San Francisco Hires Quake Safety Czar

A building permit consultant has been hired as San Francisco’s first earthquake safety czar.

The San Francisco Chronicle says Patrick Otellini is a certified building inspector who served on the mayor’s task force examining soft-story building risks.

So-called soft-story buildings have a garage or storefront on the first floor, making them prone to collapse in a major quake.

As director of earthquake safety, Otellini will implement a 30-year plan to reduce the city’s most dangerous risks in a future earthquake, including retrofitting soft-story buildings, private schools and some concrete buildings.

Otellini will be paid between $108,000 and $138,000 a year.