Story & photos by Kris Vagner • krisv@newsreview.com
From the ashes
A deadly fire in Oakland sparked conversations in Reno about the City’s role in supporting the arts
“Heads up!”
An orange “closed” sign, posted on a music rehearsal space on Dickerson Road Dec. 6, was removed Feb. 7.
yelled Mike Hafey, wearing overalls, standing on a ladder. With the claw end of a hammer, he pried a wide board from a framework that had, until recently, held up a ceiling he’d installed in the warehouse he rents. The board fell to the concrete floor with a loud crack. Hafey—or, as he’s better known by friends and colleagues—“Mike Mechanic”—kept prying. Boards kept falling, and two helpers efficiently carted the debris out the door, adding it to a growing pile in the front parking lot. The building stands among a row of cheerily painted, cinder-block facades that line Dickerson Road, a deadend street about a mile west of downtown Reno that’s been transformed in recent years from a sleepy, lightindustrial district to a bustling arts neighborhood. On the left side of the building, Hafey runs a woodworking and metalworking business called Fairly Square. On the right side—the one that was under demolition—there used to be eight sound-proof rooms. Several musicians and bands used them for rehearsals, and a few people lived in them. While many of the neighboring art spaces and other nearby businesses welcome foot traffic and host public events, Hafey has maintained a low profile since he opened his studio in 2011—until the day in December when he became front-page news. On Dec. 6, his warehouse was inspected by city code enforcers. “They received complaints that people lived there, that we were having loud parties,” Hafey said. While the neighborhood is largely populated by warehouses, it also has some residences, including a trailer park, houses and apartments. But it wasn’t a potential scuff with the neighbors over noise that had code enforcers’ hackles up. It was the Ghost Ship fire. Ghost Ship was the name of a warehouse that served as a live-work space for an arts collective in Oakland. On Dec. 2, a fire broke out there during a concert. The fire spread fast, killing 36 people. The San Jose Mercury News reported on Dec. 4, “The warehouse is one of numerous buildings in Oakland that have been illegally converted into artists’ collectives that have not been properly inspected, according to [Oakland] City Councilman Noel Gallo.” The fire and its steep death toll sent a wave of alarm to safety inspectors nationwide. Within a week, PBS Newshour reported, “Fire departments around the country are investigating so-called ‘live-work’ spaces.” Other spaces in the Bay Area were closed. So were others around the country—including Hafey’s warehouse. “Everyone had clipboards with signs and duct tape,” Hafey said, recalling the Dec. 6 visit from city officials. “There was 20 of them, full uniformed.”
From the ashes continued on page 12 02.09.17
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