[Thelist] CLARIFICATION What you can do to Save the Shipyard

[mabel hooper]

did it. wrote it. wrote something less than stellar. but still wrote it.

i think it's really important that we all write these things... if you 
feel the same, just write something. anything.

jim/shipyard is on to something really big. the shipyard is trying to 
pull off one of the best projects ever: using what we got to produce 
something that actually gives back to the earth.

if you care about oil, energy, gas, the war, berkeley liberalism, green, 
califonrnia liberal politics, then you SHOULD write.

..and when i wrote, i even got a response back. how nice is that!


m.


my silly letter follows (don't ask me how much i wish i could already 
re-write it. they still wrote back!)

------


To the City of Berkeley:


It has come to my attention that recently you provided a shocking three 
day vacate and abate notice to the tenants at 1010 Murray and 1017 
Folger, aka the Shipyard.

I was very sad to hear this, as the Shipyard has been a working 
fabrication/arts facility for many years now, producing beautiful 
large-scale engineering projects that have the capacity to answer 
long-term questions to the looming energy crisis.

They have the potential to offer real and anticipated solutions to our 
ever-growing problems in renewable fuel and alternate power sources, as 
just some of their work can already attest.

While I am not a builder nor an artist, and have nothing personally at 
stake at the closure or move of the Shipyard, I am a professional 
working in Berkeley and the Bay Area has been home for my family for 
four generations.

I've always appreciated the great resolve that Berkeley has shown in 
being home to many innovative, if not also controversial, ideas, 
including in alternative/complementary medicine (of which I practice), 
and of propagating and largely supporting radical and self-sufficient 
movements towards social change for a better tomorrow.

I would think that if any city would want some of The Shipyard's type of 
work and thought to be propagated out of their hometown, it should very 
well be Berkeley. So why isn't it?

As more and more artists flee the confines of your visionary city, many 
of us have begun to wonder what Berkeley's longterm vision is.

It would be a shame for you/us to lose the Shipyard and I hope that you 
can find within your powers some way to work with Jim Mason and The 
Shipyard towards finding solutions that the Shipyard can comply with.


Thank you for your consideration.

