Oakland SRO Tenants Sue Tech Housing Investors for Harassment
https://www.eastbayexpress.com/SevenDays/archives/2016/07/11/oakland-sro-tenants-sue-tech-housing-investors-for-harassment
Residents of the Hotel Travelers allege that their new landlord, Danny Haber, is trying to push them out of their homes. Last Friday, some of the building's residents filed suit against Haber to stop what they characterize as a pattern and practice of harassment.
The Hotel Travelers is one of Oakland's dwindling number of SRO hotels. According to city staff, SROs are "naturally occurring" affordable housing that should be preserved, but recently, investors like Haber have purchased SRO buildings with the intent of remodeling them into boutique hotels or apartments for more affluent renters or tourists.
Unlike San Francisco, Los Angeles, and other cities, Oakland has no laws to preserve existing SRO housing.
According to the tenants' lawsuit, since purchasing the Hotel Travelers, Haber has reduced maid services, causing trash to pile up in the hallways, removed mailboxes and the 24-hour front desk service,making the building less secure, removed the building's wifi, and allowed the elevator to go unfixed for weeks, forcing elderly and disabled residents to walk up narrow flights of stairs.
See also: Last Days at Downtown Oakland's Hotel Travelers?
Residents say that Haber has already convinced all but two residents to vacate the 5th and 6th floors of the building, and that contractors have gutted the interiors of these floors to the studs and ripped giant holes in the ceilings.
On Twitter, Joshua Daniels, who lives on the 5th floor, accused Haber of ripping the building's interior out without valid building permits.
The lawsuit alleges that when residents of the 5th and 6th floors asked if they would be able to return to their units once the construction is completed, Haber told them only if they could pay $2,000 per month in rent. Most of the building's residents currently pay under $1,000 per month in rent. Haber also allegedly told the tenants that he planned to open a "beer garden" on the rooftop.
Named alongside Haber in the lawsuit as co-defendants are Dion Ross and Alon Gutman.
Ross describes himself as a "Executive Analyst Product / Project Implementations / Resource Relations & Logistics" specialist. Ross is managing the Hotel Travelers on a day-to-day basis for Haber.
Reached by phone recently, Ross denied allegations made by the tenants in their lawsuit and said that all activities undertaken by Haber and himself have been legal, and tenants were provided with all proper notices.
Gutman is a co-investor and co-founder of The Negev, LLC, a company he runs with Haber that converts housing into tech co-ops. Gutman and Haber reportedly named their company after the Negev Desert of southern Israel, and the historic efforts of the Israeli government to build settlements there. They purchased the Hotel Travelers in April of this year.
Representing the tenants in their lawsuit is Robert Salinas of the Sundeen Salinas and Pyle law firm. Last month Salinas, along with Oakland City Attorney Barbara Parker, filed a similar lawsuit against James Kilpatrick after Kilpatrick purchased an SRO building on 8th Street inhabited mostly by elderly Chinese.
Both lawsuits take advantage of Oakland's Tenant Protection Ordinance, a law Councilmember Dan Kalb wrote in 2014 in an effort to curb efforts by landlords to harass and displace lower-income tenants.
Showing posts with label #HousingCrisis. Show all posts
Showing posts with label #HousingCrisis. Show all posts
Tuesday, November 6, 2018
Thursday, November 1, 2018
161 Oakland finds likely collusion between Oakland Building Inspector, property owner in eviction
Oakland Building Inspectors have been colluding with property owners in tenant evictions
https://www.sfchronicle.com/bayarea/article/Oakland-finds-likely-collusion-between-inspector-13040708.php
An Oakland building inspector likely colluded with a property owner in 2016 to evict tenants from a building by improperly declaring it unsafe, according to internal documents released by the city, which described its employee’s behavior as “a violation of the public trust.”
The six tenants moved out of the West Oakland building in April that year and have been out since. The city rescinded the red tags two weeks after they were posted and told the property owner he should let the tenants return — even though the building, a commercial property that had been used as a live-work space, did not have city permits for residency.
The episode occurred months before the deadly Ghost Ship fire at an artists’ collective drew attention to the dangers of unpermitted residences and the city’s lax oversight of such properties.
The inspector, Thomas Espinosa, who worked in the city’s Planning and Building Department for 11 years, resigned in November 2016 after Oakland officials moved to fire him. His bosses said he abused his authority that spring when he red-tagged the building at 661 27th St. and ordered the tenants to leave, according to a copy of the city’s “notice of intent to terminate” letter.
Attorneys for Espinosa and property owner Patrick MacIntyre said the men did not collude to evict tenants. Espinosa’s attorney, Quynh Chen, said her client was simply doing his job and did nothing wrong — with one exception, which she called an honest mistake. She said city officials “dramatized” the facts in the case.
“There was no bad intent,” she said. “Basically there was a misunderstanding between Mr. Espinosa and his supervisors, and he took the bullet for it.”
MacIntyre’s attorney, David Sternfeld, said the tenants should not have been living in the building in the first place.
The Chronicle obtained the ex-inspector’s personnel file under a public records request. A federal grand jury and the FBI subpoenaed the city last fall to get Espinosa’s files, too. Spokesmen for the FBI and the U.S. attorney’s office in San Francisco said they had no public information to disclose, and declined to comment.
The records include the intent-to-terminate letter written by Darin Ranelletti, the department head at the time who now works as Mayor Libby Schaaf’s policy director for housing security. Ranelletti said in the letter that Espinosa jeopardized public trust with a series of inconsistent statements and questionable behavior.
His letter said the ex-inspector displayed a “documented pattern of abusing city resources and authority,” but that one incident in particular — the suspected collusion that culminated in an April 7, 2016, eviction — amounted to “serious misconduct.” The letter describes the incident in detail.
For years, court records show, MacIntyre, the owner of the building on 27th Street, had been trying to evict the tenants. A group of mostly artists, they had been living at the two-story building under a live-work lease initially signed by a previous owner before the property went into foreclosure and was bought by MacIntyre.
His building was once home to a French bakery, and wasn’t authorized to be used as a residence.
Espinosa said that as he drove to the office on April 6, 2016, he happened upon trash and graffiti outside the building, according to statements he gave to his supervisors and in court. Even though it was outside the district he was assigned to inspect, Espinosa stopped to take pictures. He said he saw construction going on through the open door.
Espinosa said he went back to the office and found that there were no permits for construction, so he posted a number of stop-work notices and scheduled an inspection for the next day. After the inspection, Espinosa said in the statement, he found safety hazards, including a lack of fire escapes, and red-tagged the building.
Espinosa should not have done that without first getting approval from a supervisor, Ranelletti said. When his bosses questioned him about his actions, Espinosa told them he had no prior contact with MacIntyre, according to Ranelletti’s termination letter.
But city officials reviewed his work phone records and found Espinosa had called MacIntyre’s cell phone three times two days before his purportedly impromptu inspection. And on that morning, April 6, between 5 and 7 a.m., Espinosa called MacIntyre twice, and MacIntyre called him once, according to Ranelletti’s letter and a phone log included in the personnel file reviewed by The Chronicle.
Chen said Espinosa was likely “drowning in paperwork” and forgot about the calls.
Two days later, Espinosa helped MacIntyre fill out a form that would have given him a permit to do work on the building, according to Ranelletti.
