Silicon Valley Techies Fight to Save a Popular but Illegal Haven

http://www.kickstarter.com/projects/384590180/an-events-spac...

^ Chip in here if you are inclined to support fellow hackers. They need to raise $250,000:

  “If they can’t comply, they can’t use the building as 
  they want to,” said Anthony Ghiossi, the chief building 
  official for the city.

  Hacker Dojo opened without a permit, Mr. Ghiossi pointed 
  out. It is currently prohibited from hosting events that 
  draw more than 49 people in any one room, he said. That 
  means no large classes or overly enthusiastic happy hours, 
  which are a regular feature on Friday nights.

  Ellis Berns, the city’s assistant community development 
  director, was eager to point out that Mountain View, which 
  is home to tech giants like Google, did not wish to evict 
  Hacker Dojo. “We try to be as supportive as we can,” he 
  said. “Businesses spin out of there. We are not at all 
  interested in them closing down.”

  But retrofitting the space will cost upward of $250,000, 
  according to the Dojo’s estimate. It has so far raised 
  $173,000, including donations from its neighbor, Google.

This is as clean an example as you can get of regulations blocking innovation; a $250k fee just to get started, from the building that gave rise to Pinterest and Pebble. Compare and contrast to pg on "The Power of the Marginal":

  That's one of California's hidden advantages: the mild 
  climate means there's lots of marginal space. In cold 
  places that margin gets trimmed off. There's a sharper 
  line between outside and inside, and only projects that 
  are officially sanctioned—by organizations, or parents, or 
  wives, or at least by oneself—get proper indoor space. 
  That raises the activation energy for new ideas. You can't 
  just tinker. You have to justify.

In my opinion, in addition to donating, you should exercise your rights as a citizen and give these officials a piece of the public's mind. Their emails are below. It is very unusual for local officials like Ellis Berns and Anthony Ghiossi to actually have their bad decisions checked by bad publicity, but it's absolutely necessary in this case.

  [1] http://www.paulgraham.com/marginal.html
  [2] anthony.ghiossi@mountainview.gov
  [3] ellis.berns@mountainview.gov

It's hard not to feed a troll, so ....

1. Fire sprinklers were added to the IRC and IBC due to their ability to prevent fires (surprise!), in light of the fact that costs have come down significantly, and they can now make them look "not ugly".

Fires aren't just going to damage your building, they'll damage the stuff you don't own as well.

2. The number and placement of fire exits is usually based on the distance one has to travel from any given occupied space, and the occupancy of the building. This distance is determined based on real numbers like how far you are likely to get before smoke inhalation kills you.

Letting the probably non-existent free market sort this out by "the people who didn't die" learning to only frequent places that have sufficient fire exits seems like a bad strategy.

3. You probably don't remember the wonderful days before the ADA, when there weren't many wheelchair ramps, and people with wheelchairs were basically told to "suck it" everywhere they went (including, in some cases, government buildings).

Ugh:

"What it does not have, according to city officials, are things that would make it an office. It doesn’t have enough fire exits, sprinklers or wheelchair-accessible bathrooms, as required by city regulations."

I first hated this sensationalist headline, but on second thought think it's the best title ever. It achieved what it's supposed to do--get attention.