News reports in California and in other parts of the country illustrate what some might fairly call an ongoing assault on shopping centers and retail stores. This includes everything from organized mass shoplifting raids on these merchants resulting in large-scale losses due to theft. It also includes situations involving trespassers who engage in a range…
One of the most exciting moments in the lives of many people is the purchase of their first home. Such was the case with Michael Stein, who closed on his first home not that long ago. Unfortunately, as also does happen with some regularity, after closing Michael discovered a material issue at his new home…
A not-for-profit organization in the Skid Row district of Los Angeles aims to provide accessible housing to unhoused people in Los Angeles. (The organization’s name is kept private, and the individuals associated with it discussed in this article have been changed as well.) At present, over 2,500 individuals are housed in different types of housing…
A ferocious fire in South Los Angeles on Main Street at a commercial property took the life of the owner of the premises, and the business operated from the location. The blaze erupted in a building that the now-deceased owner had used for an extended period of time as a warehouse from which he operated…
One of the most unfortunate and challenging situations that can occur for a business owner, employer, or human resources department is an incident in which an employee dies in the workplace. Employee workplace deaths can take many forms. These include the result of natural causes, accidents, and even the result of some type of criminal…
Located in the northwest corner of Greater Los Angeles, Thousand Oaks was founded almost 60 years ago and has been a growing, vibrant community ever since. Thousand Oaks is home to a number of top-notch shopping centers, including one we will call CenterPointe for the purposes of this article. (We protect the privacy of our…
Jack lived in a pleasant condominium community with comfortable residences set in duplexes on tree-lined streets complete with statuesque palm trees. The community was located in a suburb of San Diego. In his carport was a vintage car from a few decades earlier, one of his favorite possessions and that he literally kept under wraps…
A property management company with operations in California and Washington contacted Eco Bear regarding an apartment in which a tenant had been evicted. The court issued an eviction order in the case and even then, the tenant did not depart voluntarily. Law enforcement came to the scene to remove the tenant from the premises. Upon…
The Orange County Task Force on Hoarding does not provide direct services. The organization is comprised of representatives of organizations that can provide assistance to individuals dealing with hoarding behavior or with persons who have been diagnosed with hoarding disorder. Organizations or individuals that encounter hoarding situations are encouraged to bring challenging cases to the…
While there are benefits to living in an apartment community, there are also negative aspects. One of the primary downsides of apartment living is that what happens in another unit has the potential for having a more significant impact on your residency than when living in something like a single-family home. The perils faced by…
No precise count exists on the number of community gardens in operation in the swath of territory around the greater Bay Area communities. Indeed, there is no reliable estimate of the number of active communities throughout California. It is estimated that there are over 29,000 community gardens in the 100 largest cities in the United…
One of the most tragic and emotionally challenging occurrences during a lifetime is the death of a family member by suicide. Sadly, a considerable percentage of people in the United States and other countries worldwide are impacted by this virtually incomprehensible loss. If you have recently lost a family member as the result of death…
If you are mourning the death of a loved one, odds are that others are also mourning. These may include other family members if you’ve lost a relative and other friends or colleagues of the deceased if there is no blood relationship. In the vast majority of instances when a family member, friend, or colleague…
If you have a family member or other loved one with a hoarding disorder, what steps can be taken to regain a sense of order at and in their home? Before diving into one specific strategy, it is essential to note that supporting a loved one with a hoarding disorder necessitates a comprehensive approach to…
An unknown number of people engage in pet hoarding in the United States. The exact number of people involved in pet hoarding isn’t known because most people who engage in this activity are relatively diligent about keeping the hoarding of pets hidden from others – at least initially. In this article, we discuss the ins…
A national retail chain store with a location in Riverside, contacted Eco Bear recently. The store needed our biohazard remediation professionals to assist in cleaning up a site that had been contaminated due to trespassing and other conduct by people who are unhoused. The store maintained its trash bins in a fenced, gated, and locked…
Jaqueline manages a homeowner’s association in Long Beach. The community consists of interconnected condominiums. In this case, four units are connected, with two residences on the ground floor and a pair of condos above them. The four individual residences share common plumbing facilities. Each of the condos are individually owned. There is a plumbing issue…
