the collapse.

"The problem is with every red flag that gets ignored, it gets more dangerous," Kenney said.

The city decided to release the documents - after the District Attorney's office told officials the release would not compromise the investigation.

We did contact the city to get a response tonight.

We were told it will take a couple of days.

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