Later that year, Espinosa provided a declaration for MacIntyre to use in his litigation against the tenants in which he stated that he came across “voluminous amounts of marijuana” during his walk-through of the building. Yet city officials said that observation did not comport with his inspection records.
“If it was true that there was cannabis on site, then you should have reported that to your superiors and/or zoning investigator ... immediately after your inspection,” Ranelletti wrote. “You did not do either. You also provided no photographs to substantiate your claim.
“These facts strongly suggest collusion with the owner and that your inspection of the 27th Street building was outside the scope of your job as a city employee and quite possibly for personal gain,” he continued. “Had your actions gone undiscovered, you would have caused the indefinite displacement of multiple families.”
The six tenants were indefinitely displaced.
One of them — Christine Shepherd, 43, an artist who specializes in 19th century photographic processing — couch-surfed for a few months and ultimately moved to Oregon because she couldn’t afford Bay Area rents. She had lived at the West Oakland building for seven years and her boyfriend for more than a decade. She said it was safe.
“We had no idea that that was coming,” she said of the inspection and eviction. “It was like absolute panic. Your stomach just goes into a knot and you can’t think straight and you don’t know what your next step is going to be.”
Another tenant, Michael Taylor, 46, has been staying with friends and sleeping in his camper van ever since.
Despite Espinosa’s bosses ordering the red tags to be removed and the tenants to be allowed to move back in two weeks later, Kevin Greenquist, the tenants’ attorney, said MacIntyre did not do so and changed the locks.
Chen said the one mistake Espinosa made was delegating the removal of the red tag notices to MacIntyre, rather than doing it himself. Other than that, she said, he was doing what his position required. Chen said the city exaggerated its claims against her client so it wouldn’t be sued for wrongful termination.
Had there been collusion, the city would have provided documentation in the termination letter, Chen said.
“He should’ve just not done his job and stayed silent and not returned phone calls out of fear of favoritism,” she said. “If I worked for the city of Oakland and I wanted to show evidence of collusion I would attach financial records, actual evidence.”
She said Espinosa was not responsible for the evictions.
It’s unclear whether the 2016 case was an isolated event. The city Public Ethics Commission has an open investigation to determine whether Espinosa violated policies covering conflicts of interest, misuse of city resources, misuse of city position and more.
Oakland officials did not answer The Chronicle’s repeated questions about whether they investigated other cases to see if there was a pattern of improper interactions with other property owners and tenants.
City records show that officials became aware of the employee’s misconduct only after tenants and their attorney complained to Espinosa’s supervisors about his actions, prompting the internal review that led to the termination letter.
“I called the city of Oakland because I wanted to know, can they just make me homeless?” Shepherd said. “I guess I sort of trusted in city officials and democracy working for us.”
Greenquist said he was “outraged” that the city didn’t tell him that it found Espinosa likely colluded with the property owner. Greenquist said he was concerned there could be other similar cases.
“The city knew all this and didn’t say a word about it,” he said. “If you have a rogue inspector and find out all this stuff, why do you bury it when it could just be the tip of the iceberg?”
Greenquist continues to represent the tenants in their court fight with MacIntyre over whether the tenants were wrongfully evicted and what, if anything, they are owed.
The lawyer, who was with the tenants when the building was red-tagged, remembered Espinosa telling them they could be arrested if they returned to the premises. He said they had three hours to collect their belongings.
MacIntyre’s attorney, Sternfeld, said the tenants left on their own accord and should never have been living there in the first place. Sternfeld said the city’s finding of coordination between his client and the inspector was wrong.
“I can guarantee to you that my client did not collude with Mr. Espinosa,” he said.
Despite city officials concluding that Espinosa made false statements, the written declaration in which he testified about coming across hazards such as the cannabis grow continue to be used in the civil litigation.
Alameda County Superior Court Judge Scott Patton relied on that statement — which the city implied might contain falsehoods — in deciding a recent motion filed by the tenants.
https://www.sfchronicle.com/bayarea/article/Oakland-finds-likely-collusion-between-inspector-13040708.php
An Oakland building inspector likely colluded with a property owner in 2016 to evict tenants from a building by improperly declaring it unsafe, according to internal documents released by the city, which described its employee’s behavior as “a violation of the public trust.”
The six tenants moved out of the West Oakland building in April that year and have been out since. The city rescinded the red tags two weeks after they were posted and told the property owner he should let the tenants return — even though the building, a commercial property that had been used as a live-work space, did not have city permits for residency.
The episode occurred months before the deadly Ghost Ship fire at an artists’ collective drew attention to the dangers of unpermitted residences and the city’s lax oversight of such properties.
The inspector, Thomas Espinosa, who worked in the city’s Planning and Building Department for 11 years, resigned in November 2016 after Oakland officials moved to fire him. His bosses said he abused his authority that spring when he red-tagged the building at 661 27th St. and ordered the tenants to leave, according to a copy of the city’s “notice of intent to terminate” letter.
Attorneys for Espinosa and property owner Patrick MacIntyre said the men did not collude to evict tenants. Espinosa’s attorney, Quynh Chen, said her client was simply doing his job and did nothing wrong — with one exception, which she called an honest mistake. She said city officials “dramatized” the facts in the case.
“There was no bad intent,” she said. “Basically there was a misunderstanding between Mr. Espinosa and his supervisors, and he took the bullet for it.”
MacIntyre’s attorney, David Sternfeld, said the tenants should not have been living in the building in the first place.
The Chronicle obtained the ex-inspector’s personnel file under a public records request. A federal grand jury and the FBI subpoenaed the city last fall to get Espinosa’s files, too. Spokesmen for the FBI and the U.S. attorney’s office in San Francisco said they had no public information to disclose, and declined to comment.
The records include the intent-to-terminate letter written by Darin Ranelletti, the department head at the time who now works as Mayor Libby Schaaf’s policy director for housing security. Ranelletti said in the letter that Espinosa jeopardized public trust with a series of inconsistent statements and questionable behavior.
His letter said the ex-inspector displayed a “documented pattern of abusing city resources and authority,” but that one incident in particular — the suspected collusion that culminated in an April 7, 2016, eviction — amounted to “serious misconduct.” The letter describes the incident in detail.
For years, court records show, MacIntyre, the owner of the building on 27th Street, had been trying to evict the tenants. A group of mostly artists, they had been living at the two-story building under a live-work lease initially signed by a previous owner before the property went into foreclosure and was bought by MacIntyre.
His building was once home to a French bakery, and wasn’t authorized to be used as a residence.
Espinosa said that as he drove to the office on April 6, 2016, he happened upon trash and graffiti outside the building, according to statements he gave to his supervisors and in court. Even though it was outside the district he was assigned to inspect, Espinosa stopped to take pictures. He said he saw construction going on through the open door.
Espinosa said he went back to the office and found that there were no permits for construction, so he posted a number of stop-work notices and scheduled an inspection for the next day. After the inspection, Espinosa said in the statement, he found safety hazards, including a lack of fire escapes, and red-tagged the building.
Espinosa should not have done that without first getting approval from a supervisor, Ranelletti said. When his bosses questioned him about his actions, Espinosa told them he had no prior contact with MacIntyre, according to Ranelletti’s termination letter.
But city officials reviewed his work phone records and found Espinosa had called MacIntyre’s cell phone three times two days before his purportedly impromptu inspection. And on that morning, April 6, between 5 and 7 a.m., Espinosa called MacIntyre twice, and MacIntyre called him once, according to Ranelletti’s letter and a phone log included in the personnel file reviewed by The Chronicle.
