Ghost Ship warehouse owner: A polite, hands-off landlord

To her tenants scattered in tiny storefronts throughout Oakland, Chor Ng is the quiet, unobtrusive landlord who shows up once a month in her white Mercedes-Benz to politely collect her rent checks.

By all accounts, the 62-year-old Ng doesn’t interfere in those little businesses, which include a bakery, a florist shop, a Buddhist Temple and a massage parlor offering foot and body rubs for $35 an hour.

That hands-off attitude apparently extended to another building in her $5 million Oakland property portfolio — the Ghost Ship live-work warehouse on 31st Avenue near International Boulevard, which city officials say had no permits for residential or entertainment uses before it burned Dec. 2, killing 36 people attending an electronic music show.

I tried looking at old photos of this place and while it’s a bit messy, doesn’t seem to be a labyrinth-like death trap it’s described as. Does anyone have more photos of the unsafe aspects? Honestly it doesn’t seem more dangerous than T.G.I. Friday’s with all the crap on the walls

The point is it was used for Assembly occupancy and was designed for warehouse space. .There are huge health and safety requirements for A occupancy. …none of these concerns were addressed…Things neglected were alarms , fire sprinklers, exit hallways, smoke control doors, lighted exit signs, egress requirements, fire dept. monitoring. .I find building departments annoying for shfs but they are essential for businesses and especially for large group spaces…A few people can make it out in any fire…but large groups need specially designed spaces for safe egress…

Oh so smoke alarms are actually good???

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Smoke alarms would not have saved the victims. .Fire sprinklers might have…But proper exit corridors were lacking…So even if the people had a smoke alarms blaring they would have panicked and died anyway…An alarm is only good if the escape route was proper, planned and practiced for…

Looks like all landlord have to buy the new 10 year battery ones…