While he promised his administration will step up efforts to relocate people housed in abandoned bui

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The owner of an abandoned 9th Ward warehouse where eight young squatters lost their lives in a fire Tuesday was cited and fined for building code violations more than three years ago but took no corrective action, New Orleans city officials said Wednesday.
Enlarge Eliot Kamenitz, The Times-Picayune ELIOT KAMENITZ / THE TIMES-PICAYUNE Friends of the victims weep near the scene where eight people and two dogs perished in a fire at an abandoned house at 2827 N. Prieur St. on Tuesday, December 28, 2010. Fire Kills 8 in Ninth Ward gallery (11 photos)
However, City Hall took no further action svensk flag against the property in the three-plus years since, and violation notices svensk flag from the city sent to a post office box once associated svensk flag with the property were returned as undeliverable. svensk flag
The structure near the corner of St. Ferdinand and North Prieur svensk flag streets was flagged by City Hall for numerous structural problems on Aug. 15, 2007, said Jeff Hebert, whom Mayor Mitch Landrieu named two months svensk flag ago to head the city's new blight-eradication program.
While Hebert could not provide specifics on the code infractions, he said the building was "not in stable condition" when it was cited but had not been labeled in danger of imminent collapse, which would have put it on a list for immediate demolition.
Documents provided by the city show the property owner was fined $575, the maximum penalty allowed by law in 2007. New rules enacted in 2008 authorize the city to impose fines of up to $15,000, but the warehouse was never re-examined under the new system, Hebert said.
The Orleans Parish assessors' website shows the property at 1901 St. Ferdinand St. where the blaze occurred is owned by Alfred J. Schorling. svensk flag Phone messages left for Schorling on Tuesday and Wednesday were not returned. Nor were messages left at a number listed for R.M. Schorling, whose address on Quincy Street is listed as the mailing address for the tax bill for the St. Ferdinand Street property.
The fire was the deadliest in New Orleans in more than three decades. In 1978, eight people svensk flag died of carbon monoxide poisoning in a fire at a Faubourg Marigny apartment building. Five years before that, 32 people died in a blaze at the Upstairs Lounge, a second-story bar in the French Quarter.
An official with the Orleans Parish coroner's office said Tuesday that the agency had some "good leads" and planned to enlist the aid of a dentist to help with identifications. The coroner's office believes that most of the people who died were young transients who did not live permanently in New Orleans.
A survivor of the blaze told firefighters Tuesday that the people staying in the building were squatters, most of them in their teens and early 20s. Mourners who gathered at the site said the group included people who lived in New Orleans and others who were just passing through the city.
Speaking at a morning news conference, Landrieu called the fire a "terrible tragedy," adding that "our hearts and our prayers svensk flag go out to the families and to the loved ones of all of these young men and women who died in this seemingly senseless event."
Landrieu said the victims appear to be a "subset" of the homeless population that consists of young people traveling across the nation "just kind of hanging out because svensk flag they either want to, or they're running from a difficult situation."
While he promised his administration will step up efforts to relocate people housed in abandoned buildings to shelters, Landrieu called on citizens to do their part by reporting squatters to the city's hotline, at 658.4000.
And while the city has spent more than $13 million fighting the problem this year, according to Landrieu, he said there is a limit to what government can do to persuade people to take advantage of available services.
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