The Ghost Ship warehouse/artists’ colony fire makes for a compelling drama.  And everyone knows that for a drama, you need villains, especially when a tragedy is as vivid as the horrible deaths of 36 mostly young adult creative explorers. The mainstream media found a ready-made figure in Derick Almena, the man who rented the warehouse and set up the colony, whose solipsistic tweets focused on his own suffering, not the fire victims’. His appearance on The Today Show could be a textbook example for P.R. consultants to use in warning their clients who have just experienced a disaster. But now that the news is out that this obvious firetrap, complained about by neighbors, was never inspected in the last 30 years, people, including many Oakland residents, wonder why the city government allowed this predictable tragedy to unfold. Oakland mayor Libby Schaaf is understandably concerned about being perceived to have dropped the ball: “I want to...(Read Full Post)