Oakland tenants fight against bad landlords and blight in their neighborhood

Oakland tenants fight against bad landlords and blight in their neighborhood

By Lynda Carson -- April 28, 2011

Oakland -- After discussing the problem of an old discarded couch and other debris left along the sidewalk for 2 months, directly next door to a property owned by the East Bay Asian Local Development Corporation (EBALDC), some of the tenants at 829 E. 19th St., decided it was time to contact Oakland's blight hotline at 238-3381, to file a complaint about blighted conditions in the neighborhood.

Within a day of the complaint being filed on April 26, a City Inspector appeared at 1853 9th Ave., and ordered the newest property owner to remove the couch, and to clean up a 3 foot high pile of junk and debris scattered around the back yard of the property, because it was a fire hazard.

This property was sold as recently as Feb. 8, 2011, for $239,000 to a local slumlord that allows junk and debris to pile up on his property. The same slumlord was also cited by the City of Oakland during early March, 2011, for not having any permits while doing renovations at the building.

Some workers at 1853 9th Ave, were approached by a tenant at 829 E. 19th St., during March, of 2011, and the workers were told to clean up the blighted conditions in the back yard of the property, and told to remove the couch along the sidewalk, directly next to 829 E. 19th St.

But the workers refused to clean up the mess, and declared that they could not speak english.

The manager of the 21 unit building at 829 E. 19th St., and the local property owners nearby along the street have all been ignoring the abandoned couch situation during the past 2 months, and adding insult to injury, at times people have piled discarded junk on top of the couch along the sidewalk.

Action was taken after it became apparent that the local landlords and property owners along the street would continue to ignore the blighted conditions occurring in the neighborhood, when no one seemed to care enough to do something about it.
Longtime renters in Councilwoman Pat Kernighans, District 2, east of Lake Merrit, have spent years being exposed to blighted conditions along the sidewalks and streets in this neighborhood, and there seems to be no remedy in sight.

The streets on the hill above Park BLVD., along E. 19th St., and E.18th St., are often littered with couches, chairs, trash, clothing, computers and debris. Some of it sitting there for as long as a month or more at times, and the area has become a well known dumping spot in Oakland, with the corner of 6th Ave., and E. 19th St., being the worst spot of blight, in the general area.

As of late, the couch along the sidewalk sitting next to the EBALDC property at 829 E. 19th St., has broken some blight records in the neighborhood, for sitting there abandoned for around the last 2 months, and more.

Renters in Oakland are being urged to contact the blight hotline to file a complaint at 238-3381, when landlords, residential building managers, and property owners ignore blighted conditions in your neighborhood.

Lynda Carson may be reached at tenantsrule [at] yahoo.com