Bad.
Here is a photo of the core damage. See the burned out container with the door open and another container collapsed into it? Well right below that was my workspace:
The NIMBY webpage has been updated with the offical (and true) story:
Five years of good times, art, shows, parties, bull sessions, and fire came to an end today. As of September 11, NIMBY has been shut down by the City of Oakland.
What happened?
Early on the morning of September 9th, a new tenant was working in her container doing some candlelight photography. Some time after she left at 4:30 that morning, the fire started. It burned through her container and, despite the efforts of the tenants in the building at the time, the fire quickly got out of control. Two calls to the Oakland Fire Department – one from nearby Tork systems, and one from inside NIMBY 90 seconds later – brought a quick response from our fair city, and they extinguished the fire and knocked out some skylights to vent the smoke. Damage to NIMBY was minimal (scratch two containers) and structural damage to the building itself was confined to a small part of the roof.
However, the Oakland FD was not pleased with what they saw. They ordered us out, and let us know in no uncertain terms that to enter the building was to risk citation or arrest. The next day – today – they returned, with representatives from four different city departments. I lost count of the inspectors, but there can’t have been less than fifteen, and at one point we had an entire fire brigade in the building. Typical inspector comments: “Well, that’s illegal, and so is that…. wow, I’d have lived in a place like this when I was twenty, this is so cool… There’s a violation… Oh, THAT’S no good…” The city was doing their job, but once they were made aware of issues, they couldn’t turn their backs on the problem.
When they left, they let us know that our only option is to vacate. Fixing the problems in the current facility really isn’t an option; NIMBY currently zoned as “storage” – we’d have to go all the way back to the drawing board to get those permits; and that doesn’t address the multitude of other issues and violations.
What next?
We need to wrap things up. That takes money – lots of it. Obviously, we don’t have a great income stream, as tenants are reluctant to pay rent for non-operational space. We would love to set up somewhere else, but right now that’s just a fantasy – unless we can raise enough money to proceed without walking away.
What can you do?
HELP! Please – donate to the continuing NIMBY fund. If we can raise enough capital, and work with our friends in the city government, NIMBY can live again. The donate button is below. I’m sure we’ll have fund raisers, better communication, and more information soon. This blog is part of that effort.
Bear with us; we’re under destruction.
My heart goes out to you all at NIMBY. I know how much a shared artistic space means to a community of like minded creators (I am still searching for one in Melbourne, Australia) and I hope that you can make the move to a new facility soon. The Maduncle.
D*mn. This is one of those times when I wish I could do something, but I can’t. I am an artist (of the pencil and paper sort; I can’t sculpt to save my life) and I know that I would be deeply horrified if I lost anything of mine to a fire… I have a hard enough time bringing myself to throw out the crap!
I dearly wish I could help you guys out, but I have no money, and I’m on the other side of the States (NC to be specific). If there’s anything you guys can think of that needs neither manpower nor money, then I will see what I can do about it. I cannot promise anything more than an attempt, but I *will* try if I can.
In the meantime, my heart goes out to you and all of your friends and co-artists at NIMBY. You guys are awesome — in the more literal sense of the term.