International Tower tenants frustrated as they learn of evacuation
International Tower residents are frustrated, some with nowhere to go after they learned they needed to evacuate because of concern the Realty Tower could collapse. Residents say they want answers.
"Now that they had a structural engineer firm come in and deem the building unsafe, now it's time to evacuate? What about the 8 to 9 days we were at risk?" Jerry Aaron said.
A meeting took place in International Towers on Tuesday afternoon.
Property managers and city officials had residents fill out paperwork and residents say they expect to hear more property management on where people are going to go.
Many of them are seniors, some disabled, and many with no family.
"The note just said they're going to have to vacate the building within the next one to three days and it kind of threw everyone into a whirlwind. You have patients who have physical and mental challenges. Some of those people have medications they need daily," one resident said.
The Fire Chief said before Monday they were not under the impression that Realty Tower posed a danger to International Towers nor were they prepared to get that many people out for an extended period of time.
After getting another opinion from the structural engineer the city hired – they had no choice but to quickly tell people they need to evacuate.
We again asked the Mayor Tuesday morning what sort of vetting the contractors doing the work in the basement went through before the city awarded them a no-bid contract. The city has repeatedly claimed they were vetted but has not explained.
Here's what the Mayor said: "That is part of an ongoing investigation that you guys continue to ask. Thank you."