"There's something there for you and something there for them, "

is a quote that struck me, because i think this is a way of thinking that we aspire to modify - the "us" and "them" mentality. we at austin yellow bike have fallen into this way of thinking often, and i think it's helpful to take a step back and realize that, at least in our case, the collective performs a community service, and those who benefit from this service should be brought into the fold. 

ideally, everyone who uses our community bike shop on a regular basis volunteers time equal to what they use; this creates a sense of shared mission and cooperation that is all too often lacking in our society.

so, i strongly recommend that any "hipsters" who want to have the opportunity to open a special shop night for themselves should be required to become collective members themselves, and receive whatever training anyone else in the collective receives to run a shop.

jennifer schaffer



On Wed, Jul 9, 2008 at 11:08 AM, Wilbur Ince <Wilbur@wilbur.us> wrote:
There's something there for you and something there for them, so find the middle ground.  As Rich said, you have a chance at new collective members.  If you have nights available, by all means, give them a night.  They are interested in the shop time, so I bet you can get them to meet your conditions - like keeping shop clean - greeting people who stop by - opening their sessions to drop-ins, etc.   Could be a great win-win.

Wilbur Ince
Sibley Bike Depot
Saint Paul, MN



plan_9@riseup.net wrote:
We have recently been approached by, for no better descriptor, hipsters, asking if they could have a "fixed gear/SS" day on a day when we are not open. They are interested in doing tune-ups and modifications on their own bikes and are somewhat competent and autonomous mechanics. We don't really have any collective members that are willing or able to staff another shift beyond what we are already open. We know some of these folks pretty well on a personal, outside of the shop level, but not too many have been active volunteers. Basically we trust some of them and would like to make the shop available to them but am not sure as to how to do it equitably. We have opened the shop to special groups before (at-risk youth groups, etc) but always staffed by a willing and able collective member. Do any shops make exceptions for folks like this? How do you make sure that things are getting paid for, tools being used properly, random folks stopping by being respected, etc. without having a collective member in the place? Any problems from shops that have done this?
Thanks,
Andrew
FM Community Bicycle Workshop

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