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Headlines |
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Welcome to our humble abode... |
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Okay, so it's actually a piece of crap inside, but this is our PL. =)
This is the entrance way where Anand and Zhi are standing. The mailboxes are on the left, but most of our mail could be found sprawled on that table behind them.
The door is never locked so anyone is welcome to come in, and some do! Including an old lady who wanted to bunk with Zhi and Steve, and another guy who wanted to borrow someone's debit card. He said he'd give it back. |
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Eric, Roger, and Kevin hanging out in the front:
content, eager first years in Cal? OR simply the next batch of niave freshman who would fall victim to Barbara's evil plan? |
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We felt like our place was a little out of shape. We assumed all Berkeley housing was a bit out of date, so we just went about our business as usual... the happy-go-lucky tenants of the Piedmont Lodge. |
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But within that first week of moving in, something didn't seem right. When we arrived at our rooms, nothing was clean and dust was everywhere. When Kim walked into her room, she found all of a previous tenant's stuff still lingering around. She had to move all that stuff out before she could start moving in. |
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Within the first two weeks, various people started waking up to find bug bites on their face, arms, and legs. We found out that the bites were from BED BUGS... in the mattresses & wood of the beds. |
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While some people had to start school with nasty bumps all over their body, we started to notice other problems in the old boarding house: |
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The fire escape in the back was made out of wood. |
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Wires and extension cords ran all over the area. We had to step over a few just to get to our rooms. |
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Non-functioning smoke detectors. |
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Windows were in places they shouldn't have been, due to illegally-built rooms.
A window was right in between Shuo's and Mike's (the psycho stalker) room. Not a good idea. And another was right in between 2 bathrooms. Not a good view... |
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And Barbara would come in and out of our rooms whenever she liked, without a day's notice and sometimes no notice at all. (maybe those were the dark figures you saw in the middle of the night, JJ & Hanan. hehe). |
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those were just a few of the violations... |
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So we had to think of something that could we could do...
And that's when we heard about the Tenant's Rights Week held by the ASUC Office of External Affairs. There was one night when tenants from all over Berkeley could meet with the City Council to discuss problems dealing with housing. |
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Apparently, our attendance and 5 accounts of "horror stories" toward our landlord and living conditions made an impact on the City Council, because on the next day, a reporter and an inspector showed up at our door. |
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The front page of the Berkeley Planet newspaper on October 28th, 2000 read: |
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for more on the story, click on the picture! |
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We did it! |
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Since then, the inspector came once every week to make sure Barbara kept up with the changes that needed to be made. Our "slumlord" was required to get new bunk beds and mattresses, new carpeting, new smoke detectors, etc. And for the next semester, we were all guaranteed housing in the dorms! =D
Barbara Lee ended up being fired and the Piedmont Lodge was taken off the alternate housing list. The new owners remodeled the kitchen and knocked down some walls in between rooms. Hopefully, the Piedmont Lodge and other places will up their standards... cuz now we know that we (the tenants) have RIGHTS TOO! =)
learn more about your rights... |
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