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On July 18, Tweeter reported inspecting a slab at the Hard Rock. On that date, the GPS records show no city inspector's vehicle within four blocks of the site. But for nearly two hours that day, an inspector's vehicle was parked in front of her Gentilly home.

It is worth going to Nola and reading the entire article. This is the past paragraph ...

Chode, thanks for finding that pic. A quick search last night didn't find any reference beyond this article to Ms. Tweeter. Could G__gle have already been scrubbed?

Certification is the process that we use to ensure that our employees and employers know what they are doing. There are lots of times that everyone cuts corners just to get the job done, and times that the inspector just adds a check mark to a long list of inspections to be done that day.

As citizens we pay for city inspectors to know about the matters being inspected. And there is a reason that we pay well for a Professional Engineer to have a clue ... so bridges and buildings don't fall down.

My certifications are expired now but I was a certified plans examiner and inspector. I just could not imagine ever, ever pulling a stunt like that. And this was before GPS. It was however during the days of “The inspector didn’t show.”

Sometimes if a plan review or inspection failed a contractor would whine that the only way other contractors passed was because we took bribes. Nope. Unlike New Orleans this is still pretty much small town. Besides the outright wrongness of it there was the whole “No keeping stuff like that a secret.”

I also knew my limits. So even though on paper I was certified in some areas (I am a marvel at test taking) I knew it might not translate to actual application. I would never even attempt to go beyond my ability. I took the duty to public safety seriously.

I was first exposed to the fact there could be corruption in the whole building inspection process when reading the reports on Hurricane Andrews. Unless there are such a thing as dissolving rebar and levitating tie downs a blind eye was turned to quite a few violations.