Application helps locate seismically weak homes

http://www.dailycal.org/2012/08/12/asuc-senator-creates-saferenting-web-app/

Berkeley residents will now have an easier time identifying seismically unsafe buildings in the city when it comes time to search for a home.

Berkeley SafeRenting, a new web application launched Friday by CalSERVE Senator Klein Lieu, provides residents with a visual tool that can find Berkeley’s seismically unsound buildings, with easy access through both computers and phones.

The application, which will identify the buildings through the city’s Soft Story Program, will also help the program in its recent attempts to make residents and landlords more aware of the risks associated with structures that have weak first stories, known as soft-story buildings.

Berkeley Rent Stabilization Board Commissioner Igor Tregub said the application worked well with the Berkeley Cribs website, a rating site launched by the ASUC, CALPIRG and ASUC Renter’s Legal Assistance last spring that allows students living in the residence halls, apartments and Berkeley Student Cooperative housing units to rate and review their living experience.

“Undergoing a modernization allows us to have more complete information (for tenants),” Tregub said. “Putting this information on this (application) is a wonderful opportunity for the collaborated effort.”

Leiu has also started working with Tregub to expand the application and open up more information to Berkeley tenants by mapping out crime-ridden areas, bus routes, areas without street lights and buildings in close proximity to the city’s police stations.