Most of the readers of this listserv are in winter now, which means your community bike shops are, too. It's the slow season! Some of you may have reduced your hours for winter, fewer people show up with injured bikes, etc.
With volunteer-run organizations (and mostly volunteer-run organizations) there's a fair bit of volunteer turnover. This means that the volunteers who are around this year may not know what the volunteers knew last year, or the year before.
*Which means...* *It's time to let everyone at your local friendly bike collective know about this listserv! * Drop 'em an email and say "HEY! There's lots of amazing bike people on this listserv talking about COMMUNITY BIKE SHOPS, OMG how COOL is THAT, and they want you to know they're there!"
And while you're at it, put an automatic reminder on your online calendar, and then tell everyone about the think tank next year, too!
<3 Angel York