Attachment A - Citizen Petition- Submitted by Susan Steinberg

Proposal to Add City Codes Around Railings that can be Enforced on Private and 
Public Properties. 
Currently there is a Phoenix City Code around railings that can be enforced on private 
properties, but the code is only applied for the existence of the railing. I am proposing to add an 
additional code or additional information to the current code, that a railing is also unacceptable if 
it is dangerously loose. Some railing are going to be naturally loose due to the give of it being an 
additional structure on the side of a building, however much of the railing in the Phoenix area 
are loose due to poor construction, or from rotting wood underneath the railing, or rotten wood 
connected to the rafters or the adjacent wood connecting the railing to the building. 
Many times, when a railing becomes loose due to age or poor construction people know about it 
for months possibly years before someone mistakenly leans on it or leans on it for too long or 
too hard, or a child runs into it and falls against it, and the railing breaks and a person falls from 
the second story. This time frame offers plenty of opportunities for a code enforcement to 
happen and a repair to be made before anyone gets hurt.  
Making the maintenance or replacement of railings that have become overly loose due to poor 
construction or dry root of wood an enforceable code violation would save lives. 
Thank you. 
Attachment A