Sincerely,

Sheilah Rogers, LAc

Licensed Acupuncturist
415-730-4144











C y b e r sAM wrote:
> Joan MacQuarrie is the head bldg official. 
> Her email is JMacQuarrie at ci.berkeley.ca.us. 
> Its best to send your email about the shipyard to her.
> but her only.  don't send to everyone please.
> 
> -=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=
> 
> 
> FYI - Here is the letter I wrote:
> 
> 
> I am very disturbed with Berkeley's heavy-handed, no other option but to
> vacate the area known as the Shipyard.
> 
> This is a community of hard working people who are making a difference.
> They are setting a good example for all of us by not just talking about
> how to use alternative energy, but actually doing it despite all the
> costs and work to take that route. Our government and corporations have
> failed us by not yet offering us affordable energy produced by
> renewable, non-fossil fuel energy. And now we see that those that are
> attempting to live in a zero emissions world get no help from even a
> city as open-minded as Berkeley.
> 
> I understand that your job is to keep people safe and make sure no one
> violates safety and building regulations. However, I do not feel that
> you have not given the Shipyard viable options to meet your safety
> regulations. In my opinion, it would be extremely costly or impossible
> for them to meet your requirements. To me that means pay up or get out,
> we only want rich residents inside our borders. Given that there hasn't
> been an injury at the Shipyard in 6 years, there is no reason to tell me
> that it is unsafe there.
> 
> The firewall issue can be fixed; however, it is ridiculous to tell me or
> anyone that shipping containers are not safe building materials. I have
> been a carpenter for many years, and I know for sure that shipping
> containers are much sturdier, more fire retardant and safer than wood
> framing and sheet rock will ever be. It is simply bogus to ask the
> Shipyard to fund the sufficient research to prove that shipping
> containers are safe building materials. Shipping containers are used in
> many new building situations, and I believe that it is the city of
> Berkeley's responsibility to prove or disprove the stability of shipping
> containers as building materials not the Shipyard's.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Sincerely,
> 
> Sam Frangiamore
> 
> C y b e r sAM wrote:
>> Dear CYBERBUSS fhREaKs,
>>
>>
>> We all have gotten the run-around from city, state and national 
>> officials at one time or another for simply doing things differently.
>> We all have gotten the "sorry you can't do that because you may hurt 
>> yourself then sue us" bullshit.
>> We all know that any new idea, product, fashion or whatever is at 
>> first rejected by society and govenment before it catches on.
>> We all may remember that the CYBERBUSS coStUmE BaLL waz shut down 
>> twice for not having the proper permits, when getting the proper 
>> permits were difficult to impossible to attain.
>>
>> Well now it is the Shipyard's turn in Berkeley.  If you are unfamiliar 
>> with the Shipyard its a wonderful place built up with steel storage 
>> containers that artist use to store stuff and build art.
>> In short the shipping containers are deemed unsafe building materials 
>> by the city of Berkeley.
>> These are shipping containers that are rated to hold up to 50,000 lbs. 
>> and are stacked 7-9 high and shipped to china on stormy seas.
>> I would trust a shipping container over wood and sheet rock any day.
>>
>> The Shipyard has been off the grid for 4 years.  It is powered with 
>> solar panels and they actually make and run bio deisel in their deisel 
>> generator.
>> The have created a few radical alternative energy vehicles including a 
>> mobile steam run victorian house called the Never Was.
>> They are also working on a new project called the mechabolic which 
>> aims to pull carbon dioxide out of the atmosphere by charring, or 
>> partially burning, trash without using oxygen.  This produces biochar, 
>> which has twice as much carbon in its residue instead of releasing the 
>> carbon into the air. This makes bioenergy carbon-negative and improves 
>> soil health.  Read about it here:
>> -http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2007/05/070511211255.htm
>> -http://www.nytimes.com/cnet/CNET_2100-11392_3-6181680.html?_r=2&oref=slogin&oref=slogin 
>>
>>
>> The people of the Shipyard are doing what our government and 
>> corporations have failed to do (without funding).  And how are they 
>> being rewarded for setting such a fine example in terms of alternative 
>> energy?  They are getting evicted by the city of Berkeley for not 
>> having the proper building permits, which of course are very expensive 
>> to impossible to get.
>> There has never been an injury there in 6 years, but they are being 
>> told to vacate immediately because it is unsafe.
>> As we all know, there is no building permits available for unusual 
>> building structures no matter how safe they may be.
>> This is not the first so called 'artist' residency to get the boot in 
>> the Bay Area for similar reasons.
>> In my opinion, the city of Berkeley is not as liberal and open-minded 
