• In response to the sudden collapse of the Champlain Towers South building on June 24 in Florida, and the Los Angeles County Board of Supervisors July discussion and approval of Supervisor Janice Hahn’s motion regarding the mandating of building evaluations, SEAOSC swiftly took action to serve our public stakeholders. We invited our State Assemblymembers and Senators, as well as local policymakers and city officials, to hear from our Structural Engineering community in a discussion of the concerns and questions that are being posed in their communities. The conversation was well attended with over 50 participants from Southern California’s state legislative offices, counties and cities. Topics of discussion included:
• the importance of building maintenance
• potential vulnerabilities in aging building envelopes, concrete construction, and welded steel moment frames
• feasibility and value of post occupancy inspection programs
• possibility of using existing data to identify vulnerabilities in communities
• legal liability taken on by jurisdictions in an inventory process

The program featured SEAOSC members as the expert panelists including John Wallace (UCLA), Jonathan Glassman, Vida Tarassoly (Rubicon Engineering), and Boardmember Maria Mohammed (Structural Focus). Each shared insights that enabled the attendees to begin to craft informed policies and programs to address the need to ensure the safety of existing buildings. From this conversation, multiple state and local offices have engaged with SEAOSC to get more information and advice, and have even requested the activation of our Safer Cities Advisory program.

Here at SEAOSC, it is our mission to advance the profession of Structural Engineering in service to our members and our community.  Each of our members does this in their own way, and the association works to elevate and promote our profession as manifested by the active members. If you are interested in these types of community conversations, consider becoming engaged with our newly-formed SEAOSC Legislative Action Committee, starting up this fall. You can find out more about this and other ways to leverage your expertise on October 6, 2021 at the annual SEAOSC Committee Showcase.