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

[fatboy]

Fine and dandy law..............better ask your Counsel before you walk into a structure/property where you are not invited, without a court order in hand. Me thinks they wouldn't be so happy with you.

 

[conarb]

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.

H&CD does not cover warehouses, I wonder what Oakland records show as the occupancy of the building?

 

[ICE]

As an Inspector, you can't just "walk in", someone has to invite you in.

Well doggone, are you telling me that I have been breaking the rules?

 

[Keystone]

"Subject to other provisions of law..." Which in my eyes says, Nothing more than an administrative search warrant which is only as good as when someone allows access. Now this is Cali so the rules may be slightly different but in real-vile USA it's not a cart blanch access.

 

[steveray]

Anywhere the public can go, "we" can go...Or, as our State prosecutor says, "Give it the girl Scout test. If a girl scout could go and sell cookies there, you are probably allowed too."

 

[JBI]

The language in (far too many) local laws/ordinances regarding entry upon any premises for inspection is tempered by case law. The original inclusion of such language was bolstered by an early SCOTUS decision regarding 'administrative' searches that was superseded by the SCOTUS shortly after the initial decision. Warrantless searches are illegal, lacking valid consent, regardless of which State you are in.

 

[mark handler]

Oakland officials fielded multiple complaints about warehouse before deadly fire
http://www.latimes.com/local/lanow/la-me-oakland-inspections-fire-20161205-story.html
There are growing calls for a full accounting of how Oakland city officials handled safety and health issues at a warehouse where at least 36 people died in a fire amid evidence that various city agencies fielded complaints over the last two years.
“I think we have to take responsibility and certainly our staff members that had that task were not as responsive or assertive as necessary,” said Oakland City Councilman Noel Gallo on Monday.
He and others said that the city had been aware of safety and fire hazards at the warehouse for more than two years. Neighbors and former residents have told The Times that they had contacted the city about trash and debris piled up outside the warehouse as well as their concerns about unsafe conditions there.
The owner of the building, which housed an artists’ collective and is in Gallo’s district, did not have any of the building permits or fire inspection that would have been required by the alterations inside, the councilman said.
Responding to multiple complaints from neighboring businesses and residents, a city building inspector went to the warehouse on Nov. 17 to investigate but could not get access inside the building, Gallo and city officials said.
Victims of the Oakland warehouse fire: Who they were
“The only question that is still outstanding for me, the administration has to tell us, well, what happened to the code inspector? Why did he just knock on the door and not pursue?” Gallo said Monday. “This thing has been going on for 2 1/2 years.”
Police were repeatedly called to the warehouse to address complaints, according to one former resident. Those reports could not be confirmed to The Times on Sunday by Oakland police.
After a December 2014 party, one partygoer notified the city Fire Department of unsafe conditions, and it was inspected, said Danielle Boudreaux, who spent time at the warehouse. She did not know the result.
Gallo said he personally went to the building with an Oakland Police Department captain because of complaints about refuse and other junk scattered outside the warehouse. Gallo said they did not go inside, however.
City records cited allegations of at least three code violations at the building this year. In one complaint, city inspectors said there was a complaint of an illegal building on the property as well as piles of trash.
The building was permitted for use as a warehouse, not not for housing. City officials said that a party or concert at the property would have required a permit, which had not been granted. They also said there was no evidence of fire sprinklers or alarms in the building.
The building was the site of a concert Friday night called the Golden Donna 100% Silk 2016 West Coast Tour.
Gallo said complaints were filed by the owner of a neighboring Wendy’s restaurant because people going to parties inside the warehouse often parked in the restaurant’s parking lot and also left their trash. A resident nearby also complained to the city, saying the pallets and other trash the building manager was throwing into an empty lot posed a fire hazard, Gallo said.
Shelley Mack, 58, said she paid $700 a month to live inside a trailer parked in the warehouse from November 2014 to February 2015.
She said she had been drawn to the space by a Craigslist ad that promised cheap living space. Once there, she and several tenants — between 10 and 20, depending on the day — shared a single bathroom. The building had no heat, and in November 2014 a transformer blew, cutting off power.
“There was no electricity, and it was freezing in there,” she said.
Gas-powered generators were used to run small space heaters, and propane tanks placed indoors by the exits fueled other heaters, Mack said.
Deadly Oakland warehouse fire
Partygoers described a rabbit warren of rooms crammed with belongings — pianos, organs, antique furniture, doors and half-finished sculptures.
"It was a tinderbox," said Brooke Rollo, 30, who lives less than a mile from the scene and had gone to parties there.
Firefighters who responded to Friday’s three-alarm blaze described the interior as a labyrinth.
Alameda County Dist. Atty. Nancy O'Malley said Monday that her office had launched an investigation, and the site is now a "potential crime scene."
“It’s too early to speculate" about the charges,” she said. "Right now we've just started our investigation."
O'Malley said her office is looking into whether there's criminal liability attached to this fire and if so, against whom.
She said the charges could include manslaughter or murder, but it was too early to know what the evidence would reveal.
O'Malley said her office would "leave no stone unturned."

