Mechanics Minutes Oct 2010

10/03/10 Bike Kitchen Staff Meeting

Staff: John-Paul (facilitator; Tuesday, board, education), Esther (minutes; Tuesday), Marshall (Saturday), Brittany (Saturday, WTF), Elijah (Saturday), Jordan (youth, float), Rez (Thurs, donations), Geoffrey (Thurs), Justin (Tues), Jeremiah (Thurs), Josh (latecomer; Tuesday)

Visitors: Kasey (weeknights), Nat (Adv Maint, staff candidate), Damon (Basic Maint, staff candidate), Spencer (Sat), Francisco (Sat), David (Tues, staff candidate), Lorae (Sat, staff candidate)

Report from Board Meeting

Jordan and J-P reporting. Board discussed vision and planning for the future. BK has grown a lot lately, needs to set goals for future growth. 1. Budgeting: allocate present surplus to projects (empower staff to use money for projects) and for the benefit of other (Cycles of Change); 2. Youth programming and youth involvement in shop; 3. Getting a pro bono lawyer; 4. Diversifying the shop. 5. Budget report from Angel: first report in a long time where BK has lost money, largely due to not teaching classes in recent months. BK has $47K in bank, peaked at $50K in March. Financials available in board meeting minutes on wiki.

Youth and their siblings in the shop during open hours

Jordan: Wrote up basic guidelines for youth in shop. Wants to have a dialog about how to deal with young kids in shop.

Elijah: We came up with guidelines at previous staff meeting (no one under 14 without someone 18 or older), and that alleviated the problems we were having at the time. Something more lenient for the youth program?

Jeremiah: We need to get parental permission and a waivers for our own protection. J-P, Justin, Lorae, and Kasey second this. ***GENERAL CONSENSUS/DECISION: We need to get youth waivers and parent permissions up to date.

J-P: Having large numbers of people in shop who are not working on their bikes leads to chaos, facilitates the thefts we've been having. Lorae and Jeremiah second. ***GENERAL CONSENSUS: We have policies (no stand, no wrench; no loitering; we reserve the right to suspend you) to help mechanics keep order. If staff or regular volunteers see anything shady, they should feel empowered to intervene (or ask someone else to intervene).

Jordan: This illuminates a lot about the role of mechanics here. Not just teaching people to fix bikes, but also enforcement of rules and keeping order in the shop. It's difficult for mechanics here without guidelines/policies to point to. But we also have to be careful about keeping the space open and welcoming.

JEREMIAH PROPOSES A RULE OF MAX ONE GUEST PER PATRON. Friendly amendments: applies to staff on shift as well, mechanics' discretion applies, two people with two bikes count as two patrons, patron/staff is responsible for actions of guest MOTION PASSED

Jordan's presentation on youth program

First day is shop orientation, no mechanics.

Eliminated volunteering requirement for youth's first project bike; replaced it with orientation period (hard to give bike-related volunteer tasks to youth who know nothing about bikes).

All youth get logged in on Free Hub.

If youth want to trade volunteer hours for parts, it happens during youth hours only (mechancis' discretion). Hours are logged on a piece of paper that the youth hangs on to. Youth clear tasks with staff, staff signs off on volunteer hours.

Second bike project requires 6 hours volunteering.

Envisions different levels of commitment: occasional drop-in for repairs; build-a-bike projects and related volunteer hours; staff-in-training; paid position through mayor's youth employment program.

Justin: There will also be monthly youth rides.

Rez: We need to minimize the appearance that youth can/do just grab stuff. We want some way to verify that they can use the parts they're claiming with volunteer hours. J-P agrees, especially that volunteer logging during open hours coupled with hour redemption during youth hours only is a good idea. Jordan: We plan on posting a signed poster of youth agreement to youth program policies (available for all other staff to see, so that we have the details of the program at hand).

GENERAL CONSENSUS that it's a good idea to have patrons and staff sign similar agreements, perhaps make them part of the waivers.

BREAK FOR PIZZA

What will we use the money for?

Cubbies for patron bags, a rolling cart for patrons putside to have tools... raise the idea on the listserve, get support, and go for it. We have some money to spend.

Elijah: Is it okay to bring my school bike club here for a maintenance class during closed hours?

Answer: Yes, as long as there's a staff member over 18 here taking repsonsibility, and you let the list know when it's happening.

Nolen did not accept the Klein

Winterfest wants new bikes to auction. There's a general feeling that we still want it to go to charity. It is in Esther and J-P's garage right now.