Verna explained that she needs the assistance of professionals like those at Eco Bear who are patient, understanding, and experienced in working with individuals like her who exhibit hoarding behavior and very well may have hoarding disorder. The compassionate, experienced hoarder property cleanup team at Eco Bear has an extensive background in working with people…
Cliff lives in a small apartment. He exhibits elements of hoarding behavior, although his situation has not reached the point that he cannot move through his apartment. His apartment is cluttered and dirty. Hoarding behavior is a pattern of behavior characterized by the excessive acquisition of and inability to discard possessions, regardless of their actual…
In this day and age, an ever-increasing number of people live alone during their Golden Years. As a result, seniors engage in a broader array of different types of “preplanning” beyond what was primarily associated with estate planning for many years. In this article, we share the story of Herb, a man in his 80s…
Eco Bear received a telephone call from a gentleman named Timothy, who made the call on behalf of his father-in-law, James. Timothy and his wife lived out of state, although James is a resident of California. James owns a smaller apartment building in California, in San Diego. One of James’ tenants was a veteran named…
A tenant in a California apartment complex telephoned Eco Bear about the unattended death of another resident. The unattended death occurred in an apartment a few floors above where the tenant who contacted Eco Bear resides. The remains of the tenant that experienced an unattended death had been left in the unit undiscovered for an…
The onsite manager of an apartment building contacted Eco Bear in regard to the matter of an unattended death of a tenant in one of the units. The manager was not 100 percent sure how long the tenant had been deceased before his body was discovered. The manager honestly admits that she lacks a clear…
Laurel is a resident of Texas who recently purchased a home in Studio City. The Studio City home had been vacant for some time and became attractive to homeless people. Laurel reached out to Echo Bear for assistance cleaning up the residence after its “use” from time to time by unhoused people. Fortunately, in this…
California Adult Services contacted Eco Bear regarding a gentleman named Thomas, who resides at March Air Reserve Base. The Adult Services client currently cannot appropriately maintain his apartment in a duly clean and organized manner. Adult Services did not communicate why this is the case, nor did the agency provide any information as to whether…
William resides in a single-wide trailer in Lake Elsinore, California. Recently, he has exhibited what some people have described as hoarding behavior. Hoarding behavior involves the excessive acquisition of and inability or unwillingness to discard large quantities of objects that cover the living areas of the home and cause significant distress or impairment. Hoarding disorder…
Morris and Madeline have what their friends and neighbors describe as a “lovely home” in Los Angeles’ Cheviot Hills. Their residence in the upscale neighborhood is about 3,000 square feet. Morris and Madeline are both in their mid-70s. Professionally, Morris is an attorney and Madeline is in advertising. Both Morris and Madeline have limited their…
A landlord recently telephoned our company. She was dealing with a sewage overflow in an apartment in a rather large apartment building. Hers was an emergency situation that demanded immediate assistance. Our company was able to intervene and undertake sewage overflow remediation immediately. Eco Bear’s fee for the sewage overflow cleanup in the apartment was…
Jessica has a one-acre property in the mountains near Palm Desert. She intends to put the property, including her home, on the market for sale in the fall. While living in the residence, Jessica used one of the bedrooms and the garage for storage. While preparing the property for sale, Jessica discovered a rodent and…
A California insurance adjuster has been left with the task of assisting an insured in obtaining appropriate biohazardous remediation of an automobile that was stolen and then recovered. The vehicle was missing for about three months after it was stolen. By most accounts of people who have now seen the automobile in question, it has…
A California property owner reached out to a biohazard remediation company called Eco Bear regarding a property he owned that he worried had been used as a math lab. He wasn’t 100 percent certain that this illicit activity occurred at the property, although he believed there were many signs of a meth lab having been…
A hardware store worker reported that his employer required him to clean bird and rodent droppings from paint cans in the storage area before being placed for sale in the shop. The worker’s employer only provided rubber gloves and no other personal protection equipment or PPE. The worker asks whether this was an appropriate course…
A woman named Elly lives alone in Desert Hot Springs, California, with a significant number of cats. An official determination of hoarding disorder or even pet hoarding behavior has not been made. With that said, there are symptoms of hoarding behavior and possibly even hoarding disorder. The possibility that Elly is involved in cat hoarding…