>> as its reputation.
>> There actions is very heavy-handed and they are not interested in 
>> helping a community such as this exist.
>> Perhaps the students of UC Berkeley give Berkeley its 'open-minded' 
>> reputation, but the city itself has catered to its affluent residents 
>> that have accrued wealth through owning property in the right place.
>>
>> Anyway, it may be time to do something other than watch from the 
>> sidelines as this unfolds.
>> The best thing you can do is write one or more of the Berkeley city 
>> officials, show your support for what the Shipyard community is doing 
>> and ask for them to offer some leniency and understanding here.
>> Because the world will not change unless you are willing to.  So do 
>> something radical and write these city officials.
>> Unlike our State and Federal officials, these people will read your 
>> emails and respond.  So, if they are not going to offer the Shipyard 
>> any other options than let them know what you think about their bogus 
>> zero tolerance.
>>
>>
>> "Orth, David" <dorth at ci.berkeley.ca.us>
>> "Joan MacQuarrie" <JMacQuarrie at ci.berkeley.ca.us>
>> "Mark Rhoades" <MRhoades at ci.berkeley.ca.us>
>> pkamlarz at ci.berkeley.ca.us
>> malbuquerque at ci.berkeley.ca.us
>> dpryor at ci.berkeley.ca.us
>> dmarks at ci.berkeley.ca.us
>> nalhadithy at ci.berkeley.ca.us
>> zcowan at ci.berkeley.ca.us
>> lmckinney at ci.berkeley.ca.us
>> mcaplan at ci.berkeley.ca.us
>> jhynes at ci.berkeley.ca.us
>> gdaniel at ci.berkeley.ca.us
>> mprince at ci.berkeley.ca.us
>> gpowell at ci.berkeley.ca.us
>> mnorrise at ci.berkeley.ca.us
>> gheidenreich at ci.berkeley.ca.us
>> mayor at ci.berkeley.ca.us
>> lmaio at ci.berkeley.ca.us
>> dmoore at ci.berkeley.ca.us
>> manderson at ci.berkeley.ca.us
>> spring at ci.berkeley.ca.us
>> lcapitelli at ci.berkeley.ca.us
>> olds at ci.berkeley.ca.us
>> kworthington at ci.berkeley.ca.us
>> GWozniak at ci.berkeley.ca.us
>> clerk at ci.berkeley.ca.us
>>
>> Ok I have said enough already
>>
>>
>> C y b e r sAM
>> -=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-
>>
>> HERE IS THE PRESS LINKS TO DATE
>>
>>
>> you can see the "vacate and abate" order from the city, as well as
>> other relevant documentts at http://www.theshipyard.org/
>>
>> there is a very entertaining KTVU ch 2 segment here, done live from
>> the site on friday: http://www.ktvu.com/video/13307846/index.html
>>
>> other media to date is here:
>> http://www.boingboing.net/2007/05/11/evicted_berkeleys_sh.html
>> http://radar.oreilly.com/
>> http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2007/05/11/BAGF0PPJM520.DTL 
>>
>> http://www.sfbg.com/blogs/politics/2007/05/berkeley_shutting_down_art_and.html 
>>
>> http://laughingsquid.com/berkeley-shuts-down-amazing-art-space-the-shipyard/ 
>>
>>
>>
>> -=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-
>>
>> HERE IS CHICKEN JOHN'S ADDRESS
>>
>>
>> OK< as many of you know by now the Shipyard, Jim Masons' zero
>> emissions off grid art space and alt/power research facility has been
>> shut down for building code violations. In Berkeley. Can you hear the
>> laugh track? The City of Berkeley shut down the zero emissions art and
>> tech facility for a building code violation. Did you hear it that
>> time?
>>
>> So. It's time to RAIN DOWN LIKE DEATH. Roll out the machines of death,
>> we are going to war. Again. It seems like we have to do this from time
>> to time. I think it may be good. Get a little exercise, lube the
>> cannons, oils the door on the war room. But man, there is no funnier
>> templet. It's like a Rodney Dangerfeild joke set up: "So the City of
>> Berkeley shuts down the zero emissions art space, no respect I tell
>> ya, we artists get no respect...."
>>
>> First thing is first, we are going to win. So lets not make this too
>> humiliating for them. We do not need to rub it in or gloat or
>> whatever. We will have to continue to see these people at the coffee
>> shop and someone has to be there to fix the streets and take out the
>> garbage and stuff. So remember that everyone has their place, even
>> city officials who say that a steel shipping container is a fire
>> hazard because it's not a building material, so it's not a building
>> and can't be built and not "habitable", even for someone to store some
>> simple hand tools and a few puppets. That, of course, is illegal. You
>> can go to jail for that.
>>
>> So let us refer to the following phrase and spread it around:
>>
>> Make puppets in a shipping container, go to jail.   art and alt/ fuel
>> is illegal in Berkely   www.theshipyard.org
>>
>> Build a hydrogen car that runs on garbage, go to jail.  art and alt/
>> fuel is illegal in Berkeley   www.theshipyard.org
>>
>> That should be made into a bumper stickers. Someone get on that...
>>
>>
>> So the actuality that is happening here is the same one that happens
>> elsewhere: they *say* they like what your doing. They *say* that they
>> just want you to comply. You ask what is needed to comply, they tell
>> you to do this and that. You do it. Then, there is this other thing.
>> And now that they thought about it for a while, there is this other
