Inside The Secret Underground Laboratory

[wraub]

Best luck, Bruce... Don't let the bastards get you down.

 

[tbrannon]

Hope it gets resolved quickly, Bruce. hang in there

 

[Stevorebob]

Wishing you all the best with these struggles!

 

[moonshinegtrs]

Prayers, good vibes, positive thoughts... I seriously hate this for you Bruce, you've been dealing with enough.

It's sad that place that brings so much to the community has to deal with things like that. Not just you but everyone involved.

Good Luck to you Sir!


Moonshine

 

[Jon Clegg]

Hope it's all resolved soon.

 

[Jisch]

As others have said, I hope this gets resolved to your satisfaction. Your set up and your willingness to share it with us is one of a kind, I'd hate for either of those to disappear!

 

[chinjazz]

Bruce, I hope it all gets worked out soon! Yikes, what a pain! The lawyers thinking you have a good case is a first real good positive sign, and the status change to yellow is now moving in the right direction. Sending good vibes your way, and wishing for the best outcome

 

[basshack]

Wishing you and the other occupants all the best for a speedy resolution to this situation from down under. Stay positive and keep your spirits up, you've got a lot of supporters out here.

 

[Rôckhewer]

It's hard to relate to how incredibly f-d up that situation could be.. should this go south.
Not trying to be negative...overstate the obvious...
Just saying. ...by comparison to a lot of us... I mean....
If I have to move ... it's 12 machines... ...some hand tools... & a bit of wood stock.
It all fits nicely in a 26' box truck....one load... ($200 truck rent)....
I can not imagine the logistical nightmare & cost of moving all your stuff.
Glad you got a "good case"... because.... damn.
Prayers for a little "beurocratic...humanity"...in your neck of the woods. Good luck Bruce.

 

[Bruce Johnson]

Bruce, is there something we can do to help?
City officials can just look at this pages and see how you have brought back life to the building. You have fans from all over the world that probably never heard of Fillmore, until you moved there. You are salvaging and bringing back to "useful life", noble and old machinery. You are a valuable part of their community!
Is there anyone we can communicate with at the City level?

Thanks, diegom (and the rest of you!), I really appreciate all of your concern and good wishes!

A big part of the anger and frustration of this mess is that the City says that they completely support us. For about five years, they've been telling us how much they love our project, and what we're adding to the city, and how much they want us here. I know most of the city council members personally; given them tours of my shop and sat in their living rooms. It was always "Don't worry, we'll sort out these issues about the building codes. Our Building & Safety Department is working on it".

And then they slammed this on us, with literally no warning. A direct kick in the teeth to us, the tenants of the building. Maliciously punishing us, apparently just to apply pain to our landlord David, to force him to give up his legal battle. The whole Red Tag thing was a stupid move on their part. It infuriated all of us tenants, and turned us all against the City. Several of the tenants have announced that they are leaving, and everyone else (including me) are starting to plan out what we would do if we get forced out. And yes, we're starting to talk to our lawyers about a potential class-action suit by us the tenants, in addition to David's lawsuit.

What the heck were they thinking, to pull this? Two weeks ago, we were all friendly and happy and loved Fillmore. We wanted to get these code things resolved, so we could get on with the project. Now, we're stunned and disillusioned. I'm asking myself "What am I doing here?". Either the City Council members have no control over what the city does, or they are a bunch of 2-faced liars. Either one is stupid.

David's lawyer says it's all about the money, and protecting the city from big lawsuits. The City Attorney (there's only one, and she's part time) apparently freaked out when she got a preview of the situation, and realized how badly handled their side is. So, they've gone nuts, and the City Council was apparently unwilling to stop them.

So anyway, a big write-in campaign of support for us isn't likely to do any good right now. This is down to a Lawyer vs Lawyer Cage match, happening tomorrow. We hope it will all be over with a submission hold in the first round!

But, I appreciate your offer to help!

 

[farace]

How many of them might be up for reelection in November? Might this become a campaign issue? Or maybe the threat of it becoming a more widely known issue among constituents could cause them to reconsider their actions? Last thing many politicians want is an issue arising this soon before an election.

 

[Bruce Johnson]

How many of them might be up for reelection in November? Might this become a campaign issue? Or maybe the threat of it becoming a more widely known issue among constituents could cause them to reconsider their actions? Last thing many politicians want is an issue arising this soon before an election.

They are all up for re-election next year. In a small city like this, there are five City Council members. Every two years, they run an election for all five seats. Any number of people can enter the election, and the top five vote getters get the five seats. Then those five City Council members select one of themselves to be the Mayor.That's how it works.

And yes, the election/defeat of Council members is all about Fillmore residents' reaction to things happening in Fillmore. If our case becomes a big stink over the next year, the whole Council could be rejected in one sweep. I believe it has happened in the past. They know all this. But remember, these aren't pro politicians who are looking to build careers and go places. The Council members are local citizens who do this as a part time thing, just to help out the city. So getting defeated and removed is not a big deal to them.

