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Jonathan Bernbaum's father is trying to turn a tremendous loss into something positive.
His son Jonathan was a visual projection artist and was among 36 people killed last December in the Ghost Ship warehouse fire.
Testifying before a California senate committee, Edwin Bernbaum told lawmakers though some thought it was a dangerous building, and artists like his son gathered at the Ghost Ship warehouse because they had nowhere else like it to go.
PHOTOS: A look inside the Oakland Ghost Ship collective warehouse
"Two years earlier, his older brother had performed at the Ghost Ship warehouse and they decided it was a very, very dangerous place and they decided never to come back. But with soaring costs and rents, there were fewer and fewer places for where artists could live," Jonathan's father said.
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State Sen. Nancy Skinner told the committee her grown daughter was a preschool classmate of Jonathan's.
"We don't want anything like this to happen again, but let's understand why. There are so many factors. We have a housing crisis in California," Skinner said.
"We don't want to see draconian approaches," Jonathan's mother Diane Bernbaum said.
The Bernbaums want a measured response to the Ghost Ship fire tragedy.
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"We see this really as a memorial, honoring Jonathan and his friends who died in the fire, trying to do something to look to the future," Edwin said.
In their son's memory, the Bernbaums have started a non-profit called Vital Arts to help create safe work/live spaces for Bay Area artists.
Click here for all ABC7 News stories, videos, and photos from the Ghost Ship warehouse fire.