JohntheBaker

Please read this. They Shipyard needs your help immediately. Your voice
is incredibly important right now. Please help.

> From: Chicken John <chickenjohn@chickenjohn.com>
> Sent: May 15, 2007 7:19 AM
> To: damnlist@lists.laughingsquid.org
> Subject: CHICKEN: Shipyard art space and the natural beauty of
> infidelity...
>
> 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 Berkely 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@ci.berkeley.ca.us>
> "Joan MacQuarrie" <JMacQuarrie@ci.berkeley.ca.us>
> "Mark Rhoades" <MRhoades@ci.berkeley.ca.us>
> pkamlarz@ci.berkeley.ca.us
> malbuquerque@ci.berkeley.ca.us
> dpryor@ci.berkeley.ca.us
> dmarks@ci.berkeley.ca.us
> nalhadithy@ci.berkeley.ca.us
> zcowan@ci.berkeley.ca.us
> lmckinney@ci.berkeley.ca.us
> mcaplan@ci.berkeley.ca.us
> jhynes@ci.berkeley.ca.us
> gdaniel@ci.berkeley.ca.us
> mprince@ci.berkeley.ca.us
> gpowell@ci.berkeley.ca.us
> mnorrise@ci.berkeley.ca.us
> gheidenreich@ci.berkeley.ca.us
> mayor@ci.berkeley.ca.us
> lmaio@ci.berkeley.ca.us
> dmoore@ci.berkeley.ca.us
> manderson@ci.berkeley.ca.us
> spring@ci.berkeley.ca.us
> lcapitelli@ci.berkeley.ca.us
> olds@ci.berkeley.ca.us
> kworthington@ci.berkeley.ca.us
> GWozniak@ci.berkeley.ca.us
> clerk@ci.berkeley.ca.us
>
>

These are the addresses you want to send. people need to know who
> they're writing:
> City Manager's Office
> manager@ci.berkeley.ca.us
> Mayor Tom Bates
> mayor@ci.berkeley.ca.us
> Councilmember Linda Maio
> maio@ci.berkeley.ca.us
> Councilmember Laurie Capitelli
> lcapitelli@ci.berkeley.ca.us
> Councilmember Darryl Moore
> dmoore@ci.berkeley.ca.us
> Councilmember Betty Olds
> olds@ci.berkeley.ca.us
> Councilmember Maxwell Anderson
> manderson@ci.berkeley.ca.us
> Councilmember Kriss Worthington
> worthington@ci.berkeley.ca.us
> Councilmember Dona Spring
> spring@ci.berkeley.ca.us
> Councilmember Gordon Wozniak
> gwozniak@ci.berkeley.ca.us
> Planning Department
> planning@ci.berkeley.ca.us
>
>
>
>
> Chicken John

> 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@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
>
> href="http://laughingsquid.com/berkeley-shuts-down-amazing-art-space-the-">http://laughingsquid.com/berkeley-shuts-down-amazing-art-space-the-
> shipyard/
>

Jim mason wrote on the following day:

many thanks to all of you who have been writing letters. i think
about 100 unique well crafted letters have reached them so far. more
are needed, both to try to reverse the shipyard situation, as well as
make some progress against the dynamics that have been repeatedly
driving art spaces out of berkeley, at the hands of the berkeley govt.
this is not simply a matter of condo development pushing out previous
art uses. it is active over reaching by building officials on matters
that are easily solvable in other cities.

if you can take a moment to write to the previously posted addresses,
it would be greatly appreciated. berkeley DOES respond to its
citizenry. its prides itself on its open public process of govt.

many have been writing asking for more details on the physical
particulars on our site, as well as other political pressures around
our project. here's the specifics from our perspective, excerpted
from a letter i sent to the mayor, city manager, and city council.

