You keep saying it's pay but I see little evidence of that as the root cause. I do see plenty of evidence that people have been allowed get away with such gross violations that it boggled the minds of even the uninformed visitors and tenants of the warehouse. These inspections have plenty of advance notice to the owners, managers and occupants before they happen so everyone knows the rules in advance.

It's pay, it's qualifications/capabilities, it's oversight (management) of the inspectors, it's department leadership, it's support from police department, and all the things that "less government" mentality gets you.

 

Typical. The cure for incompetent government is always more of it.

 

Typical. The cure for incompetent government is always more of it.

How do you lure the right people to jobs that require qualifications?

I think it is typical that you ask for less government and you are the first to complain whe crime goes up in your neighborhood - genius. Typical of wanting all of your paycheck and government services too.

 

And there's nothing uglier than a muddy city street in the middle of winter.

I'll take a muddy street over finding out the big tractor the snow blower goes on is parked way off in the far corner of the yard a 400+ feet from the nearest power source without the snowblower attached yet with dead batteries and there is 2 - 3 feet of snow a with 4 - 8 foot high drifts between it and anything that can jump start it plus the snow blower itself is in another yard half a mile or more a way that in itself is as equally drifted in.

Oh yea, and the tire chains that go on the big tractor are known to be someplace at one of the two yards in one of the numerous drifted in buildings, but not exactly which one, and its -10F and getting colder while all this is happening.

Fun days on the farm in winter that make a muddy city road seem like a pretty minor inconvenience to work around.

 

How do you lure the right people to jobs that require qualifications?

The people doing the daily grind are usually completely qualified for their jobs but what they seem not have have at the political and managerial end is the will to back them up and say NO to the snowflakes of the city who are either too stupid, too irresponsible, too greedy or too high to care they endanger lives.

http://nypost.com/2016/12/05/owner-of-oakland-rave-cave-was-a-negligent-father-and-drug-addict/
http://www.sfgate.com/bayarea/article/Ghost-Ship-leader-speaks-briefly-calls-fire-10695430.php

A multiagency criminal probe took shape Monday as information emerged that the manager of a cluttered Oakland warehouse that erupted in flames Friday night, killing at least 36 people, had previously been investigated for stealing a trailer, having confrontations with visitors and holding illegal parties.

Derick Ion Almena, 46, the quirky, volatile leader of an artist’s collective known as Satya Yuga, is on probation for a misdemeanor conviction and could be the subject of an investigation into the fatal fire.

Almena, who disappeared immediately after the fire, finally spoke out as former residents accused him of ignoring obvious danger while running a slapdash art and residential operation inside the warehouse. The people who died in the tragedy were his figurative “children,” he told a reporter.
...
Almena’s statement came as detectives and fire officials from Oakland and Alameda County began a criminal investigation into the cause and circumstances of the fire at the Ghost Ship warehouse at 31st Avenue and International Boulevard.

“We’ll leave no stone unturned,” said Alameda County District Attorney Nancy O’Malley, who declared the warehouse a “potential crime scene” Monday. She said investigators are looking into charges that could range from “murder all the way to involuntary manslaughter.”
...
The building was considered a center of creativity by some and a chaotic, drug-infested firetrap by other residents, some of whom described Almena as an arrogant, charismatic narcissist who felt above the law.

Current and former residents said Almena could be vulgar and abrasive and often alienated tenants. A former nanny for his three children, Mariah Benavides, described Almena and his wife as “organized hoarders.”

 

Because they would have to raise taxes. No citizens reelect a tax raising administration.
Unfortunately, citizens look only at cash and not the big picture, asking themselves questions like, "Why should my tax dollars pay for code inforcement if I don't want code enforcement officers on my doorstep?"

Well, I agree it was a trade off. The politico placed their dollar value on the potential loss of life against them getting elected for raising taxes and choose the personally cheaper option.

 

First, read about the history of Oakland. It is one of corruption from its founding. Mayors of both parties have been involved. However, in the last 30+ years they have been Democrats. More on point, if you bother to read about the background for that disaster, there have been numerous citations and complaints about the sub-standard conditions, legitimate code violations, and illegal aliens crammed into uninhabitable quarters, and so forth. All of that blind-eye enforcement of existing safety codes was provided by Democrat administrations. Were they paid off? Follow the money.

Try updating with facts before replying.

John

Dear John,
I still love you. With that let me say, after all the sarcasm your elected fearless leader put forth in the run up to his election I'd think you would recognize it when you saw it. Instead you used it to make yourself look like a pompous ass yet again.
love, shortbus

 

Pompous?

