Turns out the owners of this property could have demolished the whole thing. Uh, oops City Hall.
I guess there is no substitute for knowledge, even at City Hall. I agree with Councilperson Palmer’s acknowledgement of the problem, but do not believe that one-stop permitting would entirely alleviate bad clerical work.
Best to beef up signage and posting so that savvy neighbors (of which there are many in the old city) can catch the mistakes. And maybe, have someone they can call over the weekend when they see illegal demo or repair activity.

WDSU story