Eighth Street Wall Collapse: God to Be Arrested Any Minute?

A dividing wall at 606 S. Eighth collapsed this morning, leaving eight people displaced though none injured or dead, which marks a significant improvement over last week. The heavy rain–not laced with marijuana, to our knowledge–seems to be to blame.

Hidden City co-editor Nathaniel Popkin, who lives nearby, wrote that neighbors were nervous something like this might happen:

Bella Vista neighbors were understandably worried about what appeared to be a faulty excavation job at a construction site on Eighth Street below South. The excavation, combined with heavy rains last week, had brought down a fence that divided the property, 606 South Eighth Street, from its southern neighbor. The contractor had attempted to secure the other garden walls with steel supports. Those gave this morning and the northern garden walls collapsed.

L&I officials at the scene blamed the mudslide and subsequent evacuation on an “act of God,” though Popkin notes that the problem “had extended over a week and hadn’t been properly attended to, even after the tragedy at 22nd and Market Streets.”

“Act Of God” Causes Collapse Of Garden Walls At Bella Vista Construction Site [Hidden City Daily]