The 234 Apartment

A new report could give insight into why San Jose failed to notify more than 14,000 residents that their neighborhoods were under a flood threat in February. The report, commissioned by San Jose and conducted by emergency management consultant Witt O’Brien’s, gave the city an “A” for how it responded after the Feb. 21 flood but an “F” for foresight. It was also critical of the way the city handled notifying residents , such as Juanita Wilson, who was living in the Rock Springs neighborhood when the flood occurred. That area is near Coyote Creek, which floods whenever Anderson Dam overflows . South of San Jose, the dam was built in 1950. “We had no warning from the city, none from the county, nothing at all,” Wilson said. A night photo of the pole Jeffrey Hare uses to measure Coyote Creek water levels . This photo was taken on Sunday, Feb. 19, 2017, two days before the neighborhood was flooded. (Courtesy of Jeffrey Hare) As the floodwaters were reaching her neighborhood, she was pre...

T wo weeks ago, a Manhattan Supreme Court judge handed down a decision designed to strike fear in the hearts of landlords. Justice James d’Auguste ordered that an independent receiver be appointed to manage two Midtown residential buildings where the landlords allegedly allowed illegal Airbnb rentals to occur. The case, which began when the city sued the landlords in February 2015, has become one of the battlegrounds in a larger war between city enforcement agencies and short- term rental sites like Airbnb. Airbnb, which was recently valued at $31 billion, refuses to release the exact addresses of hosts who break the law by renting their entire apartment for less than 30 days without being present. Without the addresses and names of Airbnb violators , the city mostly targets the owners of buildings that rack up the most illegal hotel complaints from 311 calls and the New York City Department of Buildings. “This entire model—and it was intentional [by the city]—is complaint-drive...