There are artist's lofts in old warehouses in most

[MineralMan]

large cities. Some of them are legal, inspected, and up to building codes, but many are not. Some cities, typically, do not proactively go and inspect industrial buildings like these. Even if they know they are being used for other purposes, they often look the other way when people remodel them on an ad hoc basis. Even when there are complaints and inspections reveal building code issues, enforcement measures are half-hearted in many places.

Sadly, that was the case in Oakland, CA, and many people lost their lives in that disastrous fire. They didn't know they were going to a party in an unsafe building. That was the last thing on their minds. We don't know exactly how the fire started, but it did start, and the people inside could not escape the building because of its many flaws and hazards.

Artists need places to work that they can afford. There is no question about that. However, cities and other jurisdictions have a responsibility to ensure that such buildings are safe for the ways people are using them. Holding parties on a mezzanine in a warehouse that has no safe stairway is unsafe, by definition. Welded steel windows with reinforced glass in them, and that only can be opened to a small angle for ventilation cannot provide a safe way to escape from an upstairs open area. Safety could have been established by replacing windows on both ends with exits and outside steel stairways or fire escapes.

None of that was done. Nobody insisted that they be done. Many of the people who had spaces in that building didn't know that their areas were unsafe, either. Electrical circuits were, no doubt, overloaded and inadequate for the way they were being used. Partitions did not reach the ceiling, which allowed fire to spread the full length and width of the building quickly and in a deadly way.

We often object to heavy-handed enforcement of building codes. It's expensive to prepare an industrial building for occupation, even for artist's studios. And those studios are ALWAYS slept in by the people who use them. Always, no matter what the rules are. But, failure to enforce sensible building codes that help prevent disastrous fires isn't tyranny. It's a matter of public safety. There are reasons for those codes.

What happened in Oakland is a horror-story. It could have been prevented, but was not. Many people have blame in this.

[PoindexterOglethorpe]

1. Building codes.

What a novel concept.

Of course, so many people complain about heavy-handed government intrusion in their lives. Then this happens. Maybe a little more heavy-handed intrusion would have been a good thing.

This particular fire is reminding me of the Station nightclub fire on February 20, 2003. 100 people died. Reading up on the code violations and the irresponsible use of fireworks indoors is instructive.

[Jake Stern]

2. As posted in another OP

It's really a "Damned if you do, damned if you don't" situation.

People are going to want answers as to why Oakland allowed this firetrap to exist but if the city had come in and shut it down many of these same people would be criticizing the city for tossing a poor artist out of his home/studio.

Oakland couldn't win in this but they should have still erred on the side of public safety and closed these dangerous lofts down until they're up to code.

[bhikkhu]

9. That's why many of these places are so dangerous

Which is that a simple call to the code inspectors to ask a question about what codes apply, how to make a place safer, or how to improve a space's safty, is generally expected to lead to a huge fine and a shuttered business. Nobody makes that call.

I think the code authorities should be more involved in education than criminalization, and that would move things in a better direction. I can say this from experience, having a building myself. I educate myself as much as possible through back-channels, contractors and vendors, but the consistent advice I hear is "fly under the radar, don't attract attention, don't call those guys unless you have to".

[Warpy]

19. Chances are it would have lasted years as live/work space for artists,

jerrybuilt staircase out of forklift pallets, maze of studio spaces and all. The problem was that it was used as a performance/party space, as well, probably to generate extra income badly needed by working artists.

Yes, there should have been a few sprinkler heads, they would have made all the difference. However, this place is far from alone, there are clubs and bars all over this country without sprinkler systems, where capacity is routinely exceeded on live music nights, and where fir exits are either blocked or guarded by bouncers. These places are much more dangerous than the usual artist loft because the conditions for tragedy are met more often than not.

I'd hazard a guess that most live music venues in this country are still not up to current fire code, having been grandfathered in decades ago and never upgraded.

[marybourg]

3. Yes. Having regulations in place leads to

ignorance on the part of following generations of the dangers the regulations averted.

Then a clamor rises about "stupid regulations".

Vaccination and raw milk are two recent examples that became controversial, but there are many others that are the object of the scorn of the ignorant.

I wish everyone could visit the Lower East Side Tenement Museum in N.Y. to see how working people lived before modern building codes.

[MineralMan]

4. Most people know nothing about building construction,

electrical wiring, plumbing and fire protection. Why should they? That's why building codes exist. That's not to say that some parts of building codes are not overly complex. They are. But, people go into buildings with the expectation that they will be safe in them. They don't inspect their surroundings when they enter.

That's why those codes exist. That's why they are enforced.

The City of Oakland had ample warning and knowledge of the deficiencies in that building. They did not compel the owner to correct them. There is going to be a monstrous lawsuit against the city over this awful fire, and the plaintiffs will probably win a record-setting settlement. The city did not do what it should have done. Neither did the building owner and whoever leased that building. All three allowed it to be turned into a firetrap. But only the City of Oakland has the ability to pay, and really has the most important responsibility. It's code enforcement department did not follow the laws and many people died.

The City of Oakland has a huge responsibility in this. They're about to discover that, I think. Watch for them to be trying as hard as they can to avoid that responsibility.

[librechik]

5. Get rid of artists. Who cares?

dirty, irresponsible folks I hear. Let them beg on the street along with the homeless.

signed "Safety is our ONLY concern"

Cities.

