Alameda County Superior Court Case No. RG15762174
OAKLAND, CA – The owners of an abandoned sausage factory and two adjacent vacant lots will pay the City $65,000 and immediately rehabilitate the properties under a settlement the City Attorney’s Neighborhood Law Corps (“NLC”) secured this month.
The NLC sued the owners of the properties on Adeline and 28th streets in March 2015 after the City issued at least 26 citations for graffiti, illegal dumping, overgrown vegetation and other public nuisances associated with the properties.
“This is a positive outcome for the City and the neighborhood,” City Attorney Barbara J. Parker said. “The settlement recovers enforcement costs that the City has expended over the years, and more importantly guarantees redevelopment of a property that has been vacant and blighted for decades in this neighborhood. This has been the result of a collaboration among the Planning & Building Department, City Administrator’s Office, Councilmember Lynette McElhaney’s office and the Neighborhood Law Corps.”
Parker also thanked NLC Attorney Melosa Granda for her leadership and resolution of the case.
The owners purchased the abandoned Sausage Co. building and the adjacent lots in 2002. On their watch the properties fell into disrepair and became a magnet for blight and crime in the neighborhood.
In addition to the 26 citations the City issued for violations of the City’s blight ordinance, the City’s Public Works Agency also issued no less than 167 work orders to clean up graffiti and illegal dumping associated with the property. The owners’ failure to maintain the property and provide security measures allowed homeless encampments, squatters and crime including burglaries, shootings, car break-ins and vandalism in and around the property.
Under the settlement which was executed on July 1, the owners will immediately repair holes in the fence surrounding the property, remove all trash and debris and secure the building. The owners also must move forward on redevelopment of a commercial property on the site, and must hire an independent Monitor to oversee compliance.
The Neighborhood Law Corps is an award-winning unit in the City Attorney’s Office that uses civil law to address sources of criminal and nuisance activity in Oakland neighborhoods. One NLC attorney is assigned to each of the five Oakland Police Command Areas.
