OAKLAND

are you going to that?

(I am) (also, they are asking for no candles)

Yes, just saw that. I think I will go. I live nearby.

I hope this isn't the wrong place to post, but here in Baltimore there's a live/work warehouse space that's being evicted right now with no notice. Fire marshal and police showed up and told everyone that lives there that they have an hour to get their things and leave before they board the place up. I imagine things like this will be happening all over the country now in reaction to the fire in Oakland. Really fucked up.

Tonight's Matmos show at Gray Area has been rescheduled to next Tuesday and will be a fundraiser. Very understandable move, I was thinking about this earlier today:

http://grayarea.org/event/rml-presents-matmos/

Very sadly, a further note, which didn't surprise me given his reputation on this front:

Barrett Clark, the Katabatik engineer and musician, was due to run the audio for the SF Matmos lineup also passed away in the fire. He and all of the others who were trapped in the warehouse tragedy will be severely missed.

Further from Gray Area, from the YouCaring fundraising page:

https://www.youcaring.com/firevictimsofoaklandfiredec232016-706684

We are working with the Oakland Mayor's Office, The Red Cross and other fundraisers to be the main fund for this effort. We will work to use the Red Cross' knowledge of the appropriate format for distribution of these funds. We are working every minute to figure this out. Please keep sharing and donating....

Although close to $200,000 has been raised as of Sunday December 4th at 9:28PM, with the assumed number of 40 victims, this leaves only $5,000 per victim, which is easily the cost of a few medical bills or a small memorial service. At this time we ask for your continued support in spreading the word of this fund to continue to fundraise in advocacy of the victims. We will continue to update the fundraising goal as support pours in to foster as many contributions as possible for those affected.

We are forming an oversight committee, talking with Oakland authorities, and will be sure the funds are allocated appropriately to fire victims and with due diligence. There will be public disclosure through the fund page and via Gray Area disclosing how these funds are spent, while also maintaining anonymity for the grieving friends and family members affected by this event. We are waiting on official word from authorities prior to making further decisions but our hope is to provide relief for Funeral, Medical and Health related expenses first and foremost.

The current amount through this effort is now at $275,000.

Finally for now, Gabe Meline's piece is well worth the read and share:

https://ww2.kqed.org/arts/2016/12/04/it-could-have-been-any-one-of-us/

how terrible. my heart goes out to all those who've suffered a loss.

It's a good piece, but lacking in some of the nuance and specifics that led to this happening. That there are places that are sketchy to live in but you just would not have a big party there, if you had sense, if you were the one that could be held responsible. People come to shows at places like this, lots of people, and in the back of their minds they believe there is some responsible person that will make sure it's safe, that will shoulder the burden if things go wrong. And the people that are responsible are not all the same: some are knowledgeable, conscientious, make efforts for basic safety. Others aren't. I'm angry that people didn't have the common sense not to have a show in that space, to find some place less hazardous.

I understand that this is in response to coverage that is demonizing and oversimplifying the circumstances. Sometimes you want broad strokes to combat broad strokes (how many thousands of posts have dealt with this on the election thread?), but I'm tired of reading thinkpieces blaming gentrification and the housing crisis, because people will gravitate towards places like that regardless. And there is a lot to be said for unity in the face of tragedy, but there are differences, and there are hazards that are more hazardous, and there are a lot of people who know this.

I'm angry at my friends and friends of friends who weren't thinking about how sketchy this place was. But I also love my friends, and care about these friends of friends, and that's just how they were, as people. And I spent over a decade putting on shows like this, in places I tried to make as safe, and also as welcoming (in the "safe space" sense) as possible. Nothing like this ever happened. Nothing even close. I look at the names and pictures, and I remember taking their $5 and stamping their hands, and I remember telling them not to stand on a rickety piece of non-furniture, not to leave their bikes blocking the back exit, not to smoke inside ... and it's just senseless. Their deaths are senseless, but also it makes me feel that how I spent a large part of my life was senseless, because of what I ultimately couldn't do.

Yeah, my first reaction was thinking "what can I do to make DIY shows safer" but its a real short walk from that to "how do I get all DIY shows shut down and eventually moved to even more dangerous places"

Ion Almena has finally said something new:

"In my previous Facebook post, I had no idea there was a loss of life. This tragic event consumes me every moment. My heart is broken. My heartfelt condolences to the family and friends who have suffered the loss of loved ones."