Chen said Espinosa was likely “drowning in paperwork” and forgot about the calls.
Two days later, Espinosa helped MacIntyre fill out a form that would have given him a permit to do work on the building, according to Ranelletti.
Later that year, Espinosa provided a declaration for MacIntyre to use in his litigation against the tenants in which he stated that he came across “voluminous amounts of marijuana” during his walk-through of the building. Yet city officials said that observation did not comport with his inspection records.
“If it was true that there was cannabis on site, then you should have reported that to your superiors and/or zoning investigator ... immediately after your inspection,” Ranelletti wrote. “You did not do either. You also provided no photographs to substantiate your claim.
“These facts strongly suggest collusion with the owner and that your inspection of the 27th Street building was outside the scope of your job as a city employee and quite possibly for personal gain,” he continued. “Had your actions gone undiscovered, you would have caused the indefinite displacement of multiple families.”
The six tenants were indefinitely displaced.
One of them — Christine Shepherd, 43, an artist who specializes in 19th century photographic processing — couch-surfed for a few months and ultimately moved to Oregon because she couldn’t afford Bay Area rents. She had lived at the West Oakland building for seven years and her boyfriend for more than a decade. She said it was safe.
“We had no idea that that was coming,” she said of the inspection and eviction. “It was like absolute panic. Your stomach just goes into a knot and you can’t think straight and you don’t know what your next step is going to be.”
Another tenant, Michael Taylor, 46, has been staying with friends and sleeping in his camper van ever since.
Despite Espinosa’s bosses ordering the red tags to be removed and the tenants to be allowed to move back in two weeks later, Kevin Greenquist, the tenants’ attorney, said MacIntyre did not do so and changed the locks.
Chen said the one mistake Espinosa made was delegating the removal of the red tag notices to MacIntyre, rather than doing it himself. Other than that, she said, he was doing what his position required. Chen said the city exaggerated its claims against her client so it wouldn’t be sued for wrongful termination.
Had there been collusion, the city would have provided documentation in the termination letter, Chen said.
“He should’ve just not done his job and stayed silent and not returned phone calls out of fear of favoritism,” she said. “If I worked for the city of Oakland and I wanted to show evidence of collusion I would attach financial records, actual evidence.”
She said Espinosa was not responsible for the evictions.
It’s unclear whether the 2016 case was an isolated event. The city Public Ethics Commission has an open investigation to determine whether Espinosa violated policies covering conflicts of interest, misuse of city resources, misuse of city position and more.
Oakland officials did not answer The Chronicle’s repeated questions about whether they investigated other cases to see if there was a pattern of improper interactions with other property owners and tenants.
City records show that officials became aware of the employee’s misconduct only after tenants and their attorney complained to Espinosa’s supervisors about his actions, prompting the internal review that led to the termination letter.
“I called the city of Oakland because I wanted to know, can they just make me homeless?” Shepherd said. “I guess I sort of trusted in city officials and democracy working for us.”
Greenquist said he was “outraged” that the city didn’t tell him that it found Espinosa likely colluded with the property owner. Greenquist said he was concerned there could be other similar cases.
“The city knew all this and didn’t say a word about it,” he said. “If you have a rogue inspector and find out all this stuff, why do you bury it when it could just be the tip of the iceberg?”
Greenquist continues to represent the tenants in their court fight with MacIntyre over whether the tenants were wrongfully evicted and what, if anything, they are owed.
The lawyer, who was with the tenants when the building was red-tagged, remembered Espinosa telling them they could be arrested if they returned to the premises. He said they had three hours to collect their belongings.
MacIntyre’s attorney, Sternfeld, said the tenants left on their own accord and should never have been living there in the first place. Sternfeld said the city’s finding of coordination between his client and the inspector was wrong.
“I can guarantee to you that my client did not collude with Mr. Espinosa,” he said.
Despite city officials concluding that Espinosa made false statements, the written declaration in which he testified about coming across hazards such as the cannabis grow continue to be used in the civil litigation.
Alameda County Superior Court Judge Scott Patton relied on that statement — which the city implied might contain falsehoods — in deciding a recent motion filed by the tenants.
154 Oakland Bldg Department - Former Oakland Building Inspector Accused of Shakedowns, Bribery, and Colluding with Landlords to Displace Tenants
Former Oakland Building Inspector Accused of Shakedowns, Bribery, and Colluding with Landlords to Displace Tenants
Accused by department leaders in 2016 of colluding with a landlord to displace tenants, Thomas Espinosa now faces over $1 million in penalties for alleged corruption.
https://www.eastbayexpress.com/SevenDays/archives/2018/10/26/oakland-building-inspector-accused-of-shakedowns-bribery-and-colluding-with-landlords-to-displace-tenants
Oakland Public Ethics Commission investigators are accusing a former city building inspector of receiving several hundred thousand dollars in bribes and other illicit payments from landlords and hiding these illegal payments while he was employed by Oakland.
Thomas Espinosa, a specialty combination inspector employed by the city from 2005 to 2016 is being charged with 47 violations of Oakland's Government Ethics Act.
PEC staff are recommending he be ordered to pay $1,151,737 in penalties.
Espinosa resigned after department officials tried to fire him in 2016 for colluding with a landlord to push tenants out of a West Oakland building. He was suspected of taking kickbacks from the property owner for his assistance.
But according to PEC investigators, Espinosa's corrupt behavior was much more far-reaching than just a single building. He used his position as an inspector to shake down at least one property owner for money while he colluded with others in order to help them pass inspections, or dismiss code violation cases. He also illegally worked as a contractor on properties that he was also inspecting. He hid this illegal income from the city and never reported it on his conflict of interest disclosure forms.
In one case, Espinosa assisted landlord Elizabeth Williams in closing out complaints about dangerous and uninhabitable conditions at several of the 15 West Oakland apartments and houses she owns, according to PEC investigators.
In 2009, the city took legal action against Williams and made to enter into an injunction requiring that she maintain safe and sanitary rental housing. Espinosa was initially assigned as the official inspector for these properties to ensure Williams was complying with the injunction.
But by 2015, Espinosa was being paid personally by Williams while looking the other way regarding complaints, and helping her dismiss new complaints, according to PEC staff. Williams also hired him as a contractor to perform work on the properties, despite the obvious conflict of interest.
According to PEC inspectors, in 2014 other inspectors in the building department verified violations at one of Williams properties, located on 24th Street in West Oakland, and opened a code enforcement case against her.
But Espinosa intervened, accepted payments of $112,000 from Williams, and then in October 2015 he closed out the code enforcement case against her.
In another case, Espinosa coerced Alexandre Machado, the owner of a single family home on Valley View Road, by slapping a stop work order on Machado's property, which was being remodeled. Espinosa then personally asked Machado to pay him to lift the order.
In total, Espinosa made Machado pay him $12,850 to legalize building permits.
In yet another case, Espinosa had a real estate broker meet him outside of Oakland City Hall where the two discussed ways of addressing building code violations on a single family home that was listed for sale. According to PEC investigators, Espinosa asked the broker, Bill Charman, to write him a personal check for $1,500 to resolve the code violation case. Charman wrote the check, which Espinosa deposited in his personal bank account, PEC investigators wrote in their report. Espinosa then waived fees for Charman and changed the status of the code violation case to "abated" without inspecting the property.
