Free Ride! Meeting Minutes, Sunday September 9, 2007, 1pm at 7 Beelen St

{Scribe's comments marked with {these} curly things, "FR"=Free Ride, "CJ"=Construction Junction}

{The turnout today was pretty light; several people who usually attend meetings were out of town.}

Calendar

- Not enough people are around to really discuss this much

- Didn't pass around a sign up sheet for shop shifts...will do it later by email instead

Proposal: The special meeting to continue the coordinator role & committee discussion (see the August 19, 2007 Meeting Minutes) will be at 1 pm on Sunday October 7, 2007 at Cripple Creek (7 Beelen St) provided the location is ok with the people who live there, most of whom are out of town... Approved  {Update 9/29/2007: yes it's ok, location is confirmed for 7 Beelen}

Proposal: The October general meeting will be at 1pm on Sunday October 14, location to be determined... Approved

CJ Relations Update

- The transition of the liason role from Stuart to Jake is done

- Cleaning up the shop, particularly the front area, in preparation for the Steel City Big Pour is really important to Deb

- Jake will be there Friday at 2pm to do cleanup

- FR's normal Saturday open shop will not happen during the Steel City Big Pour. The shop will be closed

- Deb is giving Jake 4 free tickets for FR, for the purpose of having some FR representation at a table

Proposal: Jake gets 1 of the tickets, he will put up a wiki page for people to sign up for the other 3. If more than 3 people want to come, Jake will randomly select who gets the tix. The deadline for all this to happen is Thursday night...Approved

- CJ's lease process is still kind of stalled out, or at least waiting on something, so no temporary lease for FR

- CJ is putting the sink in on the wall across from the FR shop {Update 9/29/2007: The sink is in and operational. It's pretty handy for washing up.}

Critical Mass

- Diane talked about what went down at the August Critical Mass, she's planning to write some stuff up and turn it into a zine.

- Basically the mass got really wide in Oakland, a motorist flipped out and was weaving between the bus lane and cyclists, he knocked a cyclist down (she was shaken but not seriously hurt), next there was a cyclist/motorist shouting match, then the police came. The situation ended up getting resolved without anything super crazy happening, but it was really messed up in a variety of ways (race & class dynamics, conflict resolution dynamics, assault with a deadly weapon, etc.).

- Discussed the possibility of FR playing a role in helping avoid such things on future CM rides and in the larger cycling community

Waiting List Update (using a list to regulate access to open shop)

- It's working great for the volunteers and the people who get in

- Lots of people are getting turned away

- There are still some problems where people are slipping in around the greeter...Perhaps the shop layout could be improved?

Idea (Matt): Check with local bike shops about what services they offer, turn the info into a poster telling people who don't want to wait where else they can go.

Signs & Comments Box

Discussed shop signs, posters, things to hang them on, etc.

- Diane wants to try making some paper signs now, if they work well and are useful, perhaps turn them into fancier/vinyl signs later

Discussed having forms for people who use the shop to give comments and suggestions

- Main problem is who will read them

Proposal: Will is going to make a comments box and some forms (PDF will go on the wiki) and bring them to the shop. The greeter will be responsible for reading the forms... Approved

Discussed putting out a sign with descriptions of the different volunteer roles and polaroids of who was doing which role that day

- Problem: Need some polaroid film.

- Problem: Who will put the sign out and change the pictures?

Proposal: Make a sign with the role descriptions, velcro for sticking the pictures on, and polaroids of the volunteers. The greeter will put the sign out. We will get some film and take new pictures... Approved

Proposal: FR will pay for some Polaroid Film... Approved

{the end}