Published: October 14, 2008 08:09 am            

Pittsburgh razes wrong building, ruins ’family heirlooms’

PITTSBURGH — All Henry Schwartz has left of his garage and the family ’heirlooms’ he was saving is an empty lot and a pile of debris in a Pittsburgh landfill.

A week ago, city workers mistakenly demolished his garage, thinking it was one of the abandoned buildings they were ordered to bulldoze.

Schwartz says the garage was filled with family treasures, including a collection of Billie Holiday records, crystal stemware and a windup Victrola record player. He has not offered an estimate on the value of the items, but calls them his “family heirlooms.”

Pittsburgh’s demolition manager Paul Loy says the garage appeared to be abandoned along with the two condemned homes it sat between. He says Schwartz should file a claim for damages with the city.

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Information from: Pittsburgh Tribune-Review, http://pghtrib.com

        

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