Marshall's Time Bank proposal

Marshall has a vision of being part of the Bike Kitchen being something that supports our lives more than just in its current way of supporting our bicycle hobby. Time Bank allows people to volunteer and bank their hours in a community time bank, and they can exchange credits for services. BK volunteers and staff can bank hours and receive services; on the flip side, others can bank hours and use their credits for services/memberships at Bike Kitchen.

Jeremiah likes the idea of doing it for memberships only (not digging rights). Not worried that it will cut into revenue, but that increased memberships will put strain on BK staff/capacity. Concerned that staff participation is double/extra compensation for volunteering. Also volunteers here are a drain of staff resources, strange to have them volunteer here to use the benefit somewhere else.

J-P agrees re: using time bank hours for memberships, not digging rights (we already have more people wanting to build bikes than we have bikes). Not worried about strain of extra memberships as we're already turning people away/making waiting lists each shift.

Brittany: It does relieve some of our need to find volunteer tasks if someone wants to volunteer for a membership but we don't have capacity for them that night: we can tell them to use time bank hours instead (volunteer somewhere else). Rez agrees.

Rez: Other organizations are probably double-dipping, no reason we shouldn't also do so as staff.

Marshall: General response is that time bank isn't thriving, we would be new blood in a struggling system that is promoting non-capitalist models of exchange. And the whole idea is double-dipping: it makes being BK staff more supportable/sustainable for us as people. Makes being BK staff less classist.

AGENDA ITEM FOR NEXT MEETING J-P: There seems to be support, but we need a detailed proposal (including how it will affect Free Hub). Suggests rolling over this decision until next staff meeting.

Jordan's listserve post about the Bike Kitchen attitude/environment

Jordan has heard from some of his queer and female friends that they do not feel comfortable here, and don't feel safe or welcomed. Attractive women get "helped" by multiple mechanics who seem to be hitting on them; others feel they get ignored. Some staff come across as aggressive or unfriendly.

Jordan: The pace of the shop has changed a lot. A friend of his says she's stopped coming because it used to be chill and a place to hang out and work on her bike. Now it feels like a business, it's overcrowded, the staff are stressed, patrons have weird expectations about the help they'll receive, she can't get to know people. Important to him that people have fun, even if they don't get done the things they planned on.

Kasey: His personal experience was feeling ignored at first. But after a few times, Ron approached him, was super friendly. Then met youth, who advised him who knew what, he got to know people. But it took regular coming here, and it took effort on his part to get the knowledge he needed to break into the community. Recommends that greeter take the time to orient each patron, perhaps have a staff member who acts as an ombudsman for each shift.

GENERAL CONSENSUS: It would be GREAT to have more staff! And more women on staff!

J-P: These things are true, but to get back to Justin's main point. The staff are mainly straight white males, and people who are not come in with preconceptions about how we will behave. We have to be conscious about not fulfilling that stereotype. It's just as bad to give more attention to a cute yong woman than she wants as it is to ignore another woman for the opposite reason. As for greeters, the best thing to do is to turn them into good mechanics. The best person to be behind the desk is the most experienced mechanic on the shift--they can orient, make people feel the way we're hoping they will, check in with people later on the floor.

Jordan: Board talked about trying to make staff feel more familial, maybe we check in before shift about the vibe for the night, etc.

Josh: We need to make it clear to greeters that they shouldn't be using computer for non-shift-related things. Jeremiah seconds this--greeters are staff, and staff don't work on their stuff while they're on shift.

Esther: I've resisted acting as greeter because I don't want to be the woman on shift *and* sitting behind the desk, in a space and role that's marked "not a mechanic." But I've been convinced to go to greeter training.

Elijah: 1. It's like a party every shift, and I love the people here, it was easy for me to get to know people here. 2. Colin and I got yelled at for telling a patron in dire circumstances that he could stay past 9, and that's not right.

J-P direct responding to Elijah's 1.: As a sociologist, I have to say we can't just rely on our personal networks to get more staff; it just perpetuates the lack of diversity.

Rez: We need to clear up the double meaning of "volunteer" by finding out if someone is trying to get a free membership, or if they want to volunteer as a mechanic and try to become staff. That might have cleared up confusion with Kasey.

Brittany: I'm not the most outgoing person, but I did know something about bikes. But if I hadn't had either, I would have had a really hard time. Agrees that we could use more hanging out time. Hasn't felt excluded as a woman, but can see how the environment here could be intimidating.