Engineering Lesson for the Day

[mbarrick]

How not to properly shore-up a construction excavation. The large blocks are man-hole access spaces. Note how the one on the left is hanging by a bundle of cables that are the power and communications lines for the block. Also note the severed pipe in the upper right corner.

Another view

A view down the 1200 block of West Pender showing the width of the hole (the sidewalk and curb lane of the street are caved in).

I wasn't the only one taking pictures. Funny how this is more newsworthy (front cover of yesterday's Province) than the power outage and dead body I photographed just one block north of this spot two years ago, or, for that matter, this building nearly burning down just over three years ago. I really have a hard time figuring out what criteria are applied in deciding what is and is not news in this city.