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

[mark handler]

Wouldn't it be easy to require all police officers / fire fighters to have a basic course on property maintenance as part of their continuing training? It wouldn't take a couple hours or so, but run them through what they should be looking for while they're doing their regular jobs. I think it'd help, especially in larger municipalities who have understaffed code enforcement dept's. Public Works guys should have the same course, too. Any muni. employee who is out and about the streets everyday ought to be able to call the code enforcement office and tell them about a jacked up house/business/warehouse whatever.

If you ask them, they're too busy. I know. But if the goal is to prevent this kind of stuff from happening, and to keep the city clean/up to code, shouldn't all the different dept's work together to make that happen?

Some do.

 

[fatboy]

Both our PD and FD are very good about cluing both Building and Code Compliance folks in on problem properties. To good sometimes.

 

[conarb]

Today's report, they are now trying to pin the blame on the owner, that's foolish since the property is in trust and the owner can't be touched.

OAKLAND — Chor Ng, the owner of the Ghost Ship building, was cited at least three times since 2009 for people living illegally inside a half-block of other properties she owned in East Oakland — the last of which occurred a week after 36 people died in the Fruitvale artists’ collective on Dec. 2.

On Dec. 11, building inspectors found at least 15 violations of an illegal living space at 3073 International Blvd., which adjoins the Ghost Ship warehouse. The other two citations were for illegally housing people in 3071 International, according to records released Wednesday.

On Wednesday, Oakland released more than 600 pages of documents, under threat of a lawsuit by this newspaper group, detailing the city’s history with the Ghost Ship warehouse and the neighboring businesses on that Fruitvale district corner. Police records show officers responded to to an illegal rave and were warned that people were living at the warehouse almost two years before the deadly fire, yet did not cite anyone or forward the complaints to other city departments.

Those records also show 222 contacts were made by the city’ s police, fire, building and public works departments while answering medical and fire calls, and blight-related complaints and inspections at Ng’s properties on 31st Avenue and International Boulevard. Those consisted of:

• 99 calls for service by Oakland police dating back to 2007.
• 95 code enforcement complaints and inspections by the planning and building department dating back to 1988.
• 20 public works service requests since 2005.
• Eight fire or medical calls for service since 2005.

A spokesman for Ng’s attorneys on Thursday said they were reviewing the records and had no comment.

Besides the warehouse, Ng owns about 11 other Oakland properties, including two in Chinatown.

The entrance of the building at 3073 International Blvd. is around the corner from the burned-out warehouse, but its back wall abuts the Ghost Ship. Inside, the inspectors on Dec. 11 found what appeared like almost a smaller version of the Ghost Ship, damaged by smoke and water from the fire next door: bottles of alcohol near a tip jar, a performance stage, graffiti, a ramshackle bathroom and kitchen, along with jerry-rigged electrical wiring.

Building inspectors, after the Ghost Ship fire, found illegal housing in a neighboring building also owned by Chor Ng and documented in photos. (City of Oakland)
“There are several unapproved alterations made to the building. There are sleeping rooms created on the second floor as well as a kitchen,” city officials wrote. They added that unapproved alterations were also made to the plumbing and electrical system, “such as exposed and unsafe wiring, fixtures, new electrical panels and circuits.”

Sources have told this newspaper that the fire started due to faulty wiring.

In 1999, a large leak to the building complex roof brought building inspectors into 3071 International Blvd. During that visit, inspectors determined: “This space was being used as living space illegally.” Two years later, they returned and found another “unapproved living unit.”

The inspector wrote that Ng asked for an extension to abate the issue “due to the eviction process,” and she later appealed the fine.

Starting in 2004, building inspectors began to receive blight complaints about the vacant lot adjacent to the warehouse. Old tires, junked appliances and cars, oil containers, rodents, weeds, graffiti and homeless encampments were noted, according to records. It took almost three years and $3,000 for the city to finally abate the property, also levying numerous property liens during that stretch, according to records.

Records show that between December 2005 and July 2016, another city department, public works, sent officials to Ng’s properties in response to reports of illegal dumping, litter, graffiti and utility inspection requests.

As of Thursday, Ng had not made a tax payment on the International Boulevard properties that was due on Dec. 6, four days after the fire, Alameda County records show. Her overdue bill, with a 10 percent penalty, now stands at $5,273.

