Nobody in SFgov is qualified to review the design of a skyscraper's foundation. That is why everyone involved in the project (city building inspectors, investors, lenders, etc) relie on expert engineering firms. Any firm making a mistake of this magnitude - if it is an engineering error - will be out of business and there insurers writing big checks.

While I agree Brown/Newsome/SFGov is shady but I highly doubt they are responsible for this problem. How did they fool the lenders? How did they get multiple engineering firms to sign off? Why would an investor like Millineum Partners want to take such a big risk in an area they have no advantage?