Thanks for the info, I am glad that some CA folks are working around some of the beaucracy to get these bikes to good homes.
Thanks for the tip on Fort Collins too, I've actually spoken with them at length on the subject already.
So this the California law pertaining to abandoned property: http://law.justia.com/california/codes/civ/2080-2080.10.html
Basically you have to hold the property for 90 days, announce it in newspaper, then sell it at public auction (unless its worth is under a certain value). Cities also have ordinances that I suppose could supercede these rules, but am not sure. The only clause in the code that seems like we could use to our advantage to get the bikes is:
If the local government purchasing
and stores agency or other similar agency determines that any such property transferred to it for sale is needed for a public use, such property may be retained by the agency and need not be sold.
My question is if the city can consider giving the property to us "a need for a public use"? Or do your cities make special ordinances that allow them to do something else with the property besides auction it? Or do they just give the bikes to you and hope nobody ever checks the law?
Jason
On Thu, Mar 25, 2010 at 5:48 PM, Scott Beardsley scott@sacbikekitchen.orgwrote:
Does anyone know of a bike collective in California that has an
arrangement
with the city on abandoned bikes?
We (Sacramento Bicycle Kitchen) have an agreement with the City of Sacramento regarding abandoned bikes and other "evidence". They typically handle all of the details regarding what the law concerns. We just get a shipment of (usually non-working) bikes once a week. Most of them are in really rough shape. Because of the shortage of space we end of sending some of them to the metal recycler after stripping off what we can.
The one condition of this arrangement is that we give away a bike or two to a needy individual every once and a while. We usually don't give any bikes away but occasionally we make exceptions. We often make large donations to other non-profit organizations (homeless shelters, etc). We like to encourage folks to contribute *something* instead of just getting a bike for free. Our Earn-A-Bike program is still relatively immature but we typically give folks a bike after 5-10 hours of volunteer time. EAB participants can only earn one bike in a lifetime (we might change this to one a year).
BTW, Hi Jason! Scott _______________________________________________ Thethinktank mailing list Thethinktank@bikecollectives.org To unsubscribe, send a blank email to TheThinkTank-leave@bikecollectives.org To manage your subscription, plase visit:
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