Everett & Jones BBQ Threatened to Be Shut Down by City Administrator After Unpermitted Fundraiser
“You really feel the racism here,” said Dorothy King, owner of E&J BBQ
The Oakland City Administrator’s office sent an official warning letter to Everett & Jones BBQ on Dec. 28 for hosting a fire safety fundraising event without a permit, threatening to close the cornerstone Black-owned restaurant if it fails to obtain a cabaret permit next time it holds events.
The letter from Administrative Assistant Nancy Marcus was brought to the public’s attention by Rev. Cheryl Ward from Cheryl Ward Ministries at Wednesday’s community forum on safe and affordable housing solutions at City Hall.
“(The city) sent this letter because (Everett & Jones) held a fundraiser for the artist community and particularly for the Salt Lick warehouse next door to her so that they could raise money to bring buildings up to code,” said Ward on Wednesday.
Since the Ghost Ship fire that claimed 36 lives in early December, community members have been fearful that the city would respond by cracking down on unpermitted living spaces, which would force massive evictions of people already struggling to stay in Oakland.
After the fire, Dorothy King, owner and founder of Everett & Jones, and members of the warehouse neighboring her restaurant came together to create a taskforce to address the eviction crisis of longtime Oakland residents and its artist community.
One solution they came up with was to hold monthly fundraisers at the restaurant to raise money for do-it-yourself spaces to make necessary safety improvements in order to avoid being red tagged by city inspectors.
To many in the community, the letter by the City Administrator’s office to Everett & Jones is indicative of the response they feared the aftermath of the tragedy would spur.
For Dorothy King, whose restaurant has served Oakland since 1973 and is one of the few Black-owned businesses in the city, the letter represents deeply-rooted issues in the city government’s leadership.
“It just resonated with, ‘Dorothy, you’re Black,’” King told the Post.
“You really feel the racism here. You think you broke through barriers but you haven’t. It really hurts,” she said.
King told the Post that her restaurant has been holding fundraisers for over 20 years, “for just about anything.”
For Rev. Ward, the city’s response also reflects a disconnect between the city’s administrative branch, which is led by Mayor Libby Schaaf and run by her appointed city officials, and the city’s residents.
Saying that the (administrative) department needs to be overhauled is an understatement,” said Ward.
“They are busy not doing their jobs. Just like they should be focusing on addressing building violations instead of evicting people–they are wasting our taxpayer dollars by writing letters like these.”
Meanwhile, here is an Oakland resident who is doing the work that the city should have been doing to help those who are marginalized and is being punished for it, Ward said.
King was planning to host another fundraiser later this month and says that despite the threat, she is going to go through with the event.
Assistant City Administrator Karen Boyd told the Post that the letter is a standard courtesy notice “advising the property owner of the violation and the appropriate departments to contact” to be in compliance in the future. Everett & Jones’s event was not shut down, and the restaurant was not fined, she said.
http://postnewsgroup.com/blog/2017/01/05/everett-jones-bbq-threatened-shut-city-administrator-unpermitted-fundraiser/
She (Schaaf) has pledged to do all she can to preserve and promote the arts and spaces for artists in Oakland.
http://www.mercurynews.com/2016/12/04/vibrant-arts-scene-helped-re-energize-oakland-but-fire-spreads-fear-of-crackdown/
Although Oakland Mayor Libby Schaaf has vowed to meet with artists and avoid a “witch hunt,” advocates are worried that the result of new policies and procedures will be evictions and shutdowns. She was booed offstage at a vigil by people who say that she has been too focused on code violations and not on the tragedy and the reasons behind it.
http://48hills.org/2016/12/08/oakland-fire-spurs-crackdown-arts-spaces/
City of Oakland proposes to revise the cabaret ordinance to make it easier for places like Mama Buzz to have live performances
April 20, 2010
The Mama Buzz Cafe in Oakland wouldn't seem to be the sort of place that would bring down the arm of the law, provoke activists and trigger reform from City Hall.
But the small Telegraph Avenue cafe dared to do what is commonplace in other cities: It had someone play live music.
That brought a citation from the Oakland Police Department, enforcing an arcane and archaic city law requiring a $2,200 cabaret permit process for live music - even in small venues, regardless of whether it was a folk musician on a guitar.
Tonight, the Oakland City Council is proposing to revise its cabaret ordinance to make it easier for places like Mama Buzz to have live performances.
"It's a big step forward in terms of how this city perceives fun," said Max Allstadt, a Mama Buzz patron who helped push for the changes. The city "used to think that fun was a problem. But in the last few years, nightlife has become a real asset to the city."
Under the proposed rules, the city would create a separate set of rules for small cabarets - those with a capacity of fewer than 50 people.
Cabarets would be defined as venues that charge a cover charge, provide entertainment and serve liquor. Places that don't have a cover charge, but allow dancing, serve alcohol and are open past 11 p.m. would also be included.
Venues that have a capacity of fewer than 50 people, would require a $250 annual permit. If they close by 9 p.m and don't charge a cover, they won't require a cabaret permit at all.
http://www.sfgate.com/restaurants/article/Oakland-reviews-live-music-at-small-venues-3191593.php
