Horror at the rave

[xani]

Originally Posted by Ultrarunner

Many live in the Santa Cruz Mountains... like 7 miles on a dirt road from where the pavement ends..

Others are more remote up in Northern CA....

Some live in ecovillages... in CA and in general in the West even these communes are too expensive though, for most artists.

[Ultrarunner]

My reference to off grid artist and the tie in to Ghostship is the lack of code oversight...

Still, code or not I can see the attraction and satisfaction of building and furnishing by repurposing the discards of others...

The latest report indicates a problem with the power that was jury rigged from the neighboring building.

I would never say wiring can be a 100% safe but it is easy to make wiring a clear and present hazard...

All it takes is one undersized extension cord or one that is not in good repair for a fire to start.

[xani]

I've seen a share of unpermitted offgrid housing but never anything that could house a party of that size and trap 36 people to die. Not that scale. These incidents happen in the cities.

[Ultrarunner]

Originally Posted by xani

I've seen a share of unpermitted offgrid housing but never anything that could house a party of that size and trap 36 people to die. Not that scale. These incidents happen in the cities.

The biggest off grid party I've been to was in an old barn for New Years... they had a generator for lighting as there is otherwise no power... maybe a 100+... mostly local with a few invited friends like me.

Party was at ground level with plenty of exits... old wood frame barn with tin roof.

The biggest problem is wild fire but usually not a problem January 1.

[DoggieMatic]

So what's it to be -- strong building code enforcement -- including condemning & sealing (read: evictions of people) structures until they're brought-up to code, or leaving the business operators, property-owners & tenants alone by not enforcing building codes because the city doesn't want to be viewed as picking on people?

How many fires will occur this Winter because of improper electrical wiring or an improper heating source in what was designed & built 50 years ago to simply be a garage, but that some idiot has turned-into a revenue source by renting it out as living space to a person or family too stupid to realize that if they're illegally living in a garage, using a hot-plate as a heater & garden hose as a water source, they need to get the hell out of the SF Bay area & move to a place they can afford? Meanwhile, city code-enforcement people know many of the locations, but have been instructed that it's a low-priority to enforce, because taking strong enforcement on the illegal conversions would be politically-incorrect?


As-usual, the "progressives" want it both ways.

[2sleepy]

Originally Posted by DoggieMatic

So what's it to be -- strong building code enforcement -- including condemning & sealing (read: evictions of people) structures until they're brought-up to code, or leaving the business operators, property-owners & tenants alone by not enforcing building codes because the city doesn't want to be viewed as picking on people?

How many fires will occur this Winter because of improper electrical wiring or an improper heating source in what was designed & built 50 years ago to simply be a garage, but that some idiot has turned-into a revenue source by renting it out as living space to a person or family too stupid to realize that if they're illegally living in a garage, using a hot-plate as a heater & garden hose as a water source, they need to get the hell out of the SF Bay area & move to a place they can afford? Meanwhile, city code-enforcement people know many of the locations, but have been instructed that it's a low-priority to enforce, because taking strong enforcement on the illegal conversions would be politically-incorrect?
As-usual, the "progressives" want it both ways.

Your post was interesting until you decided to turn it into a political rant..what a shame. I think most of us agree that there is a critical shortage of affordable housing in the bay area, and we can also agree that there are probably thousands of rentals that are not code compliant, but seriously...it's the fault of progressives?

I worked in a City in Northern California, there was a lot of sub standard housing, there were no "progressives" telling employees not to follow the law on those issues, that is just plain stupid and if the code enforcement personnel had been given such an order they would have complained to the City Manager and if that failed they would have gone to the City Council.

The problem was that the three people on staff usually had between two and three hundred open complaints at a time, with about 25-50 new ones filed every week.

Not every problem in this Country can be blamed entirely on either "progressives" or "conservatives", no matter how good doing so might make one feel.

[DoggieMatic]

Originally Posted by 2sleepy

Your post was interesting until you decided to turn it into a political rant..what a shame. I think most of us agree that there is a critical shortage of affordable housing in the bay area, and we can also agree that there are probably thousands of rentals that are not code compliant, but seriously...it's the fault of progressives?

Yup, you're absolutely right -- zero evidence of SF Bay area 'progressives' being upset over the enforcement of longtime, common-sense laws or policies... Silly me!

[Ultrarunner]

Oakland is not unique in that it has some of the strongest tenant protections in the country when it comes to evictions also known as Just Cause which only allows evictions to proceed in very limited circumstances and only after the city has received and stamped a copy of the reason valid.

A strict interpretation would displace thousands... even multiple unrelated individuals sharing a single family dwelling has come under scrutiny.

The mayor has publicly stated she is not here to displace people yet many of these warehouse spaces will never meet modern standards for habitability... zoning, seismic, egress, setbacks, parking, sanitation, windows, heating, etc are just some of the hurdles.

Fire codes are less restrictive with old concrete and brick warehouse space because a fire poses little threat to adjacent structures and since no one is living/sleeping there is little threat of loss of life.

I've been around a few permitted conversions and the process took years and was expensive and when complete the units sold for top dollar which doesn't make for affordable housing.

No idea how what the path forward will be... clear out and start over or find some new classification for substandard and less safe housing going forward.

By all appearances the owner was charging basic going rate for warehouse space... I've read $5000 with is much less than a dollar per foot.

Commercial Property is not required to meet habitability codes and many are leased NNN as in business to business with the entity leasing assuming all responsibility for code compliance...

It existed under the radar because people wanted it that way...