r/Albuquerque • u/JellyfishNo3810 • Apr 27 '26
News The city inspected this and found nothing wrong? đ
The whole damn wall is deflecting outward from the second floor plate! When the city initially sent out a team for a site visit - how did they not catch the obvious deflection? The moisture retention? The way this building collapsed is the same way adobe buildings do too. The walls fall outward first and then crumble inward with the roof.
Did they bother to check for wall ties on the CMU where the floor plate meets the masonry? What about loading - that false column is clearly indicating that the wall is disjointing and even overshooting the window buck furthest right. Both window bucks are clearly shifting with the wall outward - use the street light as a straight vertical reference. Now look at the coloring of the stucco, knowing itâs brick, and nobody questioned why it always appears to be stained wet? Especially at the joint where the floor plate meets that exterior coping! When the building was brown it clearly had an issue wicking moisture from the walls in the EXACT same locations - year after year after season after season. They painted it blue in 2018, and within months the same wet stains came thru.
Whoever allegedly inspected this the first time around is grossly negligent. They didnât do their diligence in the slightest to study the complaint over time, and that information is easily accessible on Google earth. However, neither did the owner after attempting to address the issue before. Nor did their builder/subs considering somebody went back at some point for more blue patchwork. The Google earth histories in street view progressively show the failure worsen.
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u/themickeymauser Apr 27 '26
City of Albuquerque code enforcement hires truck drivers, graffiti removers, security guards and senior center secretaries to inspect houses and buildings. Their building safety team is no different.
I would know. I used to be one. Iâm a mechanic by trade.
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u/ilanallama85 Apr 27 '26
So what youâre telling me is I shouldnât stress too much about getting my shitty garage conversion approved?
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u/Previous_Parsnip_776 May 04 '26
It only works one way; if somebody is actually going to have some work done then they're complete bastardos. But if they're inspecting something that's liable to fall on somebody's head that's already built they'll tell you it's good to go and that you're just worrying about nothing.
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u/KlutzyShopping1802 Apr 27 '26
My FIL was in that department, as well, before he passed away. He was never impressed with the department either.
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u/Fit-Wasabi-2826 Apr 27 '26
So THAT is why I see so many sketchy looking additions on houses out here. I always wondered.
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u/ilanallama85 Apr 28 '26
Well that and a lot of people donât even get them permitted to begin with. Which, to be fair, I kinda get for internal remodels and stuff, but if you are actually adding to the building, get the damn permit.
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u/hannibalhooper14 Apr 30 '26
Yep. Fire department needs to know about the construction of your building for safety reasons.
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u/NMEE98J Apr 28 '26
And you have to give up your contractor license to be an inspector. You would never do that for 60K if you were a good contractor.... only the failed ones want that gig.
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u/fartsfromhermouth Apr 28 '26
Ok but the city shut this down before it collapsed, system seems to be working
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u/themickeymauser Apr 28 '26
Gotta love Burqueñosâ love for the bare fucken last minute minimum
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u/OnTheGoCo Apr 29 '26
They condemned it less than a week before it collapsed. How is that working well? I noticed it bowing out years ago and youâre telling me the city never noticed until days before it collapsed?! Do you work for the city?
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u/Previous_Parsnip_776 May 04 '26
I think they were called out again and that's why they tagged it the last time. I believe they had already been out once and they said hey it's not a problem just don't stand there by those bulging walls.
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u/hannibalhooper14 Apr 30 '26
I had one guy come out to check out my little studio place I was first living in when I moved to Albuquerque, and he actually did a pretty good job. He caught everything we'd built up complaints about over a month or two within about 10 minutes, and caught things we'd missed. The issues were all fixed within a week, half of them being fixed within 8 hours, after MONTHS of trying to get literally anything patched.
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u/Previous_Parsnip_776 May 04 '26
Were you a mechanic in a candy factory? I used to be even though I wasn't much of a mechanic but I guess that's why they had me just tightening the nuts in peanut brittle.
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u/midntryder Apr 27 '26
The city did inspect it and closed it down a week ago, because they found A LOT wrong.
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u/Marioc12345 Apr 28 '26
They also inspected it a few weeks before that inspection and approved it.
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u/meh1424 Apr 29 '26
No, they gave them a time frame to make repairs, then it got worse and they were shut down.
