Re: Proposal
Bryan Bishop
> In order to create a hack/maker space in Austin, we would like to do the
> following:
btw we had a mailing list for this:
http://groups.google.com/group/atxfab
Can you give some details on what Les has said? Is he going to allow
more than 2 people per room to be at enDesign at once or not? What
about keys? Ben Lipkowitz was living with Les for 3 months and was
never able to get keys, for instance.
Bryan Bishop
From: Matthew McCabe <ma...@mrmccabe.com>
Date: Thu, Dec 17, 2009 at 8:23 PM
Subject: Re: Proposal
To: austin-ha...@googlegroups.com
And here are Mike's comments about my proposal.
I talked to Mike a bit about this e-mail and we agree that a _simple_
contract (more like a letter of understanding) is a good idea to
formally establish a business relationship with Les. This will help
us to avoid any miscommunication and a bit of legal documentation to
cover ourselves.
---------- Forwarded message ----------
From: Mike Rich <darkco...@gmail.com>
Date: Thu, Dec 17, 2009 at 12:59 PM
Subject: Re: Proposal
To: Matthew McCabe <ma...@mrmccabe.com>, Ratha Grimes <ra...@ratha.com>
I have some suggestions for small changes. Mainly I want to impress
that anything we do should mesh with Les's philosophy.
> First, rent 1-2 rooms in the enDesign space to seed the hack/maker space.
> Ratha and Mike have committed to renting at least one room.
Ratha - I'm ready to rent a room as well. I'd prefer to split a room
with someone, at least to start, so let me know if you'd like a
"roomie." I can take up as little or as much space as works for you
(I'd eventually like to bring my electronics stuff up there). If
you're ok with this, I'd like it to be a month-to-month thing with us
as well - you can kick me out at the end of any month, and I could
decide to get my room at the end of any month (which I'll almost
certainly do after some time).
> Matt will help out by paying some of the monthly fee for one of the spaces,
> buy a set of domains, setup a website, schedule/calendar, other IT
> resources, and help build out the room(s) (as much as "real" work allows).
> Have a lawyer help us draw up the contract with Les and create a liability
> waver for Les and/or the informal organization.
If Les wants to..
Myself, I'll crib from stuff on the Internet, until (if?) I need a better one.
> Sign a contract and lease with Les for the 1-2 rooms. Negotiate the terms
> including the number of people who may use the space.
No contracts. That's one of the best things about this space! I'm
certainly not going to force Les to draw up a contract if he doesn't
want to. I believe he was saying that if you're doing the 2 ppl/rm
deal, you could have more than 2 guests over at a time, I don't really
remember. But he was also very flexible on events and such. I think
this is probably a non-issue until there are more rooms rented out, or
more than 10-15 people in the space at once.
> Begin to advertise and promote our informal organization and the cause once
> we have a lease and begin to build out the space. The website will be
> available to advertise the space and community.
> We will reach out to local groups to advertise the space and community.
> Offer small/informal classes or "learn-alongs" on a variety of topics.
> Hack/build/make/have fun/learn (whomever shows up).
> Once new members start to express interest in joining, determine reasonable
> dues to one of the 1-2 renters of the room(s).
I very much believe this should be on a per-room basis, and not
something that's enforced by the co-op. For example, if Ratha and I
split a room, we would decide what, if anything, we wanted to charge
our guests. Maybe as we grow, the co-op (as an LLC?) buys out all the
rooms, and we have a common fee structure, but again, for now, I think
this is a non-issue.
> Draw up a simple and short list of member rules that new and existing
> members must sign.
I would want to go with less is more here. All I really care about to
start is: https://www.noisebridge.net/wiki/Safety CC by-nc-sa
> If we have sufficient momentum after some period of time (hopefully within
> 6-12 months), we will form an LLC around our community.
> If we have community support and form an LLC, the leases on the spaces will
> probably be taken over by the LLC.
> New units may be rented as needed for the hack/make space by the LLC.
> If (when?) we outgrow the space at enDesign, then we will look at renting
> and building out our own space in Austin.
> Rinse and repeat for other cities as desired.
--
Bryan Bishop
> Yup, I understand that our two efforts are (hopefully) merging :) I want to
> be clear that we - the Austin Hackerspace / Maker peps - want to do this as
> soon as possible. We are going to move quickly to avoid losing momentum.
Sounds good, but don't get scammed.
> But our two groups should meet up to discuss possibly merging our efforts to
> make this happen. Would Sunday afternoon work for meeting up?
Sunday is fine. I live 0.5mi down the street from Les' shop at Lamar
and Ben White.
> Yes, Les is willing to negotiate on the number of members per 8x10 unit.
Okie dokie. Maybe you guys just have some charm that I lack.
> Also, he is willing to let us use the space for events that are open to the
> public.
Okay, this is starting to sound better than what he pitched me. :-)
> I believe that everyone who is a paying member (2+ per space) will get a key
> to the building. That will be in our contract / letter of understanding
> with Les. Again, another reason to make an effort to put it on paper.
So for public events, one of the N number of members will have to be
present at all times?