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Repost:City law targets nuisance tenants/Law Corps Snitches
The more the Bay Area hears about Oakland's proposed Nuisance (snitch) Eviction Program, the more the Bay Area becomes alarmed by what is happening to the people's civil rights in Oakland!
The Nuisance Eviction Ordinance has 3 main functions.
1) To give the power to the City Attorney's Office to evict anyone they want from any private property in Oakland.
2) To get around existing due process of law that requires the City to "prove beyond a reasonable doubt" to the courts that those being targeted as nuisance, truly are before the City can move to evict.
3) They are shifting the burdon of proof from the City of Oakland to those that are being targeted by the City as a nuisance, and evictions may take place before the City proves anything in a court of law if the ordinance reaches final passage on March 16.
The Nuisance Eviction Ordinance has 3 main functions.
1) To give the power to the City Attorney's Office to evict anyone they want from any private property in Oakland.
2) To get around existing due process of law that requires the City to "prove beyond a reasonable doubt" to the courts that those being targeted as nuisance, truly are before the City can move to evict.
3) They are shifting the burdon of proof from the City of Oakland to those that are being targeted by the City as a nuisance, and evictions may take place before the City proves anything in a court of law if the ordinance reaches final passage on March 16.
Oakland Tribune Story
http://www.oaklandtribune.com/Stories/0,1413,82~1865~1973799,00.html
EMAIL ARTICLE LINK TO ARTICLE PRINT ARTICLE
Article Last Updated: Monday, February 23, 2004 - 3:40:27 AM PST
City law targets nuisance tenants
By Heather MacDonald, STAFF WRITER
OAKLAND -- Reducing crime is the purpose of a new law that allows Oakland to force private landlords to evict tenants involved with drugs, weapons or other illegal activities, city officials say.
But opponents of the Nuisance Eviction Ordinance -- expected to get the Oakland City Council's final approval March 16 -- argue it would erode tenants' protections and spur gentrification.
"This is another arrow in the quiver for the city," said Deputy City Attorney Richard Illgen. "It's not a panacea, but it will help the city protect the innocent bystanders, the ones that are afraid to come out of their homes."
Although property owners already have the right to evict tenants who deal drugs, commit crimes and create a nuisance, the new law would permit city officials to levy stiff fines against landlords who refuse to act or intervene when threatened with retribution.
"The ordinance has enough teeth that scofflaws and absentee landlords won't be able to thumb their noses at the system and wait for it to wind through the courts, which is what happens now," said North Oakland activist Don Link.
Landlords who refuse to evict tenants deemed to be causing a nuisance could be fined up to $1,000 a day. Evicted tenants cannot rent from the same landlord again for at least three years.
Oakland's ordinance is modeled after a Los Angeles law that has been used to evict 190 tenants, most of whom left without challenging the order. All but a handful of the rest of the cases were settled out of court.
Oakland would be the first city in Northern California to adopt a similar law.
The law allows landlords and the city to evict only the accused troublemaker, while allowing family members to remain in the home. It can also be used to close convenience stores, hotels and other commercial buildings.
Councilmember Larry Reid, who sponsored the ordinance, said residents of his Elmhurst-East Oakland district often complain about neighbors who deal drugs from their apartments.
"These are decent families trying to raise their children," Reid said. "There is no reason why people ought to live like that."
However, longtime tenant activist Lynda Carson said the ordinance would erode the hard-fought protections included in Measure EE, which specifies the reasons for evictions.
"What is happening is pretty horrifying," Carson said. "It opens the whole system wide open to abuse."
The true aim of the ordinance is to encourage development, and it will be used to target low-income minority tenants, Carson said.
"They're really trying to gentrify the city," Carson added.
Councilmember Desley Brooks (Eastmont-Seminary) cast the lone dissenting vote, while Councilmembers Nancy Nadel (Downtown-West Oakland) and Jane Brunner (North Oakland) abstained.
Brooks, Nadel and Brunner voiced concerns that the new ordinance did not sufficiently protect tenants, by preventing them from recovering attorney fees from the landlord or the city if they prevail in a court challenge to an eviction.
To address those concerns, the ordinance may be tweaked before final approval to allow the tenant to request a preliminary hearing with city officials before the eviction proceeds.
That should ensure that law-abiding residents aren't mistakenly targeted under the ordinance, said Ray Leon, a policy analyst for Reid.
E-mail Heather MacDonald at
hmacdonald [at] angnewspapers.com .
^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
MAJOR PLAYERS TO BE USED IN THE NUISANCE EVICTION PROGRAM
The Neighborhood Law Corps Snitches!
The Neighborhood Law Corps is a group snitches working directly for John Russo of the City Attorney's Office, though privately payed $35,000 annualy by fund raisers.
They reside in various districts of Oakland, and spy on the community for the City Attorney's Office. Their neighbors have no idea that they are being spied upon by the Law Corps Snitches that may reside next door, and that their activites are being directly reported to the City of Oakland.
The Law Corps Snitches are set up to look like average Americans while they gather and collect information on their neighborhood and neighbors.
This is the same kind of covert actions that occurred in the Communist Nations throughout Europe that has been condemned by the world ever since. Neighbors spying on their neighbors!
The List of LAW CORPS SNITCHES
Attorney's Liam Garland and Barbara Killey are joined by Austin Cattermole, a 27-year-old UC Davis law school grad; Hali Papazian, 29, a graduate of San Francisco's Golden Gate University School of Law; and Arturo Sanchez, 28 a graduate of New College.
Nuisance Eviction Program Info.