I hadn't mentioned this before, but I've been looking seriously at running for one of the seats myself. I figure if I'm planning to stay here the rest of my life, I may as well help sort out the problems in this city. I've been talking to one of the Council members about this, and he's real enthusiastic about having me there. So at least one of the Council is representing small business interests. And he's offered to help guide me through the process.

And then this mess happens. Now I don't know if I want to be part of this city government, or even if I want to stay here. It depends on how things sort out in the next few days and weeks.

 

[Microbass]

Bruce,
What a mess. That sucks.m and I hope everything goes back to normal ASAP!

Good luck if you do decide to run for a seat!

 

[Bruce Johnson]

For those of you who are wondering what happened yesterday......Nothing!

Yesterday was supposed to be the big Lawyer vs Lawyer meeting to decide the fate of our building project. We all thrashed away in our shops, building things, jumping every time the phone rang, waiting for news of the results. After being on edge all day, we finally got word that........wait for it......the meeting got postponed until next week! Aaaargh! Nothing malicious, a scheduling conflict with one of the lawyers.

Very frustrating to have more delay.....But today, I was able to get approval for us to work tomorrow (Saturday). And we are negotiating towards more easing of the time restrictions next week. And the City Council members are assuring us that they want to get this resolved quickly, and they want us to stay. So, we are going in the right direction, towards a reasonably peaceful settlement and end to this mess. The waiting is agonizing, though.

I'm spending my evenings and nights in my motorhome, watching YouTube videos and NFL pre-season games, eating bologna sandwiches and sipping beer and grumbling about the world. Some may consider that to be a fine way to spend the later years of your life. But not me. I want to be in my shop, playing with my beloved machines, and building cool basses!

I'm hanging in there, and I think things are all going to be good in a few weeks.

 

[Ed Bloom]

Bruce,

I know nothing about the specifics of the case involving your building. I do know, however, that if there is movement toward a mutual resolution of a contested case, that a postponement is necessary to give the two (or more) parties time to come to an agreement.

Hang in there.

Ed

 

[dloase]

Small towns and small cities can be an interesting place to live and work. Funny, but true story; one of my best friend from high school became the mayor of his town recently because he came in second in the election - to a dead guy. The residents actually elected someone they knew had passed as the mayor.

Bruce, try not to let the stress and frustration get to you too much. Not great for your health, and those of us on this end of our electronic connections want you around doing what you do best for a long time to come yet.

 

[Bruce Johnson]

Bruce, try not to let the stress and frustration get to you too much. Not great for your health, and those of us on this end of our electronic connections want you around doing what you do best for a long time to come yet.

Thanks, David!

Yes, the stress and anger of the situation is the worst part. I'm calming down and keeping my anger under control. I've always been good at that; learned it from my parents. Unfortunately, some of our other tenants are not. They've gone so irrational with anger that they're probably going to leave, regardless of how the situation settles out.

It's infuriating right now, to have my life turned upside down and partially controlled by the City. But I'm optimistic that we will make peace with the city in a week or two. And there are other things happening in the background, regarding the future of this building, that will make it much stronger in the long run. Next spring, this whole mess will just be another story in the building's long history. And I'll still be here, building Scroll Basses.

And your bass will be done long before that! This week, I'll be getting back to working on yours and Jim's formerly hornless Devil Bass. I want to get those two done during September.

 

[dloase]

And your bass will be done long before that! This week, I'll be getting back to working on yours and Jim's formerly hornless Devil Bass. I want to get those two done during September.

That brought a smile this morning.

 

[Bruce Johnson]

A general update:

Man, this has been a tough week. We had the big Lawyer vs Lawyer Cage Match on Wednesday and it was really disappointing. The city's Lawyer basically put up a stone wall and refused to budge or even talk about much of anything. Preparing to defend themselves in court. Wednesday night I was so angry and despondent and heartbroken about the whole situation. It really looked like they were determined to stand their ground, and they didn't care if that shut us down and chased us out of town. Even with beer, I barely slept Wednesday night.

But, things got better on Thursday. It looks like all of our pressure on the City Council is working. The attitude now seems to have changed. They want to get this resolved quickly, working out some agreement on the codes to get our building approved. A reasonable package that we can accept. With no lawsuits. We are starting to sort through the actual code issues one by one. And they are hearing out our side, the work by our Architect. So, we're moving in the right direction, making progress.

It may take a few more weeks or months of negotiations, but now it looks like there will be a happy ending where we can stay and prosper. We're still operating under the Yellow Tag restrictions of our working hours for now, but they have expanded the hours to something more reasonable. I still can't work nights, like I prefer, but now I can do 12 hour days, including Saturdays. Hopefully, things will calm down for the next few weeks, and I get some good time in building basses while they sort out a final agreement.

My mental state is improving. I'm calming down. I'll tell you, this whole mess has made me see how vitally important my shop is to me. Working with my machines, inventing and building things, is the core of my existence. There's nothing more important to me. Being kept out of my shop, against my will, is pure misery. My shop is my life.

 

[kesslari]

I just learned about this predicament and feel really happy seeing it move toward a positive resolution. Hang in there Burce!