OAKLAND — The 116-year-old hearth station on Worldwide Boulevard is likely one of the metropolis’s oldest public buildings.
It’s been in operation for thus lengthy, the kitchen is a tiny lofted space that after saved hay, again when the Oakland Hearth Division had horses.
Now, Oakland’s third busiest firehouse might transfer a pair blocks away to a 70,000 square-foot lot at 1745 14th Avenue, a highway that additionally serves as a primary artery by the town’s San Antonio neighborhood.
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For 44 years, the 14th Avenue constructing — surrounded by ample parking area — has belonged to East Bay Blue Print and Provide, a enterprise first based in 1929 that now might have to maneuver to a brand new house if the town makes use of a longstanding legislation to grab the property.
Oakland metropolis officers have provided to buy the positioning from its present proprietor, Grace Von Querner, with $5 million disbursed by the state final 12 months for “eminent domain,” the legislation that lets authorities businesses take properties away from their house owners for public use.
Metropolis officers have introduced East Bay Blue Print with different websites to arrange the print store. However they are saying no different various locations exist for Hearth Station 4.
“We have institutions (here) that have longevity,” Councilmember Carroll Fife stated at a latest committee assembly, “but our fire station has outworn its ability to function for individuals experiencing fires or medical emergencies.”
The Metropolis Council will determine Tuesday on a “resolution of necessity” to grab and buy the 14th Avenue lot. The vote on the 1 p.m. assembly requires two-thirds approval to cross.
An agenda report particulars how the present metropolis constructing at 1235 Worldwide Boulevard “does not meet modern fire station service standards” and lacks satisfactory services.
OAKLAND, CA – MARCH 24: An Oakland firefighter talks with a person at Oakland Hearth Station No. 4 alongside Worldwide Boulevard on Day 8 of the Bay Space’s stay-at-home orders in Oakland, Calif., on Tuesday, March 24, 2020. (Jane Tyska/Bay Space Information Group)
The constructing’s measurement and vulnerability to earthquakes leaves it “unequipped to handle Oakland on its worst day,” division spokesperson Michael Hunt stated in an interview.
Firefighters from Station 4 had been among the many first to answer the December 2016 hearth on the Ghost Ship warehouse, the place 36 individuals perished within the state’s deadliest single construction blaze.
If the town does pursue eminent area, it could want to maneuver rapidly, as a result of the $5 million in state cash — spearheaded by state Assemblymember Mia Bonta — have to be returned if not utilized by June 30.
“We’ve already provided relocation services to the property owner (and) identified a number of locations in the neighborhood and within Oakland,” Brendan Moriarty, a metropolis real-estate supervisor, stated on the assembly final week. “So there’s no reason this business needs to shut down (or) these jobs need to be lost.”
Von Querner moved the East Bay Blue Print enterprise in 1981 to its present tackle, the previous website of the Safeway. She stated ultimately week’s assembly {that a} relocation is “not impossible, but it’s going to be very hard.”
“We’ve been here so long,” Von Querner stated. “We have people come in and say, ‘Oh, my father dealt with you.’ They all know where we are.”
Oakland, in the meantime, finds itself in a uncommon second when all of its 25 hearth stations are in operation, together with stations 25 and 28, which had been briefly closed in January because of metropolis finances constraints.
The complete service gained’t final lengthy. Metropolis officers are exploring a brand new two-year finances cycle that may contain “browning out” two stations at a time, primarily based on hearth security wants.
Examine again for updates after Tuesday’s vote.
Shomik Mukherjee is a reporter protecting Oakland. Name or textual content him at 510-905-5495 or electronic mail him at [email protected].
