July 1, 2021

focus on 50 year old 600 unit condo high rise in Marina Del Rey California, inspection ordered

MARINA DEL REY (CBSLA) – Los Angeles County officials have ordered an inspection of the Marina City Club Towers, a condominium complex with three buildings in Marina Del Rey, after the tragic Champlain Tower collapse in Florida last week.

On Wednesday, Supervisor Janice Hahn asked Public Works to investigate, and the county is threatening to red tag the property if millions of dollars in repairs aren’t made. Officials said the buildings are deteriorating and in disrepair and residents are worried.

“I’m scared to death. I’m really scared to death,” Teri Hirano, a City Club resident said.

From the air, CBSLA’s Desmond Shaw captured footage of cracks on the 50-year-old high-rise buildings, which consist of 600 condo units, many with million dollar views, and 100 apartments.

Some residents in the building have also collected video of cracks on the roof, along with cracks and decay on the ground. In the underground garage, way below street level, concrete on the ground that looks as if it’s been pushed aside actually came from above.


https://losangeles.cbslocal.com/2021/06/30/exclusive-county-orders-inspection-of-marina-city-club-towers-in-marina-del-rey-after-tragic-florida-condo-collapse/

July 1, 2021

TLC finally cancels Duggar series 'Counting On' after Josh Duggar's child-porn arrest

https://www.latimes.com/entertainment-arts/tv/story/2021-06-30/josh-dugger-tlc-cancels-counting-on-series

TLC is parting ways with the Duggar family reality series “Counting On” following Josh Duggar’s April arrest on federal charges of downloading and possessing child pornography.

“TLC will not be producing additional seasons of Counting On,” the network said in a statement Tuesday. “TLC feels it is important to give the Duggar family the opportunity to address their situation privately.”

On Tuesday evening, Jinger Duggar Vuolo and her husband, Jeremy Vuolo, issued a statement via Instagram thanking TLC for its kindness and for the opportunity to be on the show.

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“Counting On” was spun off in December 2015, initially focusing on the older Duggar kids, minus Josh. His wife and their six children — two of whom were born after the cheating scandal — ultimately participated during the show’s 11 seasons, along with the rest of the extended family.

July 1, 2021

Cracks At Key Biscayne Building Raising Concerns

June 30, 2021

anti-mask cafe to close

Fiddleheads Cafe in Mendocino, known for its controversial stances on the state's mask mandate during the pandemic, is closing for good after the new owners of the building decided to cancel its lease.

The cafe's last day is July 4, owner Chris Castleman confirmed to SFGATE.


The building was recently sold, and the cafe's lease with the new owners — Mac and Kim Hodges — was canceled in June without explanation, Castleman said, just days after the cafe made national headlines in late May for adding a $5 fee for those who ordered food from his cafe with masks on.

Castleman said he was in talks to extend the lease for three months to September to allow for him to sell his business, but said he refused to sign the agreement when he saw the new terms. Among the conditions included in the month-to-month lease, along with a rent increase, were stipulations that there be “no further publicity related to the business, of any kind, regarding mask wearing or vaccinations, and business will comply with any orders, laws, or mandates of government,” according to a copy of the extension contract Castleman provided to SFGATE.

Castleman was also required to keep from making “disparaging or harmful communications or actions or consequences of any kind” that could impact other businesses, the landlord and the local community, the contract reviewed by SFGATE said. In addition, he was reportedly asked to remove all "controversial" signage from the cafe windows.

https://www.sfgate.com/food/article/Fiddleheads-Cafe-Mendocino-closed-shuttered-mask-16282595.php

June 30, 2021

Rottweiler extremely happy to see grandparents

June 30, 2021

At least 4 Catholic churches were destroyed on Indigenous land in a week

https://www.cnn.com/2021/06/29/americas/canada-church-fires-indigenous-land/index.html

Canadian authorities are investigating multiple fires that destroyed four Catholic churches on Indigenous land in the past week.

They are the latest in a string of recent events affecting the country's Indigenous communities. The churches were destroyed as Canada confronts its history of systemic abuse of Indigenous communities with the recent discoveries of hundreds of human remains at the sites of two former boarding schools, which were operated by Catholic religious groups.

