City Sees Progress In Retrofitting of Critical Structures.

Of the 8,268 unreinforced masonry buildings in L.A. -- the ones considered most unsafe in an earthquake -- all but 13 have been either retrofited or razed, said Andrew Adelman, general manager of the city's Building & Safety Department.

"We're hoping to bring that to closure soon," Adelman said.

In addition, of the 2,618 tilt-up buildings constructed before 1976, more than 2,000, or 80 percent, are now retrofitted.

However, the city's voluntary retrofit programs, which apply to a far greater number of commercial and residential buildings, are nowhere near as far along.

In a city with about 1 million buildings and structures, Building & Safety officials do not track voluntary repairs but estimate there could be more than 100,000 buildings still in need of retrofit work.

The city's requirement to retrofit masonry buildings dates back to 1984, while the tilt-up program is just four years old. The progress on those fronts does not mean L.A. is anywhere close to having its private-sector seismic retrofit needs addressed.

Doug Silver, a structural engineer at Seismic Design Consultants Inc., is often called in by lenders and investors to look over potential purchases. In his view, virtually no voluntary work is being done. And he considers the lack of progress in retrofitting mid-rise office buildings constructed in the 1970s to be a danger.

"It's disappointing," Silver said. "You get these reports that say year after year the same thing, and nobody does anything, particularly in Mid-Wilshire, where they can't make up the expense of retrofits through rent."

Still, Adelman noted that L.A. is far ahead of most earthquake-prone U.S. cities in the scope of its mandatory retrofit programs.

Adelman said his department is not pushing city policymakers for more mandatory retrofitting requirements and stressed the need to balance "life-safety" against individual property rights.

Not surprisingly, political will power to tighten the screws on retrofit programs seems to increase after temblors bring safety to the forefront. The city's voluntary tilt-up retrofit ordinance was made mandatory within a month after the 1994 Northridge earthquake.

In addition, in 1995, the city passed a requirement that newly sold buildings must have emergency shut-off valves installed on gas lines. The city reports that at least 27,000 buildings have been upgraded as a result.