Landlord in Oakland warehouse fire slammed for Facebook post

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Landlord in Oakland warehouse fire slammed for Facebook post
Postmedia Network
First posted: Monday, December 05, 2016 02:42 PM EST | Updated: Monday, December 05, 2016 03:01 PM EST
The hipster landlord who ruled over a run-down Oakland warehouse that exploded in flames, killing at least 33 people, was an “arrogant” party animal who laughed off friends’ safety concerns.
Derick Ion Almena, who ran the Oakland Ghost Ship, took to Facebook to make a series of whiny comments that ignored the immensity of the horrific tragedy.
Hours after the fiery massacre, he assured the world that he and his wife Micah and their three children were fine. Then he whined.
“Confirmed. Everything I worked so hard for is gone. Blessed that my children and Micah were at a hotel and safe and sound…it’s as if I have awoken from a dream filled with opulence and hope ... to be standing now in poverty of self worth.”
There was an immediate backlash on social media, slamming Almena’s cold comments. At least 33 people are dead and scores more are missing.
But for people who know the too-cool-for-school entrepreneur, it was par for the course, the Daily Mail reports.
For years he had been warned that the feces-covered warehouse was a death trap waiting to happen. He brushed off the worries.
Disgusted pal Danielle Boudreaux told the Mail: “When people told him it was a deathtrap, he would laugh. In Derick’s mind, he was creating this amazing art space, and everything going on there was the most amazing thing ever.
“I was disgusted by his Facebook post, but it was typical Derick. People were saying ‘Maybe he didn’t know people were dead at that time,’ no, he knew.
“I’m telling you anybody who was upstairs, if there was a fire started anywhere downstairs, the likelihood of you being able to get out of that building is slim to none.
“And there were no fire alarms, no sprinklers, nothing.”
Almena also had a living space in the building he shared with his wife and three children. On Friday night, they were safely ensconced in a luxury hotel because of the rave.
Described as an artist’s enclave and indoor RV park, it appears life at the warehouse was a frenzied scene with few rules.
Boudreaux said that Almena lived in opulence with his family while all manner of riff-raff camped out on the main floor.
“It was US$500 per person per month. His goal was always to have at least 10 people, because the rent was $5,000 a month,” Boudreaux said.
A nanny who once worked for Almena and his wife described the pair as “crazy,” with little time for their three children.
Mariah Benavides claimed the pair would disappear for days at a time while she babysat. As for Almena, “He always seemed to be off his head.”
She said of his infamous Facebook post: “It was disgusting, it was a reflection of who he is, it’s all about him.”
Landlord in Oakland warehouse fire slammed for Facebook post | Oakland warehouse
 