 

[mark handler]

Housing and Community Development does have authority over any building that is being used as living spaces.
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.

 

[mark handler]

OAKLAND, Calif. (KGO) -- http://abc7news.com/news/timeline-complaints-against-ghost-ship-warehouse-since-2014/1640996/
The ABC7 News I-Team has confirmed that in just the past two years, six complaints were filed against the Ghost Ship warehouse site where a tragic fire claimed the lives of more than 30 people. On at least two occasions, inspectors were unable to get inside the building to see the dangerous conditions.

• 12/03/16 - A complaint was filed the day after the fatal three-alarm fire. Firefighters said some of the victims might have been trapped in the blaze when they couldn't escape down a makeshift one-way stairwell built out of wooden pallets that led to the second floor.
• 11/14/16 - A "Blight" complaint was filed with the description: "Illegal interior building structure." ABC7 haslearned that before this was filed, an inspector went to the building but city officials say he couldn't get in. The investigation was ongoing but there are no details on what efforts the inspector may have made to get in or any follow-up attempts to inspect the property.
• 11/13/2016 - A "Blight" complaint was filed with the description: "There are a ton of garbage piling up on the property on 1305 31st Ave. Also, a lot of items are left on the sidewalk near the property. Some of trash was hazardous. This property is a storage but the owner turned it to become trash recycle site. the yard became a trash collection site and the main building was remodel for residential. The change causes our neighborhood looks very bad and creates health issue."
• 10/08/2014 - A "Habitability" complaint was filed. A City of Oakland building inspector identified as Randy Martin Schimm, a Specialty Combination Inspector, conducted an inspection of the property and reported that a "structure" was removed before the inspection and there were no violations. Records indicate Schimm earned $123,000.00 in 2015 including pay and benefits.
• 10/07/2014 - A "Habitability" complaint was filed with the description: "Constructing house/structure without permits."
• 09/30/2014 - A "Blight" complaint was filed with the description: "Pallets, construction materials blocking the sidewalk."
• 06/04/2014 - A "Blight" complaint was filed with the description: "Vacant lot, trash & debris, construction debris, vector issues."
• 04/09/2014 - A "Blight" complaint was filed with the description: "Large structures built at property, not strapped down or stable."

 

[cda]

Don't let someone know this::


Records indicate Schimm earned $123,000.00 in 2015 including pay and benefits.

$ 60 an hour

 

[SCBO1]

Why is this guys salary relevant?

Is Mr. Schimm the top dog or the goat?

 

[conarb]

Don't let someone know this::


Records indicate Schimm earned $123,000.00 in 2015 including pay and benefits.

$ 60 an hour

That's not outrageous, probably only $100,000 of that is salary the rest benefits, in California he's paying anywhere from 35 to 55% in income taxes unless he's got a lot of writeoffs, rents are anywhere from $2,000 to $3,000 a month, doesn't leave much left over for beer money.

 

[conarb]

Having remodeled bars and restaurants in Oakland I know a cabaret license is required if dancing is allowed, a bar could have a juke box but put a postage stamp sized hardwood floor in front of it and the city would require a cabaret license, to get the cabaret license there were all kinds of fire department requirements.

