I own the building Time's Up has been operating from in NYC for the last 4 years

8 Dec 2007

      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.

Steve Stollman

CLINTON BIGGS

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