A week after Berkeley City Council voted unanimously to pursue foreclosure against the owner of the vacant Telegraph Avenue lot just south of the UC Berkeley campus, little visible progress has been made.
Although the city has finally decided to force local business owner Ken Sarachan to repay the nearly $641,000 outstanding lien for the lot on the corner of Haste Street and Telegraph Avenue — which has sat vacant for over 20 years — Sarachan’s next move is anyone’s guess.
Rasputin Music employees were seen clearing the lot of debris briefly Wednesday afternoon, but employee TJ Hamilton denied it was in preparation for any kind of construction activities.
“Whenever the owner thinks it’s getting messy, we clean it out,” Hamilton said.
Although Sarachan — who owns several businesses on Telegraph, including Rasputin — could not be reached for comment, the letter he submitted to Mayor Tom Bates before last week’s special meeting did warn that he would “spend all the resources necessary to provide a maximum defense of the contract in court. The results being that there would be no building or any progress for many years at the Berkeley Inn site.”
Sarachan has maintained that repeated miscommunication and slow processing on the part of the city’s Planning and Development Department are at fault for delaying development at the site.
No word has been given on whether Sarachan has responded to the city’s decision to initiate non-judicial foreclosure.
According to Bates, Sarachan essentially has two choices now that the city has decided to foreclose on the lien — he can either pay the $640,957.39 owed, or he can choose to fight the decision in court.
“I think everybody is still very concerned that things move rapidly,” Bates said. “The only thing I know for sure is that we’re moving forward with getting the money he owes.”
City Attorney Zach Cowan said the process of initiating non-judicial foreclosure begins when the city submits a notice to the owner, which has not yet been sent. The notice will also establish a deadline by which the owner must pay the lien.
“The City ran out of patience,” Cowan said in an email. “In general, we like to give people ample opportunity to do what they’re supposed to do and what they promise to do. Foreclosure is a serious step.”
UC Berkeley ASUC Senator Andrew Albright has been vocal in supporting the council’s decision to foreclose on the lot. Albright said he sees the vacant lot as a health and safety concern for students, and hopes to see affordable student housing built on the site.
“I just hope that they keep pushing,” Albright said. “I hope that they keep pressure on the owner.”
At Wednesday night’s ASUC meeting, Albright submitted a bill supporting the council’s decision to foreclose on the lot and thanking them while also encouraging the city to continue “urging the owner to build housing” on the site. The bill passed unanimously, and ASUC President Vishalli Loomba and External Affairs Vice President Joey Freeman will co-author a letter to be sent to City Council within the next week.
“This is a good issue that the City Council took stance a on,” Albright said. “It’s also good for the ASUC to thank them every once in a while, instead of just complaining whenever they don’t like something. Then they may take us more seriously when we do complain about serious issues.”
Adelyn Baxter covers city government.
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I hope the Rasputin employees understand that they are exposing themselves to whole bunch of messed up diseases that rats carry, so their scumbag owner can maintain control of his derelict property. Is Sarachan out there cleaning up the lot with you? I bet not. Was this in your job description as a record store employee? Good luck with all the diseases, you pathetic enablers, Sarachan is laughing all the way to the bank.
“hopes to see affordable student housing built”
With unicorns grazing on the lawn.
In the end, it’s the Berkeley community that suffers from the presence of this hell-hole. To say that the city council has been this patient is a nice way to say its been sitting on its rear end. It’s an outrage. Major props to ASUC Senator Andrew Albright for doing something.
plus if there were anything there, housing or business, it expands the city’s tax base.
‘Whenever the owner thinks it’s getting messy, we clean it out,” Hamilton said.’
Maybe technically true if this is the first time the owner ever thought it was getting messy. What a candy ass moron.
It’s hard to imagine, but there are actually people out there who are deranged enough to support Sarachan in his efforts to blight Telegraph.