Meeting Minutes
4/1/2009

In Attendance:
Dave M.

Veronica
Syd
Leticia
J. Harv
Brian
Josef
Harv
Josef
Matt

Issues:

-Forum vs. email
Dave: I want to get back to using the forum. Email is easy but it leads to too much private info, but it floods inbox.
Syd: When I send an email - that goes to …. ?
Veronica: How do you access the forum?
Josef: I can make the forum more prominent on our home page?
Dave: Do we want the forum to be more public?
Syd: It would be cool to log in … the computer is too slow and old … I want to download pictures to the computer
Josef: Should I make the forum login page more public?
J. Harv: Some people never look at the forum.
Decided: Josef to make a page on the site that has a link or login box for the forum.

-Shop computer
Josef: I agree with Syd that the computer sucks.
Syd: We would benefit with a better computer. A lot of people use our machine to research and create things.
Chicken Leather: The other computer we had was corrupted.
Josef: I think we should buy a better computer.
We agree that we need a better computer.

How much should we spend? Who should buy it and get reimbursed.

Josef: I think $1300 and a used iMac from the Apple Store.
Dave: I think a $500 used G5 is the way to go.
:I like macs, but we can get a PC
Harv: I don’t think we need a $1300 machine.
Josef: We could also just slap a large monitor onto this laptop and use it as a front desk thing.
We agree to have Dave find a good monitor for under $200 to use with the iBookl.
The iBook will be used as the front desk machine.

-Blank invoices
Dave: We’re almost out of invoices.
Syd: We need some more copies.
J. Harv: Is there a master for the invoices.
Dave: It’s in the Documents folder.
Veronica: It’s two sided - so we can’t do that on our printer.
J. Harv to get invoices printed somewhere next week. Reimbursed esxpenses.

-Skid row annex
J. Harv: Place downtown owns 20 buildings … they want to start a program to fix bikes and teach people how to fix bikes. They want a lot of low-end stuff to work on. They’ll set aside a room, and if we help them set it up, then we’ll get rid of the bikes that we don’t want anything to do with and they want them.
Veronica: Do they have a space?
J. Harv: Yes, the guy I’ve been talking with says they do have a space. If we wanted it could be a second location, but we’re thinly staffed already. I wanted to have them get started.
“I agree” says group.
Veronica: How did they find us?
J. Harv: Kitchen said they’d try and help them out, but they contacted us too.
Dave: They have space and resources, but they don’t have anyone who knows how to run something like that.

Coordinating this relationship:
-We give them our functioning “junk” parts
-We need the downtown crew’s info posted in the shop (by Freddy’s)
-Help them get a workstation/workshop established
Dave: Propose a class to teach their mechanics on a given night.
J. Harv: I don’t want their bikes hanging around for 2 weeks.
Josef: But let’s focus on educating their people.
Harv: Our classes are not designed for what they want to do. They will take department store bikes and make them run. Very basic stuff: session would have to be addressed to them only.
Veronica: We can go down there!
Harv: We have everything here first.
J. Harv: Harv and I put together a starter set of tools - $200 and they said it was no problem.
Josef: So, J. Harv, if you would like to manage this - we agree to give them bikes, we teach their people, you set up the dates with us and we’ll teach them.
-Help them set up shop -
Syd: I’d like to help design the shop.
Dave: I will help with the site visit and layout.
-Mobile Repair Station?
J. Harv: I think we might be able to get a mobile repair station out of the deal. We use it for tabling events
Josef:
Syd: We have the Farmer’s Market in Highland Park - and we should go there and and have Josef do it.
Harv.: You have to build a portable bike station

…

-Mobile Bike Repair Station
Syd: How about a mobile repair station?
Harv: I would take up a lot of room in the shop.
Veronica: We could make it a tool stand in the shop.
Dave: Paint a spot for it.
Josef: We don’t really have a volunteer with the motivation.
Veronica: There was a guy named “Woody” at Bike Summit who wanted to do something like that.
Harv: Before the Bike Oven was conceived NELA Bikes made such a stand. I made a workstand that you could break down into saddle bags. We set up in Sycamore Grove Park, we publicized it. We brought tools and set up the stand and we had one person, maybe, that day. We did it for one day, got one guy with one bike and that was it. Jeff Chapman has the stand now, but he doesn’t know where it is.

Syd: I have really liked working pretty much 24 hours a day at the Oven - but I’m going back to school to finish a few degrees. During June I won’t be able to work quite as much.

-Classes - for April/May
April 8, 2009
Spring Clean Class - general check up - brake adjust, derailleur clean, check headset and BB - Josef
April 22, 2009
Wheel Truing Class - Josef

-Salvation Army
Dave: I talked with a Salvation Army in Malibu. They have 80 bikes, want 20 working bikes. We go through them, get them working and get a few of them.
Syd: Guy is named Douglas.
Josef: We should recommend him to the BikeRoWave.
J. Harv: Salvation Army is supposed to be a vocational training thing - we help them if they provide the manpower.

-To carry tires or not to carry tires?
Dave: What is Josef going to stock and what will you carry? Would you be the parts supplier.
Josef: I’m going to be closed Monday and Tuesday.

-What Josef should carry at his shop
New brakes of a low-end
BMX brakes and parts needed
Lights and locks
Flip flop wheels
Cogs

-Art ride, April 11
My Bike Has a Soundtrack party going again

-Movie on Sunday, April 5
Veronica: Need a movie.
Triplets of Belleville?
Bollywood next month/Bikesaround the world

-Talk the Bike - 3rd Sunday April 19
Veronica: We’re not going to do the Mission St. slowing project unless someone wants to do it. I want a poster campaign and a cool bike map.
J. Harv: What about that Obama $37 million coming to the State. Villaraigsoa’s going to use it for whatever he wants unless someone asks him.
Josef: Letters to an elected official would be really great.

-Shifts:
Josef: I’ll come in on Wednesdays to run the volunteer nights.
Dave: Thursday?
Syd: I’m in for Thurs., Sat., Sun. I’m cool with it.
Matt: I’m good with Thurs
Matt is a key holding member at the Oven

-Bike Film News Project w. Kitchen and Streetfilms
Josef: I would like to get money from the Oven and Kitchen to buy equipment and cover Chicken Leather’s expenses, then connect with some of the foundations that fund Streetsblog’s films to pay for someone’s time to edit the films through the Bike Kitchen’s non-profit. The activity would happen upstairs at the Oven.

-Opening party for Coop
Josef: I need some help with the opening party.