How about this for starters.
http://city-stats.org/ca/oakland/politics/oakland-politics-data

https://www.neighborhoodscout.com/ca/oakland/crime/#description

With a crime rate of 77 per one thousand residents, Oakland has one of the highest crime rates in America compared to all communities of all sizes - from the smallest towns to the very largest cities. One's chance of becoming a victim of either violent or property crime here is one in 13. Within California, more than 99% of the communities have a lower crime rate than Oakland.In fact, after researching dangerous places to live, NeighborhoodScout found Oakland to be one of the top 100 most dangerous cities in the U.S.A.

Separately, it is always interesting and important to compare a city's crime rate with those of similarly sized communities - a fair comparison as larger cities tend to have more crime. NeighborhoodScout has done just that. With a population of 413,775, Oakland has a combined rate of violent and property crime that is very high compared to other places of similar population size. Regardless of whether Oakland does well or poorly compared to all other cities and towns in the US of all sizes, compared to places with a similar population, it fares badly. Few other communities of this size have a crime rate as high as Oakland.

The crime data that NeighborhoodScout used for this analysis are the seven offenses from the uniform crime reports, collected by the FBI from 18,000 local law enforcement agencies, and include both violent and property crimes, combined.

Now let us turn to take a look at how Oakland does for violent crimes specifically, and then how it does for property crimes. This is important because the overall crime rate can be further illuminated by understanding if violent crime or property crimes (or both) are the major contributors to the general rate of crime in Oakland.

For Oakland, we found that the violent crime rate is one of the highest in the nation, across communities of all sizes (both large and small). Violent offenses tracked included rape, murder and non-negligent manslaughter, armed robbery, and aggravated assault, including assault with a deadly weapon. According to NeighborhoodScout's analysis of FBI reported crime data, your chance of becoming a victim of one of these crimes in Oakland is one in 59.

http://www.eastbayexpress.com/Seven...loses-1919-market-street-warehouse-in-oakland

In November, Timothy Low, an inspections manager for Oakland, sent the owner of the warehouse, Seth Jacobson, a notice declaring 1919 Market Street a public nuisance. The city also revoked the building's certificate of occupancy. Although 1919 Market Street was an unpermitted residential building, several current residents told me that for years the city looked the other way while residents made additions to their lofts.

Better to lose your home than your life.

http://www.eastbayexpress.com/Cultu...ravages-lives-and-cultural-complex-in-oakland

 

Pompous?

How about this for starters.
http://city-stats.org/ca/oakland/politics/oakland-politics-data

https://www.neighborhoodscout.com/ca/oakland/crime/#description


http://www.eastbayexpress.com/Seven...loses-1919-market-street-warehouse-in-oakland


Better to lose your home than your life.

So, you've proven that artists (unemployed/low income) people migrate to low cost of living locations. As do most of the other people who live there (or can't afford to leave). That was clearly pointed out that Oakland has been and likely will be an armpit of America. It has nothing to do with what administration is in office, it has to do with the raw materials (population, infrastructure, businesses and ...) that you have to work with and the thermodynamic sink that causes people flow in/glow out. Oakland will never be Redmond, WA. Neither will East St. Louis or dozens of other cities on the list.

Even if you have a 10B improvement and economic boost to the city, the people living at that place would end up finding s similar place in another city at $200/month.

 

Blame the Bay Area Housing Crisis for Unlicensed Nightclubs/Concerts in illegal residences?

I only expect Oakland not to be the US city equivalent of a third-world country.

Everyone in the Oakland city government is hoping that the landlord/manger will take all the heat. I'm betting he won't.

 

Even if you have a 10B improvement and economic boost to the city, the people living at that place would end up finding s similar place in another city at $200/month.

Unfortunately history has shown over and over that whenever a high dollar investment is made into a city the vast majority if the money from it ends up in the high end parts of town (usually in just a few already very well lined pockets to begin with) where it doesn't really serve the community in general any grand purpose or gain.

I would almost bet that if they had 10 billion pumped into their community to do improvements with 8 - 9 of it would never make it to the general population and infrastructure where it was intended to go.

I live and well ran state with the majority of our towns and cities similarly we ran but even at that it's obvious that whenever a major investment was put into a town a lot of that money never made it to where it was intended to be and where it did goe seems to always become a undiscussable topic with those who were suposed to manage it from start to finish.

