Socialist Progressives

Kazaleh said artists needed to rely on each other to ensure their spaces were safe: “There’s no easy answer. We have to be completely self-policing now. We don’t want city inspectors snooping around.”

Lets start the list of those most culpable:

1. The owner of the space who was happy to collect the rent.
2. The manager who had an obligation to meet code standards for the tenants.
3. The city of Oakland and its inspectors if they did not follow the law.
4. Those who inhabited and visited the space who did not consider their own safety. I think that sentiment includes Kazlaleh above.

Somewhere down below that is the fact that rents are unaffordable. So who decides what is unaffordable and who is entitled to these below market rents.

Left unsaid is the risk that firemen take in fighting this type of fire and trying to rescue the inhabitants.