------------------------------------------------

. . . excerpt . . .

both the content and method of the enforcement letter came as a
complete shock to us. a 3 day "vacate and abate" order to remove all
items from shipping containers and move containers from internal
property lines or face $2500/day fines and jail was impossible to
comply with. the only option i saw to protect us and the landowner
from these draconian methods was to forfeit the site. in other
contexts i believe this is referred to as "entrapment".

it is important to realize that the representations being made about
conditions on site are vastly exagerated, and often demonstrably
untrue. at times they are so distorted and counterfactual that i have
to question the motives of those involved in enforcement.

the electrical system is yes, completely unpermitted. i can't get any
permits, as an electrical permit first requires us to get the general
building permit, which has for years been held up by the above structural
issues. nonetheless, any absolute analysis by disinterested parties
would determine that our electrical work is of the highest quality and
code safe in nearly all details. this is not a romax stapled to the
wall installation. this is a high end industrial level distribution
system, with expert configuration and the best parts and assemblies
used throughout. where things can be done less impressivley and be ok
codewise, the more rigorous and robust strategy is always taken. it
so far exceeds in safety the wiring and system design i have seen in
any other fabrication space i'm just not sure where to begin. and
furthermore, it all runs on solar. properly installed and protected
solar. i work in power engineering. i care deeply about the craft and
quality of these systems. any informed visitor to the site can see
this everywhere.

the living in containers claim is also a red herring. the containers are
shops and storage. david orth (the fire marshal)
saw a container with a futon couch, sleeping bag and coffee pot in it
and called it living. there were no domestic items, food,
toothbrushes or clothes. it was simply someone's shop and they likely
crashed there or took naps after hard work on ocassion.

then david saw the costume wardrobe for the neverwas haul, a hot
plate, as well as trailmix on the table. this was also "interpreted"
as clear evidence of living. the mind reels a bit from all this. but
this is the evidence being rolled out against us by the berkeley fire
marshall.

fortunately (or unfortuantely), the evidence in david's own camera
will disprove his claims of living in the containers. his evidence
will not stand up in either the court of public opinion or a court of
law. and i fear we are going towards both given the excessive over
reaction by certain city officials in this matter.

the truth here is that david orth has been very hostile to this
project for years. i finally realized the reason for this when i
learned he wants to build a new emergency vehicles warehouse next door
to the shipyard in the now abandoned railroad tracks. during our all
dept head meeting last october to discuss the shipyard legalization, i
asked david about the status of his warehouse project. he replied,
and we have lots of witnesses to this, "that is absolutely none of
your business, the status of the warehouse project has no bearing on
the shipyard discussion". this was said in a very hostile manner,
which left a very awkward silence in the room. no one was really sure
what to do with this statement, so after a long pause, we just
continued. michael likely remembers this interaction.

given this history, i find it troubling that the individual making
dubious and counterfactual interpretations about life safety issues at
our site has a personal interest in an adjoining project. it would be
difficult to not imagine a conflict of interest in his judgements.

which leads us to the technique used during this enforcement. most of
which were based on life safety issues that followed from david's
determinations and proposed responses. he was the lead in this
enforcement from what i can gather, and this was certainly the case on
site, when he concerned himself with everything from fire to plumbing
to zoning issues, as well as the definition of art vs alt energy.

the enforcement order was a 3 day "vacate and abate" order, or face
2500/day fines, and potential jail. we were ordered to remove all
items from all containers, and remove the containers themselves away
from internal property lines. given the amount of material in these
shops, and the complexity of their arrangement, this is simply an
order impossible to comply with. it is nothing short of entrapement,
and any heroic push to attempt a partial compliance would only create
a real life safety issue in response.

calls by our lawyer to david orth revealed that he was quite serious
about enforcing these threats. suddenly after 6 years, there were
site conditions that required a 3 day vacate order. and curiously,
those same site conditions were seen two months previous and found to
be tolerable for the city to leave and wait two months more before
acting. if there were really serious life safety issues, the meter
would have been pulled and the gate chained that day. i even
overheard one official onsite, who i cannot identify, say to his
colleague something to the effect that the conditions onsite site
weren't really that bad and they had done much to clean up the
previous electrical situation that was the major concern.

the reality is we are highly competent artists and engineering doing
things that are ahead of curve, and our activities do not well fit
within current regulatory structures. we have run an active work site
for large scale kinetic sculpture and ground breaking alternative
energy research for 6 years, without one single injury. not a single
one. not even a single electrical shock that i know of. has even the
offices at city hall managed such a record in the last 6 years?

so to be told that we are an immanent danger to ourselves and others
is a bit nonsensical. and to do so right near the end of our very
focussed efforts to make all this right by the code, is more than
mildly insulting.

