Elevator Company Slams Alleged Arsonist Richard Earl Singer

Elevator Company Slams Alleged Arsonist Richard Earl Singer

Elevator Company Cancels Service Agreements At Oakland's Menlo Hotel, and Ridge Hotel

By Lynda Carson -- March 22, 2011

Oakland -- Adding to the federal charges of conspiring to hire an arsonist to burn down the Menlo Hotel, a local elevator repair company out of Pacifica accuses Richard Earl Singer, the owner of Oakland's Menlo Hotel and Ridge Hotel, of operating his buildings and the building's elevators in an unsafe manor.

The problems for Tiburon's wealthy slumlord millionaire, Richard Earl Singer, keep mounting as new evidence provides more documentation revealing that he has been operating his Oakland hotels, in a very unsafe manor. Singer faces a class action lawsuit from over 50 residents of the Ridge Hotel, that have sued him for operating the hotel in slum-like conditions.

In a revealing April 2, 2010 letter from Curtis Bleyle of Bleyle Elevator, Inc., to Richard Singer, including Ryan Nathan, Sam Manning, and Joel McCall of the management company called RMD Services, Bleyle writes; Due to unsafe conditions, an unwillingness to make necessary repairs and a poor payment history with long past due invoices we are sending you this cancellation letter. Bleyle Elevator believes the management of these buildings are not interested in safety and this attitude is putting unacceptable liability exposure on all persons connected to these buildings. Older elevators in poor conditions, as yours are, require extensive and on-going repairs to maintain a reasonable degree of safety. There are also unauthorized persons manually running the elevator from the machine room at 344-13th St., (Menlo Hotel) creating extremely unsafe conditions.

Additionally, Curtis Bleyle writes that the Bleyle Elevator company will not do any more work on the elevators until paid in full for all of the past invoices, and Bleyle demanded a letter from Richard Singer and RMD Services acknowledging that they will not have others illegally and unsafely operating their elevators.

RMD Services still manages the Ridge Hotel, but had no comment, and Singer was not available for comment for this story.

On March 28, at 9:30 AM, Singer is scheduled to appear in courtroom 4, on the 3rd floor, at 1301 Clay St., in Oakland, for his arraignment after being charged with the solicitation of arson of a commercial building used in interstate commerce, and he faces 10 years in prison, and a $125,000 fine.

In an affidavit federal officials have charged that Singer hired an arsonist and handed over a check for $1,500, so the arsonist could buy the materials needed to burn down the Menlo Hotel.

Additionally, federal officials say that Singer wanted to collect a maximum insurance payment, and planned to have the occupied Menlo Hotel burned down on Jan. 15, 2011. Allegedly Singer planned to pay the arsonist an additional $63,500 around 48 hours after the hotel burned down. Presently, there are only around 2 to 3 residents currently residing at the Menlo Hotel, and it appears that new management has taken over, even though Singer still holds the deed of trust to the building.

Lynda Carson may be reached at tenantsrule [at] yahoo.com