OAKLAND

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?

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?

There absolutely would be interest. Email me at ned at kuci dot org or message me on FB because I have a couple of possible contacts, and I'm sure others here can chime in.

okay! I'm going to go through emails and other documentation I had from the time over the weekend.

i'm always impressed with this guy's reporting: https://twitter.com/Darwinbondgraha . he might be interested in talking to you...

especially considering that we now know that the building inspection department hadn't been in there for more than 30 years and that the fire dept. didn't even have a record of the building in its inspection database.

it didn't even get inspected after the 89 earthquake? that's really impressive.

well here's what the building dept said: "In terms of the planning and building inspector, our records didn't show that an inspector had been inside the building in 30 years. That means that we had no applications for permits in the past 30 years and there were no violations that were submitted for interior work within the main building that can be attributed to that street address," said Darin Ranelletti, Oakland Planning and Building Department. (abc)

which directly contradicts what was reported in the direct aftermath: "City records show that there were habitability complaints made against the property's owner as recently as November 14 regarding an "illegal interior building structure." City inspectors appear to have visited the building on that date, but were unable to verify whether there were code violations. The city's investigation was still pending when the fire broke out last night." (east bay express)

i guess it's possible those are two different departments being discussed. either way oakland's government fucked this up big time (then again, does any part of this city's government function properly?).

most of the complaints were related to junk in the vacant lot next door. The illegal interior structure was either not investigated, or it was the case that the inspectors stopped by, no one answered the door, they couldn't check it out, they made a note in their file, and went on to their next appointment.

https://thump.vice.com/en_us/article/maria-minerva-cherushii-oakland-essay-rip

Very good one, that. Enjoyed this one as well:

http://ww2.kqed.org/arts/2016/12/08/chelsea-faith-dolan-peerless-electronic-musician-full-of-exuberant-joy/

xxp ah of course, i remember reading that now.

A friend/colleague told me he's involved with people organizing volunteer efforts to get various art/music/living spaces in the Bay Area up to code. I'm sure your firsthand accounts would be helpful in a lot of ways, Sarahell.

ilx messages to me actually work.

the using the fire for political pointmaking continues

https://www.jacobinmag.com/2016/12/oakland-ghost-ship-artists-warehouse-fire/

At the same time, artists don’t take up residence in warehouses out of a desire for communal living or an appreciation for deindustrial aesthetics.

who is this guy and why is he kinda talking out of his ass here.

John Carl Baker is a Mellon-ACLS public fellow. He holds a PhD in cultural studies.

he has STUDIED THIS academically!

its not such a bad article but enough already anyway

although maybe, not enough. I had a meeting with the CEO of my company yesterday; he's a good guy, smart, intelligent. But he had absolutely no idea people were living in warehouses. I told him I have at least one employee who lives in a place very similar to GhostShip who lost 4 friends in the fire. He was like 'why do they live there?" and I had a hard time getting across the long list of reasons why people choose to do this, smart or not. The main thing that resonated with him was that it was affordable.

KQED is running a series of nice tributes to the deceased.

https://ww2.kqed.org/arts/programs/oakland-warehouse-memorial/

Those have all been very lovely.

Nice (if sometimes obvious in tone) overview story of the attendees as community

http://www.eastbaytimes.com/2016/12/10/oakland-fire-victims-a-family-of-connections-much-larger-than-nightlife/

I'm starting to feel more "normal" in that I can read and respond to things like this like a normal ilxor

http://www.factmag.com/2016/12/13/oakland-fire-ghost-ship-rave/

What is your response?

mostly good, esp. re the term "rave" and the community in question.

however:
juncture and axis are used incorrectly
and why cite SRL in terms of the 80s influences when they just did the machines and spectacle and any music was done by others, like Monte Cazzaza (Factrix), already named. Re/Search was a publication -- not sure why they are listed also. It was like they wanted to have a list, and SRL and Re/Search were parts of that scene and have lasting influence, but it's worded in terms of music, and so it's sloppy. They probably should have added Negativland to that list of 80s things, though they are a bit dorky for some of those people, but they were cooler at the time.

Some of the details here just make it all worse. Clear institutional confusion at work:

http://www.eastbaytimes.com/2016/12/13/ghost-ship-fire-atf-to-address-oakland-inferno-that-killed-36/

I thought I was going to read something that was actually surprising. None of this is surprising. This is normal. The small ratio of fire inspectors and building inspectors to buildings in Oakland is comparable to the police situation, where there are way fewer cops per capita than in most other cities. All of these things have allowed underground art and culture to flourish in Oakland for decades. Because the likelihood of getting busted is so low compared to other places, it is attractive to people. When some place does get busted it's an event. Sadly, I've gotta qualify that -- if some place that does not have a predominantly black audience and isn't doing hip-hop shows gets busted -- because in general, the major government concerns in Oakland about shows in illegal venues revolves around people getting shot.

so they are gonna focus on rap and hip-hop and flyers/event announcements that "look black"

Someone on facebook linked to the 4ch@n thread referenced here, and it was sickening. Truly staring into the alt-right abyss.
http://www.thefader.com/2016/12/13/ghost-ship-rhinoceropolis-bell-foundry-fire

the Everett & Jones bbq people and the Salt Lick tenants have made up and are having a fire relief benefit featuring musicians affiliated with salt lick and fire victims at E&J this weekend. That one actually seems to be working itself out. I watched the press conference the E&J owner held, and it was very much like watching representatives of two significant cultures in Oakland talking past each other and saying insensitive things. Looks like it was a "teaching moment" for both groups.

considering it's the end of the year and everyone is posting lists, if I write something about my experience running an "illegal" venue in Oakland, should I format it as a list? Top 10 dick moves by the City of Oakland? idk

what about top 10 things that allowed me to keep my venue open for as long as I did?

Most of the reason for writing it is to help the efforts of those advocating for improvements to "the system" and fighting the backlash against alternative spaces. Saying "here's how I got away with it for 7 1/2 years" might be at odds with the goal.

7 1/2 years before the City gave us shit, then another 2 1/2 years trying to work with them before giving up.

why can't you advocate for change while still talking about what you had to do keep your venue open? Just my two cents, but reading about what you had to go through to keep an important venue open in spite of the system, and eventually had to submit to, would be more helpful than only reading about what's broken (which I assume would be discussed quite a lot anyway in the midst of your story running 21G)

i think it's a matter of tone and emphasis - it is possible to do both. I also don't want to sound totally self-serving.

maybe better than melatonin

http://www2.oaklandnet.com/oakca1/groups/ceda/documents/pressrelease/oak062785.pdf

pages and pages of city documents related to the ghostship warehouse that will come up as evidence in the eventual court case

Well that took forever.

https://pbs.twimg.com/media/C9VPwt-UAAAhAvL.jpg

"Never mind the fires, it's safely whiter now!"

they've been saying this about Oakland for almost 20 years now.

wtf is that?