>> thing and what about that thing and I forgot that thing. Pretty soon
>> you start adding it all up and you would have to spend twice as much
>> then if you were building a brand new building. And since you can get
>> a loan to build a brand new building on the make art out of junk
>> business model (last time I checked) well then you just walk away in
>> disgust.
>>
>> But not this time. There are too many of us. If corralled against a
>> common enemy, well there is certainly no obstacle that we can not
>> overcome. there are a hundred thousand of us that have gone to Burning
>> Man. And that's just Burning Man. That's not all the other artists and
>> all the other people who champion our liberties and who have stores of
>> distain for beurocracy to no end other then mediocrity. There are more
>> people in Oakland California who write the word "artist" on their tax
>> returns then any other city.
>>
>> So. First thing is first. You fire a shot across the bow.
>>
>> Copy and send this to your lists far and wide.
>>
>> Then, let these people know that you think it's funny that the
>> facility that build a car that runs on garbage last month that has
>> zero emissions got shut down for a building code violation. You could
>> say something like:  "Stop it, your killin' me....". But the comedy is
>> too rich. Here is a list of the comedians:
>>
>>
>>
>> "Orth, David" <dorth at ci.berkeley.ca.us>
>> "Joan MacQuarrie" <JMacQuarrie at ci.berkeley.ca.us>
>> "Mark Rhoades" <MRhoades at ci.berkeley.ca.us>
>> pkamlarz at ci.berkeley.ca.us
>> malbuquerque at ci.berkeley.ca.us
>> dpryor at ci.berkeley.ca.us
>> dmarks at ci.berkeley.ca.us
>> nalhadithy at ci.berkeley.ca.us
>> zcowan at ci.berkeley.ca.us
>> lmckinney at ci.berkeley.ca.us
>> mcaplan at ci.berkeley.ca.us
>> jhynes at ci.berkeley.ca.us
>> gdaniel at ci.berkeley.ca.us
>> mprince at ci.berkeley.ca.us
>> gpowell at ci.berkeley.ca.us
>> mnorrise at ci.berkeley.ca.us
>> gheidenreich at ci.berkeley.ca.us
>> mayor at ci.berkeley.ca.us
>> lmaio at ci.berkeley.ca.us
>> dmoore at ci.berkeley.ca.us
>> manderson at ci.berkeley.ca.us
>> spring at ci.berkeley.ca.us
>> lcapitelli at ci.berkeley.ca.us
>> olds at ci.berkeley.ca.us
>> kworthington at ci.berkeley.ca.us
>> GWozniak at ci.berkeley.ca.us
>> clerk at ci.berkeley.ca.us
>>
>>
>> In the end the emotion that really come forward here is embarrassment.
>> You should be embarrassed. Berkeley is a stantion of hope in a world
>> gone mad, and that they are pulling the endless list of things to make
>> it safe like Disneyland thing is intolerable. I will now sum up what
>> has happened in a few short sentences:
>>
>> Shipping containers are not a rated building material. Like sheetrock,
>> for example. Since they are not a building material, you can not build
>> with them as a raw material without proving that they a structurally
>> sound. Like, that they will not crumble to dust or twist like a
>> pretzel in an earthquake. They need engineering calculations to abide
>> by a certain standard. And they need to be fire rated. 5/16 thick
>> steel needs to be proven that it is a 2 hour fire wall. Basically,
>> they want to not have any liability. Just in case metal can catch fire
>> or building containers twist into pretzels or turn to dust or
>> something. Oh yea, they also don't like our illegal kitchen which is a
>> sink and a stove in a corner stacked up and not hooked up to anything.
>> They claim that all the work was done without any permits. True. But
>> you can not get a permit. The electrical is done far beyond any code,
>> there is no safety hazard. But it's unsafe, because it doesn't have a
>> permit. And the shipping containers are unsafe, because they don't
>> have a permit. And the bathroom is unsafe. Anything without a permit
>> is unsafe. Here is a communication I had with the City Planning
>> Manager:
>> ______________________________________________________________________________________________________ 
>>
>>
>> John,
>>
>>
>> This is a great place for arts uses. The issue here is not the
>> location, but that minimum fire and life safety issues be observed.
>>
>>
>>
>> Mark Rhoades, AICP
>> City Planning Manager
>> Berkeley, CA
>> 510.981.7411
>> -----Original Message-----
>> From: Chicken John [mailto:chickenjohn at chickenjohn.com]
>> Sent: Monday, May 14, 2007 12:05 PM
>> To: Rhoades, Mark
>> Subject: a quick question regarding the Shipyard
>>
>> Hello there Mark. I've been thinking about how to mediate and where
>> and how to parcel energy to the best advantage to eveyrone involved in
>> this thing. I'm a Shipyard guy. I just have a quick question that
>> might save everyone a lot of time here. Excuse my terse tone, but here
>> it goes:
>>
>>
>> Your title on you email sig-file is City Planning Manager, does the
>> city of Berkeley have any plans for a location that would attract a
>> place like the shipyard, or are things like the Shipyard not something
>> that you have plans to try to attract? Has the city any plans for an
>> 'art zone' or something? Is there any information along these lines
>> that we do not have?
>>
>> It will help us in our re-organization. There are many of us that are
