Andrew,<br><br>We are in much the same situation in Wilmington, DE.&nbsp; The revitalization has made formerly undesirable properties extremely valuable.&nbsp; We are meeting with as many of the groups as possible to see if we can be a part of their efforts.&nbsp; If you and your org are handy (i would imagine so) you can offer to upkeep the property and even make general improvements to it.&nbsp; Make sure that people you talk to know that your group will be an asset to the community.&nbsp; Lastly, don&#39;t get discouraged...We&#39;ve had many, many meetings and still no space.&nbsp; Every time we talk with someone there is more awareness about our organization and I&#39;m sure that very soon we will find ourselves in a nice workshop space, as will you, doing good by bikes.
<br><br>Peace &amp; Good Luck,<br><br>Brian<br>Urban Bike Project of Wilmington<br><br><div><span class="gmail_quote">On 7/20/07, <b class="gmail_sendername">Andrew Bushaw</b> &lt;<a href="mailto:plan_9@riseup.net">plan_9@riseup.net
</a>&gt; wrote:</span><blockquote class="gmail_quote" style="border-left: 1px solid rgb(204, 204, 204); margin: 0pt 0pt 0pt 0.8ex; padding-left: 1ex;">Hello,<br>I&#39;m currently working in a collective to start a community bike shop
<br>in Fargo, ND. So far so good, we have a fiscal agent that is very well<br>respected in the community and is very hands off. We have many<br>interested volunteers, an agreement with our favorite LBS to get their<br>old tools and quite possibly their used bike inventory. We have quite
<br>a bit of community support and really feel like we can make this work.<br>However, we have had difficulty procuring space. We as a city are<br>currently going through a period of &quot;downtown revitalization&quot; which is
<br>gentrifying many possible locations. Downtown is strategically located<br>between two cities and three college campuses, so we would really like<br>to make that our home. Does anyone have any experience partnering with
<br>other organizations? Does anyone have any good ways to talk to<br>property owners who are holding out to develop into office or condo<br>space? What are the incentives to rent/donate space to us? Also, we<br>are beginning our grant writing and are wondering if anyone has an
<br>approximation as to how much we can reasonably write for, who are<br>friendly foundations, ect. Is there any shop that is funded in some<br>way other than through grants? Thanks, Andrew<br>_______________________________________________
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