Aside from the well-publicized assaults, illegal party and housing, child abuse and other criminal reports tied to the Ghost Ship warehouse, Ng’s other properties on that block also brought law enforcement attention as early as 2007 (the police records released only went back that far).¹

These are what is known as "drug houses", some live there, others come there to listen to blaring rock music and take drugs.


¹ http://www.eastbaytimes.com/2017/02...reviously-cited-for-allowing-illegal-housing/

 

[JCraver]

My guys are awesome at it - I usually get more complaints from City employees (and City politicians...) than I do residents every month. But crap like this happens all the time and no one saw anything before it (whatever "it" was) happened.

 

[linnrg]

CONARb in #153 you stated "sounds like this is a retirement trust and all assets are immune from seizure or attachment". Is there any groundswell to bring this to light and how it gets the persons who should have had the responsibility off the hook? I think I would be willing to write some legislator if there is a way.

 

[conarb]

CONARb in #153 you stated "sounds like this is a retirement trust and all assets are immune from seizure or attachment". Is there any groundswell to bring this to light and how it gets the persons who should have had the responsibility off the hook? I think I would be willing to write some legislator if there is a way.

linnrg:

I was going to respond no way, trusts have long been public policy as a way of protecting and transferring wealth, but also as a way of earning money tax-free, I have a trust, almost all of my customers have trusts, I have seldom built homes for individuals, I have built them for their trusts. There are all kinds of trusts, mostly revocable trusts but also irrevocable trusts, there are even trusts like the "Jackie O" trust:

One method of protecting assets from the estate tax is through a trust. Trust administration is different for different types of trusts, but, in some cases, the funds put into a trust may not be taxable. One such type of trust, that is commonly used to protect assets from taxation, is known as a “Jackie O.” trust. These are a type of charitable trust, which requires a specified amount to be donated each year for a specified period of time.

The tax for these trusts is determined based on what will be left after the donations across the given time frame. Depending on interest rates and other factors, these types of trusts can result in no estate taxes, but a beneficiary still receiving a sizeable inheritance. While these seem to provide an easy loophole, they do not work for all situations. In order to accrue interest that eclipses the amount to be donated and taxed, these types of trusts require a sizeable starting balance, making them best for those with substantial wealth.¹

One of the biggest tax dodges out there is the Non-Profit Charitable Family Foundation, a good example is turn on NPR and most programs state who sponsors them, a prominent sponsor is The Bill and Melinda Gates Family foundation, Bill can take something like a billion dollars of his income and "donate" it to his Family Foundation taking the full charitable deduction so he pays roughly a half billion less in taxes, some of that the foundation then donates to it's favored causes, certain NPR programs being one of them, as long as his family lasts on this earth his family has control over the monies in the Foundation, during that time they must donate a minimum of 7% per year to IRS approved charities, and of course in good economic times the remaining 93% can make more invested than the 7% donated so the foundation grows in value over time and all monies are protected. Most wealthy families have complex interwoven tax-free foundations, if you recall recently there was a hack of a Panamanian law firm that handled these trusts, most are set up offshore in tax havens. Examples are the wealthy families on earth, the Rothschilds and the Rockefellers, they have so many non-profit trusts worldwide that it takes large offices just to manage them, since they benefit the wealthiest people in the world as well as the average person with a pension I would think they are untouchable.

Notice I started out this response with the statement: "I was going to respond no way", the reason I said that is because of recent well-publicized developments, in one of MH's innumerable Disability threads I pointed out that the Disability activists were financed by perhaps the world's most evil men, George Soros, I even linked to his site dealing with Disability, all that money that he has spent on disability activism has been tax free money for him, pay it in taxes to some government or donate it to a charity of your choice and control where the money goes that would otherwise go to the government. Soros has sponsored chaos worldwide to achieve his goals or an egalitarian world without borders ruiled by the United Nations, all done tax-free. This may come to a head if Trump and Sessions prosecute the Clinton Foundations, they started by setting up a simple Foundation to build a presidential library, but soon expanded (illegally) that foundation to a web of foundations including the Clinton Global Initiative that has taken billions from foreign countries and trusts like Soros' MoveOn and Open Society to have the U.S. attack countries like Libya and Syria, the Saudis and Qatar want oil lines through Syria and don't want Russia and Libya selling oil to Europe, Soros wanted to destroy the countries to release refugees and economic migrants from Africa across the Mediterranean Sea to Italy, and from the mid-east through Syria to Greece, to end up in the European entitlement societies like Germany, Sweden etc. The Clinton Foundations were so outrageous that an IRS investigation could bring the whole process of trusts and foundations into question, I see the Clintons have liquidated the Clinton Global Initiative, but all records are still there. Most trusts and foundations meticulously comply with IRS rules and regulations, the Clinton situation is the ideal one to prosecute because they play fast and loose with foundation funds, like even buying their daughter's wedding dress with foundations funds. I keep my trust monies totally segregated from my corporate and personal monies, I even have an administrator that I pay $1,500 a year to manage them.

