PDX Hackerspace Potential Location & More
Nick
I've been doing a lot of searching for physical spaces for a
hackerspace, and I think I've finally found someplace decent. The
address is 611 N. Tillamook, right off of Interstate, near the Rose
Quarter. The location has three potential spaces, and I need some
input as to which we should go with; or reasons not to go with this
location at all. The prices listed below are per month, including all
utilities (except for internet).
The first space has access to two bathrooms, two outside doors, and a
garage door and is a total of 1,655 sq ft for $1075/month.
The second space is about half of the first space, includes the garage
door, and comes to 837 sq ft for $545/month.
The third space has two outside doors, two bathrooms, and lots of
space - but it is in much rougher shape, and has a very uneven floor.
It also has a separate office area included with it. It comes to 1174
sq ft for $765/month.
I've attached diagrams of the floor layouts.
Right now, I'm leaning towards a $80/month membership fee, with up to
$40 being able to be worked off via time working on the space each
month. I'd love ideas/criticisms on this, as well as any commitments
from people who wants to be members.
The goal here is to have a 24/7 accessible space, with as much
equipment as we can cram in there, for the local hacker/maker/artsy
people in town - and I think we may finally be about to pull it off.
Priorities I need help with right now are writing the organizational
plan/bylaws/structure; Incorporating as a non-profit, or something -
depends on the final plan; finalizing a name for our space; and
finding liability insurance. If you or someone you know can help with
this, please contact me.
The name I'm leaning towards right now is Artificers' Guild; but
suggestions are mote than welcome.
There is also a Facebook Group for the PDX Hackerspace, at least
temporarily, at http://www.facebook.com/group.php?gid=212827403778
Feel free to forward this to people/lists you think might be interested.
Nick/Loki/Lokkju
ni...@lokkju.com
877-456-5558
Jonathan Leto
Thanks for your hard work, Nick! How close is this place to a MAX
station? Is there ample space for locking up bikes, preferably inside?
Do we have a rough estimate of how many people that are interested
actually have the $$ to pay every month? Also, I have been lurking on
other hackerspace lists and IRC channels, and most seem to have a
"normal" rate and a student rate, which is roughly half. For example,
the Oslo hackerspace that is starting up charges $25/month
normal/$12.50/month for students.
Interestingly, the smallest space is the cheapest per foot (64.3 cents
per foot^2 per month) and the middle size is the most expensive, at
65.7 cents. The bigger space comes out to 65.0 cents. We may want to
start with the smallest space, to minimize initial costs. If we had 10
serious people, that would only be $54.50 per person, per month. With
20 people that drops to $27.25, which is quite reasonable.
I can help with bylaws and structure, please let me know what you have
in mind. I am leaning towards *not* making PDX hackerspace a
501c3/non-profit. They have to follow a lot more rules. I would prefer
for PDXHS to become some type of sustainable local member-owned
business/coop kind of a thing, but this obviously needs to be thought
about some more.
Let's not use Facebook to organize PDXHS. Facebook can die in a fire.
Duke
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Jonathan "Duke" Leto
jona...@leto.net
http://leto.net
Nick
We have a wiki for organizational stuff, at
http://www.pdxhackerspace.com (and .net - but not .org). I'm using
Facebook only for contact and promotion of this - I definitely don't
want to use it for much else.
The space at 611 N Tillamook was specifically chosen because it is
only 3-4 blocks from a Max Stop. Bike parking isn't currently set up,
but will be easy to add - there is a bunch of normal parking as well.
One of the things that this effort (the email/FB) is intended to do is
get firm or even semi-firm commitments on the number of people. The
idea behind the $80/$40 split was for students - but that isn't a hard
number, just a working idea - and there will need to be a core,
including myself, that will cover costs come hell or high water.
All the spaces are $0.65/sqft - any differences are probably rounding
errors by the leasing agent.
For bylaws and structure, I would like to be some sort of non-profit,
so it is easier to receive grants and donations - not just money, but
also equipment. There are three approaches I've looked into with
that: form our own 501.c(3); Find an umbrella organization for non
profit status; or, form a fraternal order.
Nick
Jonathan Leto
Some questions:
1) Who controls the @pdxhackerspace twitter account? It does not
respond to mentions or DM's. I would like to put it on cotweet so that
it can actually be used.