Espinosa is also being charged with misusing city vehicles, a computer, printer, and cell phone to conduct personal business.
PEC investigators are requesting that Espinosa's case be referred to an administrative hearing comprised of three members of the Public Ethics Commission.
Espinosa could not be immediately reached for comment.
Accused by department leaders in 2016 of colluding with a landlord to displace tenants, Thomas Espinosa now faces over $1 million in penalties for alleged corruption.
https://www.eastbayexpress.com/SevenDays/archives/2018/10/26/oakland-building-inspector-accused-of-shakedowns-bribery-and-colluding-with-landlords-to-displace-tenants
Oakland Public Ethics Commission investigators are accusing a former city building inspector of receiving several hundred thousand dollars in bribes and other illicit payments from landlords and hiding these illegal payments while he was employed by Oakland.
Thomas Espinosa, a specialty combination inspector employed by the city from 2005 to 2016 is being charged with 47 violations of Oakland's Government Ethics Act.
PEC staff are recommending he be ordered to pay $1,151,737 in penalties.
Espinosa resigned after department officials tried to fire him in 2016 for colluding with a landlord to push tenants out of a West Oakland building. He was suspected of taking kickbacks from the property owner for his assistance.
But according to PEC investigators, Espinosa's corrupt behavior was much more far-reaching than just a single building. He used his position as an inspector to shake down at least one property owner for money while he colluded with others in order to help them pass inspections, or dismiss code violation cases. He also illegally worked as a contractor on properties that he was also inspecting. He hid this illegal income from the city and never reported it on his conflict of interest disclosure forms.
In one case, Espinosa assisted landlord Elizabeth Williams in closing out complaints about dangerous and uninhabitable conditions at several of the 15 West Oakland apartments and houses she owns, according to PEC investigators.
In 2009, the city took legal action against Williams and made to enter into an injunction requiring that she maintain safe and sanitary rental housing. Espinosa was initially assigned as the official inspector for these properties to ensure Williams was complying with the injunction.
But by 2015, Espinosa was being paid personally by Williams while looking the other way regarding complaints, and helping her dismiss new complaints, according to PEC staff. Williams also hired him as a contractor to perform work on the properties, despite the obvious conflict of interest.
According to PEC inspectors, in 2014 other inspectors in the building department verified violations at one of Williams properties, located on 24th Street in West Oakland, and opened a code enforcement case against her.
But Espinosa intervened, accepted payments of $112,000 from Williams, and then in October 2015 he closed out the code enforcement case against her.
In another case, Espinosa coerced Alexandre Machado, the owner of a single family home on Valley View Road, by slapping a stop work order on Machado's property, which was being remodeled. Espinosa then personally asked Machado to pay him to lift the order.
In total, Espinosa made Machado pay him $12,850 to legalize building permits.
In yet another case, Espinosa had a real estate broker meet him outside of Oakland City Hall where the two discussed ways of addressing building code violations on a single family home that was listed for sale. According to PEC investigators, Espinosa asked the broker, Bill Charman, to write him a personal check for $1,500 to resolve the code violation case. Charman wrote the check, which Espinosa deposited in his personal bank account, PEC investigators wrote in their report. Espinosa then waived fees for Charman and changed the status of the code violation case to "abated" without inspecting the property.
Espinosa is also being charged with misusing city vehicles, a computer, printer, and cell phone to conduct personal business.
PEC investigators are requesting that Espinosa's case be referred to an administrative hearing comprised of three members of the Public Ethics Commission.
Espinosa could not be immediately reached for comment.
153 Oakland Bldg Department - Building inspector took thousands of dollars in bribes, undisclosed payments
https://www.eastbaytimes.com/2018/10/30/report-oakland-building-inspector-took-bribes-undisclosed-payments/
Report: Oakland building inspector took thousands of dollars in bribes, undisclosed payments
OAKLAND — A former city building inspector accused of taking thousands of dollars in bribes and other payments from people whose properties he was inspecting could get slapped with a million-dollar-plus fine.
Thomas Espinosa took $2,700 in bribes from people whose buildings he was inspecting and failed to disclose to the city that he received more than $300,000 for contracting work and other work from people whose properties he was inspecting, according to a report from investigators for the city’s Public Ethics Commission.
The report alleges Espinosa — who worked for the city from 2005 to 2016 — committed 47 ethics violations. The maximum penalty for all those violations — which include accepting bribes, misusing public money and using city authority to coerce — totals $1,151,737. Investigators will present their report Nov. 5 to the commission, which could decide then whether to pursue fining Espinosa.
This is the Public Ethics Commission’s largest case based on the number of alleged violations and penalty amount, executive director Whitney Barazoto told this news organization. She confirmed that the commission has passed along its findings to law enforcement.
Efforts to reach Espinosa were unsuccessful.
The investigation began in October 2016, after Espinosa stopped working for the city. Documents obtained through a public records request and posted on the city’s website show Espinosa resigned in August 2016 after being issued a notice of termination.
The report details his interactions with landlords, a real estate agent and property owners during his last few years on the job.
Espinosa was assigned to inspect properties owned by a landlord who was sued by the city for failing to take care of about a dozen properties and for housing tenants in dilapidated, unhealthy apartments. A judge ordered the landlord in 2009 to bring the properties up to code and Espinosa monitored the effort until 2015, the report says. At the same time, the landlord loaned Espinosa $100,000 and paid him $76,179 for contracting work and consulting services, the report says.
Although inspectors are required to file annual statements listing their economic interests, Espinosa didn’t disclose the contracting work for 2015 and 2016 and never told his superiors about the loan, according to the report. He also never repaid the loan and the landlord has not attempted to recover it, the report adds.
Espinosa also solicited a total of $1,200 from the landlord in return for passing inspections at four of the properties that previously had failed, according to the report.
In addition, the report says, Espinosa was assigned in 2013 to inspect a house on Rifle Lane where he found some code violations. A broker tried to sell the property a few years later, and in 2016 met with Espinosa in front of City Hall and gave him a personal check for $1,500 to resolve the outstanding permit issues, the report says.
That same day, the broker applied for building, electrical and plumbing permits for the property, and Espinosa waived the code violation fees, as well as other requirements, the report notes. Espinosa scheduled himself to inspect the property after that and marked the code violations as “abated” within two minutes of scheduling it, the report says. Espinosa never disclosed that the broker paid him.
Espinosa also received $12,800 from the owner of a house on Valley View Road. The owner bought the property as an investment with the intention of fixing and selling it. After the owner applied for building permits to replace the roof and repair rot — and paid Espinosa $1,900 — Espinosa issued a “stop-work” order.
The report didn’t say what the $1,900 was for, but noted the stop-work order was fictitious and never was recorded with the building department, the report says.
“Respondent used the stop-work order to coerce (the owner) into providing (Espinosa) with more payments,” the report states.
Espinosa also issued a stop-work order against a property on Lawlor Street for code violations involving a conversion of the building’s attic and basement. He passed the inspections a week after the owner agreed to pay him $21,500, the report states.
A similar scenario occurred with a house on Manila Avenue in 2014. Espinosa issued a stop-work order there, but a year later cleared the permits after the owner paid him $66,277 for “real estate services and general contracting work,” the report states.