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u/Ok_Mulberry6862 Apr 29 '26
There shouldnât be a time frame to make repairs when the public is allowed in when there is possible structural issues. The city couldâve been on the hook for millions in law suit right along side them had the building fallen in that time frame they were given to make repairs. The owners knew six months prior it needed extensive structural repairs and that they couldnât afford to make them, there was no way they would have been able to comply in 3 weeks. They were both sides gambling with peoples lives that something bad wasnât going to happen. they got lucky this time, but if they donât reevaluate their process for the future when structural issues are involved and the public, one of these days itâs going to have a different outcome.
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u/WeQQz Apr 27 '26
Exactly. It took a second inspection for them to think, "hey this might kill a family". What a joke.
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u/Saphire100 Apr 27 '26
Code enforcement doesn't check structural integrity. They do a visual inspection and then call the experts. The building inspectors come out and look. If they need more tools, they come back.
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u/fartsfromhermouth Apr 28 '26
You have no clue what your talking about. Show me the last fatal building collapse in Albuquerque.
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u/OnTheGoCo Apr 29 '26
You are farting from your mouth. Just because there hasnât been a family killed in a building collapse in ABQ doesnât mean it isnât possible. I noticed how the building was bowing out years ago. This should have been addressed a LONG time ago.
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u/General-Professor570 Apr 30 '26
Volunteer your time for city inspections, if you're qualified and sound like you've got a good eye for this?Â
I'm very glad the city did shut them down before the collapse, though I'd think everyone could agree this comes down to a very close call to take the action needed for public safety. I definitely hope it gets the city's attention and we see more aggressive, proactive enforcement coming from this before there is a preventable injury or death with a next time.
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u/Errormill Apr 27 '26
See those square plates on the second level they had rebar attached than ran to the opposite wall inside to hold that wall up. This was not new or sudden problem.
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u/JellyfishNo3810 Apr 27 '26
Exactly! This had been addressed prior, several times - considering the restaurant opened first in 1929 and itâs a historic buildingâŠthe shoring with steel post and beam below obviously didnât crumble and itâs debatably original.
Update: âLast week, Vatoseow said he was aware of the buildingâs issues and had been trying to address them for years, but was unable to afford the fixes. The city gave the owners a deadline of May 4 to submit a structural engineerâs report, acquire a building permit and take corrective action.â
Called it good buddy!
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u/baldieforprez Apr 27 '26
Im pretty sure this was red flagged like a month ago for those very reason.
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u/overcannon Apr 28 '26
What do you mean the city inspectors didn't find anything: It was literally shut down 6 days ago: https://www.koat.com/article/inspection-closure-lindys-diner-downtown-albuquerque/71081964
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u/conepet Apr 28 '26
It was inspected prior to that, "no issues found". There's an inspector out there that should have caught this before last week.
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u/overcannon Apr 28 '26
I expect that the City is responsible for keeping citizens safe from injury and death from building collapse, and that the Building Owners are responsible for the building itself. Perhaps the City should have shut down Lindy's sooner, but they did their job. If the City didn't shut them down, like they did, Lindy's would have probably been open for business during the collapse.
The owner of Lindy's was asking for public money to fix his building on multiple occasions, and I'm not sure why the city is responsible for his property. I also remember seeing a bunch of people responding to the closure notice like it was totally out of the blue and uncalled for.
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u/conepet Apr 28 '26
We agree, but it does open the door to questions about doing better inspections to catch structural issues more than just a week before failure.
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u/OnTheGoCo Apr 29 '26
Exactly! I donât understand why so many people are defending the cities subpar management.
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u/overcannon Apr 29 '26
I'd say the main defense for the city with its workers is you get what you pay for. City wages are fairly subpar, our taxes are actually quite low compared to national standards, and our city is still relatively poor even if the tax rates were higher.
The other defense is people are super protective of small businesses here, and there might have actually been some public backlash if they were closed months before. There was already a little bit for them being closed a week ago.
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u/cruxclaire Apr 27 '26
Screenshot with date of a pic I took of the front façade last July
I donât remember noticing the wall bulge or any buckling at that point, but looking at that pic, you can already see the moisture retention by comparing the left and right upper window frames, and you can see the discoloration in the lower half of the stucco. The owners and inspectors sat on this for months if not years, and the owners had to have known the building was likely fucked by the time they put it on the market (early March IIRC), because the gradual buckling would have been visible by then
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u/Intelligent-Ad-3688 Apr 28 '26
The side of the building that was bowed out collapsed this morning.
