April 14, 2007

Construction Junction

214 N. Lexington St

Pittsburgh, PA 15208

Attn: Deb Elliot

Dear Ms. Elliot:

On April 8th, at our collective meeting, Free Ride discussed the concerns you raised regarding the bathrooms used by Free Ride's volunteers and customers, and your proposal regarding the installation of a utility sink. We acknowledge that the bathrooms are a significant problem and that Free Ride’s activities create a large proportion of the mess your employees regularly clean. However, we have reached a consensus decision that Free Ride will not pay any additional maintenance fees until those fees are agreed on as part of a written lease. Because Construction Junction was aware of the nature of Free Ride's operations when we reached our current agreement regarding the use of the space, and because no mention of additional maintenance fees was made at that time, we do not believe that such fees can be unilaterally imposed at this time. We share the belief that installation of a utility sink will help to resolve the conditions in the bathrooms, and we want to resolve the problem as quickly as possible. The current sinks are completely unsuitable for our needs, and create problems for volunteers and customers. However, we are also unwilling to consider paying for capital improvements in a space where we do not have a written lease.

At this time we believe the best course of action would be for Construction Junction to immediately contract the installation of a utility sink for Free Ride's use. This would serve to immediately reduce Free Ride's use of the bathroom facilities and the effort required of Construction Junction's personnel in cleaning them. The ultimate distribution of the costs of that installation would be negotiated at a later date in conjunction with our written lease.

In my previous letter we expressed our desire to establish regular meetings between Free Ride and Construction Junction, and to have minutes of those meetings recorded and distributed to both parties. It is essential that this happen in order to avoid situations like the one that arose over the maintenance of the bathrooms. The current situation has its roots in discussions of maintenance fees and the installation of a utility sink that began when we were considering our space needs for our move. These discussions were never recorded or followed up on. The situation has been further exacerbated by the lack of a written interim lease, a situation that was discussed in our previous letter. This lack of communication and responsibility on behalf of both parties needs to be resolved. I am available to meet over lunch most weekdays, and would suggest that we meet during your lunch hour at the East End Food Coop Cafe on either Wednesday the 18th or Wednesday the 25th of April. At that time I will be able to provide you with an updated schedule of Free Ride's programs as well as listen to any additional concerns you may have. I would also like to be updated on your progress in negotiating an extension of your lease.

Sincerely,

Stuart Anderson

Liaison for the Free Ride Collective

Andalusia's comments

The letter seems fine to me save a few minor details. I think it needs to be stated in the first paragraph that we have repeatedly asked for a lease and not received one. it's important to stress the lack of a lease because it relates to us being hardline about the sinks/bathroom etc.

Also, I am slightly scared that they will install a sink at some high cost and then try to leverage that against us later on.