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As Oakland Rent Strike at 3rd Avenue Building Continues, Management Hires Armed Guards

No one from FPA Multifamily or Trinity Property Consultants has responded to multiple calls and emails requesting comments for this article. But the site’s management, which works for Trinity Property Consultants, wrote emails to the buildings’ residents in late September saying that they intended to address some of the buildings’ issues, that they had faced “threats to our team members’ safety,” and that they had “hired an armed service” to “protect our staff.” The email also stated a resident had been arrested on Sepember 21 in the building.

Published

3 years ago

November 7, 2022

Oakland Post

By Zack Haber

Since tenants living in the ReNew on Merritt building on 1130 3rd Ave. in Oakland started collectively withholding rent, management has hired armed guards. Rent-striking tenants say they are facing “harassment,” while management has said they hired the armed guards due to “threats” from tenants.

Alexandra ‘Ali’ Uro-May and Cassandra Chavez, who both live in the 18-floor complex, see management’s decision to hire armed guards as unnecessary retaliation.

“They’ve started treating us like we’re criminals,” said Uro-May.

“They are trying to use an intimidation tactic,” said Chavez. “All they want is rent and they aren’t worried about the problems here.”

Uro-May and Chavez are part of the ReNew on Merritt Tenant Council, a group of tenants living in over 40 of the buildings’ 178 apartments who started a rent strike on September 1. They’re seeking to collectively pressure FPA Multifamily, the building’s owner, and Trinity Property Consultants, the building’s property management company, to resolve habitability and safety issues at the site.

The issues, which are documented in over a dozen complaints to the City of Oakland since May 31, include black mold, backed up sewage, broken down elevators, and electrical problems. Tenants also complain of fire alarms going off erratically, problems with mail including stolen packages, and widespread rat and mice infestation. In June, Alameda County Vector Control released a report confirming “evidence of rodent activity” at the building. (Chavez said she recently found a dead mouse outside her door.)

According to Oakland Police Department Public Information Officer Candace Keas, “an individual was detained” on September 21 at 1130 3rd Ave. after a manager called the police on a resident, but records “do not note…what the individual was arrested for.”

Chavez said her partner did not want to comment for this article. According to Chavez, a manager accused her partner of making threats during an argument between him and staff members about an incident where Chavez says a manager was bothering her about unpaid rent in the entryway of the building and in front of her children, which left her feeling “embarrassed, shocked and disrespected.”

“[My partner] was very upset,” said Chavez. “So, he went to have a conversation to say ‘please, don’t harass.’”

Shortly after the argument, armed guards showed up in the building. Chavez denies that her partner was making threats and said he was arrested hours after the argument had ended.

Then the next day, Chavez and her partner were served with a three-day eviction notice which accused them of violating their lease due to the altercation and arrest.

“Our hearts just dropped,” Chavez said about receiving the notice. “We have kids, and we didn’t have anywhere to go.”

Chavez and her family have been challenging the eviction, and at this point, they are still living in their apartment.

On September 23, the ReNew on Merritt Tenant Council sent a cease-and-desist letter to FPA Multifamily and Trinity Property Consultants “to demand an immediate end to retaliatory harassment of tenants and the retraction of the notice of eviction” for Chavez and her family’s apartment.

The council criticized the companies for “silence” and “denial” about tenant requests for them to resolve “ongoing safety and maintenance issues” and hiring “armed guards in tactical gear” who they accused of “aggressively” knocking on tenants’ doors “demanding entry to their units.”

A video Uro-May sent this reporter showed a security guard onsite identifying himself as working for Off-Duty Officers, Inc. The company’s director of operations and marketing manager did not respond to calls and emails requesting comments for this article.

Many of the habitability and safety issues that tenants are concerned with arose before FPA Multifamily bought the building, and brought in Trinity Property Consultants to manage it, in late August.

In an email to residents from late September, management said they were working on an “elevator modernization project that will be scheduled in the near future,” attempting to fix fire alarm issues, and had attempted to do unit inspections to look for “rodents, water intrusion and other deficiencies.”

Armed guards accompanied staff during these onsite inspections, which made some tenants uncomfortable.

Joie Seldon, who’s lived in the building for nine years and is a member of the council, called the presence of armed guards during the inspections “completely ridiculous, aggressive, and inappropriate on so many levels.”

In their email, management also wrote that the “tenant council” had “blocked and harassed our team in the hallway” while they were trying to do unit inspections, which prevented them from addressing some of the issues tenants are requesting that they resolve.

Uro-May said the tenants were witnessing and documenting staff and an armed guard as they inspected units but were not blocking entry. The video Uro-May sent this reporter showed tenants questioning the guard about the notice they were given about mandatory inspections and objecting to staff entering certain units that had signs reading “do not enter” displayed on doors.

The recording shows the guard admitting staff had entered despite the signs but saying that doing so was legal.

California state law allows a landlord to enter a unit during normal business hours for such inspections if they give at least a 24-hour notice, except in the case of an emergency. An email shows management contacted tenants on September 20 around 4:00 p.m. and announced “mandatory inspections” related to “pest control” and “maintenance” would start the next day at 9:00 a.m., leaving about 17 hours of notice.