From today's local paper:

Repeated requests Monday for routine city records showing when the building was last inspected for fire safety were denied. Records normally provided over the counter that would show details about code enforcement visits were also not released Monday despite repeated requests. A Bay Area News Group lawyer objected in a letter to the city about the lack of access.

Oakland officials were mum on the matter Monday. Mayor Libby Schaaf walked away from a reporter trying to interview her about the visits and how often the fire department inspected the building. In a statement issued Monday night, Schaaf said “initial information (is being) compiled and (we) will be reviewing it with the District Attorney prior to release.” DA Nancy O’Malley is conducting a criminal investigation of the fire.

The city’s fire department boasts on its website of “an excellent program” in which firefighters do surprise “field inspections, on a block-by-block basis. Inspections occur at least one time annually. In some instances, high-hazard (buildings) may require additional inspections.”

Warehouse owner Chor Ng was well known to the city Code Enforcement office.

She faced $15,000 in code enforcement fines attached to her 2013-2014 county tax bill and $7,600 in similar costs in 2009 for the property. In 2007, a notice of a substandard building and special assessment of $15,000 was filed against her.

Records also show city taxes on the property were often not paid. Ng could not be reached for comment. A lawyer who has represented her in real estate matters did not return messages.

Last month an unidentified code enforcement officer went to the building in response to complaints about piles of garbage. No one came to the door of the collective. The next day, the city started an investigation about apparent illegal structures being built inside the warehouse. But no inspectors returned to follow up before the fire.

It was far from the only chance for someone to notice the hazardous conditions.

• In March of last year, police responded to a report of a dance party at the warehouse where attendees were paying $25 a head to get in. An officer was reportedly denied entry by a doorman claiming that the location was a private club with members paying monthly dues, records show. The officer left because there was no evidence of a crime.

• A tenant dispute in February 2014 also drew the attention of police. Almena was reportedly cited for battery, and another man was arrested, but no charges came out of the encounter. Officers didn’t enter the building.

• On Jan. 13, 2015, Almena was arrested on suspicion on possession of stolen property at the warehouse. According an Alameda County Sheriff’s Office probable-cause document, a woman named Farrah Dalal flagged down a passing Alameda sheriff’s deputy and said Almena had stolen her trailer and she had tracked it to the 31st Avenue site.

Dalal, who claimed Almena was her former tenant, had performed a citizen’s arrest of Almena, and Deputy Jeremy Lucha arrested him and booked him into a county jail. In his report, Lucha stated that Almena confessed to having the trailer “for about a week.” It was unclear from the report if Lucha entered the warehouse or arrested Alemna in the vacant lot next to it.

Almena spent two days in jail and agreed to plead no contest to a lesser misdemeanor charge of possessing stolen property. He was sentenced to three years’ probation and was ordered to pay restitution.

• In February 2015, the Alameda County Child and Family Services Department was called to the warehouse and took custody of Almena’s three children out of safety concerns about them living there, according to a court document. Almena also later posted on Facebook that it had happened but blamed a tenant for “fake accusations.” The children were later returned to Almena and his wife. The department director didn’t return a message Monday.¹

These places bill themselves as 'collectives', 'communes', or some other designation indicating socialist groupings, the cities have been looking the other way on them, this is East Oakland, in North Oakland an 'anti-capitalist' commune stemming from the Occupy movement has acquired a former Italian social club, they have been trying to get Oakland to waive a lot of fire, structural, and disability requirements, at least they are going about it the right way, these people with anti-establishment lifestyles can't afford to live here..


¹ http://www.eastbaytimes.com/2016/12...ssed-signs-of-looming-disaster-at-ghost-ship/

 

[fatboy]

Well doggone, are you telling me that I have been breaking the rules?

Probably......

 

[cda]

Probably......

Not breaking the rules, if the court don't catch you

 

[SCBO1]

ICE, you have been on a few roof taken photo's, I'm sure you were invited!

So....it's all good, that's the way you roll.

 

[conarb]

Not breaking the rules, if the court don't catch you

That's what both the owner and lessor of the Ghost Ship said.

 

[linnrg]

as the cost of the cave goes up the cave dwellers will seek less desirable caves. when bad things happen at the cave then all who have seen the cave will be blamed.