[MineralMan]

6. Sadly, many people feel exactly that way.

[jack69]

7. Flint attitudes

are probably the biggest problem.

[MineralMan]

8. That's not a term that's familiar to me.

Can you explain?

[Iggo]

11. What's a Flint attitude?

[The Velveteen Ocelot]

10. There is an organization called Artspace that is trying to help this situation.

http://www.artspace.org/ They get funding to build housing and work areas for people in the arts so disasters like the Oakland fire don't happen and artists can survive in decent places. One example is Jackson Flats in Minneapolis, "a 35-unit affordable rental housing project for artists and their families, is a four-story, new construction development by Artspace, in partnership with Northeast Community Development Corporation. Designed with an emphasis on families, Artspace Jackson Flats features more two- and three-bedroom units than traditional developments. The $10 million project also contains community space tenants use for exhibits, performances and other events." They are getting funding from the state, the city, and other organizations.

[MineralMan]

12. There are some find artist's loft buildings in the Twin Cities.

We just lost one in St. Paul, though. The owner decided to convert it to a different sort of building, since demand for downtown living spaces has skyrocketed. The artists who were there were simply priced completely out of the building. The temptation to do such things is pretty strong in an upward trending housing market.

That has been the fate of a number of buildings in the past few years. In others, many of the spaces are not really taken by artists who are dependent on their art for income. In some, the actual full-time artists are far fewer than people who want the lifestyle and only pretend to be artists.

It's a complicated segment of the housing market.

I admire developers who are trying to create affordable artistic communities in their buildings, though.

[NWCorona]

13. I lived in a workspace loft in downtown Seattle for a few years

It was a very old building what wasn't up to code. I feel for the families going through this right now.

[MineralMan]

14. I've never actually lived in such a space, but have known many

people who did. Some of the places struck me as dangerous to be in, much of the time. I remember one artist's collective where one of the tenants was a metal sculptor. The building, including all floors was made of wood. This guy was forever welding on wood floors, day and night, and his space was scarred with scorched wood on the floors.

I wouldn't have spent a night in that building, and always had an exit route planned whenever I visited my friend who had a space there.

[NWCorona]

18. That sounds like my old building. It was wood and brick and we had a few welders as well

I just opened my first Dojo and it was a cheap space with 20 foot ceilings and huge windows. I also had a 60' line set up incase I had to Australian rappel at a moments notice.

[Warpy]

22. Oooh, you've been to my studio in Cambridge in the 70s!

It was also a maze of walls made out of paneling hastily tacked to minimal framing. The metal worker was upstairs.

Nobody ever thought of using that old firetrap as anything but a work space, though.

[MineralMan]

23. Yeah, something like that.

But, people always have slept in their loft spaces at times. There's always a mattress somewhere in most spaces. You know, for naps after working for hours, and other activities better done in a prone position...wink, wink, nudge, nudge.

And the smells! Paint, welding fumes, glues, takeout food and who knows what else. Sometimes, the atmosphere could get pretty toxic. Oh, and marijuana smoke. The late 60s and 70s were an amazing time, weren't they?

[wordpix]

15. even when an owner gets a violation notice(s), they often ignore

I live in a semi-rural area and there's a new development going in near a friend's house. The developer demolished a historic home to make way for the new old folks' home---and no permit to do so.

They just do what they want, when they want. And now we have a bigly developer as our next pres (maybe).

[MineralMan]

16. That's true. Different cities take different approaches to

code enforcement.

[MineralMan]

17. Oakland death toll climbs to 24, and more expected.

http://www.cbsnews.com/news/oakland-ghost-ship-warehouse-fire-mass-casualties-feared/

[KT2000]

20. the Oakland space may be different

It appeared to have been crammed full of kitschy stuff that made navigation impossible. It did not look like artists' space as much as someone's interior design project. Unless there are more pictures of actual workspace for artists I have the feeling this was that guy's artistic concept for a social, performance, and party space. For sure - many to blame.

There but for fortune - I went to places converted to artist spaces in my younger days. In one, a man was welding old oil drums into sculptures in an old building from the early 1900's - everything wood construction except the brick façade. My boyfriend had a living unit in the corner of one floor that was surrounded by doors so no one could figure out how to get in. He used kerosene lamps. It never dawned on me how crazy this was.

[MineralMan]

21. The arts encompass many things.

One of the rooms in that Oakland building was full of old electronic organs. Now, they're easy to come by. They're free everywhere. You'll find dozens of them available, mostly fully functional, on Craig's list for free. You just have to pick them up. The guy is some sort of musician type, I suppose, and those old organs can make some amazing sounds. One of the ones there was a Lowrey three manual theater model that once sold for almost $10,000. Now, you can have one for free. I'd have one, but there's no room in my house, and I have no truck any longer to go get it.

People often furnish their surroundings with stuff that is meaningful to them, but not to anyone else. I wasn't surprised at the appearance of those spaces. Lots of found objects put to use. I understand that impulse. I used to collect weird stuff, myself. I've shed that habit now, but there are still a few things in my house, including a decorated and bejeweled goat skull from Nepal I found at a garage sale for $5. It decorates the head of the stairs to my basement, and is a frequent object of curiosity from guests.

Weird stuff is fun to own and to use in decorating one's surroundings. Typical for such spaces, I think.

[KT2000]

24. yes - but where were the spaces

for artist's to work. I may be misunderstanding the term artist's lofts but I thought it was meant for many artists to use the space to do their work.