Espinosa never disclosed that money, nor the fact that he was the president of One Development and Investment Corp., a real estate company owned by the Manila Avenue property owner, the report says. Espinosa received $19,770 from the company in 2015, the report adds.
Espinosa also received money for “consulting services” from a construction company and several businessmen in 2015 that he never disclosed. He also drove a city-owned vehicle to Orinda to conduct personal business, used a city-owned computer and printer to print hundreds of pages of “personal materials” and used a city-owned cell phone to make 587 minutes of personal calls while on vacation, the report says.
Report: Oakland building inspector took thousands of dollars in bribes, undisclosed payments
OAKLAND — A former city building inspector accused of taking thousands of dollars in bribes and other payments from people whose properties he was inspecting could get slapped with a million-dollar-plus fine.
Thomas Espinosa took $2,700 in bribes from people whose buildings he was inspecting and failed to disclose to the city that he received more than $300,000 for contracting work and other work from people whose properties he was inspecting, according to a report from investigators for the city’s Public Ethics Commission.
The report alleges Espinosa — who worked for the city from 2005 to 2016 — committed 47 ethics violations. The maximum penalty for all those violations — which include accepting bribes, misusing public money and using city authority to coerce — totals $1,151,737. Investigators will present their report Nov. 5 to the commission, which could decide then whether to pursue fining Espinosa.
This is the Public Ethics Commission’s largest case based on the number of alleged violations and penalty amount, executive director Whitney Barazoto told this news organization. She confirmed that the commission has passed along its findings to law enforcement.
Efforts to reach Espinosa were unsuccessful.
The investigation began in October 2016, after Espinosa stopped working for the city. Documents obtained through a public records request and posted on the city’s website show Espinosa resigned in August 2016 after being issued a notice of termination.
The report details his interactions with landlords, a real estate agent and property owners during his last few years on the job.
Espinosa was assigned to inspect properties owned by a landlord who was sued by the city for failing to take care of about a dozen properties and for housing tenants in dilapidated, unhealthy apartments. A judge ordered the landlord in 2009 to bring the properties up to code and Espinosa monitored the effort until 2015, the report says. At the same time, the landlord loaned Espinosa $100,000 and paid him $76,179 for contracting work and consulting services, the report says.
Although inspectors are required to file annual statements listing their economic interests, Espinosa didn’t disclose the contracting work for 2015 and 2016 and never told his superiors about the loan, according to the report. He also never repaid the loan and the landlord has not attempted to recover it, the report adds.
Espinosa also solicited a total of $1,200 from the landlord in return for passing inspections at four of the properties that previously had failed, according to the report.
In addition, the report says, Espinosa was assigned in 2013 to inspect a house on Rifle Lane where he found some code violations. A broker tried to sell the property a few years later, and in 2016 met with Espinosa in front of City Hall and gave him a personal check for $1,500 to resolve the outstanding permit issues, the report says.
That same day, the broker applied for building, electrical and plumbing permits for the property, and Espinosa waived the code violation fees, as well as other requirements, the report notes. Espinosa scheduled himself to inspect the property after that and marked the code violations as “abated” within two minutes of scheduling it, the report says. Espinosa never disclosed that the broker paid him.
Espinosa also received $12,800 from the owner of a house on Valley View Road. The owner bought the property as an investment with the intention of fixing and selling it. After the owner applied for building permits to replace the roof and repair rot — and paid Espinosa $1,900 — Espinosa issued a “stop-work” order.
The report didn’t say what the $1,900 was for, but noted the stop-work order was fictitious and never was recorded with the building department, the report says.
“Respondent used the stop-work order to coerce (the owner) into providing (Espinosa) with more payments,” the report states.
Espinosa also issued a stop-work order against a property on Lawlor Street for code violations involving a conversion of the building’s attic and basement. He passed the inspections a week after the owner agreed to pay him $21,500, the report states.
A similar scenario occurred with a house on Manila Avenue in 2014. Espinosa issued a stop-work order there, but a year later cleared the permits after the owner paid him $66,277 for “real estate services and general contracting work,” the report states.
Espinosa never disclosed that money, nor the fact that he was the president of One Development and Investment Corp., a real estate company owned by the Manila Avenue property owner, the report says. Espinosa received $19,770 from the company in 2015, the report adds.
Espinosa also received money for “consulting services” from a construction company and several businessmen in 2015 that he never disclosed. He also drove a city-owned vehicle to Orinda to conduct personal business, used a city-owned computer and printer to print hundreds of pages of “personal materials” and used a city-owned cell phone to make 587 minutes of personal calls while on vacation, the report says.
Tuesday, June 20, 2017
147 City of Oakland - Empyrean Towers Tenants sickened by coliform bacteria contimination
2 Investigates: Displaced tenants of troubled hotel await water test results
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.
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.
146 City of Oakland - Empyrean Towers Tenants - 2+ years later are still waiting for safe living conditions
Empyrean Towers in Oakland a step closer to rehab: 2 Investigates
March 2017
http://www.ktvu.com/news/234658169-story
OAKLAND (KTVU) -- More than two years after 2 Investigates first exposed unsanitary and unsafe conditions at the trouble Empyrean Towers hotel in Oakland, the property is now one step closer to being rehabilitated.
The City Council on Tuesday night approved a resolution giving the city authorization to negotiate a deal to have the property deemed a historical site, through the California State Historic Preservation Officer (SHPO). That would free up funds as part of the rehabilitation process.
According to the proposal, “the purpose of entering into the Agreement is to minimize, reduce or avoid adverse effects on the historic building” while it is being rehabilitated and eventually sold to a non-profit that plans to turn it into affordable housing.
Last March, a bankruptcy judge approved the potential sale of the property to the Berkeley-based affording housing non-profit group Resources for Community Development (RCD), paving the way for what tenants and their attorneys hope is reform at the hotel.
Part of the court’s decision requires that the building is maintained as affordable housing for at least 55 years.
But the building that some tenants called a “nightmare” is still far from a dream. 2 Investigates visited the Empyrean Towers on Wednesday to find holes in the walls haven’t been fixed, and the elevator is still not functioning.
Resident Katherine Bergman, 83, says she is forced to climb flights of stairs to her home. And due to faulty plumbing, Bergman says she resorted to bathing with baby wipes during cold snaps.
2 Investigates first exposed dangerous and unsanitary conditions at the Empyrean Towers more than two years ago. Uncover camera footage revealed fire damage, broken toilets, missing smoke detectors, and uncollected garbage among the problems on a long list of complaints reported by tenants.
In March, it already appeared that a major facelift was well underway. At that time, the building had new paint, light fixtures, a heating system and hot water heater.
Nearly two years ago, tenants were forced out of the building by a serious health scare when investigators found coliform bacteria in the water in one of the pipes. Some residents told 2 Investigates by the time it was discovered they already drank the water and had gotten sick.
The City of Oakland filed suit against the owners of Empyrean Towers in April 2015, accusing management of illegal evictions, failing to make repairs and for creating a public nuisance. Inspectors documented dozens of problems including broken windows, faulty plumbing, and an elevator that was frequently out of service.
At that time, owner Alice Tse agreed to a deal that would provide $500,000 for a long list of overdue repairs. But shortly after, Tse had filed for bankruptcy and control of the property was handed over to a Chapter 11 trustee.