Further, had missed that there's been an initial reaction from the family of the building's owner, with these details:

“I’m sorry but we do not have any comment, we are also trying to figure out what’s going on like everybody else,” the family wrote in a statement to the NBC Bay Area Investigative Unit. "We’re so sorry to hear about the tragedy. Our condolences go out to the families and friends of those injured and those who lost their lives.”

Ng’s daughter Eva and son-in-law Edward Liou refuted claims by fire officials that the building’s makeshift staircase was made out of wooden pallets. They said the staircase was a permitted stairway. Survivors of the blaze said a single, shoddily built staircase hampered efforts to exit the warehouse.

Records show the warehouse and surrounding area have been the subject of nearly 10 blight complaints over the past decade.

xxpost i know it comes from a v personal place & it sucks to even have to lay that all out but that is truly an A+ post sarahell <3

Very much so.

Yeah, my first reaction was thinking "what can I do to make DIY shows safer" but its a real short walk from that to "how do I get all DIY shows shut down and eventually moved to even more dangerous places"

― Whiney G. Weingarten, Monday, December 5, 2016 1:45 PM (eight minutes ago)

one of the eerie, awful things about this, is that it happened 9 years to the day that a space I ran got busted by the cops and we had to deal with trying to get it up to code. And one of my arguments was, if you shut down this place, these shows are going to continue to happen and happen in more dangerous places with more clueless people running them.

And for the record (i guess), last night, Kiyomi's family notified her friends that she had been confirmed dead.

yeah her brother posted it on FB . still no official word on Ara but I think it's a given now.

Cherushii (aka Chelsea) is also officially gone.

the vigil was surreal -- the mayor got booed; the rabbi was followed by a girlfriend of one of the deceased who proclaimed they had the greatest sex and she was leaving a picture of her tits in the homemade shrine for him; Jello Biafra spoke, and I didn't really understand why.

I assume that the mayor was booed on account of being the mayor.

More from Ion Almena:

http://www.eastbaytimes.com/2016/12/06/ghost-ship-manager-derrick-ion-almena-apolgizes-defends-living-arrangement/

Gray Area's fundraiser is approaching $400,000; in combination with the Warriors/A's/Raiders fundraiser, it's good to see the results.

KQED also currently broadcasting live with people calling in with memories of the departed:

https://ww2.kqed.org/forum/2016/12/05/remembering-the-victims-of-the-oakland-warehouse-fire/

staff holiday party was last night, a lot of work friends who lost people. there was a weird energy about the whole thing, but it felt good at least to offer some measure of support.

By default I have to wonder about this:

http://www.eastbayexpress.com/SevenDays/archives/2016/12/06/oakland-officials-order-staff-to-withhold-public-records-related-to-ghost-ship-fire

I had to turn forum off on kqed. I understand why people want to talk about it but it's becoming misery porn and it made me too sad, started crying in the car

xp - Could be related to a "criminal investigation." The big issue on that front is the liability of the building owner -- whether she was negligent or whether the unsafe conditions were solely due to things done by tenants she had no knowledge of.

I know she is claiming no one lived there (whether she's doing this because she honestly didn't know or she's trying to cover for herself, dunno)

a lot of people don't know/understand the differences between types of leases and are assuming a lot is the owner's responsibility, which would be the case if it was a residential lease, but it is 99.9% likely it was an industrial gross lease, where just about everything is the responsibility of the tenant(s).

i think w/rental properties, especially industrial or business rentals, most landlords just find a tenant and never pay much attention to what's going on there unless you ask them to come out for a specific reason.

http://pitchfork.com/thepitch/1383-after-ghost-ship-fire-oakland-diy-grapples-with-a-broken-system/

the spaces mentioned near the end of the article were all places I've gone to shows, and weren't particularly safe either, though the one that burned was worse. I remember a Lightning Bolt show at LoBot in 2006 with 400-500 people, and they had just one door that was super heavy and sticky and didn't open out ... if something had caught fire, it would have been horrific.