 

Unfortunately history has shown over and over that whenever a high dollar investment is made into a city the vast majority if the money from it ends up in the high end parts of town (usually in just a few already very well lined pockets to begin with) where it doesn't really serve the community in general any grand purpose or gain.

I would almost bet that if they had 10 billion pumped into their community to do improvements with 8 - 9 of it would never make it to the general population and infrastructure where it was intended to go.

I live and well ran state with the majority of our towns and cities similarly we ran but even at that it's obvious that whenever a major investment was put into a town a lot of that money never made it to where it was intended to be and where it did goe seems to always become a undiscussable topic with those who were suposed to manage it from start to finish.

In Brooklyn they call it Gentrification. Once city services improve (more police protection, lower crime, better roads, better access to the freeway, ...), rents go up and the poor trickle down to somewhere else. It looks like the investment took care of poverty but that is just a Trump view from his Tower. The poor just have to leave when rent gets too high.

 

In Brooklyn they call it Gentrification. Once city services improve (more police protection, lower crime, better roads, better access to the freeway, ...), rents go up and the poor trickle down to somewhere else. It looks like the investment took care of poverty but that is just a Trump view from his Tower. The poor just have to leave when rent gets too high.

Most of these whining arteest aren't the classic poor (like some of the long term residents of Oakland no one gives a damn about) , they want to live near what's hip and happening near other arteest while pursuing their passions. It's their right to be an arteest but it's not their right to do it while paying low rents in Oakland.

http://zipatlas.com/us/ca/oakland/zip-code-comparison/population-below-poverty-level.htm

 

The story keeps evolving. A local Pittsburgh family lost a son in the fire. Their understanding was the artists may have been broke, paying about $200 to $250 each/mo. They believed the Concerts were used subsidize the group's rent. The local guy was not living there but is presumed dead in the fire as a concert attendee - not yet I.D ed.

In Pittsburgh, Walrath's teachers at Taylor Allderdice High School shared their memories of him with local TV news crews. Walrath graduated from the high school in 2003 and would go on to study at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) and the New York University (NYU) School of Law, where he graduated in 2013.
​

He worked for the local city Prosecutors office until recently joining a private law firm.

 

A sad story of victims.
http://www.cbsnews.com/news/oakland-ghost-ship-warehouse-fire-victims-sent-goodbye-messages/

“We’ve had a lot of intimate conversations with the families,” he said. “Kids were sending texts to their parents telling them they loved them and they were going to die.”

Kelly told the East Bay Times that one grief-stricken mother showed him her phone with a text message from her daughter. It read: “I love you. I’m going to die, Mom.”
...
The founder of the Oakland artists’ colony that occupied the building said Tuesday he is sorry, but deflected blame for the blaze that gutted the warehouse that he now describes as a “mass grave.”

Founder Derick Ion Almena told the “Today Show” on Tuesday that he was at the site to put his face and his body in front of the scene. However, he deflected blame for the blaze. Almena said he signed a lease for the building that “was to city standards supposedly.”

“I’m only here to say one thing that I’m incredibly sorry and that everything that I did was to make this a stronger and more beautiful community and to bring people together,” he said.

Shelley Mack told CBS News she rented a trailer in the building for a few months in late 2014.

“That place was a death trap,” Mack said.

 

Tragedy is too small a word.

You know, I don't think I'm the type to send a text. I'd be more likely to break all my bones trying to crash through a wall or something to make my own "door". I wouldn't quit trying until it was far too late to text. I wonder if there was something about the personality of these young victims that made them vulnerable to their Charlie Manson leader, and not putting up more of a fight at the end. I can't imagine what their families are suffering.

 

Tragedy is too small a word.

You know, I don't think I'm the type to send a text. I'd be more likely to break all my bones trying to crash through a wall or something to make my own "door". I wouldn't quit trying until it was far too late to text. I wonder if there was something about the personality of these young victims that made them vulnerable to their Charlie Manson leader, and not putting up more of a fight at the end. I can't imagine what their families are suffering.

They were waiting for someone to provide them with a "safe space"?

 

This is what should have happened in Oakland.
http://www.baltimoresun.com/news/maryland/baltimore-city/bs-md-ci-bell-foundry-20161205-story.html

 

They were waiting for someone to provide them with a "safe space"?

Their idea of 'safe space' is bizarre.

 

Their idea of 'safe space' is bizarre.

The events in that video were my biggest fear when I lived in a wood-frame apartment building. More than half of the adults there smoked, drank too much and passed out often. Not a good combination.