Lina Torio is an agent for the trustee overseeing the property while it's in transition. She says the elevator would cost $3 million to repair and her group is not authorized to spend that money during the bankruptcy.
Torio showed 2 Investigates a new water tank installed for the entire building and other upgrades. She said it’s not the trustee’s job to renovate, but rather keep the property safe until the ownership transfer is finalized. That is expected to happen in March 2017.
KTVU's 2 Investigates team was honored to receive a 2016 Edward R. Murrow Award for continuing coverage of the dangerous and unsanitary conditions at an Empyrean Towers.
Landlords show up to support embattled landlord of Oakland's Empyrean Towers:
2 Investigates
May 2017
http://www.ktvu.com/news/2-investigates/257674523-story
Dozens of volunteers gathered in front of Oakland City Hall on Friday to show support for a local landlord at the center of a legal fight over the unsanitary conditions at a residence hotel she used to own.
The city is suing Alice Tse over the conditions at the Empyrean Towers hotel after a series of 2 Investigates reports uncovered the unsafe conditions inside. Tse’s supporters say the city is treating the property owner unfairly.
“If this thing happened to Alice, it will happen on every property owner in the Bay Area,” said volunteer Alex Ko.
A crowd of about 30 people chanted in English and Chinese outside and carried signs, some saying “Alice is innocent,” before taking their protest inside City Hall.
Tse did not attend the rally herself, but for the first time her mother Jannny Tsui spoke publicly, through a translator, to defend her daughter.
“She says she doesn’t have money for living,” the translator said on behalf of Tsui. “She’s asking the questions ‘Why? What did I do wrong? What did my daughter do wrong?’”
Tsui said the city has seized some of her property as part of the legal claims against her daughter.
In 2015, the City of Oakland sued Tse and Empyrean Towers alleging years of code violations, illegal evictions, and even abuse of tenants. Later that year, a court-ordered receiver stepped in to run the day-to-day operations of the Empyrean Towers after a judge stripped control of the hotel from owners.
The move was one of the demands in the city’s lawsuit filed by City Attorney Barbara Parker. Parker's office credited 2 Investigates for exposing unsafe and unsanitary conditions at the property.
2 Investigates revealed video and pictures showing brown water in tenants’ sinks, holes in walls, broken doors in the common bathrooms, cracked windows, faulty plumbing, and incomplete repair jobs.
Cell phone video taken by an attorney representing some tenants revealed the doors to some vacant rooms at the hotel had been nailed shut.
When we asked Friday about the living conditions at Empyrean Towers, Tsui said her daughter was in the process of fixing the issues, but the city did not give Tse enough time. Although she could not provide proof, she said in some cases the tenants caused the damages themselves.
“The city already inspected it and the next week, they’d come back and it would be broken again,” Tsui said.
Friday’s protesters, some of who are landlords themselves, said they feared Tse’s case sets a dangerous precedent for all Bay Area landlords.
“We are afraid the government will do this to other owners too, and not giving them their fair chance” said Meina Young, a volunteer at the rally. “The government is trying to take over the property and that is not fair.”
In July 2015, Tse agreed to a deal that would have provided $500,000 to cover a long list of overdue repairs at Empyrean Towers. At the time, Tse also agreed not to oppose the decision to place the property into receivership. The funding and receivership ultimately fell through and Tse filed for bankruptcy that same month.
Last year, a federal bankruptcy judge approved the sale of the Empyrean Towers hotel to a Berkeley-based affordable housing non-profit group called Resources for Community Development (RCD), paving the way for what tenants and their attorneys hope is reform at the hotel.
2 Investigates reached out to Tse but did not receive a response before the time of publication. At a hearing in March, Tse also declined to speak to KTVU producers regarding the ongoing Empyrean Towers lawsuit with the city.
March 2017
http://www.ktvu.com/news/234658169-story
OAKLAND (KTVU) -- More than two years after 2 Investigates first exposed unsanitary and unsafe conditions at the trouble Empyrean Towers hotel in Oakland, the property is now one step closer to being rehabilitated.
The City Council on Tuesday night approved a resolution giving the city authorization to negotiate a deal to have the property deemed a historical site, through the California State Historic Preservation Officer (SHPO). That would free up funds as part of the rehabilitation process.
According to the proposal, “the purpose of entering into the Agreement is to minimize, reduce or avoid adverse effects on the historic building” while it is being rehabilitated and eventually sold to a non-profit that plans to turn it into affordable housing.
Last March, a bankruptcy judge approved the potential sale of the property to the Berkeley-based affording housing non-profit group Resources for Community Development (RCD), paving the way for what tenants and their attorneys hope is reform at the hotel.
Part of the court’s decision requires that the building is maintained as affordable housing for at least 55 years.
But the building that some tenants called a “nightmare” is still far from a dream. 2 Investigates visited the Empyrean Towers on Wednesday to find holes in the walls haven’t been fixed, and the elevator is still not functioning.
Resident Katherine Bergman, 83, says she is forced to climb flights of stairs to her home. And due to faulty plumbing, Bergman says she resorted to bathing with baby wipes during cold snaps.
2 Investigates first exposed dangerous and unsanitary conditions at the Empyrean Towers more than two years ago. Uncover camera footage revealed fire damage, broken toilets, missing smoke detectors, and uncollected garbage among the problems on a long list of complaints reported by tenants.
In March, it already appeared that a major facelift was well underway. At that time, the building had new paint, light fixtures, a heating system and hot water heater.
Nearly two years ago, tenants were forced out of the building by a serious health scare when investigators found coliform bacteria in the water in one of the pipes. Some residents told 2 Investigates by the time it was discovered they already drank the water and had gotten sick.
The City of Oakland filed suit against the owners of Empyrean Towers in April 2015, accusing management of illegal evictions, failing to make repairs and for creating a public nuisance. Inspectors documented dozens of problems including broken windows, faulty plumbing, and an elevator that was frequently out of service.
At that time, owner Alice Tse agreed to a deal that would provide $500,000 for a long list of overdue repairs. But shortly after, Tse had filed for bankruptcy and control of the property was handed over to a Chapter 11 trustee.
Lina Torio is an agent for the trustee overseeing the property while it's in transition. She says the elevator would cost $3 million to repair and her group is not authorized to spend that money during the bankruptcy.
Torio showed 2 Investigates a new water tank installed for the entire building and other upgrades. She said it’s not the trustee’s job to renovate, but rather keep the property safe until the ownership transfer is finalized. That is expected to happen in March 2017.
KTVU's 2 Investigates team was honored to receive a 2016 Edward R. Murrow Award for continuing coverage of the dangerous and unsanitary conditions at an Empyrean Towers.
Landlords show up to support embattled landlord of Oakland's Empyrean Towers:
2 Investigates
May 2017
http://www.ktvu.com/news/2-investigates/257674523-story
Dozens of volunteers gathered in front of Oakland City Hall on Friday to show support for a local landlord at the center of a legal fight over the unsanitary conditions at a residence hotel she used to own.
The city is suing Alice Tse over the conditions at the Empyrean Towers hotel after a series of 2 Investigates reports uncovered the unsafe conditions inside. Tse’s supporters say the city is treating the property owner unfairly.
“If this thing happened to Alice, it will happen on every property owner in the Bay Area,” said volunteer Alex Ko.
A crowd of about 30 people chanted in English and Chinese outside and carried signs, some saying “Alice is innocent,” before taking their protest inside City Hall.
