I&#39;d like to some info from those of you whose shop runs under the umbrella of a bike coalition or other advocacy group. How has this effected your ability to operate autonomously as a collective? I&#39;m involved with a fledgling bike coop that was created as a biproduct of a grant that was managed by the local bike coalition. We were operating under their charter so as to have non-profit status. It was many of the volunteer&#39;s understanding that the bike coalition was only helping us manage our finances, helping us access grants, and generally helping us get ourselves established in the community. As soon as they heard complaints from a former volunteer they at first told us that they didn&#39;t acknowledge our decision making process (full consent) and told us that they wanted us to run under a manager that they hire. More recently (following more complaints and accusations from potentially the same ex-volunteer) they went in and had the locks changed and shut the whole shop down. We will be meeting with them this week and trying to discuss how to get the place back open. Has anyone else been down this road? Have you hit walls because of a hierarchic organisation not having faith in the collective&#39;s ability to make decisions? Should we even go ahead with them if it means not having control of the direction or operation of the shop? What could we do to save the shop and our autonomy?<div>
-Enzo</div><div>not speaking on behalf of the bikerowave but another org.</div>