OAKLAND

Massive new NYT story on Harris, the other person charged along with Almena:

https://www.nytimes.com/2018/12/12/magazine/oakland-warehouse-fire-ghost-ship.html

Strong point:

NYT Mag goes deep on Max Harris. One piece not mentioned in this retelling: Harris blocked passageways inside the warehouse as he prepared for the event, according to witnesses at the prelim hearing https://t.co/4ykQ61wDWl pic.twitter.com/SbGdIV3gMN

— Kimberly Veklerov (@KVeklerov) December 12, 2018

Ghost ship was kinda the venue of "last resort" for that show ... the organizers had asked other places (at least one, one that a friend of mine ran) and the other places couldn't do the show.

Harris took his first studio art class and, like a cure in epoxy, it transformed and gave solidity to his life.

that's an odd phrasing ... wouldn't you say "like cured epoxy" or "epoxy curing" ... the epoxy is the substance that cures, with curing being a process rather than a thing?

Maybe referring to the chemical that's added to make the rest harden?

The mayor then tried to mend her relationship with her more creative constituents by signing an executive order giving owners of illegally inhabited spaces up to 60 days to come up with plans to bring those properties into compliance with building regulations.

it was a bit more than that, the executive order also had strong language about preventing eviction and displacement of tenants ... but you know, this was only covered in a bunch of other places that the NYT writer could have read and taken from, rather than "getting it wrong" ... this article is weird.

But who would pay for all those upgrades: the sprinkler systems, the insulation, the fire doors?

Sprinklers are fucking expensive. Not sure what the writer means by "insulation" -- are they talking about Title 24 energy efficiency improvements -- that's the only thing that could make sense here that would be expensive, but that's an odd term to describe it. Fire doors are cheap. Not mentioned: building fire rated walls and fixing walls that don't have an adequate fire rating; likely seismic retrofits because many of these buildings weren't retrofitted after the 89 earthquake and that is why they were cheap to rent; replacing old windows with energy efficient windows (the Title 24 thing); bringing heat into the building; the fact that it is actually technically illegal to have live/work housing in the same building (at least the way Ghostship was configured) with event space use ...

Jesus fucking christ this article makes me angry because this stuff has been covered, cited, and discussed so many other places, in so many other articles, and this person who writes for the NY FUCKING TIMES can't simply copy and paste something that is accurate, as opposed to try to be "poetic" or something ...

Maybe referring to the chemical that's added to make the rest harden?

― nickn, Wednesday, December 12, 2018 11:24 AM (one minute ago

maybe! I just have never heard it described that way ...

(back to previous rant) there are a half dozen more upgrades that affect almost all buildings of this type that are way more expensive than "fire doors" yet that's all this person could come up with?

and this person who writes for the NY FUCKING TIMES can't simply copy and paste something that is accurate

yes well it is the NYT after all, carrying on in the rich tradition of Jayson Blair and Judith Miller one assumes

they give props to the East Bay Times for their reporting but would have been well served by c&p-ing from a EB Times article rather than poetic improvisation once the article stops being a bio piece about Harris

https://www.facebook.com/events/2402422093131045/

trying hard not to be publicly angry

wtf

for those not wanting to click, the event is the "Free M@x Fest" to raise money for one of the Ghost Ship fire defendants whose "mentally deficient" approach to safety led to the deaths of 36 people, 6 of whom were my friends.

absolutely ridiculous. Look I think other people share the blame on this, surely; it wasn't wholly Harris' fault. Owner, landlord, Almena are all at fault. But that doesn't mean Harris is innocent.

agreed

it's tough, because i don't think Harris belongs in jail, but that's because of my ethical and political opposition to the current criminal justice system

so you think he should be free?

i think he deserves some sort of "punishment" but not prison ... idk ... it's complicated

honestly I think his lawyer should try to defend him on the grounds of "mental deficiency" because he doesn't strike me as an intelligent person, in general, and also, you would have to be a total idiot to think that blocking exits and doing a show in that place with the history of electrical problems is safe.

he seems like the kind of guy that should be isolated from society, ie, dangerous to himself and others.

https://i.imgur.com/Dhurfvn.jpg

During his preparations, he blocked off one of two exits from the second floor, which “effectively reduced the upstairs guests to a single point of escape” down a makeshift front staircase constructed of wood pallets.

In an interview with this news agency shortly after the fire, Harris spoke about the plans for the party.