Tse did not attend the rally herself, but for the first time her mother Jannny Tsui spoke publicly, through a translator, to defend her daughter.
“She says she doesn’t have money for living,” the translator said on behalf of Tsui. “She’s asking the questions ‘Why? What did I do wrong? What did my daughter do wrong?’”
Tsui said the city has seized some of her property as part of the legal claims against her daughter.
In 2015, the City of Oakland sued Tse and Empyrean Towers alleging years of code violations, illegal evictions, and even abuse of tenants. Later that year, a court-ordered receiver stepped in to run the day-to-day operations of the Empyrean Towers after a judge stripped control of the hotel from owners.
The move was one of the demands in the city’s lawsuit filed by City Attorney Barbara Parker. Parker's office credited 2 Investigates for exposing unsafe and unsanitary conditions at the property.
2 Investigates revealed video and pictures showing brown water in tenants’ sinks, holes in walls, broken doors in the common bathrooms, cracked windows, faulty plumbing, and incomplete repair jobs.
Cell phone video taken by an attorney representing some tenants revealed the doors to some vacant rooms at the hotel had been nailed shut.
When we asked Friday about the living conditions at Empyrean Towers, Tsui said her daughter was in the process of fixing the issues, but the city did not give Tse enough time. Although she could not provide proof, she said in some cases the tenants caused the damages themselves.
“The city already inspected it and the next week, they’d come back and it would be broken again,” Tsui said.
Friday’s protesters, some of who are landlords themselves, said they feared Tse’s case sets a dangerous precedent for all Bay Area landlords.
“We are afraid the government will do this to other owners too, and not giving them their fair chance” said Meina Young, a volunteer at the rally. “The government is trying to take over the property and that is not fair.”
In July 2015, Tse agreed to a deal that would have provided $500,000 to cover a long list of overdue repairs at Empyrean Towers. At the time, Tse also agreed not to oppose the decision to place the property into receivership. The funding and receivership ultimately fell through and Tse filed for bankruptcy that same month.
Last year, a federal bankruptcy judge approved the sale of the Empyrean Towers hotel to a Berkeley-based affordable housing non-profit group called Resources for Community Development (RCD), paving the way for what tenants and their attorneys hope is reform at the hotel.
2 Investigates reached out to Tse but did not receive a response before the time of publication. At a hearing in March, Tse also declined to speak to KTVU producers regarding the ongoing Empyrean Towers lawsuit with the city.
143 City of Oakland Bldg Inspector: I am surprised you are applying logics [sic] to the City Of Oakland.
Post-Ghost Ship: Despite mayor’s promises, Oakland city inspectors are telling residents to leave unpermitted spaces
June 12, 2017
http://www.mercurynews.com/2017/06/18/in-post-ghost-ship-oakland-city-tells-artists-to-leave-livework-spaces-despite-mayors-promises/
OAKLAND — Just over a month after a horrific fire ripped through an East Oakland warehouse, killing 36 people, Mayor Libby Schaaf made a promise that city staff would work cooperatively with property owners to make their buildings safe without evicting the artists who live there.
The artists received an eviction notice in the immediate aftermath of the deadly Ghost Ship fire on December 2, 2016. Aric Crabb/Bay Area News Group)
Instead, it appears city inspectors are doing just the opposite. In the months since the fire, they have issued inspection reports explicitly stating tenants cannot reside in the buildings, while offering only vague instructions on what violations the owners or tenants need to correct, or throwing up bureaucratic road blocks to getting work done. At the same time, tenants of cultural and entertainment venues have complained about a heavy-handed approach that has made it difficult to stay in business.
On Feb. 21, city staff identified 18 properties in a report to the City Council, saying it had already begun the process of reaching out to property owners to craft compliance plans — a list of work that needs to be done and a timeline in which to do — so the city could bring the spaces up to code. But Darin Ranelletti, the city’s interim director of planning and building, admitted this week that the city had not in fact entered into a compliance plan with the owners of any of those properties.
Schaaf said she was “disappointed” more property owners have decided not to cooperate with the city.
“The city can’t force that choice,” she said. “It can only make it easier.”
At the Castle Von Trapp, a live/work space in West Oakland identified in the February report, a city inspector wrote in an April 20 report: “Discontinue residential occupancy and obtain commercial tenant improvement zoning approval and permits.”
It was a de facto eviction order, although the building was not red-tagged as an immediate risk to the residents. The inspection report was a direct contradiction to Schaaf’s Jan. 11 order, which states city inspectors should “avoid displacement of any individuals residing or working in the property if that can be accomplished without imminent life safety risk.”
“They’ve done everything but make it easy,” said Tom Dolan, the architect who wrote the city’s live/work conversion ordinance in 1999 and who has been volunteering his time with Safer DIY Spaces. The nascent group emerged in the wake of the Dec. 2 fire to help people make immediate safety improvements to unpermitted live/work buildings.
“The city has not actually explicitly red-tagged spaces, they’ve just made it very difficult for them to be lived in,” Dolan said. “There really has been very little cooperation.”
frustrating for Chris Spiteri, one of the tenants in the Castle Von Trapp. Along with her housemates, Spiteri had been working for several months to assuage the fears of their landlords, who were waiting for guidance from the city. A building inspector walked through the space in January but didn’t send an official report back on the violations until April. In March, the tenants said their landlords gave them an ultimatum: Buy the building or leave. One of the landlords, Yeon Lee, did not respond to a request for comment.
“In that time, we very much tried to keep open communication with our landlords to figure out if there was a path for us to move forward that didn’t result in us vacating the building,” she said. “So, it was frustrating, I’m sure on their part as much as ours, to be waiting so long for direction from the city only to find out the result is, because it’s an unpermitted residence, they want us to leave.”
Ranelletti said the onus is on building owners to enter into a compliance plan with the city, and the delays in issuing an inspection report were not an excuse because the property owners were informed of the executive order at the time of the inspection, he said, and can get information on what needs to be done in other ways.
“The information is … often communicated at the site, in the office; they can come in, in person,” he said. “Ultimately, it’s the responsibility of the property owner.”
SiteA (Todd) redacted p2of13Since the council’s report, inspectors have visited other live/work spaces that aren’t on the list of 18. At one live/work space in the city’s Brooklyn Basin neighborhood that is home to about dozen people, an official inspection report read: “Improper occupancy — All residential and non-residential buildings or structure or portion thereof … shall be considered ‘Substandard and a Public Nuisance.'”
The report continues, “Obtain permits, inspections and approvals and restore to original usage.”
The last line is worrisome, said Todd, a tenant whose last name this newspaper is not using because it would identify the building and increase his risk of eviction. Reverting to the original usage would mean people can’t live there. Even if a change of use was granted, the building would have to be upgraded to comply with modern earthquake and building codes, which could cost hundreds of thousands of dollars.
“That’s a real problem,” Todd said. “That’s when things get expensive.”
When she went to the city to see what needed to be done, Sinuba said she felt as though she were talking to a wall.
“For people who are still grieving, just being given this paper that (says) everything is wrong and we won’t tell you what to do … it’s scary,” she said. “We don’t know what this means. We could be kicked out, but there is no where else to live anymore. Everything is too expensive.”
Schaaf admits the city’s work is not done. She meets with staff regularly to discuss ways to make the process better, she said.
“Every two weeks, we work on something new to make the spirit of this order more effective,” she said.