Gwen is the recipient of adult supportive services offered by the state and county who resides in Nuevo, California. Gwen and her husband Harry, live in a two bedroom, two bathroom trailer. Gwen’s caseworker did a home visit to the trailer and discovered an array of issues that jeopardize the health and welfare of Gwen…
California Adult Services provides an array of different types of assistance to people over the age of 18. These are individuals who face shortcomings or deficiencies in their lives of different types. As a consequence of their life statuses or living situations, these people are assigned case workers to ensure that they are able to…
Marcus lives with his wife and children in Connecticut. They moved from Los Angeles when his wife was offered what they both agreed was an amazing job. Before moving, Marcus had provided some level of caretaker assistance for his widowed aunt, Kate. Marcus and Kate were the only two members of their extended family who…
Marilyn is the adult daughter of a mother who was nearing the age of 90 when she died after a rather short illness. Once the funeral and burial were concluded, Marilyn turned to focusing her attention on cleaning her mother’s home, ultimately to prepare the property to be put on the market for sale. While…
Los Angeles is the location of a number of homeless programs designed to assist unhoused vets in transitioning into suitable, safe housing. An example of these services is apartment units housing, providing living spaces for previously unhoused vets. In many ways, this particular center operates like any other apartment complex. With that said, a vet…
Leah and Max Cohen are the parents of three children, all of which are enrolled in different colleges in the state of California. Leah and Max reside in Palm Springs, own a popular clothing store, and are active in their synagogue. In fact, Leah’s brother is one of the rabbis at Hillel Temple. The Cohen’s…
Homelessness among women in the greater Los Angeles area has reached a crisis level. A variety of organizations are working to attempt to address the matter of unhoused women in the community. A woman we call Margie (in order to protect her privacy) was a woman who received crucial services when she ended up without…
Tony is a senior citizen who lives alone in a studio apartment. Due to his financial status, Tony has been able to obtain rental assistance from LA Family Housing, a nonprofit that is active in the Los Angeles area. LA Family Housing is discussed in greater detail in a moment. Tony is suffering from depression…
Dina, a resident of Orange County, was the closest relative of her nephew, Paul, who made Palm Springs his home. Paul’s own mother had passed on some years earlier and he was an only child. Because both Dina and Paul lived active lives, they kept in contact with one another in somewhat of an inconsistent…
In 2023, if residential landlords (and even commercial renters) are questioned about their biggest potential legal liability, they will nearly always respond with tenants who fail to honor their lease commitments. In other words, these property owners are nearly uniform in their belief that their greatest liability is the potential to lose money when tenants…
The loss of a loved one by suicide can result in a complicated emotional aftermath. As a consequence, frustration can be a significant part of the grieving process after a loved one’s suicide death. Through this we provide an overview of frustration and the death by suicide of a loved one. We also discuss how…
No one ever told me that grief felt so much like fear. – C.S. Lewis Fear is a common response to death and can impact the overall grieving process. This is even more the case when the cause of a loved one’s passing is suicide. The death by suicide of a loved one raises the…
In his book Aftermath, Gary Roe writes: Sadness and anger are the two predominant grief emotions. In suicide deaths, both tend to be deep and powerful. Someone special has been taken from us. We’re designed for relationships and wired for connection. We don’t do separation well. Our hearts scream that this kind of thing is…
In nearly all instances of a person who dies by suicide, family and other loved ones are virtually universal in stating that when they learned of the death, they were in shock. People often time do make statements like “I was shocked” when something alarming occurs in their lives. In some instances, they really may…
Many people presume that there is a definite link between depression and suicide. Facts are that there can be a link between depression and suicide in some instances. In recent years, data regarding the connection between depression and suicide has accumulated and warrants consideration. New Data on the Depression and Suicide Link The U.S. Department…
In his highly regarded book Aftermath: Picking Up the Pieces After a Suicide, Gary Roe addresses the subject of confusion following the death of a loved one – a state of confusion that can be profound and even debilitation. Roe writes: When death invades, confusion is a natural result. Our lives have been struck. Our…
If you have lost a family member or friend as a result of a death by suicide, you undoubtedly wonder what might have happened in that loved one’s life that brought that person to the point of suicide. In a good many cases, some past trauma may be an underlying element that resulted in a…
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