“I was getting ready for the event, cleaning up, closing off areas, preparing to welcome people into the space. I was moving furniture around to change things up,” he said.

https://www.mercurynews.com/2017/06/07/ghost-ship-fire-suspect-moved-from-warehouse-into-another-loft-not-zoned-residential/

i so don't want to see that large a picture of that guy ... like, idk, replace it with goatse or something

https://farm8.staticflickr.com/7826/47481859831_07a3e820db.jpg

bump for this Thurs

The Ghost Ship trial is beginning. And Christ on a fucking bike. (Briggs is the lawyer for Harris, the non-Almena dude on trial.)

Briggs also belabored a point that Ghost Ship was nonhierarchical and Harris had no real power; he collected rent because he was a selfless "servant." This despite prosecutor Bates showing Harris administered sublease agreements.

— Sam Lefebvre (@Lefebvre_Sam) April 30, 2019

Briggs said three people will testify to seeing strangers near where the fire started inside, fleeing as soon as it started. One of them, he said, will testify she saw 7-10 Latino men in dark clothing running away, heard them boasting about the obstructively placing wood inside.

— Sam Lefebvre (@Lefebvre_Sam) April 30, 2019

This is the first time Briggs has really detailed the arson theory, and the details seem to be catching close observers by surprise. The witnesses expected to testify supporting the theory haven't stressed arson suspicion to media in the past.

— Sam Lefebvre (@Lefebvre_Sam) April 30, 2019

oh my fucking god.
.

whatever goodwill I may have had toward Harris is gone now. I get that this guy is probably a low IQ moron who worked in there and didn't know what the fuck he was doing, and I get that it's insane the actual landlords are not on trial as well here, but I don't buy this arson thing one bit.

One of them, he said, will testify she saw 7-10 Latino men in dark clothing running away,

And the witness could tell they were Latino because? ....because the neighborhood has a large Latino community, and if the building was located in a predominantly black neighborhood, pretty sure they would 7-10 black men ... Because it is clearly more likely that PoC will commit arson ...

surely trotting out a racist conspiracy theory will make the defendants more sympathetic to the jury

-- xp shakey -- too bad they didn't move the trial to simi valley!!

though the thing is ... regardless of how the fire started, if they had followed basic life safety codes in terms of the build out, or at least not having that 2nd floor as a place of assembly, people would not have died.

but... evil brown people!

killing helpless white folks!

at least make them neo-nazi arsonists ... oof

ugggh wtf

alt-truth

besides being racist as fuck, this is the stupidest argument, because the point of fire code rules, is to make sure people in a building can get out of the building if there is a fire, regardless of whether it's an accident or intentional. ...

Looks like Almena's going that route too, per posts yesterday:

"It's May Day and it's beautitul outside."

So started Derick Almena defense attorney Tony Serra's opening statement in the #GhostShipTrial today. He echoed Briggs' arson theory yesterday, and rejected descriptions of Almena as a "despot" and "tyrant."

— Sam Lefebvre (@Lefebvre_Sam) May 1, 2019

Serra said witnesses will testify fire officials visited Ghost Ship socially, and that fire inspector Maria Sabatini actually inspected the space, although she denies it. "She crossed herself in front of one of the statues of the Virgin Mary," he said.

— Sam Lefebvre (@Lefebvre_Sam) May 1, 2019

Of course Serra also emphasized Almena wasn't there that night. He argued that Ghost Ship was actually safe, not a fire trap, but that it doesn't matter because "no act or omission" of Almena's led to the fire, because he couldn't prevent arson.

— Sam Lefebvre (@Lefebvre_Sam) May 1, 2019

repulsive

He argued that Ghost Ship was actually safe, not a fire trap, but that it doesn't matter because "no act or omission" of Almena's led to the fire, because he couldn't prevent arson.

see also: guns don't kill people

brown people kill people iirc

Jesus.

https://www.huffpost.com/entry/key-witness-dies-ghost-ship-warehouse_n_5cd130f0e4b0e4d757377ade

Yup, those fucks went for it.

At the #GhostShipTrial today so far the defense called key witness Sharon Evans, who testified she saw 14-19 "Spaniards" in dark hoodies at a taco truck shortly after the fire started, several of whom were boasting that no one was going to make it out of the warehouse alive.

— Sam Lefebvre (@Lefebvre_Sam) June 10, 2019

This witness, central to the arson defense, testified over strenuous objections from the prosecution, which highlighted inconsistencies in her recollections during cross-examination. She also said she noticed smoke from the fire around 9:30pm, well before we know it started.

— Sam Lefebvre (@Lefebvre_Sam) June 10, 2019

Spaniards!

Were they eating tapas and drinking tempranillo?

Guessing they were Basque separatists?

good lord

i've been avoiding reading about the fire since i lost some good friends in it, but christ, that is some despicable, despicable shit.

Could have been flamenco dancers...

xp -- super gross, right? this is part of why I'm seriously considering becoming a lawyer