That includes providing inspection reports to tenants, when, in the past, they were only given to landlords. And, staff is working on ways to red tag only part of the building, if that can be done safely, where inspectors would have ordered the entire building shut down before the executive order was issued.
But the Ghost Ship fire’s fallout is affecting permitted spaces, too. At Qilombo, a legal community space in West Oakland, David Keenan, another member of the Safer DIY Spaces group, said he had to fight an invalid inspector’s report that said the space had people living in it, despite the fact there was no evidence of habitation. The inspector based his report on a complaint and verified it when he couldn’t access one room during an inspection.
After a lengthy email exchange, the inspector, Wing Loo, agreed to change the report, but he still cited them for a missing structural support pole for an interior loft structure, as well as problems with a rear staircase that was built before Qilombo occupied the space. When Keenan tried to pull a building permit to fix the staircase, he couldn’t, because of the existing violation.
“You admit that nobody lives there but verified (the habitability complaint) because of some other structural condition that needed to be repaired and because you did, you actually blocked me from fixing the thing you are citing,” Keenan said of his interaction with Loo. “I don’t know how much more Kafkaesque you can get.”
In an email, Loo wrote to Keenan, “I am surprised you are applying logics [sic] to the City Of Oakland. I will reply within the next day or so. Have a good evening and continue to dream.”
June 12, 2017
http://www.mercurynews.com/2017/06/18/in-post-ghost-ship-oakland-city-tells-artists-to-leave-livework-spaces-despite-mayors-promises/
OAKLAND — Just over a month after a horrific fire ripped through an East Oakland warehouse, killing 36 people, Mayor Libby Schaaf made a promise that city staff would work cooperatively with property owners to make their buildings safe without evicting the artists who live there.
The artists received an eviction notice in the immediate aftermath of the deadly Ghost Ship fire on December 2, 2016. Aric Crabb/Bay Area News Group)
Instead, it appears city inspectors are doing just the opposite. In the months since the fire, they have issued inspection reports explicitly stating tenants cannot reside in the buildings, while offering only vague instructions on what violations the owners or tenants need to correct, or throwing up bureaucratic road blocks to getting work done. At the same time, tenants of cultural and entertainment venues have complained about a heavy-handed approach that has made it difficult to stay in business.
On Feb. 21, city staff identified 18 properties in a report to the City Council, saying it had already begun the process of reaching out to property owners to craft compliance plans — a list of work that needs to be done and a timeline in which to do — so the city could bring the spaces up to code. But Darin Ranelletti, the city’s interim director of planning and building, admitted this week that the city had not in fact entered into a compliance plan with the owners of any of those properties.
Schaaf said she was “disappointed” more property owners have decided not to cooperate with the city.
“The city can’t force that choice,” she said. “It can only make it easier.”
At the Castle Von Trapp, a live/work space in West Oakland identified in the February report, a city inspector wrote in an April 20 report: “Discontinue residential occupancy and obtain commercial tenant improvement zoning approval and permits.”
It was a de facto eviction order, although the building was not red-tagged as an immediate risk to the residents. The inspection report was a direct contradiction to Schaaf’s Jan. 11 order, which states city inspectors should “avoid displacement of any individuals residing or working in the property if that can be accomplished without imminent life safety risk.”
“They’ve done everything but make it easy,” said Tom Dolan, the architect who wrote the city’s live/work conversion ordinance in 1999 and who has been volunteering his time with Safer DIY Spaces. The nascent group emerged in the wake of the Dec. 2 fire to help people make immediate safety improvements to unpermitted live/work buildings.
“The city has not actually explicitly red-tagged spaces, they’ve just made it very difficult for them to be lived in,” Dolan said. “There really has been very little cooperation.”
frustrating for Chris Spiteri, one of the tenants in the Castle Von Trapp. Along with her housemates, Spiteri had been working for several months to assuage the fears of their landlords, who were waiting for guidance from the city. A building inspector walked through the space in January but didn’t send an official report back on the violations until April. In March, the tenants said their landlords gave them an ultimatum: Buy the building or leave. One of the landlords, Yeon Lee, did not respond to a request for comment.
“In that time, we very much tried to keep open communication with our landlords to figure out if there was a path for us to move forward that didn’t result in us vacating the building,” she said. “So, it was frustrating, I’m sure on their part as much as ours, to be waiting so long for direction from the city only to find out the result is, because it’s an unpermitted residence, they want us to leave.”
Ranelletti said the onus is on building owners to enter into a compliance plan with the city, and the delays in issuing an inspection report were not an excuse because the property owners were informed of the executive order at the time of the inspection, he said, and can get information on what needs to be done in other ways.
“The information is … often communicated at the site, in the office; they can come in, in person,” he said. “Ultimately, it’s the responsibility of the property owner.”
SiteA (Todd) redacted p2of13Since the council’s report, inspectors have visited other live/work spaces that aren’t on the list of 18. At one live/work space in the city’s Brooklyn Basin neighborhood that is home to about dozen people, an official inspection report read: “Improper occupancy — All residential and non-residential buildings or structure or portion thereof … shall be considered ‘Substandard and a Public Nuisance.'”
The report continues, “Obtain permits, inspections and approvals and restore to original usage.”
The last line is worrisome, said Todd, a tenant whose last name this newspaper is not using because it would identify the building and increase his risk of eviction. Reverting to the original usage would mean people can’t live there. Even if a change of use was granted, the building would have to be upgraded to comply with modern earthquake and building codes, which could cost hundreds of thousands of dollars.
“That’s a real problem,” Todd said. “That’s when things get expensive.”
When she went to the city to see what needed to be done, Sinuba said she felt as though she were talking to a wall.
“For people who are still grieving, just being given this paper that (says) everything is wrong and we won’t tell you what to do … it’s scary,” she said. “We don’t know what this means. We could be kicked out, but there is no where else to live anymore. Everything is too expensive.”
Schaaf admits the city’s work is not done. She meets with staff regularly to discuss ways to make the process better, she said.
“Every two weeks, we work on something new to make the spirit of this order more effective,” she said.
That includes providing inspection reports to tenants, when, in the past, they were only given to landlords. And, staff is working on ways to red tag only part of the building, if that can be done safely, where inspectors would have ordered the entire building shut down before the executive order was issued.
But the Ghost Ship fire’s fallout is affecting permitted spaces, too. At Qilombo, a legal community space in West Oakland, David Keenan, another member of the Safer DIY Spaces group, said he had to fight an invalid inspector’s report that said the space had people living in it, despite the fact there was no evidence of habitation. The inspector based his report on a complaint and verified it when he couldn’t access one room during an inspection.
After a lengthy email exchange, the inspector, Wing Loo, agreed to change the report, but he still cited them for a missing structural support pole for an interior loft structure, as well as problems with a rear staircase that was built before Qilombo occupied the space. When Keenan tried to pull a building permit to fix the staircase, he couldn’t, because of the existing violation.
“You admit that nobody lives there but verified (the habitability complaint) because of some other structural condition that needed to be repaired and because you did, you actually blocked me from fixing the thing you are citing,” Keenan said of his interaction with Loo. “I don’t know how much more Kafkaesque you can get.”
In an email, Loo wrote to Keenan, “I am surprised you are applying logics [sic] to the City Of Oakland. I will reply within the next day or so. Have a good evening and continue to dream.”
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