>> Berkeley residents who love it here and wish to stay, but maybe moving
>> to Oakland would be a better idea. We really thought that Berkeley
>> would want a zero emissions art production place that makes steam
>> powered Victorian Recreational Vehicles, and we still do. Things
>> likely should have gone down differently, sure. But it was all a great
>> improv. We are happy for the time we spent there, but if you could
>> take a moment of your time and either quell my thinking in this area
>> or maybe shed some light on some information that I don't have it
>> would be greatly helpful in this tuff time for us.
>>
>> I thank you for you time and consideration.
>>
>>
>> John
>>
>> ______________________________________________________________________________________________________ 
>>
>>
>> So there it is right there.... life safety. Notice there is no extra
>> information or any nudge twards cooperation or whatever. Just follow
>> the law. It's written down in this book. Read it. You ask them what
>> they want you get referred to a book that you can not read: the code
>> book. You ask them what their intention is they say that they just
>> want to make sure everything is safe. They string you along and make
>> you write it all down and submit it, then they shoot it full of holes
>> and make it impossible.
>>
>> It makes you wonder if there is any anselary agenda? And the fact that
>> Joan has shut down so many art spaces makes me wonder if she's just
>> not out to get the art spaces. I wonder if she's a patron? I wonder
>> what her aspirations were as a student? Maybe this is her way a being
>> an art critic? If she doesn't like soemone's work she makes them leave
>> Berkeley? That would at least be funny, no?
>>
>> There is no way to get a permit to build something with an unrated
>> building material. So the building department needs to do a building
>> material "equivalent". Compare it to something else. Easy. But they
>> chose not to. Instead, they want us to spend hundreds of thousands of
>> dollars paying engineers to 'test' shipping containers for seismic
>> load. Ridiculous. The fire stuff is nothing, but without the
>> containers being legal, we can't get an electrical permit. So that's
>> the fire thing. It's all really just one thing, actually.... it comes
>> down to the following questions:
>>
>> Is a shipping container a reasonable place to store puppets? Put a
>> table and weld some junk together? Make a steam powered car? Build a
>> wind sculpture? Build a gasifier the goes in the bed of a pick-up
>> truck that burns garbage and propels the vehicle with zero emissions?
>> Is a shipping container a great solution to a million little problems?
>>
>> Yes of course it is. Is it a good place to store things? Yea. It's
>> metal. It can't catch on fire. They are air tight, so even if I fire
>> happens in one, you just close it. No air. Duh. And welding in a metal
>> building seems pretty smart. Duh. For steam power and things under
>> pressure, metal walls.... seems pretty safe. Mobile, flexible. And
>> here is the kicker: they're green. They already exist. You don't need
>> to manufacture anything. Nothing to buy, no power spent building them.
>> they exist. They are here. It's a building with a door that you pick
>> up with a forklift and throw on the bed of a truck.
>>
>> But they are not a building material recognized by the City of
>> Berkeley. At this time. Please, let us bring that time to a close.
>> Please help the City of Berkeley through this uncomfortable
>> actualization that a building container is their friend. They may need
>> a little hand holding, and maybe something firmer down the line.
>>
>> In the end, the comedy is brutal. There are basicly no buildings on
>> the site, and they shut us down for not having a building permit. I
>> wonder how many injuries were sustained at Berkekely city hall in the
>> last 6 years? There have been no injuries at the shipyard at all.
>>
>> Please feel free to contact the City of Berkeley and gently let them
>> know that you support the Shipyard. And that you support art for all
>> purposes. If they won't listen to logic, then our next step is
>> performance art. Which can be quite fun, as you well know.....
>>
>> here we go again,
>>
>> chicken john
>>
>>
>>
>> more info here
>>
>> www.theshipyard.org
>>
>> http://laughingsquid.com/berkeley-shuts-down-amazing-art-space-the-shipyard/ 
>>
>>
>>
>>
>>
>>
>> ------------------------------------------------------------------------
>>
>> ------------------------------------------------------------------------
>>
>> _______________________________________________
>> Thelist mailing list
>> Thelist at cyberbuss.com
>> http://lists.cyberbuss.com/mailman/listinfo/thelist
>>   
>> ------------------------------------------------------------------------
>>
>> No virus found in this incoming message.
>> Checked by AVG Free Edition. 
>> Version: 7.5.467 / Virus Database: 269.7.1/805 - Release Date: 5/15/2007 10:47 AM
>>   
> 
> ------------------------------------------------------------------------
> 
> _______________________________________________
> Thelist mailing list
> Thelist at cyberbuss.com
> http://lists.cyberbuss.com/mailman/listinfo/thelist