Very moving post on Johnny Igaz/Nackt from his former partner:

https://medium.com/@hunterleight/johnny-johnny-i-love-you-8270dadc3353#.2lsofvh8o

At the risk of sounding crass, if there are any particular public pieces in memoriam about any of the dead who were musicians or DJs that are noteworthy, I'd love to see them posted here, as I would enjoy sharing them and more on the people they are about through my Link Bin column next week. Thanks.

Ned there is a long, detailed tribute article in the Oregonian today, I think it's an AP piece:

http://www.oregonlive.com/today/index.ssf/2016/12/oakland_warehouse_fire_who_wer.html

Thanks -- there's been a slew of individual articles in the local press for sure. Looking for ones that are from those who knew them well, through their musical work or creative connections or so forth.

Separately:

http://www.eastbayexpress.com/oakland/an-open-letter-to-our-community-from-the-former-residents-of-the-recently-closed-lobot-gallery-in-west-oakland/Content?oid=5053320

Another personal story, via KQED

https://ww2.kqed.org/arts/2016/12/06/alex-ghassan/

I think a lot of us have been thinking about the Station Fire as a particular American comparison point, however inexact. This story, which serves as a reminder as to how that all played out, is worth noting.

http://www.eastbaytimes.com/2016/12/07/nightclub-victims-kin-oakland-fire-families-face-long-road/

apart from the one on alex, everything that's good are things people posted on facebook, that you wouldn't want to link to in the public press. My friend Mikey wrote something really great about his bandmate/roommate Jason. I don't think Jason has been officially identified yet.

Yeah I'm specifically avoiding anything like that on Facebook or similar that clearly is not meant or intended for a wider audience. The piece on Alex Ghassan and the Medium one on Nackt are the only two I'm considering at this stage.

people are really sensitive to media attention right now. the owner of a BBQ restaurant just held a press conference calling out a building next door to her restaurant as an illegal venue.

Read that earlier today. I suspect it won't be the last of it.

now friends of the "venue" (it isn't really a venue) are organizing a campaign to give the restaurant bad yelp reviews.

this actually encapsulates a lot in terms of different perspectives and how there are a lot of people with good intentions and bad information.

http://www.sfgate.com/news/article/Shouting-match-at-Oakland-restaurant-highlights-10781200.php

^ more useful to skip to the Q&A about half way through.

I increasingly don't get this guy

http://www.sfgate.com/bayarea/article/NBC-News-paid-for-Ghost-Ship-operator-s-hotel-10781247.php

Meanwhile, another lovely memorial:

http://www.strawberrytongue.com/in-memory-ben-benjamin-of-introflirt/

xp - the guy is a narcissistic (supposedly ex-)tweaker?

Not unexpected, but:

http://www.eastbayexpress.com/oakland/oakland-firefighters-say-their-department-is-so-badly-managed-ghost-ship-warehouse-wasnt-even-in-its-inspection-database/Content?oid=5055245

To Oakland’s fire inspectors, the Ghost Ship warehouse really was invisible: The extremely dangerous building sailed unseen for years, evading fire-safety inspectors until it burned on Friday night.

Last Saturday morning, as first responders began to enter its smoldering rubble in search of victims, several Oakland Fire Department employees looked up the warehouse’s fire-code inspection history. But when they attempted to pull records for 1315 31st Avenue from their own fire-prevention bureau’s files, they discovered nothing.

“It's not even in the system,” one firefighter said (he asked not be identified for fear of retaliation from the city for speaking out).

Since the tragedy, he and five other firefighters have explained to the Express how the department's building-inspection program, which should be the front line of fire prevention and safety, is dangerously under-staffed and disorganized.

In fact, there are just six fire inspectors for the entire City of Oakland, left to investigate more than 4,200 commercial and residential properties each year.

I just reposted on FB a post regarding how 911 operates with cities and the CHP that is pretty important as well. But here's the bulk of it. This sounds like something ripe for a massive overhaul; this happened with one fire. What happens with an even bigger disaster? A hostage situation? a terrorist strike? anything? What a mess.

Bobby Lee feeling concerned.
December 4 at 6:55pm ·
With news of the #Oakland warehouse fire still developing on this second day, I (along with many others) are waiting for any updates on a longtime friend, Kiyomi Tanouye. Hearts are heavy that we find what has happened to her.

