Free Ride! Meeting Minutes, Sunday July 16, 2007 at Landslide

Guest scribe's comments are in []

 

Coordinator Reportbacks

 

Stuart (CJ Liason), spoke with Deb and...

- CJ should have a long term lease on their building by the end of August, at that point they will be ready to set up a lease with FR

- CJ will probably end up paying more for their space, and they will probably want FR to pay more for rent.

- Saturday September 15, CJ will be hosting a big event ["Steel City Big Pour"; beer + art + music; two sessions: 12pm-3pm & 5pm-8pm; tickets: $30 advance, $40 at door, $10 designated driver] during which they would like the FR shop to be closed.

- CJ wants to put in a utility sink by September 15: paid for by FR, up to code, and not in the bathroom [out in the main warehouse space ???]

- Deb requested that the areas around the breaker boxes be kept clear

- Stuart asked that CJ do more to keep people [not sure exactly who, maybe other CJ tennants???] from wandering back into the FR shop area [not sure exactly when this was a problem]

 

[I think there was an informal consensus, or maybe a quickly approved proposal, to close the shop on the September 15th]

 

Erok (shop):

Pumps

- Compressor in the front of the shop should work for Schrader

- Floor pumps should work for Presta

- Suggestion: lock up the pumps so they don't get stolen, stepped on, or otherwise broken

 

...discussion of locking up pumps...some concern about the amount of staff time already being used to get things out of locked cabinets for people

 

Proposal: Lock pumps up until those interested in an unlocked solution come up with a better alternative...Approved

 

 

Johnny (volunteers):

- He hasn't scheduled a second volunteer training, but he has a list of interested people and plans to set something up soon.

- Actually, so many people are interested, he may need some help to do more than one additional training session

 

Scott (classes):

- YWCA Homewood program finished on Friday. It was a great success. Making sure that the kids only chose single speed coaster brake bikes was a big help.

- Probably will do another round of adult classes, but not until Bike!Bike! is over.

- Might be doing a one day thing with SCA

 

Jessica: Oakland camp is incorporating some environmental curriculum [I missed how this fit into the discussion]

 

Morgan: has a neighbor that offered the use of a garage space and inquired about the possibilty of FR teaching a class there (Northside).

Reqest to Morgan...please make sure to allow enough time for assembling a set of tools when scheduling a time for the class .

Discussion...it would be good to assemble a traveling set of tools and stands for this and other similar things.

Morgan will keep talking to the guy and report back on what happens.

 

 

Calendar Discussion

 

Bike!Bike! is Friday Aug 10 to Sun Aug 12.

Test of consenus: Cancel the open shop on Saturday the 11th?...Most say yes, a few reservations

Discussion...

Proposal: The open shop on Aug 11 is cancelled unless Jake lines up people to staff it really soon...Approved

 

Problem...the next FR meeting would be on Saturday Aug 12, during Bike!Bike!

Discussion...

Proposal: Move the meeting back a week (to Aug 5), start at 1pm instead of noon, meet at Scott's house (285 Main)...Approved

 

 

Tire Recycling

 

Diane:

- Did everyone read the tire recycling wiki page?

- Gave a short summary of the info in the wiki page

- Finding and scheduling an available pickup truck has been a little challenging

 

Proposal: Approve $30 to use a FlexCar minivan to take the tires...Some yes, some reservations (somebody's pickup truck would be better)

...Lively and jovial discussion...[I'm pretty sure the resulting proposal was serious...]

 

 

 

Proposal: Approve a $6 "Tire Recycling Reward" for use in recruiting a pickup truck and driver...Approved

Diane will take care of arranging the transportation to recyce tires this month.

 

 

Logging Non-EAB Volunteer Hours

 

Discussion about having a more structured process and paperwork for logging non-EAB volunteer hours and applying them towards Bike PGH membership, getting used parts, etc...

- Erok made a form for this before, and it should be on the wiki somewhere

- Part of the reason that form has not been in use is its association with trying to get the Words approved.

Proposal: Erok will print some copies of his form for use during the coming month...Approved

 

 

YouthWorks & Fix For Sale

 

 - Scott is not sure about trying to keep YouthWorks going

 - Scott is not sure about trying to keep Fix For Sale going [Note: there's more on Fix For Sale later in the minutes]

 

[at this point the meeting switched topics to...]

 

 

CJ Liason with Deb

 

- Stuart is going to leave the liason role asap, so there needs to be a replacement

 

Discussed paying for the sink:

- Concerns expressed on the general theme of "no money for capital improvements until we get a lease"

- Stuart pointed out that FR already approved $200 for a sink and that he had told Deb he would call her about the sink next week

 

Proposal: Tell Deb FR approved $200 for the sink, but FR does not want to pay any more for capital improvements without a lease...Approved

 

Discussed a replacement liason [general feeling was that people need more time to think about it]

 

Proposal: Pick a new CJ liason at next month's meeting...Approved

 

 

Finding a new space for the shop

 

 

Elijah would like FR to have its own building

 

Context: This was prompted by Stuart's updates on CJ and the resulting discussion: lease, sink, potential for higher rent, etc.

 

Going around the circle:

- I don't want to do the work of finding a building, but go for it

- That's a lot of work

- I would be happy to get out of CJ

- I'm not comfortable with doing it unless it's clear that the FR collective is going to be sustainable. There are things happening around CJ (Green Block, etc.) that might be worth participating in.

- Taking care of a building is a lot of work, who will do it all

- I'm open to buying a new place, but CJ has a lot of resources we can use. If we move, we would have to get a lot of things on our own.

- CJ is not a great location for the shop (too far from where many people live). Lots of people drive. Long term it would be nice to go elsewhere, but it's a lot of work to start up a new place.

 

[No proposals, but I think the general feeling was: it would be cool for FR to have it's own building, but as things stand now moving would be impractical]

 

Shop Signs

 

Discussed making signs to explain how the shop works and finding places to hang the signs (cabinet at front of shop)

 

Proposal: This month, prepare plans for the signs on a wiki page, review/approve the plans at the August meeting, then make the signs...Approved

 

 

How to help new volunteers get involved in staffing the shop

 

- Need to make sure that we don't do things like scheduling 3 new people to run the shop by themselves

- Should make sure new people have contact info for experienced volunteers

 

 

Proposal: Have new people who want to staff the shop work 3 nights as an extra staff person in addition to the experienced volunteers signed up on the calendar. After the new person has showed up for 3 open shops, they can start signing up on the calendar to staff the shop...Approved

 

Erok: Volunteer staffing will be a part of the discussion at Bike!Bike!.

 

 

Fix For Sale

 

Discussed the possibility of having a Fix For Sale night on alternate Wednesdays (not on womens/trans nights)

Check in: Who would show up? ... several people said yes

 

Scott will print commission forms and bring them to the shop

 

Proposal: On the calendar, reserve the shop for FFS bike building only nights on alternating Wednesdays. If somebody wants to open the shop on one of those nights, they can sign up on the calendar and send an email to let people know...Approved

 

[The end]