Hi Steve, Hey, do you have any secrets for buying property?  There is a spot in Littleton Colorado that was home to a great Music store and a great record store(Offbeat) in my youth. It has been empty for years, and the property owner lives in Hawaii. I should do some research and find out if the property taxes are delinquent perhaps?  I know it could be a boon to the surrounding community again.  If you mention Offbeat records to the people who used to hang out there they get a glazed over misty eyed look. Shanti Shanti Shanti! Art

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> Date: Sat, 8 Dec 2007 16:58:53 -0500
> From: MeetMe@TheAutomat.com
> To: Thethinktank@bikecollectives.org
> Subject: [TheThinkTank] I own the building Time's Up has been operating from in NYC for the last 4 years
>
> Now that it has been sold, I want to keep helping nurture engaged
> environmental activism by buying not expensive properties and offering
> options to buy them from me, in a couple of years, to bike stores and
> community bike operations that want to locate there. This is what I have
> been putting out on my website www.LightWheels.com and distributed at
> BikeBike in Pittsburgh. I only have about three months to find these
> properties and make the other arrangements, which is not a real long
> time. I am looking for feedback on this . Also take a look at
> www.LocalExpression.com at the UpsideDowntown News, which I wrote and
> assembled about a year ago, as well.
>
> Here is some material relating to the community bike movement followed
> by a proposal relating to finding good hq's.
>
>
> Sharing Bikes etc.
>
> Handlebars and pedals make bikes into three-dimensional objects. If
> these protrusions can be flattened to the body of the bike when not in
> use, the vehicle is about 6” wide and much easier to both store and
> transport in the close company of other people. Current technology
> permits this modification to be performed safely and conveniently.
>
> To minimize space needed, there could be a large number of
> somewhat-identical bikes using variations of this simple design, with
> adjustable seat heights, to keep initial costs low while providing for
> the fastest and widest proliferation. At most times, these sturdy bikes
> will be fine. Buying a shipload will reduce their cost to such a low
> figure that a few months of advertisements, removable after all costs
> are covered, could finance the entire exercise. Ads for one month a year
> or less could finance ongoing top-level maintenance. If properly
> designed they can be free to use and possibly not need to be locked at
> special locations as current systems usually demand.
> http://bike-sharing.blogspot.com.
>
> Permanent sidewalk or vehicle defacement by ads touting the same
> corporate culture of over-consumption that got us in this mess is not
> necessary. We cannot afford to allow the bottom-line calculus of Clear
> Channel and the other billboard-industry giants, to decide for us how we
> share our bikes. Across this country, before this massive invasion of
> profit-driven, probably sub-standard systems take hold, Community-based
> bike collectives and other people-friendly individuals and
> organizations, including some local bike businesses, must begin to
> assume these responsibilities.
>
> This will not destroy the existing bike business, because shops can help
> create, maintain and upgrade the fleet continuously. Many people will
> want their own machine regardless, and far more people will be riding
> all the time. When seas rise so do boats. Paris today is a good example.
>
> A second system needs to be established, designed and built, which is
> comprised of unconventional vehicles, multi-passenger,
> weather-protected, electric-motor assisted, art-inspired and plain fun.
> Access to this fleet would need to be restricted and require credit-card
> id, GPS location devices, special maintenance and a fee-system to help
> pay for it. Some support should come from the government since it will
> provide many benefits to the public as a whole, the way other
> publicly-accessible transit systems ordinarily do. Self-support is ideal
> and achievable. This could enable a much more creative and adventurous
> effort than one sponsored by a corporation or government.
>
> It is also being suggested that all this be done in tandem with a
> local-neighborhood based, ambitious and creative system, for sharing
> rides and vehicles of all kinds. This facility can also accept
> tax-deductible contributions, some as valuable as cars etc., and
> generate income from the small fees earned for expediting these much
> needed various transportation-related companion efforts to reduce
> traffic. Anchored by a robust and growing community bike effort, a
> strong framework for positive change can be constructed. If a
> substantial decrease in the number of cars on the road is achieved this
> will also help in the improvement of roadway safety for cyclists and others.
>
>
> The soonest path to the safest, highest quality, most diverse,
> appropriate and convenient system, with the least expensive continuous
> operating costs, that also rocks, is the goal. The proliferation of
> these new forms of transport will also require the taming of our
> highways back into the streets that they were intended to be. We must
> demand civility and respect from large and dangerous Internal Combustion
> Engine (ICE)-Age vehicles, and the complete eradication of any lingering
> people-unfriendly behavior. The reward for this change will be an
> historic flowering of enjoyable, human-scale, responsible and healthful
> transportation in our cities and towns.
>
>
> Bikes and Property
>
> I want to invest my profit from selling a property in Manhattan to help
> enable 10 bike shops to establish themselves in their own spaces. Each
> will each be given an option to buy the space they are renting after a
> few years, to enable them to grow more rapidly and to own and benefit
> directly from the improvements they make to their properties and
> businesses. In some cases this would involve buying existing locations,
> in others it would mean finding a great local building for sale at a
> good price in a good location. (As each group is able to purchase its
> building, the money paid is made available to another group in another
> state so that they may be able to purchase a building etc..
>
> If this property investment methodology helps in bringing forth better
> means for bike store owners to control their own futures and expand
> their businesses, others may decide to invest this way as well. As
> mortgage credit tightens, the strength of this industry, in the face of
> $3+ gas and frightening obesity and diabetes rates, could entitle it to
> an alternate form of investment capital.
>
> There are many people today on every stratum of society who are starting
> to come to terms with the damage being done to a seemingly robust, but
> actually dangerously fragile, ecosystem. The central role of
> inappropriate transportation is conspicuous in that picture. They want
> their kids to be healthy, have a future and love them and they want to
> have a cleaner conscience. At the same time they want their investments
> to be sound financially. A program such as this could satisfy all of
> their needs, while giving bike stores some valuable additional leverage
> against overly-aggressive landlords, and a better shot at economic
> justice and self-determination.
>
> It is also my intention to use this opportunity to help gain more
> visibility through these stores for hybrid
> human-powered/electric-assisted vehicles, including safe, road-worthy
> and weather-protected wheelchairs. In an aging population, many stores
> may find this to be one of the most high-growth elements of their
> businesses and one of the most gratifying.
>
> Meanwhile re-defining cycling as basic transportation, not just a
> pleasurable, recreational activity, will help drive the infrastructure
> improvements that we so badly need. These upgrades, a flood of new and
> more utilitarian machines, and the dramatic increases in bicycle and
> other lightweight vehicle use that they will trigger, will finally begin
> to bring this vital activity its due respect.
>
>
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