However, one of the more disturbing facts to come out of survivor’s accounts is that 911 calls placed on cell phones were sent to CHP dispatch in Vallejo, where they were put on hold. Oakland Fire Department was eventually notified about the fire when survivors ran to the fire station a block away and got help.

I wanted to provide some background on 911 call routing, based on personal experience, and urge everyone to program their local city’s police/fire/medical dispatch phone numbers into their cell phones today.

Cell phone 911 calls are routed based on geographic location. Some Bay Area cities will accept cell phone 911 calls if you’re within their city limits (like in SF). Otherwise, 911 calls are routed to CHP in Vallejo instead. Dispatchers there will take note of the emergency and transfer your call to the right agency. Which means, precious minutes wasted on hold and being transferred.

Further, CHP cannot handle the regular volume of calls that come in. I have had experiences of calling CHP 911 dispatch where my waits for a dispatcher have stretched for 7-10 minutes during peak periods. In contrast, emergency calls I have made directly to many local city’s emergency or non-emergency hotlines (already preprogrammed into my phone) have been answered almost immediately.

And then there’s Oakland. Compounding the fact that CHP answers Oakland’s cell phone 911 calls is the fact that Oakland has separate dispatch areas responsible for police, fire, and medical calls. All independent of each other. And none of the areas have sufficient staffing to handle call volumes.

My calls to Oakland police, fire, and medical dispatch have average waits anywhere from 5 to 20 minutes. Both on the emergency and non-emergency lines.

Regardless of my Oakland experiences, I urge you to bypass the CHP for local emergencies and reach the correct agency directly. The best way is to program emergency and non-emergency police, fire, and medical dispatch numbers into your cell phone’s phone book in advance. I urge you do this for major Bay Area cities, at the county level, and for cities you may frequent regularly. Below are some dispatch numbers to get started:

SFPD Emergency: (415) 553-8090
SFPD Non-Emergency: (415) 553-0123

Oakland Police Emergency: (510) 777-3211
Oakland Police Non-Emergency: (510) 777-3333

Oakland Fire Emergency: (510) 444-1616
Oakland Fire Non-Emergency: (510) 238-4030

Alameda County Sherriff Emergency: (925) 462-1212 or (510) 351-2020 or CHP
Alameda County Sherriff Non-Emergency: (510) 667-7721

Alameda County Fire/Medical Emergency: 925-447-6880 or 510-881-8181
Alameda County Fire/Medical Non-Emergency: (925) 447-4257

(All Alameda County Sherriff/Fire/Medical numbers are for cities of: Alameda, Dublin, Emeryville, Fremont, Livermore, Newark, Pleasanton, San Leandro, and Union City and all of unincorporated Alameda County – i.e. Castro Valley, San Lorenzo, Sunol, etc)

Contra Costa County Sherriff Emergency: (925) 335-1500
Contra Costa County Sherriff Non-Emergency: (925) 646-2441

Contra Costa County Fire/Medical Emergency: (925) 933-1313
Contra Costa County Fire/Medical Non-Emergency: (925) 941-3300

San Jose Police Emergency: (408) 277-8911
San Jose Police Non-Emergency: (408) 277-8900

Santa Clara County Sherriff Emergency & Non-Emergency: (408) 299 - 2311
(Cupertino, Los Altos Hills, and Saratoga. Unincorporated SCC – call CHP)

Thank you for posting that.

my friend Bianca is quoted in this -- Donna was one of those people I didn't realize how many people from disparate parts of my social circle knew her and loved her

https://ww2.kqed.org/arts/2016/12/06/donna-kellogg/

went to a big "chosen family" dinner tonight that was a memorial/care-taking event for people affected by the fire. I started talking to a friend there about the resulting crackdown on DIY warehouse spaces. I started telling him my story from 9 years ago. He said, "Wait, you actually tried to get your space legal and go through the proper channels? You should talk to the press about what that was like." I kinda want to. I don't know if anyone would really be interested. However, the other day, several people were interested in seeing a pdf of the Oakland Fire Department inspection checklist for public assembly that I still had on an old hard drive, so idk?