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'I don’t think he is capable of… remorse or guilt'; Relatives, neighbours paint chilling portrait of Oakland warehouse operator
Ellen Knickmeyer and Tim Reiterman, The Associated Press
First posted: Tuesday, December 06, 2016 08:48 AM EST | Updated: Tuesday, December 06, 2016 09:15 AM EST
SAN FRANCISCO — The founder of a ramshackle Oakland artists’ colony where dozens of people burned to death saw himself as a kind of guru and loved to surround himself with followers but showed chilling disregard for their well-being, according to relatives, neighbours and acquaintances.
Derick Ion Almena, 46, leased and operated the cluttered warehouse where fire erupted Friday night during a dance party, leaving at least 36 people dead in the nation’s most lethal building fire in over a decade. In his first interview since the fire, Almena told San Jose television station KNTV that he felt himself to be like a grandfather to all the young artists who had lived in the warehouse with his family.
Neighbours and occupants of the building said he had illegally carved it into rented living and studio space for artists, calling it the Satya Yuga collective. On Monday, prosecutors watched over the scene to preserve evidence as bodies were pulled from the blackened ruins. Alameda County District Attorney Nancy O’Malley said that if prosecutors believe criminal charges are warranted, charges could range from involuntary manslaughter to murder.
Acquaintances painted a devastating portrait of Almena and his longtime partner, Micah Allison.
“Honestly, I don’t think he is capable of feeling any kind of remorse or guilt,” said Allison’s father, Michael Allison of Portland, Ore. “I’ve never seen him ever really care about anyone else.”
He described the couple as users of methamphetamine, heroin and crack and said their three young children were taken away from them by social service authorities for several months beginning last year. The youngsters were found hungry, infested with lice and ill-clothed, he said.
Michael Allison recalled Almena and Micah overcome with laughter once when they told of a fire-breather accidentally setting himself on fire at one of their many parties at the building, which was widely known as the Ghost Ship.
Almena “surrounds himself with people who are going to treat him like he’s some sort of guru,” said Danielle Boudreaux, who said she was a friend of the couple for eight years. “He enjoyed having minions around to do his tasks for him and help build this great — he thinks he’s building this artistic empire.”
On Monday, Almena said the couple was sorry for all those who lost loved ones in the fire.
“I gladly would give my entire life of fortune, of wealth of experience again and again and again, and I say this to you and I say this to the camera and to whoever is watching me that I surrender everything,” Almena said, with Micah Allison by his side.
In a Facebook post hours after the fire, he made no mention of the deaths, drawing criticism online and from people who knew him for perceived callousness. “Everything I worked so hard for is gone,” he wrote then, while noting that his partner and their children had been safe at a hotel during the blaze.
Survivors recounted having to struggle to escape the burning warehouse, where many of the victims were on a makeshift second floor served by a rickety staircase of wooden pallets. Visitors described the structure as a warren of scrap wood, sofas, old pianos and electrical cables.
Investigators have declined to say whether they believe Almena or the building’s owner bear any responsibility in the deaths.
Oakland building inspectors had opened an investigation into the warehouse last month. Acquaintances and local authorities described repeatedly confronting Almena about what they saw as unsafe and unsanitary conditions for his children and others living there.
Noel Gallo, a city councilman who lives a block from the warehouse, said Almena essentially told authorities to “mind their own business.”
“He had an attitude,” Gallo said. “A big attitude.”
Almena is on probation until 2019 after pleading no contest to a misdemeanour charge of receiving stolen property. A former landlord accused him of stealing her Airstream trailer.
The pair was part of an alternative scene in California that revolved around Burning Man and other festivals, music, a broad spirituality and drugs, acquaintances said.
Neighbours and colleagues said the family moved into the building in east Oakland’s former industrial Fruitvale neighbourhood in late 2012 or early 2013 and quickly began leasing space in it to others. They threw frequent parties open to the public, for fees collected at the door, acquaintances said.
Neighbour Phyllis Waukazoo said her family befriended the couple’s oldest daughter, now 12 or 13, when they realized how neglected the children were. The girl would stay with them during the frequent parties at the warehouse, and Waukazoo’s family would make a point of feeding her.
“We noticed, oh, my God, she was hungry!” Waukazoo said. When the girl took Waukazoo on a tour of the warehouse, Waukazoo saw that the place had no kitchen and that the family and tenants apparently shared one bathroom, where they used a hose to shower.
Almena previously worked as a marijuana grower in Northern California’s Mendocino County, Michael Allison said. Almena would make himself out to be the man in charge of his fellow pot workers and managed to avoid work, Allison said.
“He was able to cast a spell on someone in a weird way that I just do not understand,” Allison said. He described his daughter as passive and easily swayed by Almena.
He recalled both his daughter and Almena laughing over another episode in which partygoers at one of their gatherings trashed a social hall by flinging cans of paint on walls and furniture.
A few years ago, Micah Allison’s family talked her into entering drug rehab, only to have Almena persuade her to leave again, her father said.
Some who knew the couple were bitter at their escape.
“I hope the same thing happens to them that happened to those people,” said artist Shelly Mack, who said she rented living space in the warehouse two years ago from the couple. She said they knew it was dangerous: “They profited on this. And never spent a dime on anything but partying.”
This still frame from exclusive video provided by San Francisco TV station KGO-TV, made late Sunday, Dec. 4, 2016, shows Derick Ion Almena, front, and Micah Allison, partly hidden behind him, the couple who operated the Ghost Ship warehouse where dozens have died in a fire, at the Oakland, Calif., Marriott Hotel. When a KGO reporter asked if he had anything to say to the families of those who were killed, Almena said: "They're my children. They're my friends, they're my family, they're my loves, they're my future. What else do I have to say?" (KGO-TV via AP)


'I don’t think he is capable of… remorse or guilt'; Relatives, neighbours paint
 
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