Seldon said she wanted the inspections to happen but objected to how management scheduled and enforced them.

“That they wanted to do it was appropriate,” she said. “But how they did it was inappropriate. The fact that they said you could not reschedule made some people anxious.”

Uro-May said problems are persisting in the building. During a visit to the building, this reporter heard the fire alarm go off when there was no fire, which Uro-May said happens several times a day.

Chavez said mail problems persist and that “nobody can get into the mailroom now,” as management cut off access to it on October 10. This reporter found the door to the mailroom bolted shut on October 18. A note from management stated that “the mailroom was vandalized” and instructed tenants to “pick up your mail directly at the post office until our new mailboxes have been received and installed.” Amazon packages sat on the floor of the building’s entryway.

In an email from September 21 to residents, management wrote that “due to the ongoing threats to our team members’ personal safety, our office staff will work from an alternate location.” Uro-May and Chavez said that while management is gone, they still are occasionally seeing armed guards in and near the building.

ReNew on Merritt Tenant Council members are still withholding their rent, and asking to meet collectively with FPA Multifamily, and Trinity Property Consultants, to discuss how their demands can be met so the rent strike can end.

“Now more than ever we feel like we have to keep pushing because they cannot treat us like this,” said Uro-May.

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Ann Lowe: The Quiet Genius of American Couture

Lowe was born in Clayton, Alabama, into a family of gifted seamstresses. Her mother and grandmother were well-known dressmakers who created exquisite gowns for women in the area. By the time Lowe was a young girl, she was already showing extraordinary talent — cutting, sewing, and decorating fabric with a skill that far exceeded her age. When her mother died unexpectedly, Lowe – only 16 years old then – took over her mother’s sewing business, completing all the orders herself.

Published

1 day ago

December 14, 2025

Oakland Post

Photo courtesy of National Archives.

By Tamara Shiloh

Ann Cole Lowe, born Dec.14, 1898, was a pioneering American fashion designer whose extraordinary talent shaped some of the most widely recognized and celebrated gowns in U.S. history.

Although she designed dresses for society’s wealthiest families and created masterpieces worn at historic events, Lowe spent much of her life in the shadows — uncredited, underpaid, yet unmatched in skill. Today, she is celebrated as one of the first nationally recognized African American fashion designers and a true visionary in American couture.

In 1917, Lowe moved to New York City to study at the S.T. Taylor Design School. Although she was segregated from White students and forced to work separately, she, of course, excelled, graduating earlier than expected. Her instructors quickly recognized that her abilities were far above the typical student, especially her skill in hand-sewing, applique, and intricate floral embellishment – techniques that would become her signature.

Throughout the 1920s and 1930s, she designed gowns for high-society women in Florida and New York, operating boutiques and working for prestigious department stores. Her reputation for craftsmanship, originality, and elegance grew increasingly. She was known for creating gowns that moved beautifully, featured delicate hand-made flowers, and looked sculpted rather than sewn. Many wealthy clients specifically requested “an Ann Lowe gown” for weddings, balls, and galas.

Her most famous creation came in 1953: the wedding gown worn by Jacqueline Bouvier when she married Massachusetts Sen. John F. Kennedy. The dress – crafted from ivory silk taffeta with dozens of tiny, pleated rosettes – became one of the most photographed bridal gowns in American history. Despite this achievement, Lowe received no public credit at the time. When a flood destroyed her completed gowns 10 days before the wedding, she and her seamstresses worked day and night to remake everything – at her own expense. Her dedication and perfectionism never wavered.

She eventually opened “Ann Lowe Originals,” her own salon on New York’s Madison Avenue. She served clients such as the Rockefellers, DuPonts, Vanderbilts, and actresses like Olivia de Havilland. Yet even with her wealthy clientele, she struggled financially, often undercharging because she wanted every dress to be perfect, even if it meant losing money.

Lowe’s contributions were finally recognized later in life. Today, her exquisite gowns are preserved in museums, including the Smithsonian National Museum of African American History and Culture and the Metropolitan Museum of Art.

In the last five years of her life, Lowe lived with her daughter Ruth in Queens, N.Y. She died at her daughter’s home on Feb. 25, 1981, at the age of 82, after an extended illness.

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2025 in Review: Seven Questions for Black Women’s Think Tank Founder Kellie Todd Griffin

As the president and CEO of the California Black Women’s Collective Empowerment Institute, Griffin is on a mission to shift the narrative and outcomes for Black women and girls. She founded the nation’s first Black Women’s Think Tank, securing $5 million in state funding to fuel policy change.

Published

1 day ago

December 14, 2025

Oakland Post

Kellie Todd Griffin. CBM file photo.

By Edward Henderson
California Black Media

With more than 25 years of experience spanning public affairs, community engagement, strategy, marketing, and communications, Kellie Todd Griffin is recognized across California as a leader who mobilizes people and policy around issues that matter.

Griffin spoke with California Black Media (CBM) about her successes and setbacks in 2025 and her hopes for 2026.

Looking back at 2025, what stands out to you as your most important achievement and why? 