Here in the great state of Alaska we have lots of homeless people. More and more each year. I do not think it has to do with the cost of the dwelling location as much as it is the people falling way down from their lifestyle choices. Our educational books should include these stories when kids are young so that they understand that life takes concentrated efforts to: avoid poverty conditions, to avoid dangerous places, to avoid social pitfalls and most important being able to recognize the potential problems and turn your personal pathway to the positive.

So for the government officials that will be blamed, the people may not understand that you may have sent this up the chain, or that you may have met (discussed) with the owners and a plan for compliance was discussed but no action ever occurred by the owners or tenants, or that you were requested to get off the property, or that you can not see all and know all about every building in your area and what is truly going on in it, etc, etc.

I have got over three years into one case of a simple home damaged by fire and just recently obtained a positive path from the courts to take official actions. In this case the owner is still in the picture. Sympathy for the owners conditions whether financial problems, mental issues, bad habits, etc. has long been exhausted. I work in a small jurisdiction and can not imagine the decay of some of the inner cites I have seen on the news. When I began dealing with this property I studied what other cities are doing for buildings and structures that are dilapitated or dangerous and found that lots of places have huge numbers of problem buildings. Truly sad stories.

For the building owner or landlord who has continued to gain profits from this buildings use when its doors should have been barricaded you will get no sympathy from me

 

[conarb]

In today's paper the editorial is calling for criminal prosecution.

District Attorney Nancy O’Malley’s criminal investigation is a first step toward accountability. The probe should include the owner of the property, the mastermind tenant who created Ghost Ship, the concert organizers and promoters, the city inspectors who had been warned, and the elected leaders who knew but didn’t speak out.

Some should go to jail. Some should lose their jobs. Some will face civil liability, for whatever cold comfort it can bring survivors.

Even the artists who lived there bear responsibility. They describe horrific electrical hookups and other fires-in-waiting. Yes, reporting those conditions likely would have cost them their homes, but it might have prevented the city’s deadliest fire.

Property owners gripe about building codes and permit costs. Maybe some are excessive. But the Ghost Ship is precisely the worst nightmare that building standards and concert venue requirements are supposed to prevent. The rules are the reason we have fewer massive casualty fires than a century ago.¹

Another article blames the cost of building permits:

Because it’s so expensive to secure building permits in the city, a lot of the warehouses aren’t even certified for occupancy. Master tenants representing groups of people negotiate with landlords who rent out the dwellings illegally.

“Five hundred dollars a month right now is a golden ticket to have a place to cook and shower and sleep; it doesn’t matter what it is as long as you can make your art and be part of a community,” Strauss said. “But we’re being forced into the worst places because of the economic, political and social climate in the city.”²

¹ http://www.eastbaytimes.com/2016/12...hortage-doesnt-excuse-deadly-oakland-inferno/

² http://www.eastbaytimes.com/2016/12...-drive-artists-into-unsafe-living-conditions/

 

[cda]

and one more blames the fire chief for not staffing funded positions



OAKLAND — In the wake of the deadly Ghost Ship fire, questions are being raised whether the city has sufficient fire inspectors to cover its diverse and sometimes problematic housing stock, including many older manufacturing warehouses that have been converted to artists’ collectives.

Until last year, the city had gone three years without a fire marshal — the person with authority to shut down unsafe structures — and four other inspector positions are funded but remain vacant, according to documents.

And two years before the fire that killed 36 at an artist’s collective Friday night, an Alameda civil grand jury report showed the fire department failed to inspect more than one third of the city’s 11,000 commercial properties. The 2014 report offered other alarming findings: Oakland was losing about $1.4 million a year in unrecovered fees, fines and abatement costs due to poor billing and collections practices. “We have a shortage of staff at the enforcement level and in the fire level,” said Councilman Noel Gallo, who represents the Fruitvale district where the fire happened. “We’ve been trying to merge the building inspectors with the fire inspectors.” The city’s building department has so far refused to release detailed reports of complaints about the Ghost Ship arts collective at the direction of the City Administrator’s Office. But a summary of complaints shows building inspectors were notified as far back as October 2014 of possible illegal construction at the warehouse.
And just last month, on Nov. 14, the city opened an investigation into a complaint of illegal interior building or structures at the property. The previous day inspectors visited the warehouse in response to a complaint about garbage pilling up there, but left after they could not get inside the site, officials said.

