Bureaucratic Efficiency

After a natural gas explosion leveled Leonard and Harriet Walit’s Brooklyn, N.Y., brownstone, local officials took quick action to force Mr. Walit, 72, to clean up the mess. “The responsibility to take such action is yours, and because of the severity of the condition, the work must begin immediately,” demanded Brooklyn Borough Building Commissioner Tarek Zeid in a letter sent to Walit the very next day. But Walit won’t be cleaning up, or replying: he and his wife were killed in the blast. (AP) ...Commissioner Zeid is, however, still counting on their votes in November.