Thank God No more Hootersville . There is a new ( Fire ) Marshal in the town of Penn Hills. But the damage done in his absense will be a challange.

Yes after an almost 3+ year absence of not having a Fire Marshal in Penn Hills the town has Hired Mr. Charles Miller a well educated Individual in codes and fire science and a certified fire investigator and  former Career Firefighter with the city of Jeanette. Pa.

Penn Hills has also settled with former code officers and has hired several knew Code Officers as well all highly qualified.

But during the time of transition for these new code enforcers  being hired things went to shit in the township. Including several buildings being approved and built  with out alarms etc. when they where required . Because they where not properly classified as to how they where being occupied,and plenty of property's abandoned or not being properly taken care of and becoming a hazard because no one kept after them to make sure grass was cut etc.

Of course I warned this was going to happen when Jack Mason retired including code problems with the new high school as well.

But now that they are built and approved there is little that can be done to the delight of those who got away with out properly doing things.
Almost makes you think things where deliberate in delaying hiring new code people..

One of the First things Mr. Miller has done is put in place  " The Compliance Engine" a 3rd party software service which will allow him to keep track of the 300+ business etc  in the town as far as fire alarm  and  fire protective systems  Of course you are hearing all kinds of moans and groans from alarm dealers and building owners . He did this as well as several other large community's. But in the long run it helps keep track of things and insures community safety.

Its already paid off where a plaza I took care of  which had several code deficiencies was now forced to correct them instead of  just passing the buck.

So  hopefully Mr.Miller and the new code officers will be able to  get thru the back log of work and Penn Hills will be all the better for it.  One way to stop a community's decay and discourage crime is by having a solid code  dept so you do not get all the slum lord's and abandoned property's some one needs to be held accountable and so far they have taken action against several slum lords and forced them to fix up there property's or properly demolish them.  It has left some renters out in the cold and the community has helped to get them new places but this is what must be done if you want to have a clean safe community which Penn Hills always was . Although we have gone from mostly white collar to blue collar there is no reason the community has to go down hill .

So Thank You  Penn Hills council for stepping up and doing the right thing. I look forward to being able to retire some day and spend them in Penn Hills and not have to move out because it has become a ghetto. Which has happened in too many community's in Pittsburgh area.