Oakland Mayor Issues Executive Order Protecting DIY Spaces

Oakland Mayor Issues Executive Order Protecting DIY Spaces

Oakland Mayor Libby Schaaf has issued an executive order intended to protect occupants of unregulated living and art spaces (as Thump points out). Executive Order 2017-1 (subtitled “Improving Safety of Non-Permitted Spaces While Avoiding Displacement”) comes in the wake of the Ghost Ship warehouse fire, which claimed 36 lives in December. In 2017-1, Schaaf writes, “We must take additional steps to protect physical, cultural and artistic assets and workspaces in the community while making necessary changes to improve life safety, provide for safer public events and improve standards and procedures for evaluating and assuring compliance.”

Among Schaaf’s recommendations is a grace period for building owners who need to meet housing or fire code, or zoning requirements. Should an owner’s space not meet requirements, a Building Official or Fire Marshal will have 60 days to “generally work in the spirit of cooperation with property owners, tenants and master lessors to correct code violations that are not deemed to be an imminent life safety risk.”

The ultimate goal of the executive order is to avoid resident displacement. If eviction or relocation is required, however, Schaaf writes that tenants will be notified of their rights, which include money for relocation and the ability to return.

The order closes, “We will never forget those lost in the Ghost Ship Warehouse Fire and we will learn all we can from this horrific tragedy to make Oakland a safer and more resilient community.”

In the immediate wake of the Ghostship fire, Schaaf announced a $1.7 million investment to “support sustainable, long-term solutions to creating affordable, safe spaces for Oakland’s artists and arts organizations.” Read the full order, via Schaaf’s Twitter.

Read “After Ghost Ship Fire, Oakland DIY Grapples With a Broken System” on the Pitch.

Improving safety, and Preventing displacement… My Executive Order issued today. #AffordabilityCrisis https://t.co/kOetgBeZ5g

— Libby Schaaf (@LibbySchaaf) January 12, 2017

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