Housing
Paula Mitchell had to face an unplanned home remodel after the rainy season this year. Her Oakland house flooded and the linoleum floor in the kitchen, damaged by water, started to peel, so she decided to put in new tiles. But what was supposed to be an easy fix turned into a major project when the linoleum was tested for asbestos. “And voila! It was loaded with asbestos,” Mitchell said. Asbestos is cheap, water and fire-resistant and good for insulation….
The family of Ghost Ship fire victim Edmond Lapine II files a wrongful death suit against the Ghost Ship building owner, neighbors, master tenant and promoters for the party where the blaze started.
The residential building at 2551 San Pablo Avenue caught fire in the early-morning hours of March 27, killing four people and displacing more than 100. That day Strauss started a crowdfunding page to collect donations for displaced residents. It wasn’t the first time he’d done this—as a founding member of the Oakland Warehouse Coalition, Jonah Strauss had collected donations for survivors of the Ghost Ship fire and their next of kin.
Everyone in the Bay Area knows the cost of housing is high, and that makes it hard for local teachers to live where they work. But Landed, Inc. is here to help. Landed, Inc. is a small San Francisco-based startup that helps Bay Area teachers afford homes. Co-founders Alex Lofton, Jonathan Asmis and Jesse Vaughn were inspired by sharing economy models, such as Uber and AirBnb, and applied this idea to the home market, Lofton said. The company works with…
A Safe Spaces workshop, organized by the Intersection for the Arts and the San Francisco Bay Area Urban Planning and Research Association, was held in Oakland to discuss Ghost Ship’s aftermath.
Tail Sticks Casting’s call on February 1 read: “GHOST SHIP” — Seeking Men & Women 20s-30s to play rave party goers. Types can range from edgy/artsy to bohemian. The call was to film “Deathtrap,” an episode of Chicago Fire, an NBC drama from producer Dick Wolf of Law & Order fame. The episode, set to air on March 1 at 8:00 pm PST, is based on the December 2, 2016 Ghost Ship fire. The fire occurred at a dance party…
On Tuesday night, the council heard reports by working groups created by Mayor Libby Schaff’s Executive Order 2017-1 on January 11, calling for improving building and fire safety in non-permitted spaces while avoiding displacing their residents if code violations aren’t life-threatening. Should tenants have to be relocated, the order calls for the city to provide more relocation assistance. The order also calls for more notice for inspections; strengthening the Just Cause Ordinance, which prohibits landlords from evicting tenants except for specific reasons like failure to pay rent and illegal activities; as well as steps towards legalizing non-conforming spaces and reforming the city’s events permits system.
After weeks of rain, light from a clear blue sky filtered into the windows of the second-story ballroom at the Starline Social Club in Oakland on Sunday. Artists, musicians and community members walked slowly across the wooden dance floor, eyes fixed on the displays: bright watercolor and acrylic paintings, cassettes of albums by local musicians, ceramics with intricate natural patterns and textures, jewelry and leatherwork. At one end of the display, a rack held coats, dresses, hats and handbags. Near…
Tension between residents and city council grew at Tuesday night’s meeting when councilmembers passed controversial resolutions including paying nearly $300,000 a year to city’s new police chief and establishing cell-site simulator which can be used by police officers. Protestors also gathered and spoke against city’s demolishing a self-organized homeless camp by force last Thursday.