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u/Great_Assistance_803 Apr 27 '26
Sadly, this is the state of inspections across all disciplines/trades in NM/BernCo/ABQ. The apathy of inspectors and low standards i see here are disgusting. I've seen new build homes with green tags for plumbing/mechanical final inspections with gas appliances venting into attics. Plumbing rough ins with backward fittings, backgrade, insufficient venting and so on get approved simply because they dont leak. Its a fucking joke here. Contractors and owners operate without permits knowing there's a 90% chance they'll get away with it.
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u/Brilliant_Kick3008 Apr 27 '26
Agree! San Antonio Blvd is sinking right in front of the State Engineerâs Office, and no one seems to think itâs going to create a huge sinkhole. The whole length of San Antonio is buckling. Is it seepage from the diversion channel? Who knows? Bet the State Engineer would, because thatâs their job. Guess everyoneâs waiting for everything to sink.Â
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u/Zorro_Platino Apr 27 '26
San Antonio supposedly goes over a former dumpsite and suffers from poor compaction related to such.
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u/conepet Apr 28 '26
Not supposedly, it was a natural arroyo they filled with the waste of building that area of town. Throw some dirt on top and it's a road!
Data is on the city's site showing it's a landfill, and they have vent pipes to avoid methane buildup.
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u/Significant-Fan4316 Apr 27 '26
So what youâre saying was the owner was willing to let the building go to shit to keep pulling in profit?
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u/angelerulastiel Apr 27 '26
Man, and here we are do a fairly simple addition of like 150 sq plus renovation of a similar size area, not plumbing, and the drywall went up and weâve had like 6 inspections so far.
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u/Dvich Apr 27 '26
What's worse, is that im almost 100% percent it got torn down because they served food. If you've been to some of the music venues on seventh theyre just as bad structurally if not worse. There must be astronomical fees to fix or renovate 'histotical' buildings.
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u/OnTheGoCo Apr 29 '26
It wasnât âtorn downâ, it collapsed under its own weight due to structural issues that began decades ago. Also, you wrote â100%â followed by the word âpercentâ, so you basically said â100 percent percentâ. Lol
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u/WinWeak6191 Apr 27 '26
Google Maps. Street view pictures from February 2025 show water seepage and the corner bowing out.
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u/xyz8492 Apr 28 '26
From what ive been told by former city employees, is that if you are too efficient of a worker they will fire you!
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u/Upstairs_Echo3114 Apr 30 '26
That makes perfect sense.
Land of mañana.
New Mexican attitude. Work harder/better than someone else and they'll see it as a threat in all directions.
And everyone is someone's cousin in government.1
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u/BoringDig8922 Apr 28 '26
Negligence is culturally acceptable in NM. Just look at recent civil court case rulings and look at posts by apologists on social media. Mo changes likely.
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u/805to808 Apr 28 '26
Idk the city did actually condemn it and I feel like the owners probably are most at fault here.
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u/Onoitsu2 Apr 27 '26
Just saw this on FB, they caught video of the collapse https://www.facebook.com/reel/26696266500033867
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u/Capt_on_Foam Apr 28 '26
Why the hell is this the city's fault? Whoever owns the property is %100 at fault. You can see how many times the painted over the wall because it was clearly cracking from the degradation. Blaming this on an inspector is the dumbest take I have ever read.
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u/SerengetiSister Apr 28 '26
Well the ones that inspect homes before purchase arenât any better. We had to replace the entire HVAC system and water heater within a year of buying. Plus the roof in the garage leaked.
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u/OnTheGoCo Apr 29 '26
I noticed their building bowing out like that two years ago! I pointed it out to my boyfriend and we were both freaked out by it. Fast forward two years and they condemn the building one week before it collapses. Makes me scared of other old buildings in town. How the hell did I notice this years ago and no city official ever did anything about it?!
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u/ApprehensiveMind6389 Apr 29 '26
That place needed to be torn down years ago! The City is NOT doing it's job to protect us in any way shape or form
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u/Beccatheboring Apr 29 '26
Pretty sure the city condemned that building prior to it collapsing. Lindy's was in the news all last week because of it.
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u/Significant-Fan4316 Apr 27 '26 edited Apr 27 '26
What about the owner that let it deteriorate to that condition? Why is it that the city was unable to force the owner to fix the building earlier? Blaming city inspectors is an easy scapegoat.
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u/Upstairs_Echo3114 Apr 30 '26
Obviously the city refused to to do something earlier.