As you can see you asked a huge question, but this may all be brought to light, the release of the Panama Papers is a start.


¹ http://www.levinslegal.com/blog/201...the-wealthy-an-escape-from-estate-taxes.shtml

 

[linnrg]

another "Warehouse" only here in Alaska

https://www.adn.com/opinions/2017/0...es-as-a-hotbed-of-politics-art-and-craziness/

 

[conarb]

That's really interesting Linnrg, thanks for posting it, just reading it tells people here more than can be explained about the evolution of the counter-culture and their disdain for rules and regulations, can you even imagine citing them for a sign an inch too high? If you try to tell them that you are doing it for their own good they'll say that's well and good but they can't afford health and safety, they even have their babies without licensed doctors and hospitals. Is there a place in this world for people like that? Society has always had Bohemians, do we leave them alone to live as they want or do we make them conform to society's rules and regulations if they can't?

 

[linnrg]

in both cases we have a warehouse fire. One was deadly and one was hardly noticed. Both have the underlying issue of where do the poor live (or where certain people choose to live). Both have the attachment to culture (if you ask the people involved). So far I have read that the one in Anchorage is a story of neglect that was due to the original persons death and the property being passed down to relatives without the funds for it to be kept up, so vagrancy was happening. I don't think it was a place that had an active income like the one in California.
That "income" is very important and why I feel that the owners in California should bear some financial responsibility. The "use" in California was very unsafe (and known by many).

I am a firm believer in opportunity for all - wealth if you can achieve it and left alone if you wish.

Building codes do try to achieve one very important thing in that it helps achieve consumer safety but how far can or should it go is a good question. I think that the effect of the building codes are not intended to change or safe up "culture". Culture takes what is there and uses it in ways that are bad then results in the fires.

Communities have a difficult time dealing with abandoned or neglected buildings. The public officials have to exhaust lots of efforts chasing down owners, hearing the owners arguments of why we should not be doing anything about their building, etc. We just took one down and the sad thing is it was a building that could have been saved. Anchorage if you don't know has a large homeless population, has the same drug problems all other cities have, and has plenty of crime it seems.

 

[cda]

Conarb, need a special prosecutor

Seems like someone is riding a desk, waiting, trying to get another fat pension



OAKLAND — Fire Chief Teresa Deloach Reed is on leave from her job for the second time this year.


“The city does not comment on the leave status of employees,” said Erica Derryck, a spokesman for Mayor Libby Schaaf.

Department veteran Mark Hoffmann is serving as acting chief, Derryck said.

Reed was on leave most of January to help care for a sick family member, fire officials have said. She returned to work last week but began the second, unexplained leave midday Friday, fire sources said.

Reed’s absence comes as her department continues to investigate the Dec. 2 Ghost Ship warehouse fire that killed 36 people and raised questions about the department’s ability to conduct safety inspections.

Shortly before her January leave, Reed went on a lengthy rant at a public meeting of a fire safety district in the Oakland Hills when residents raised questions about vegetation inspections designed to help prevent a repeat of the 1991 fire storm in which 25 people died. She even threatened to sue a person for criticizing her.

Reed came to Oakland five years ago after retiring from the San Jose Fire Department, where she draws a pension. Her Oakland pension with the California Public Employees Retirement System vests in early March.