2) Finding an umbrella org is probably the easiest route, what are the options?
3) How is it decided who gets 24/7 access? Such as, we can accept
donations of any size, but they don't get you 24/7 access. Only
serious members that everyone trusts should have 24/7 access. There
will inevitably some expensive equipment there. A 24 hour webcam could
be a very good idea for keeping track of things and making sure
certain expensive tools/etc don't get "lost."
Duke
Chris Pitzer
--
Chris Pitzer
p. 503 425 9444
t. @chrispitzer
w. http://lofiart.com
Nick
1) I have no idea - I *think* it is Kyle, who also controls the
pdxhackerspace.org domain. If we were to stick with the
pdxhackerspace name, I would be giving up the domains I control to the
group, and I expect Kyle would as well. He hasn't been updating the
.org lately, so I don't know whats going on with him. If the
@pdxhackerspace account is completely unused, I could see if twitter
would hand it over, as they sometimes do. At any rate, I would hope
to eventually have a better name than pdxhackerspace.
2) There are a few people in the local non profit community we should
talk to - soycamo has a card for someone who was very helpful and
interested in assisting us.
3) All full members get 24/7 access, and yes, I do plan on having some
web cams and door tracking going on. Donations have nothing to do
with membership, unless the (decision making body) decides that a
specific donation should be accepted in lieu of some dues. At the
same time, I would definitely take into consideration rules for people
losing 2/47 access privileges for specific behavior, or perhaps even a
grace period before you get the 24/7 access. My goal is to use a card
lock system - I have a 300dpi dye-sub printer for 30mil PVC cards, and
we could either do magnetic, barcodes, or even (more expensive) RFID
or HOTP/TOTP PIN type cards. They would also double as pretty cool
membership cards *grin*.
Amy Johnston
artist, my ability to pay $80/month is dependent upon how much use I can
get from the space. I'd love to see us get the large space from the
beginning, as 1600 sq. ft. will fill up fast.
I won't be able to attend the meeting this Sunday, as I'll be in Berlin
for 26C3. I'm happy to help out with things, including organizational
stuff, after I return in January. I've seen the inside workings of
several functional hacker spaces and have lots of ideas and thoughts on
how to set up one up for success.
Regards,
AmyJ
Lokkju Brennr
entrances, two bathrooms, basement access, and loft space - and just
plain more room. But again, for the larger space, I can't handle it
alone, and I need to find some more people who are committed, and can
afford to be committed, to keep it running until it gets some
momentum.
Of course, my goal is to have space by the time you get back - but
there will always be things to help with!
Selena Deckelmann
> 2) There are a few people in the local non profit community we should
> talk to - soycamo has a card for someone who was very helpful and
> interested in assisting us.
Best resource by far is www.tacs.org.
I have an older copy of the oregon non-profit handbook that a friend
loaned me. Happy to scan relevant sections in for particular needs.
For example, it has example bylaws.
Becoming an oregon non-profit (rather than a 501(c)3) is a
possibility, and leaves open the ability to switch to a for-profit
venture later.
Best of luck! :)
-selena
--
http://chesnok.com/daily - me
http://endpoint.com - work
Don Park
<selen...@gmail.com> wrote:
> On Tue, Dec 22, 2009 at 2:36 PM, Nick <ni...@lokkju.com> wrote:
>
>> 2) There are a few people in the local non profit community we should
>> talk to - soycamo has a card for someone who was very helpful and
>> interested in assisting us.
>
> Best resource by far is www.tacs.org.
Having had first-hand view of Personal Telco's 501(c)(3) process, i
can second the nomination on that book. Its the most excellent
reference around. Its also much easier and cheaper to find an existing
non-profit and see if they will be an umbrella organization for the
space.
don
Thomas Lockney
http://dorkbot.org/mailman/listinfo/dorkbotpdx-blabber
~thomas
Adam Lowry
> I have an older copy of the oregon non-profit handbook that a friend
> loaned me. Happy to scan relevant sections in for particular needs.
> For example, it has example bylaws.
My girlfriend Tara has a 2005 copy of this that you all are free to
use. Let me know if you'd like to take a look.
Adam