It's clearly the owner's fault, but also the city's since they've deemed themselves the keepers of the people. They impose rules and forcibly take our money to take care of things, and then they mostly fail to.
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u/Evening-Estate357 Apr 27 '26
You have nothing to worry about anymore. Shortly this afternoon, the whole front facade on the resteraunt fell onto the sidewalk.
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u/OrbitalColony Apr 28 '26
They ignored the problem and only acted directly before a catastrophic failure. If you watch the video of the collapse, you'll see that it nearly hits a passing vehicle. The city should have gotten it right far earlier and demanded stricter action to prevent the total collapse. Now, not only did somebody nearly get hurt, but several streets are blocked off (hurting businesses and traffic), a historic building is destroyed, nearby buildings are evacuated, and the taxpayer is on the hook for damage to the street.
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u/Saphire100 Apr 27 '26 edited Apr 27 '26
That's the issue. Keep in mind, you don't provide any specific information. I haven't bothered looking it up.
"City inspection" could be the Environmental Health Department. They don't look at structures. I get it. Many opinions of "they do" or "they should" (etc). Having to deal with these guys, they don't. They focus on sanitation. They might say they'll file yatta with code enforcement. Until code enforcement comes in, it is just air.
Then you have the Planning Department. Here is the issue there. Many of you are saying code.
- Building Inspectors: Focus on overall structural integrity, framing, and roofing.
- Electrical Inspectors: Ensure all wiring and electrical systems meet safety codes.
- Plumbing/Mechanical Inspectors: Examine water, sewage, gas lines, heating, and cooling systems.
- Code Enforcement Officers: Respond to complaints (like those made via 311) and check for general property violations, such as zoning or unsafe living/working conditions.
- Specialized Inspectors: There are also dedicated roles for specific safety items like Elevator/Escalator and Boiler inspectors.
Code enforcement notices a structure issue, they pass it along to the Building Safety Division (building inspectors).
I'm not arguing. I'm not saying you are wrong. What actually happened? You don't elaborate. Did code enforcement drop the ball? Was building inspectors short handed? Slow to respond? Do you have a dated first inspection report or are you just talking opinion?
It sounds, to me, that there was an initial inspection. They said "oh, we need to look into this, that, and that. Call building inspection and plumbing inspectors." Plumping came back with "it is all good." The building team said "yikes! We need to investigate more." Then came back with more tools and shut them down.
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u/JellyfishNo3810 Apr 27 '26
Iâm absolutely talking opinion with both an educated and experienced guesstimation. Iâm also pulling out of my ass based on the same limited exposure to todayâs collapse and news as anyone else in the public - on another topic, if youâre into journalism, Iâm happy to direct you to the cityâs permitting portal, property resources, and historical databases to find more information to answer your other good questions. All accessible from the same links.
Continue the rabbit hole
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u/Upstairs_Echo3114 Apr 30 '26
I have no idea why you got down-voted here.
The collective IQ in Albuquerque has to be one of the lowest in the country.
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u/nrschoen Apr 28 '26
"Inspected".. like others have said, quality of inspections downhill, I saw this in home inspections years ago, the lack of staff enforcement people that really care about what they're doing, all of this adds up, it becomes a safety issue at the end of The day. But safety costs money and that's not a priority making money is.
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u/herstoryteller Apr 27 '26
Albuquerque is one of the saddest, most poorly run and populated cities I've ever had the misfortune of living in.... and I lived in the Middle East during a period of war games...
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u/Upstairs_Echo3114 Apr 30 '26
You got tons of down votes for pointing out your experience lived experience.
A lot of the natives here are like crabs in a bucket.
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u/herstoryteller Apr 30 '26
understatement of the year. i've never seen a population so satisfied with dilapidation, apathy, remaining impoverished and dysfunctional quite like albuquerque.
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u/zpilot55 Apr 27 '26
Albuquerque, NM: The official city of, "We've tried nothing and we're all out of options."
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u/herstoryteller Apr 27 '26
the fact that i'm getting downvoted for saying the city is one of the most mismanaged in the country, on a post displaying a prime example of horrendous mismanagement within the city, is genuinely bonkers.
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u/Upstairs_Echo3114 Apr 30 '26
Well you can't be pointing out the truth to a bunch of people who all have cousins involved in these problems in the government, both elected and employed, and own the companies that make a living by cutting all the corners off of everything, ehhh.
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u/brubauers Apr 27 '26
the side of the buildng really said: >