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