Our greatest achievement in this year is we got an opportunity to honor the work of 35 Black women throughout California who are trailblazing the way for the next generation of leaders.

How did your leadership, efforts and investments as president and CEO California Black Women’s Collective Empowerment Institute contribute to improving the lives of Black Californians? 

We’re training the next leaders. We have been able to train 35 women over a two-year period, and we’re about to start a new cohort of another 30 women. We also have trained over 500 middle and high school girls in leadership, advocacy, and financial literacy.

What frustrated you the most over the last year?

Getting the question, “why.” Why advocate for Black women? Why invest in Black people, Black communities? It’s always constantly having to explain that, although we are aware that there are other populations that are in great need, the quality-of-life indices for Black Californians continue to decrease. Our life expectancies are decreasing. Our unhoused population is increasing. Our health outcomes remain the worst.

We’re not asking anyone to choose one group to prioritize. We are saying, though, in addition to your investments into our immigrant brothers and sisters – or our religious brothers and sisters – we are also asking you to uplift the needs of Black Californians. That way, all of us can move forward together.

What inspired you the most over the last year?

I’ve always been amazed by the joy of Black women in the midst of crisis.

That is really our secret sauce. We don’t let the current state of any issue take our joy from us. It may break us a little bit. We may get tired a little bit. But we find ways to express that – through the arts, through music, through poetry.

What is one lesson you learned in 2025 that will inform your decision-making next year?

Reset. It’s so important not to be sitting still. We have a new administration. We’re seeing data showing that Black women have the largest unemployment rate. We’ve lost so many jobs. We can have rest – we can be restful – but we have to continue the resistance.

In one word, what is the biggest challenge Black Californians faced in 2025?

Motivation.

I choose motivation because of the tiredness. What is going to motivate us to be involved in 2026?

What is the goal you want to achieve most in 2026?

I want to get Black Californians in spaces and places of power and influence – as well as opportunities to thrive economically, socially, and physically.

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BRIDGE Housing President and CEO Ken Lombard Scores Top Honors for Affordable Housing Leadership

The Development Company of the Year honor represents a milestone for BRIDGE Housing, which received the Gold award—its top designation—in a category that included both affordable and market-rate developers. The recognition caps what has been one of the strongest growth periods in the organization’s 42-year history.

Published

1 day ago

December 14, 2025

Oakland Post

BRIDGE Housing President and CEO Ken Lombard. Courtesy of BRIDGE Housing.

By the Oakland Post Staff

San Francisco-based BRIDGE Housing and its president and CEO, Ken Lombard, have been named among the nation’s housing industry standouts, earning two of the top prizes at the 2025 Multi-Housing News Excellence Awards.

BRIDGE Housing was named Development Company of the Year, while Lombard received Executive of the Year, recognition that places the nonprofit affordable housing provider alongside leading national developers of both affordable and market-rate housing.

The awards were announced in New York for the accomplishments achieved during 2024.

Multi-Housing News is one of the industry’s most respected publications. Award winners are selected by a panel of housing professionals, including multifamily developers, architects, and owners.

“BRIDGE Housing is deeply honored to be recognized by Multi-Housing News and our industry peers,” Lombard said. “These awards are a testament to the high-impact, mission-driven work by BRIDGE’s exceptional team to deliver quality affordable housing and support services that empower residents to improve their lives.”

In 2024, BRIDGE significantly expanded its footprint across California, Oregon, and Washington. That momentum continued into 2025, with portfolio growth of 9%, including the addition of nine new communities and 1,187 new or acquired affordable housing units. The nonprofit also added three new projects to its development pipeline as it nears a portfolio of 16,000 units.

The growth reflects a broader strategy aimed at accelerating both acquisitions and ground-up development, supported by partnerships with major financial institutions and innovative capital markets strategies. BRIDGE has also emphasized high-quality design and deep community engagement as central elements of its approach.

BRIDGE became the first affordable housing developer to issue tax-exempt construction bonds for one of the largest affordable housing projects in Portland, Ore., leveraging its strong credit rating.

Earlier this year, the nonprofit launched the BRIDGE Housing Impact Fund, with a goal of investing $1 billion to preserve and create affordable housing. It also closed on $175 million in taxable general-obligation bonds after increasing the offering in response to strong investor demand.

The company’s performance also underscores the role of Lombard, who has led BRIDGE since 2021 and was honored individually for his leadership.

Under Lombard’s tenure, BRIDGE has built a new leadership team with experience drawn from both the nonprofit and private sectors, with a particular focus on what the organization describes as efforts to “break the status quo,” especially in affordable housing finance. Those initiatives have helped reduce capital and construction costs, strengthen relationships with institutional investors, and expand resident support services.

Today, BRIDGE Housing serves more than 33,000 residents across 139 communities on the West Coast.

“Ken has dedicated his career to innovative real estate solutions that improve the quality of life in underserved neighborhoods,” said Kenneth Novack, chair of BRIDGE Housing’s board of directors. “His visionary leadership and the work of our incredible team have positioned BRIDGE for long-term growth that will extend our impact throughout the West Coast.”

Founded in 1983, BRIDGE Housing has helped create more than 23,000 affordable homes with a total development cost of $6 billion.