Arturo Sanchez has just been appointed/promoted to be the City Managers-Case Manager Designee to put together the files on renters to have them targeted as a nuisance and evicted by the City of Oakland. Sanchez (the snitch) will be using Police Files to gather dirt on those he intends to target as a nuisance, and in the mean time Arturo is still a spy in his own neighborhood for the City Government of Oakland.
Click below for more on the Neighborhood Law Corps Snitches.
http://www.millsmontnews.com/neighborhoodlawcorps-24may02chronicle.htm
Last chance to oppose the Nuisance (snitch) Eviction Program before it's final passage is on March 16 at the 6:pm Oakland City Council Meeting.
http://www.oaklandtribune.com/Stories/0,1413,82~1865~1973799,00.html
EMAIL ARTICLE LINK TO ARTICLE PRINT ARTICLE
Article Last Updated: Monday, February 23, 2004 - 3:40:27 AM PST
City law targets nuisance tenants
By Heather MacDonald, STAFF WRITER
OAKLAND -- Reducing crime is the purpose of a new law that allows Oakland to force private landlords to evict tenants involved with drugs, weapons or other illegal activities, city officials say.
But opponents of the Nuisance Eviction Ordinance -- expected to get the Oakland City Council's final approval March 16 -- argue it would erode tenants' protections and spur gentrification.
"This is another arrow in the quiver for the city," said Deputy City Attorney Richard Illgen. "It's not a panacea, but it will help the city protect the innocent bystanders, the ones that are afraid to come out of their homes."
Although property owners already have the right to evict tenants who deal drugs, commit crimes and create a nuisance, the new law would permit city officials to levy stiff fines against landlords who refuse to act or intervene when threatened with retribution.
"The ordinance has enough teeth that scofflaws and absentee landlords won't be able to thumb their noses at the system and wait for it to wind through the courts, which is what happens now," said North Oakland activist Don Link.
Landlords who refuse to evict tenants deemed to be causing a nuisance could be fined up to $1,000 a day. Evicted tenants cannot rent from the same landlord again for at least three years.
Oakland's ordinance is modeled after a Los Angeles law that has been used to evict 190 tenants, most of whom left without challenging the order. All but a handful of the rest of the cases were settled out of court.
Oakland would be the first city in Northern California to adopt a similar law.
The law allows landlords and the city to evict only the accused troublemaker, while allowing family members to remain in the home. It can also be used to close convenience stores, hotels and other commercial buildings.
Councilmember Larry Reid, who sponsored the ordinance, said residents of his Elmhurst-East Oakland district often complain about neighbors who deal drugs from their apartments.
"These are decent families trying to raise their children," Reid said. "There is no reason why people ought to live like that."
However, longtime tenant activist Lynda Carson said the ordinance would erode the hard-fought protections included in Measure EE, which specifies the reasons for evictions.
"What is happening is pretty horrifying," Carson said. "It opens the whole system wide open to abuse."
The true aim of the ordinance is to encourage development, and it will be used to target low-income minority tenants, Carson said.
"They're really trying to gentrify the city," Carson added.
Councilmember Desley Brooks (Eastmont-Seminary) cast the lone dissenting vote, while Councilmembers Nancy Nadel (Downtown-West Oakland) and Jane Brunner (North Oakland) abstained.
Brooks, Nadel and Brunner voiced concerns that the new ordinance did not sufficiently protect tenants, by preventing them from recovering attorney fees from the landlord or the city if they prevail in a court challenge to an eviction.
To address those concerns, the ordinance may be tweaked before final approval to allow the tenant to request a preliminary hearing with city officials before the eviction proceeds.
That should ensure that law-abiding residents aren't mistakenly targeted under the ordinance, said Ray Leon, a policy analyst for Reid.
E-mail Heather MacDonald at
hmacdonald [at] angnewspapers.com .
^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
MAJOR PLAYERS TO BE USED IN THE NUISANCE EVICTION PROGRAM
The Neighborhood Law Corps Snitches!
The Neighborhood Law Corps is a group snitches working directly for John Russo of the City Attorney's Office, though privately payed $35,000 annualy by fund raisers.
They reside in various districts of Oakland, and spy on the community for the City Attorney's Office. Their neighbors have no idea that they are being spied upon by the Law Corps Snitches that may reside next door, and that their activites are being directly reported to the City of Oakland.
The Law Corps Snitches are set up to look like average Americans while they gather and collect information on their neighborhood and neighbors.
This is the same kind of covert actions that occurred in the Communist Nations throughout Europe that has been condemned by the world ever since. Neighbors spying on their neighbors!
The List of LAW CORPS SNITCHES
Attorney's Liam Garland and Barbara Killey are joined by Austin Cattermole, a 27-year-old UC Davis law school grad; Hali Papazian, 29, a graduate of San Francisco's Golden Gate University School of Law; and Arturo Sanchez, 28 a graduate of New College.
Nuisance Eviction Program Info.
Arturo Sanchez has just been appointed/promoted to be the City Managers-Case Manager Designee to put together the files on renters to have them targeted as a nuisance and evicted by the City of Oakland. Sanchez (the snitch) will be using Police Files to gather dirt on those he intends to target as a nuisance, and in the mean time Arturo is still a spy in his own neighborhood for the City Government of Oakland.
Click below for more on the Neighborhood Law Corps Snitches.
http://www.millsmontnews.com/neighborhoodlawcorps-24may02chronicle.htm
Last chance to oppose the Nuisance (snitch) Eviction Program before it's final passage is on March 16 at the 6:pm Oakland City Council Meeting.
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