Jim Mason's Letter to the City of Berkeley

" I had not anticipated that the work would present any great difficulites . . ."
- Sir Ernest Shackleton, South pole explorer, 1915

From: jim mason
Date: May 10, 2007 5:17 P
To: Joan MacQuarrie <JMacQuarrie@ci.berkeley.ca.us>, Mark Rhoades
< MRhoades@ci.berkeley.ca.us>, "Orth, David" <dorth@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, mkaplan@ci.berkeley.ca.us,
jhynes@ci.berkeley.ca.us, gdaniel@ci.berkeley.ca.us,
mprince@ci.berkeley.ca.us, gpowell@ci.berkeley.ca.us, Maurice Norrise
< mnorrise@ci.berkeley.ca.us>, gheidenreich@ci.berkeley.ca.us
Subject: The Shipyard / ALL Power Network agrees to vacate 1010 Murray and 1017 Folger

After significant consulation with our various design and engineering
professionals, as well as feedback from several of you this week, it
has become very clear to us that we cannot meet the terms of your May
8th “vacate and abate” notice. We therefore have decided to end our
art and alternative energy endeavers here in the City of Berkeley and
move to a new location

We come to this conclusion with tremendous sadness and loss, as the
open collaborative space we have built here has become a deeply
vibrant art/tech skunkworks, continually churning out heroic
creativity in the arts as well as very needed innovation in DIY, open
source, alternative energy endeavors. We have undertaken these
activities as a community collaboration, and used our creative and
innovative work as an civic engine for generating meaningful community
for many. The results have been tremendous, vastly exceeding any
expectations we had when we started this 6 years ago. Very much
appreicate the resources the city of berkeley has offered us to help
make this possible, and hope the city feels some benefit in the other
directions from our presence.

Despite these successes, we clearly have not been able to bring the
full submission for the construction permit in order in a timely
manner. The questions and challenges of justifying the completely
atypical building materials of recycled shipping containers has
overwhelmed us at many points. The latest, and most significant set
back here was Joan’s instructions 4 days ago to our structural
engineer, Pat Buscovich, about the type of calcs she will need to
prove the two high stacked shipping containers. The requirements
finally clarified in this conversation presented a hurdle we
realistically cannot clear without taking on a general “proving” of
shipping containers as a new rated assembly for habitable buildings.
Such a project is well beyond our means and interest.
It is deeply frustrating that we have arrived at an unfixable
structural proving problem this late in the process, as we have
solution for all other aspects of this project, and they are drawn in
detail by our licensed architect, Les Young. We are at 95% complete
with the total submittal, but we cannot clear the now clarified
structual hurdle.

We have considered a reduced submittal with just a single high
container layout, so as to greatly simplify many of the structural and
seismic issues. Unfortunately, the resulting density of art studios
onsite would not provide adequate physical facilities for us, nor
generate the needed revenue for sustainability.

Furthermore, I personally feel great responsibility for the community
of artists and engineers gathered here at the Shipyard and ALL Power
Network, and I now see that I will not be able to provide the needed
facilities for everyone’s activities while we finish the legalization
under a full site shutdown. I had previously believed we would
proceed through the legalization while we remained able to use the
facility. With this option now gone, I need to immediately move all
our people and physical infrastructure to a new location outside the
City of Berkeley where everyone can continue their activities
relatively uninterupted.

I am currently in the process of acquiring a new site in Oakland to
which we will remove ALL containers currently on site at 1010 murray
and 1017 Folger, en masse. All contested structures on site currently
will be removed as soon as possible, and all related messes cleaned
and brought into order. During the process, we will submit a permit
to replace the removed firewall opening between the two properties, as
well as electrical permits to return the system to its original form.
Given the scale of facilities and infrastructure at 1010 murray and
1017 folger, we cannot physically complete all that has been asked of
us under the 3 day deadline. We have started the moving already, but
it is not going to be done by the deadline of the end of the day
Friday as the enforcement letter states.

I therefore request a modest amount of additional time to vacate all
contested structures from the site, so we can end this attempted
legalization safely, cleanly, and respectfully. You will see
significant progress in clearing the site by the end of the weekend.
Fully finishing the clearing of both lots will likely take one month.
But you will see regular progress daily during this process. All
containers will be removed from 1017 Folger by the end of the weekend.
The ones at 1010 Murray will take a little more time, as the
complexities of their fixturing are much more involved.

Futhermore, we are complying with all your requests regarding
immediate public safety issues. All your stated violations and
corrections for wrongly energized electrical, stored combustables and
unsafe propane heaters are being eliminated within the 3 day deadline.
While we are clearing off both sites, I hope we can communicate and
collaborate on how to bring the facility to a close in a manner
acceptable to and respectful of your needs. Please call me at
510.812.3656 so we can clarify details of this process.

With respect and gratitude for all you have allowed us to be and do
here in the City of Berkeley.

Jim Mason