http://www.ktvu.com/news/4593168-story
OAKLAND, Calif. (KTVU) - Tenants in a seven-story residential hotel remained out of their homes Friday while city inspectors await the test results of water samples taken from the building.
On Thursday, Oakland code enforcement red tagged the hotel, deeming it unsafe. East Bay Municipal Water District investigators found contamination from coliform bacteria in one of the pipes.
It's the latest problem at the downtown property since 2 Investigates began looking into tenants' complaints in January.
"The plan is to go have a plumber come through the system and see where the contamination is coming from," said City of Oakland inspector Gene Martinelli on Friday morning.
Later in the day, Martinelli told KTVU stagnant water found in the pipes running through a vacant office on the first floor of the building might be a potential cause of the contamination.
Until water samples from the building get a clean bill of health, management of the Empyrean Towers agreed to pay for displaced residents to stay a Motel 6 in Oakland, about seven miles away. Crews flushed the system of pipes on Friday and more test results were expected as soon as Saturday.
"Traumatic, scary, unbearable," is how tenant Lydia Hamilton described the experience of suddenly being forced out of her home. Hamilton is among several residents who said they became sick from drinking the water at the hotel in the last week.
Steve Whitworth, attorney for the Empyrean Towers owner, Alice Tse, e-mailed a statement to KTVU Friday morning:
"The Empyrean Towers Management remains and has been committed to the welfare of all law abiding, lawfully residing tenants at 344 13th Street Oakland California. Working with Oakland and the City Attorney Office we were / are happy to provide temporary shelter at a local Motel, a temporary Per Diem for each tenant, and transportation to all tenants displaced by this unfortunate event. Empyrean Towers looks forward to the tenants returning to their residences as soon as possible."
Other residents, such as Curtis Davis, who depend on the hotel for basic shelter, aren't satisfied.
"This constant battle of people homeless, people sick? It's frustrating and ridiculous," said Davis.
