Three Bay Area residents say they have collected over 1,000 signatures from local artists and have penned a letter calling on Oakland Mayor Libby Schaaf to stop landlords from evicting residents of warehouses similar to the “Ghost Ship” where 36 people perished in a deadly blaze earlier this month.
Over 100 supporters of Richmond’s legendary underground punk venue Burnt Ramen attended a City Council meeting on Tuesday night and protested outside against the closure of their “safe space,” in what they described as a “witch hunt” by authorities following a deadly fire on Dec. 2 that claimed 36 lives in an Oakland warehouse just 12 miles away.
The Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms (ATF) said Tuesday that there is “no final determination” in the Oakland fire that took 36 lives at the “Ghost Ship” warehouse on the night of December 2, but noted that overloaded electrical lines and wiring were “part of the analysis” authorities are looking at in order to determine the origin of the deadly flames.
Google’s parent company, Alphabet, is planning to build 330 units of housing near its headquarters in what is seen as a response to the housing and rental crisis that has beleaguered Bay Area residents who are seeking more affordable, and often dangerous, alternatives to traditional living accommodations.
The “Ghost Ship,” the warehouse and artists’ colony where 36 people lost their lives in the Oakland fire last Friday night, was “a serious attempt to bring the Black Oakland culture back into the art scene,” former resident Alexander Doré told Breitbart News. However, that vision was overrun by what Doré referred to as the “Burning Man crowd.”
The weak inspection system that critics fault for Friday’s deadly Oakland fire has come under new scrutiny following revelations that the city’s fire department has been lax in ensuring the safety of local buildings.
Several victims of Friday’s devastating Oakland fire texted goodbye messages to their families from inside the deadly inferno that has so far claimed 36 lives.
