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Building collapse// concert fire // History repeats, repeats, repeats

Last use as a warehouse


Work area for artist,,, does not sound like warehouse use.

Blight debris in adjoining lot. 11/13

Illegal construction inside

11/17 inspector could not get in
 
http://www.latimes.com/local/lanow/la-me-oakland-fire-nine-dead-warehouse-20161203-story.html
City records cited allegations at least three code violations at the building this year.
“This property is a storage [facility], but the owner turned it into a trash recycling center. The yard became a trash collection site, and the main building was [remodeled] for residential,” according to city records.
City building and safety officials said Saturday afternoon that there was an open investigation into the warehouse and that inspectors had found evidence of blight. The building was permitted for use as a warehouse, not for housing.
 
mark handler said:
http://www.latimes.com/local/lanow/la-me-oakland-fire-nine-dead-warehouse-20161203-story.html
City records cited allegations at least three code violations at the building this year.
“This property is a storage [facility], but the owner turned it into a trash recycling center. The yard became a trash collection site, and the main building was [remodeled] for residential,” according to city records.
City building and safety officials said Saturday afternoon that there was an open investigation into the warehouse and that inspectors had found evidence of blight. The building was permitted for use as a warehouse, not for housing.
Click to expand...


Even though the City knew it was used for concerts
And residential
 
Tragic..........as I said in the post I put up about the building collapse, horrific accidents waiting to happen.
 
It will be interesting to see if the City will be sued as they "knew about it" and did not order an abatement (that I am aware of)....That makes you negligent here in CT.
 
Their biggest fear now is you guys:

East Bay Times said:
As they grieved for friends killed in the inferno at the Ghost Ship warehouse on 31st Avenue, artists, musicians and partygoers from east to west Oakland couldn’t help but worry about a backlash of building inspections at other warehouse collectives.

“There’s going to be a draconian overreaction to shut everything down,” said Dunn, 42, who has attended events at the collective in the Fruitvale neighborhood. “That would only add to the tragedy.”

“People are getting worried (the fire) is gonna be used against us,” said Katelyn Charvoz, of West Oakland. The 25-year-old said she’s been involved in the music/party scene since she was about 15. “The city’s gonna paint us as some ugly, crusty, punk kids that are up to no good. If they buy up all the warehouses on every street and kick everyone out, it will just hurt the arts community here.”

The tragic warehouse fire is roiling an already simmering tension between official Oakland and a vibrant, free-wheeling arts community that has given life to many of its former industrial neighborhoods in recent years. Already, rising rents were threatening to dislodge some of these artistic centers; now concerns about lack of proper permitting and unsafe conditions, like what existed at the Ghost Ship, could add to the pressure.

“They don’t want you to have affordable rent,” said Damon Gallagher, who was the master tenant at Ghost Town and has since left Oakland. “There was blood dripping out of their mouths, dollar signs in their eyes.”

The 1919 Market evictions had artists who live in warehouses around the city worried that their buildings were next. Now they wonder if that was one reason why no one at Ghost Ship answered the door when city inspectors showed up Nov. 17.

“Who is going to want to call inspectors and risk losing their space?” Dunn wondered.

To this end, Michael Snook, founder of the NIMBY collective in East Oakland, reached out to artists on Facebook Sunday. NIMBY started in a West Oakland warehouse in 2004 and was forced to move after an untended candle sparked a smoky fire in 2008 and inspectors shut it down for lack of permits and sprinklers. The city helped the group relocate to a new space in East Oakland, but it took months and a $30,000 permitting nightmare before they could rest easy.

“If anyone lives in a live work space and would like it inspected without worry of all hell breaking loose, contact me,” Snook wrote on Facebook. “I can hook you up with a private professional that knows all the rules but doesn’t work for the city of Oakland. There is a fee and all I ask is you do what he says. Please.”¹
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I don't know the answer but the cost of complying with codes isn't just fire protection, it will involve structural, seismic, disability, and anything else they can come up with, historically society has always had artists, Bohemians, or others of alternative lifestyles living in unsafe circumstances, probably the most famous is depicted in Puccini's La Boheme. Another problem is the safety of the inspectors going into these buildings, the cops don't want to go anywhere near there and they've got guns, drugs are a big part of the culture.