Asked in January if she intended to remain Oakland chief past her vesting date, Reed said “that’s an inappropriate question” and refused to answer.

http://www.eastbaytimes.com/2017/02/27/oakland-fire-chief-on-leave-for-second-time-in-2017/

 

[conarb]

CDA:

Yeah, I read that this morning and was going to post it, be interesting to hear if her San Jose pension is in the half million dollar range like most around here, the greed of these public employees is unbelievable, seems like one half million dollar pension would be enough, of course this is diversity and inclusion, they can't hire based upon ability anymore, they hire based upon color and gender, if you say anything they scream "RACISM" and/or "MISOGYNY" (they learned a new word) . And this when the pension funds are going bankrupt nationwide.

 

[tmurray]

Based on the reports, she appears to be combative and lacking transparency. Not what you want in an official. Open, honest and helpful are the best qualities to get voluntary compliance, with the understanding that you sometimes must be firm if the situation calls for it.

 

[conarb]

The saga goes on, people aren't concerned about dying, they are concerned about a place to live, the fact is that complying with codes is too expensive, owners are evicting tenants rather than attempting to comply even through the city is trying to work with them to only address life safety issues;

OAKLAND — Residents of Oakland’s Salt Lick warehouse are being asked to leave their home, making the property the latest in a wave of evictions that have rocked the arts community in the wake of December’s deadly Ghost Ship fire that left 36 people dead.

The eviction notice came despite the city identifying the Oakland produce market location as one where its staff is working with the property owners to prevent displacement. Mayor Libby Schaaf issued an executive order in January directing staff to work cooperatively with landlords to bring commercial or industrial buildings up to residential code requirements.

That spat was smoothed over, but the Ghost Ship fire spurred many warehouse landlords throughout the city to consider whether they would be held accountable for allowing people to live in buildings not permitted for housing. Many have turned to evictions rather than make costly investments to bring their properties up to code.

The mayor’s executive order created new protocols for city staff to create abatement and compliance plans with property owners. The order asked staff to focus only on imminent safety hazards and to “generally work in the spirit of cooperation with property owners, tenants and master lessors.”

“While immediate life safety determinations rest in the sole professional judgment of the Fire Marshall or Building Official, these officials shall utilize problem-solving skills and tools … to maximize both safety and housing security,” the order states.¹

Let's volunteer Mark Handler, ADAguy, and Tiger to go take over for Oakland and negotiate which codes can be eliminated so the druggies (AKA artists) can keep living in their homes while conducting their drug fueled 'raves' all night.


¹ http://www.eastbaytimes.com/2017/03...ick-warehouse-in-oakland-are-getting-evicted/

 

[conarb]

In the paper today there is an article that concludes with:

Altieri reflected on the safety and building codes that could have saved lives on the night of Dec. 2.

“My whole life, codes were a pain to me,” Altieri said. “I didn’t appreciate the codes until now, after this tragedy.”¹

So now they want code enforcement, the problem remains, enforce the electrical code and you trigger disability, structural and a host of other codes making code enforcement economically impossible.

Friday I suggested we send Mark Handler, ADAguy, and Tiger to Oakland to solve this problem, so far none of them have taken me up on the offer, in the linked article there is a diagram of the building showing the layout of the electrical service, note the big red arrow pointing to International Blvd., to make my suggestion more enticing I might say the gunshots might be more palatable if you guys knew that at the end of my red arrow on International Blvd 'sporting ladies' are available most hours of the day and night, not that I would know anything about that.

What about it guys, ready to come to Oakland and solve the problems?


¹ http://www.eastbaytimes.com/2017/03...ngerous-electrical-system-before-deadly-fire/

 

[cda]

So who paid the electric bill???

 

[conarb]

So who paid the electric bill???

From what I've read (and you know how reliable that is) the landlord paid and periodically went around to the occupants and solicited "their fair share", these commune residents see themselves as one of a variety of anticapitalist groups (could be socialists, communists, or anarchists), the one common belief that bonds them is hatred of capitalism and authority.

 

[cda]

Oakland must have some bad mojo:::


http://abc7news.com/news/4-alarm-structure-fire-in-oakland----watch-live-sky7/1820235/


That and not sure they park the fire trucks in the right place, in case of building collapse??

 

[conarb]

Firefighters say three people were injured and seven people were rescued. Officials say there were 50-60 people who lived in the residence.

A resident who said the building was a drug rehab center and apartments on the other floors were for recovering addicts.

All those drug addicts crammed into a building what do they expect? The common thread here with the Ghost Ship fire is drugs. Druggies usually grow pot indoors and they use bright and hot 'grow lights', they are always having fires since the electrical is bad and nowhere near up to code for modern living, much less the added loads for all the grow lights.

