RIP NIMBY - April 1, 2004 to Sept 11, 2008
As of September 11, 2008 the City of Oakland has regretfully closed the industrial art space known as NIMBY. For the last 5 years NIMBY has been a center of creative collaboration and artistic expression for talented mis-fits.
What happened?
Early morning on September 10th a fire occurred in a studio space in the NIMBY warehouse. An unattended candle that was being used in a digital photography project has been cited at the cause of the fire. Several NIMBY tenants who were working late (or early) attempted to put out the fire themselves, but the fire got out of control. Two calls were made to the Oakland Fire Department - one from the nearby Tork systems, and one from NIMBY brought a quick response. The fire was successfully put out, leaving NIMBY in fair shape and smoke free. Property damage was confined to the studio space where the fire originated and some sky-lights in the buildings roof.
However, the Oakland Fire Department was then obligated to further investigate the cause of the fire and conditions in the shop space. Following the fire NIMBY tenants were ordered to vacate the premises and were only allowed supervised entry to access tools that they needed.
A complete inspection, with representatives from four different city departments, followed on September 11th. The inspectors and fire fighters were too numerous to count and they scrutinized every inch of NIMBY. The inspectors loved everything; the hot rods, the glass blowing, the fire sculptures, the tile work, and the wood working. However, they were aghast that all of these projects were being done in the same space. They hated to shut us down, but couldn’t find any way to legally let us continue.
When they left, they let us know that our only option was to vacate the space and start fresh somewhere else. Jail was an alternative if we chose not to comply. Bringing everything up to code in the current building - ain’t gonna happen.
What next?
The city of Oakland is doing everything they can to support the relocation of NIMBY in Oakland. They want to keep us here and support the arts - but they are going to make sure that we do it to code. We are so pleased to have this unexpected outpouring of city support and we have already looked a number of potential new buildings.
What can you do?
Donate! Funds are needed to support the relocation effort. Even though the city is helping - they won’t be forking over the bucks it takes to move over a thousand tons of bullshit to a new location. So help us.