Apologies if this has already been posted. -Dar From: clint.freund [mailto:[email protected]] Sent: Tuesday, January 13, 2009 2:45 PM Subject: Bike Cart Meeting
Dear community members, Thanks yall for takin an interest in the community Bike Cart building workshops. My name is CLint and have been part of Madison bicycle community about two years now. As you may have heard me stutter about recently, I'd like to see various Madison communities host a workshop or two on Bike Cart building. I've volunteered on and off at the Freewheel Bike Shop on the Southside and at the Willy St. Infoshop. I'm always interested in building a more tighter community through mutual aid; in relation to building a bicycle culture but also in strengthening community ties in hard economic times. I'm also a long advocate for DIY projects and skillsharing, the idea that we can come closer to eachother by sharing what we know and have. The last year and half a small collective (born from a Madison Infoshop workshop in 2007) has been putting together bicycle carts using Aaron Weiler's designs. (Can be found here: http://bikecart.pedalpeople.com/) Through donated and shared tools and pooled contributions, we've put together several carts. The experience has been very rewarding for most involved; learning new skills, sharing ideas, building more options for bicycles, creating ownership in community projects, etc. The Idea I need help with. I would like to, with other interested folks, do a series of bicycle cart workshops. They'd be fairly intimate, potluck sort of event with committed community folks. The workshop would emphasize car independence and philosophies like in Aaron's Zine. Maybe do a workshop or two in a few community "centers" around the city for a total of 5-8 workshops. Say Dreambikes on the southside, Wheels for Winners on the eastside, a co-op in the downtown area, near west side and Northside. It would include sharing/teaching and practicing all the skills needed to put a cart together: brazing, mitering, bending, etc. One individual or a small group of folks could bottomline the costs to build a cart, which is usually $30-45. There might be a group of community gardners that would like a cart to help with gardening and whatnot and could chip together in building one. I don't claim to be an expert or artist in brazing, but after having guided a few workshops over the last year, am pretty confident in leading 4-6 people in a workshop on how to build a cart. Our small collective has the essential tools to make the workshop happen, but there are a few tools that could speed up the process. Your Help: + Meeting area community organizers. I need help finding folks that'd like to help bring community members that would benefit most from these workshops. Would anyone like to meet next week over coffee? + Lock in possible Locations for the workshop itself + Find out about Spring bicycle projects other orgs are doing and coordinate with them. + Funding to help subsidize costs if possible + Finding Individuals or groups of folks interested in building a cart and other neato things. Thanks much, stay warm! -- peace, Clint Freund
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