Alameda Superior Court Judge: Landlord Acting "Unbelievably Callous" in Chinatown SRO Harassment Case
Alameda County Superior Court Judge Brad Seligman ordered the landlord to immediately restore certain services that had been removed, and to quickly repair bathrooms that have been completely demolished and left inoperable for six months.
"This problem is gonna get fixed, and fixed quickly," Seligman told the landlord's attorney about the bathrooms. "It's completely intolerable and unacceptable that the bathrooms have not been operating since last February."
About a dozen of the building's residents, all Chinese immigrants who speak little or no English, sat in the courtroom today watching the proceedings.
"This can't happen. What is in this record is simply not tolerable," Seligman said about the landlord's actions.
According to court records, after purchasing the building, the Green Group issued new rules that barred the building's residents from keeping personal belongings in the kitchen and other common areas, as many had traditionally done. Then on February 8, the beginning of the Chinese New Year Festival, the landlord's property manager went through the building and ripped down scrolls, tangerines, and other decorations tenants had placed in their doorways to celebrate the holiday.
Then the landlord's contractor demolished four shared bathrooms that served many of the building's residents. The contractor also tore out a communal kitchen, leaving only three bathrooms and one kitchen for all of the building's residents. In statements filed with the court, residents said the demolitions have made the building close to uninhabitable.
The landlord also installed surveillance cameras in the kitchen and other common areas within the building.
http://www.eastbayexpress.com/SevenDays/archives/2016/08/16/alameda-superior-court-judge-landlord-acting-unbelievably-callous-in-chinatown-sro-harassment-case
September 2016
Judge Orders Landlord To Fix Squalid Conditions At Oakland Tenement
OAKLAND (KPIX 5) — In a single-room-occupancy residential building near Oakland’s Chinatown, 82-year-old Kuang Pu showed this reporter his toilet. It was a small, black bucket.
“There’s a line to the bathroom and I can’t hold,” Pu said. “I have to use this container. It’s not just me — almost all the families have one.”
Of the 36 units in Pu’s apartment building, 28 don’t have bathrooms. Tenants in those units are now forced to share toilets. The building’s owner gutted the other bathrooms, along with a kitchen, back in February.
Most of the renters are low-income Chinese immigrants who speak little English. They pay $300 to $400 per month for a small room.
Tenants say that after the new owner purchased the building last year, he has been harrassing them, trying to get them to move out and they suspect he wants to rent the building to high-paid tech workers.
A judge visited the building last week and saw the problems first-hand. He said the situation is unacceptable and this week, he ordered the landlord – James Kilpatrick with Lakeside Investment Company – to repair all the bathrooms and kitchen by Oct. 7.
Kuang Pu attended the court hearing.
“I think the judge is very reasonable, OK?” Pu said. “(I’m) very happy, I agree!”
“While we’re glad and overall relieved, there’s still quite a long way to go but we’re very proud of the tenants for standing up to the landlord this way,” said Katherine Chu, an attorney with the Asian Law Caucus.
The judge also ordered the landlord to take down some of the surveillance cameras in the building, including one that was installed in the kitchen.
http://sanfrancisco.cbslocal.com/2016/09/01/sro-oakland-squalor-chinatown/