unfortunately, this is not the first time these sorts of destructive
and unnecessary determinations and heavy handed enforcements have
happened in the city of berkeley. this has become a regular and
identifyable pattern at this point. you are surely reading about this
pattern and what the public thinks about it in the many letters you
are currently receiving. our goal now is to prevent further actions
of similar nature by challenging the agents who repeatedly drive
creative and innovative facilities and people out of the city. and in
the process, impoverish the cultural, technical and intellectual life
that is the reason all of us are here in the first place.

we will be presenting our case about their actions against the
shipyard, as well as their actions against previously "enforced out"
art spaces in berkeley, before the court of public opinion, and if
necessary, before a court of law. there is a very large community of
people very upset about this pattern of behavior by berkeley building
officials. and in this case, we believe we have a lever to do
something about it, for the greater good of the community, and to
support the values and physical particulars that are the reasons all
of us are in berkeley in the first place.

with respect,
jim mason

Chicken John on the following day wrote:

STUNNED

That is the only word I can use to describe the response to my last
post. I have received hundreds of emails that I was cc'd on to the City
of Berkeley. It is nothing short of amazing that so many of you are able
to write a letter. No, I don't mean write a letter... no. I mean: *write
a letter*. As in present a point and seem reasonable and astute and
intelligent and worthy of respect. Adult stuff. I have just been cc'd on
a dozen dozen letters to the city. I called Jim, and told him so. He
told me to forward him the good ones. I forwarded every one. One is
better than the next then the next. This is kinda unreal. I had no idea
this kind of fire power was on my list. Berkeley is already calling and
stuff, but we really need to keep pushing. It's totally working. They
will likely back down very soon. If you have not, I implore you to
please take a moment and send a letter to any and all of the comedians
at City Hall in Berkeley and let them know that your laughing at them,
not with them.
The astounding thing that I noticed in the letters was that many of them
presented solutions. A few we hadn't thought of before. Like, a few
dozen solutions. From all over the country. Mocking Berkeley. Re-writing
scenarios, citing other codes in other cities, sending links to other
places that have solved similar problems... on and on. Berkeley now
knows that we are not a few dirtbags welding bullshit in the dirt. We
are surrounded by intelligent people who's signature file at the bottom
of the mails tout MIT, Stanford, ITT, Google... and so on. It is likely
a bad day to be a building inspector in Berkeley.
Please, keep sending mail. Our meeting with them is on Monday. The
pressure needs to get worse, not subside. They need to know that there
is a constituency of people that can be called on to defend things like
this. It only takes a moment, we have poured time into this. The
Shipyard legalization process was like owning a boat... just poured time
and money into it. In the end, the water eats your boat. Well, Berkeley
ate our art space. But we've got our arm down their throat and we are
trying to pull it out. Please help us keep the mouth open. Please write
a letter. Remember that time you car wouldn't start and I spent 20
minutes on the phone with you explaining to you how to check for spark?
Please, write a letter. Remember when you were broke and I gave you half
a beer at the Odeon and only made you do 12 push-ups? Please, write a
letter. Remember that I brought you Jason Webly, TV Sherrif, Toshio
Hirano, Jean the bartender, and let you sing as bad as you could at
Kareokie night at the Odeon? Please, write a letter. Remember when I let
Extreme Elvis have a snowball fight in the bar? Please, write a letter.
Did you love the Neverwas Haul? All the dozens of other artworks at BM?
Please, write a letter. Are interested in steam power, gasification or
alt fuel that is an alternative to bio-diesel (which as you well know is
not an alternative to anything)? Please write a letter. Do you want to
see Berkeley not be able to shut one more art space down? Please write a
letter.
This is a win on so many levels. It's not just about us, it's about
leadership in showing that the simple shipping container is a great
solution to many problem the world faces today. The shipping container
is a friend to mankind, and Berkeley needs to not be an obstacle in that
friendship but an alley.
Tonight at the Shipyard, the Neverwas Haul is going to leave in a grand
procession at 7:00. You are welcome to enjoy the spectacle. In a wave of
Glory the 3 story steam powered Victorian house will pull out of the
yard, make a right turn on Murry street and probably get pulled over by
the cops and impound the fucking thing. Actually, that sounds like a lot
of fun. I think I'll go.....

chicken

Chicken John Showman
San Francisco, California
415-215-1632
chickenjohn@chickenjohn.com <mailto:chickenjohn@chickenjohn.com>