Porch catastrophic injury: New York says it's up to you

"If you call me today with a porch complaint, it's on the inspectors' list tomorrow," though it can take several weeks for an actual inspection to occur, he said. "We just don't have the resources to annually inspect every porch in the city. Nor do I think we want to get into that business [of over-policing owners]. As it is, the inspectors have a lot of work."

A scan of the nearly 2,500 complaints phoned in since January 2008 presents a cacophony of worried tenants and neighbors warning the city about potential injuries.

In several cases, the phoned-in warnings came too late, said John Q. Kelly, a New York catastrophic injury lawyer.