A review of employee data obtained by the Bay Area News Group shows in 2015 Oakland had nine fire prevention inspectors; three assistant fire marshals; and a fire marshal, Miguel Trujillo. There were also five fire suppression district inspectors.

Firefighter union Vice President Zac Unger said leaving the fire marshal position vacant for so long “sends a terrible signal that protecting firefighters and citizens isn’t a priority.”

There is a “giant disconnect” between the firefighters and the civilian fire safety inspectors, he said.
“We see dangerous stuff on the street and we send it up there and it just goes into a void,” Unger said, adding that Fire Chief Teresa Deloach Reed “has completely ignored fire prevention.”

According to the most recent staffing report released in October, two civilian fire prevention bureau inspectors positions and two fire suppression district inspector positions remain vacant, even though City Council approved funding for the jobs.
“To me, that is the bigger outrage,” Councilmember Rebecca Kaplan said Tuesday. “There are significant vacancies in the fire department.

The grand jury panel also found that on its website, the city gave a “false impression that all commercial businesses are inspected annually,” but really did not inspect 4,000 of 11,000 properties each year. In its response to the report, the city pledged

“We’ve always advocated the need for more dedicated fire inspectors,” said Daniel Robertson, president of Oakland’s fire department union. “If you look at comparable cities with similar building stock as us, they have a higher percentage of fire prevention inspectors.”

San Jose, which is predominantly suburban, had 12 fire safety inspectors in 2015 and no fire marshal. There were three fire inspectors who also work as EMTs last year, according to payroll data. And San Mateo, one quarter the size of Oakland, had two department fire marshals and four inspectors, data shows.

In the Richmond Fire Department, there are five inspectors/investigators, said fire Capt. Rico Rincon. He said inspectors and fire prevention are perhaps the most important function of a fire department.

“We work (fighting fires) when prevention fails in a sense,” Rincon said. “The more fire prevention we do reduces the amount of fires.”

Questions remain about whether fire inspectors ever visited the warehouse after the Ghost Ship opened in 2013. Despite promises to release documents, Oakland city officials have yet to release detailed information on the overall history of fire inspections at 1315 31st Ave. However, Tuesday night Mayor Libby Schaaf said the city was compiling records from several departments that may have received reports or conducted inspections at the property and would make them available to the public.

That was an about face from earlier Tuesday, when Rebecca Kozak, executive assistant to Fire Chief Teresa Deloach Reed, instructed staff not to release documents related to the warehouse fire to the press, and instead encourage reporters to make online public records requests, the East Bay Express reported.


http://www.eastbaytimes.com/2016/12/06/after-oakland-warehouse-fire-calls-come-for-more-inspectors/

 

[mtlogcabin]

“We have a shortage of staff at the enforcement level and in the fire level,” said Councilman Noel Gallo, who represents the Fruitvale district where the fire happened. “We’ve been trying to merge the building inspectors with the fire inspectors.”

Fire prevention is usually the 1st to go during a down time and the last to be re-instated when things get better

"one more blames the fire chief for not staffing funded positions"

Funded positions do not mean they can be filled at any time. I would still need city manager and council approval before advertising and hiring. Without justification of an overworked staff it will never happen

 

[my250r11]

It's not everybody's fault because people are ignorant. People ready to blame someone else instead of their selves. We can not catch everything, people want less regulation then cry we don't do enough. Society has become a VERY strange animal...... okay I'm done for now LOL.

 

[cda]

That's what both the owner and lessor of the Ghost Ship said.

They got caught big time

 

[fatboy]

And that is a big difference. If there are squatters/trespassers, and get themselves in harms way, that's one thing. But if the owner/agent was complicit in the leasing/use of the building? Then the gloves come off.

Like my250r11 said, all too often folks want it both ways, they have the expectation that they should be able to do whatever they want, but when the poo hits the revolving blade device, they now want to be protected. JMHO