Update 12/1/17: According to BRIDGE Housing, one of the nonprofits that manage the building, all residents were able to return to their apartments, with the exception of the resident of the damaged unit, who was relocated to a hotel. One additional resident (whose apartment is undamaged) requested and received temporary relocation due to the smoke smell. Repairs to the damaged...
Landlords of a building that burned down at 14th and Stevenson streets in 2014 are paying out more than $1 million to tenants who were displaced by the fire and subsequently evicted. The men who owned the 1441-1451 Stevenson St. warehouse at the time of the fire, identified in court documents as Albert Joshua and David Kimmel, have agreed to...
Some San Franciscans remember a time when the corner of 16th and Valencia streets was a graveyard. Memorials filled the empty pit and the walls to commemorate the estimated 14 people (the final number is still unknown) who perished in a fire at the Gartland Hotel on the night/morning of December 12, 1975. Archival photos of the scene look eerily...
More than two years since a fire at 22nd and Mission streets claimed one life and displaced dozens of tenants, Supervisor Hillary Ronen plans to propose legislation on Tuesday to extend assistance to displaced tenants. For some, their two-year relocation rentals will expire at the end of the month. Ronen’s proposal would extend the time period in which victims can...
An electrical fire that occurred five months ago has indefinitely shuttered the Valencia Street men’s workwear shop Arik’s. A sign that reads “store closed until further notice” behind a gated storefront hints at the store’s recent trouble, and the shop’s owner said he is unsure when operations will resume. Owner Avi Mandelbrot has operated the men’s apparel store out of its 1696 Valencia St. location...
One person was displaced and another is being treated for smoke inhalation after a one-alarm fire struck a four-story apartment building at 1751 Market St. on Tuesday afternoon. Fire officials responded to reports of a fire at the building, located at Valencia and Market streets, sometime around 1:35 p.m. By 1:48 p.m., the fire was reported contained. It is unclear how many people live in the...
Family members of Mauricio Orellana, a 38-year-old man killed in the January 28, 2015 fire at 22nd and Mission streets that displaced dozens of businesses and more than 60 tenants, have brought a wrongful death lawsuit against the property’s owner and management company. In the suit, filed in November by Orellana’s cousin Fernando Artiga on behalf of Orellana’s six siblings,...
Despite promises from city leaders that the 58 tenants displaced by the fire at 29th and Mission streets would be housed, at least two tenants from the Graywood Hotel, which was ravaged by a five-alarm fire in June, are again homeless and living in a tent on 16th Street near Folsom Street. “The mayor said that none of us was gonna go...
Demolition continues on the buildings destroyed by a five-alarm fire affecting six structures in early June that displaced at least 58 tenants and five businesses. Only the Cole Hardware and Playa Azul buildings had to be demolished.
Mission Supervisor David Campos introduced amendments to the city’s fire, building and housing codes on Thursday morning that he said could not only help prevent fires, but ensure that low-income tenants aren’t permanently displaced by them. Campos’s proposal would mandate that landlords prove that their annual inspections of fire alarms are up to date and that records are made publically...
In an effort to address widespread rumors of arson in the the Mission District, supervisors probed city officials Wednesday about the causes of fires that have displaced some 194 people and claimed the lives of three more in recent years. For their part, the displaced residents wanted to know about their housing options. District 9 Supervisor David Campos called a...
A new law proposed today would give victims of fires priority in the lottery to be placed in an affordable housing unit, just a week after a massive fire left 58 people displaced and destroyed the corner of Mission and 29th streets. At the Board of Supervisors on Tuesday, Supervisor Scott Wiener introduced legislation that would create a preference category...
San Francisco leaders were booed off stage at Dolores Park where Pride weekend was kicked off with Friday’s Trans March. Here’s a list of other stories you might have missed: Up until the fire that displaced 58 people, the Graywood Hotel was managed by a housing startup that has a history of marketing SRO rooms as group apartments for young professionals....
Tears, confusion, and one grandmother’s joyful laughter after being reunited with her cat were among the array of emotions expressed by tenants of the Graywood Hotel on Wednesday as they returned to their homes for the first time after a five-alarm fire last weekend. When it was her turn to enter, Stephanie Williams took a deep breath and wiped tears...
In the wake of last weekend’s massive fire at the corner of 29th and Mission streets, tens of thousands of dollars have already been fundraised for its victims. A GoFundMe account set up by Edwin Lindo, the once-supervisorial candidate and Frisco Five hunger striker, had raised some $33,000 as of Tuesday night for the 58 residential tenants displaced in the...
