"I can barely stand here right now"
"I can barely stand here right now" is what Derick Alamena, aka Derick Ion was asked during an interview if he should be held accountable for the fire at the Oakland warehouse he managed. Actually, let's not quote him out of context. His response to the question as to whether or not he should be held accountable, he said "What am I going to say to that? Should I be held accountable? I can barely stand here right now." Perhaps someone should remind this man that because of his blatant disregard for the safety of the people in that building, at least 36 of them will never stand again.
However, this irresponsible idiot is not solely to blame for this tragedy. Government can pass into law the most stringent building safety codes imaginable but they are useless without at least some amount of effort going into their enforcement. These are photos shot by a building inspector from the City of Oakland on November 16, 2016. Yes, just weeks before the fire that took so many lives.
There is another factor to consider and it isn't happening only in the San Francisco/Oakland Bay Area. That is the gentrification of areas like this without proper planning to provide the current residents with affordable housing alternatives as their homes are taken from them.
That is part and parcel of Mr. Alamena's rationalizations for ignoring the need to provide safe housing to his tenants, because it was simply too expensive. In that interview with Today Show host Matt Lauer, Alamena said "Eventually you can’t pay your rent because your dream is bigger than your pocketbook. When the need for housing, when the need for people to be able to sit down and be warm and make food and take a shower and take a bath and go to bed, so we created something together."
But from reading and listening to interviews with people who resided in Alamena's Ghost Ship, it sounds more like Alamena was simply exploiting those people for his own benefit.
The problem of safe and affordable housing will not go away. Unsafe places like the Ghost Ship are not a viable alternative.
* * *
As mentioned in the past in this blog, we don't know the exact origin of the famous quotation, "justice delayed is justice denied." Is that aphorism appropriate for Ronald Gasser, who is now charged with manslaughter in the shooting death of former NFL star Joe McKnight? His release immediately after the shooting last Thursday was met with outrage on social media.
Now he has been arrested and charged we need to know the real reasons for the delay. The local sheriff claims, "had we arrested him Thursday, it would be over." What would be over? Is there some Louisiana law that would have caused charges against Gasser from going forward had he been arrested immediately, before all of the witnesses were interviewed? I don't know.
But the whys of this bear further investigation as the case progresses.
* * *
Chuck Jones is the president of United Steelworkers Local 1999. Among the plants represented by this union is the Carrier plant where President-Elect Donald Trump promised to save 1,350 jobs that were going to be moved to Mexico.
He said that Donald Trump "lied his ass off" when he took credit for saving 1,100 jobs at the plant. Only 800 of the jobs that were going to be moved were saved. President-Elect Trump included jobs that were not going to move to Mexico in his tally of 1,100 jobs saved.
However, this irresponsible idiot is not solely to blame for this tragedy. Government can pass into law the most stringent building safety codes imaginable but they are useless without at least some amount of effort going into their enforcement. These are photos shot by a building inspector from the City of Oakland on November 16, 2016. Yes, just weeks before the fire that took so many lives.
There is another factor to consider and it isn't happening only in the San Francisco/Oakland Bay Area. That is the gentrification of areas like this without proper planning to provide the current residents with affordable housing alternatives as their homes are taken from them.
That is part and parcel of Mr. Alamena's rationalizations for ignoring the need to provide safe housing to his tenants, because it was simply too expensive. In that interview with Today Show host Matt Lauer, Alamena said "Eventually you can’t pay your rent because your dream is bigger than your pocketbook. When the need for housing, when the need for people to be able to sit down and be warm and make food and take a shower and take a bath and go to bed, so we created something together."
But from reading and listening to interviews with people who resided in Alamena's Ghost Ship, it sounds more like Alamena was simply exploiting those people for his own benefit.
The problem of safe and affordable housing will not go away. Unsafe places like the Ghost Ship are not a viable alternative.
* * *
As mentioned in the past in this blog, we don't know the exact origin of the famous quotation, "justice delayed is justice denied." Is that aphorism appropriate for Ronald Gasser, who is now charged with manslaughter in the shooting death of former NFL star Joe McKnight? His release immediately after the shooting last Thursday was met with outrage on social media.
Now he has been arrested and charged we need to know the real reasons for the delay. The local sheriff claims, "had we arrested him Thursday, it would be over." What would be over? Is there some Louisiana law that would have caused charges against Gasser from going forward had he been arrested immediately, before all of the witnesses were interviewed? I don't know.
But the whys of this bear further investigation as the case progresses.
* * *
Chuck Jones is the president of United Steelworkers Local 1999. Among the plants represented by this union is the Carrier plant where President-Elect Donald Trump promised to save 1,350 jobs that were going to be moved to Mexico.
He said that Donald Trump "lied his ass off" when he took credit for saving 1,100 jobs at the plant. Only 800 of the jobs that were going to be moved were saved. President-Elect Trump included jobs that were not going to move to Mexico in his tally of 1,100 jobs saved.
posted by me at 9:25 PM
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