Police and firefighters responded early Saturday morning to a fire at the St. Ann's Catholic Church on Upper Similkameen Indian Band land. Within the hour, someone called police to report that the Chopaka Catholic Church on Lower Similkameen Indian Band land was also burning, said Sgt. Jason Bayda of the Penticton South Royal Canadian Mounted Police.

Authorities described the fires on Saturday and two other fires that took place last week as suspicious, Bayda said in a statement. The investigations are ongoing with no arrests or charges, police said.

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While authorities have not discussed a possible motive for the fires, the Lower Similkameen Indian Band's chief and council said in a statement about the fires on Saturday that they understand the "grief and rage" felt by people across Indian country in the wake of the discovery of remains of hundreds of children on the grounds of a former school in the southern interior of British Columbia.

June 29, 2021

Collapsed building has been a hot mess of delayed repairs for 20 yrs

From more and more info coming out:

Not sure who bears most responsibility. ??? Hoa board who didnt force the issue? Home owners resistent to fees?

Maybe there were design flaws but resulting damage was identified and allowed to expand

"We have discussed debated and argued for years" said condo board letter to owner. Would the owner of a single family home sit and watch water damage expand OVER YEARS?

June 29, 2021

condo residents around Florida start to pay attention to the conditions of their buildings

June 29, 2021

GOP cries foul as California OKs new governor recall rules

https://www.sfgate.com/news/article/California-Democrats-again-seek-to-alter-recall-16278281.php

SACRAMENTO, Calif. (AP) — California Republicans accused Democrats of acting unfairly Monday as state lawmakers passed a bill aimed at moving up Democratic Gov. Gavin Newsom's recall date.

“The conclusion is inescapable that Gavin Newsom is cheating in the recall and this Legislature is his willing accomplice," said Republican Assemblyman Kevin Kiley, who is considering running in the contest.

The proposal, now headed to Newsom's desk, would allow the recall to proceed at least 30 days earlier than under existing state law. Democrats hope to take advantage of what they view as favorable conditions for Newsom as the state moves on from the worst days of the pandemic and related restrictions.

Democratic Assemblyman Phil Ting acknowledged the bill will “ensure that this recall election happens as soon as possible" and said that's something the recall's supporters should want.

June 29, 2021

Padsplit: super cheap housing that can immediately evict by remotely changing the key codes

https://newrepublic.com/article/162513/affordable-housing-cheap-rent-padsplit

Kathleen SayVon had spent weeks hunting for a new place to live in 2018, sleeping in her car and showering at the gym, when she finally caught a break. As she scrolled her phone in her car one evening, an ad for affordable rooms in the Atlanta area appeared on her Facebook feed. The price—$130 a week, with utilities included—was a rare find she could afford on the wages from two temp jobs she was working while attempting to finish her bachelor’s degree.

SayVon thought she’d hit the jackpot. “You’re like, ecstatic, you know?” she said.

A phone call and a $35 application fee later, SayVon, 59, had a new place to live—along with five roommates in their thirties who she had never met before, plus a pitbull. Some of the troubles SayVon soon ran into were standard roommate stuff: noise from other rooms that often kept her awake, disputes over cleaning the bathroom. Other parts of her new living situation were new to her, and more unsettling: No one seemed to know exactly who owned the house they lived in, only what happened if you missed a weekly rent payment: “They just locked them out of the house,” SayVon said, an eviction that could happen in an instant with the keycodes tenants had been given to access the property being changed remotely.


SayVon, in her search for cheap rent, had stumbled across PadSplit, a buzzy startup that aims to “disrupt” the affordable housing industry with a cross between boarding houses and Airbnb.


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People need affordable places to stay, and PadSplit claims it has the solution. But SayVon and three other current and former PadSplit members told The New Republic that while they rented rooms from the company at moments when they had few other options, their stays were marked by negligent property owners, punishing fees, and capricious policies surrounding eviction and relocation—all with little formal recourse. Start-ups’ sudden enthusiasm for housing justice also raises larger flags: While they may share the goal of eliminating the stranglehold of single-family homes on our cities, there’s a big difference between creating new opportunities to profit from housing of last resort and providing dignified homes for all—a vision that housing movements are pushing in a demand for millions of new units of green social housing.


“We’ve had calls of either, ‘We’re going to put you out after Friday’ or, ‘We’re moving you to another location, and you have no choice in the matter,’” Kinnear said.


https://newrepublic.com/article/162513/affordable-housing-cheap-rent-padsplit