¹ http://www.eastbaytimes.com/2016/12...-map-but-fire-spreads-fear-of-code-crackdown/
 
conarb said:
Their biggest fear now is you guys:



I don't know the answer but the cost of complying with codes isn't just fire protection, it will involve structural, seismic, disability, and anything else they can come up with, historically society has always had artists, Bohemians, or others of alternative lifestyles living in unsafe circumstances, probably the most famous is depicted in Puccini's La Boheme. Another problem is the safety of the inspectors going into these buildings, the cops don't want to go anywhere near there and they've got guns, drugs are a big part of the culture.


¹ http://www.eastbaytimes.com/2016/12...-map-but-fire-spreads-fear-of-code-crackdown/
Click to expand...


So just let people get hurt?
 
cda said:
So just let people get hurt?
Click to expand...
As I said I don't know the answer, but where are people going to go with costs what they are? These nightclub fires all seem to involve loud rock music, maybe ban rock music? At least this one doesn't seem to have foam involved, I saw a list of major nightclub fires and most had toxic foam burning, I guess they use that stuff for sound deadening.

If you were called to inspect this facility you would have to enforce all codes, that would run into the millions in a building like this.
 
Therein lies the rub, ability to enforce what has been reported, or what you know, or suspect. You can throw them out, and post it, and they'll be back before you get around the corner.

But, you need to make a good faith effort to notify and document that you are not condoning the illegal occupancies. CYA
 
Did the owner allow City inspections or did the Inspectors get a warrant to enter to do the inspections?
 
"So I was down there and I was having trouble finding the exit... the lower level is like a f*****g maze. The stair room had three different exits and only one would have been the way to outside. Horrifying....

Some dude who had already gotten out stood right by the exit with all the billowing smoke and was repeatedly yelling "this is the exit", "exit." I can say without a doubt that that dude saved my life. If he wasn't there yelling I would have never found the exit and I probably would have died."
- Quote from reddit page
 
Pcinspector1 said:
Did the owner allow City inspections or did the Inspectors get a warrant to enter to do the inspections?
Click to expand...

Sounds like the inspector did not bother to try to enter the building

Hard to believe no one was there to let him in, and more than likely you can just walk into the place.
 
As an Inspector, you can't just "walk in", someone has to invite you in. Although I do agree, with all the "tenants" hard to believe he couldn't find someone to invite him in.
 
The editorial in the local paper does appear to place the blame on the inspectors:

East Bay Times said:
It’s easy to understand how the building went up in smoke and flames so quickly about 11:30 p.m. Friday and why it took firefighters four hours to control the blaze.

It’s hard to understand how this could happen. Oakland City Councilman Noel Gallo had received numerous complaints about parties at the building and illegal dumping on the property. What happened to those complaints?

Inspectors last month had supposedly launched an investigation of garbage piling up on the adjoining lot. That turned into a probe of an illegal interior building structure.

When inspectors returned on Nov. 17, they couldn’t get inside. That was 15 days before the fire broke out. What happened since then? Did the inspectors return? Gallo says they apparently didn’t try.

And what of those who walked into this death trap on Friday night? Many were young, in their 20s and 30s. Did they not sense danger in this makeshift party venue?¹
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I don't agree, this is an extremely dangerous neighborhood, inspectors should be accompanied by police officers, even at that they can be hit by random gunfire on the streets. These kinds of people are known drug users, not only can they be irrational but they usually have firearms to protect their drug operations.

¹ http://www.eastbaytimes.com/2016/12/03/editorial-oakland-warehouse-inferno-was-preventable/
 
fatboy said:
As an Inspector, you can't just "walk in", someone has to invite you in. Although I do agree, with all the "tenants" hard to believe he couldn't find someone to invite him in.
Click to expand...
CBC SECTION 1.8.5
RIGHT OF ENTRY FOR ENFORCEMENT
1.8.5.1 General. Subject to other provisions of law, officers
and agents of the enforcing agency may enter and inspect
public and private properties to secure compliance with the
rules and regulations promulgated by the Department of
Housing and Community Development. For limitations and
additional information regarding enforcement, see the following:
1. For applications subject to the State Housing Law as
referenced in Section 1.8.3.2.1 of this code, refer to
Health and Safety Code, Division 13, Part 1.5, commencing
with Section 17910 and California Code of
Regulations, Title 25, Division 1, Chapter 1, Subchapter
1, commencing with Section 1.
 
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