There are poor people living on the streets all over the place, send inspectors in and condemn these buildings and there will just be more living on the streets.

 

[cda]

So will wait and see the inspection history on this one.

If it is on thier address list???

 

[Mark K]

Regarding the suggestion to eliminate some of the codes. It cannot happen. In California the various Building Standard Codes are created by the state and local jurisdictions are prohibited from making them less stringent.

While the local jurisdictions could decide to shift priorities, if an owner could argue that failure to enforce the codes allows unsafe conditions to occur he probably could get a writ of mandamus compelling the jurisdictions to do their job.

Separate from the building codes California has provisions for substandard buildings which would still require certain hazards be corrected.

 

[conarb]

The DOJ hasn't gotten around to repealing and replacing the ADA yet but Attorney General Sessions has just announced that all monies will be cut to Sanctuary Cities, how many of you work for sanctuary Cities? The solution is cut the money, either comply with federal edicts or kiss your salaries and pensions goodbye.

Across America, there are over 300 governmental jurisdictions claiming "sanctuary status." Of those governments, there are 106 cities, while the rest are states, counties or other units of government.

Under Trump’s order, mayors defending their sanctuary city status are essentially imposing a defiance tax on local residents. On average, this tax amounts to $500 per man, woman and child. Major cities like Washington, D.C., New York and Chicago have the most to lose, and nearly $27 billion is at stake across the country.¹

Just think about it, if cities refuse to obey federal law, like drug and immigration, why should we citizens obey any laws?

¹ http://www.zerohedge.com/news/2017-...tuary-city-announcement-vows-withhold-funding

 

[conarb]

OAKLAND — The San Pablo Avenue residential building where Monday’s early morning blaze claimed at least three lives had a history of code violations, a growing reputation as a “deathtrap” and a landlord working to evict dozens of tenants in a contentious housing battle.

Property owner Keith Kim said he leased the building to Urojas Community Services, a nonprofit that provides transitional housing. But it’s not exactly clear who was managing the building where three organizations provided low-income housing to more than 80 people who escaped the four-alarm fire early Monday morning. One person was still unaccounted for late Monday, and the cause of the fire is under investigation.

A nonprofit manager stationed on the first and second floors of the San Pablo Avenue building said squatters had overtaken the top floor, leading to rampant drug use and dangerous conditions. The Rev. Dr. Jasper Lowery, the founder and director of Urojas, spoke to this newspaper last week about the ongoing eviction drama. “It’s a deathtrap in there,” he said.

Because it had more than three dwelling units, it should have been inspected annually, according to state fire code. However, Oakland fire inspectors only visited the building in 2010, 2012 and 2015, city records show.

The building passed the 2010 and 2012 inspections, data show, but the 2015 inspection was listed with a result of a “referral.” Fire Marshall Miguel Trujillo did not return messages Monday. Battalion Chief Erik Logan, who spoke at a department news conference late Monday afternoon, said he didn’t know the building’s inspection history.

Over the past decade, the city has received 20 complaints about rodent infestation, electrical issues, mold, trash, graffiti, floors caving in, roof leaks and other blight issues. Eighteen of those complaints occurred within the past five years, including the Urojas request on March 2 for an inspection of the facility by code enforcement for “alleged deferred maintenance by (the) landlord.” The city verified the violation, according to city records.

On Feb. 23, the city sent a notice of violation after a neighbor complained about the building, saying there was a “large amount of trash and debris, building materials, furniture in back of property.” On Dec. 29, a few weeks after the Ghost Ship fire, the city opened an investigation into a housing-habitability complaint, which stated: “No working heat throughout the building, electrical issues and a large pest infestation.”¹

The slumlord was trying to evict people, looks like several got restraining orders to block the evictions, evicting people isn't that easy, especially poor people who have court protection.

I guess there is no answer, all I can see they do is send inspectors in and condemn the buildings then force them to tear them down or have the city tear them down putting a lien on the land then sell the land for whatever they can get, I guess the poor people will have to go to the tent cities around and under the freeways.


¹ http://www.eastbaytimes.com/2017/03...oved-to-evict-tenants-after-ghost-ship-blaze/

 

[steveray]

Maybe they can all live in the Raiders stadium....

 

[cda]

Fire chief's office seems vacant