matthearn.com

If you’ve an eye for pleasant vistas and fine architecture, it’s time you checked out BLDGBLOG. It’s full of interesting tidbits about urban planning and building design, and the occasional poignant observation:

Malfunctioning fire alarms going off inside foreclosed homes have become a major distraction for fire departments in suburban Arizona, according to ABC15 News. Fire fighters, however, cannot legally enter a property unless they see smoke or have obtained the owner’s permission. But in an era of bank ownership and rampant foreclosure, even finding the owners can take weeks.

The result is that “neighbors have to listen to the alarm until the battery dies, which can take days.”

First we were surrounded by ruins, and then those ruins began to sing.