Great news Angel! I look forward to hearing more about this opportunity! When I began the process of opening The Working Place, I also began speaking to the local (borough and city) governments and searching for economic development assistance. Immediately the City Manager was onboard and told stories of visiting "similar spaces" in the "Lower 48" several years ago. We began disucssing how the City could direct some grant money to us, probably through the Small Business Development Center. When it came down to the wire (and the City owns the building I'm in, so you would think this would help) he was no where to be found. After mentioning this to the Small Business Development Center, the director said that she'd heard similar stories from other start-ups all pointing back to the same City Manager.
Lesson learned: When dealing with Governemnt, get it ALL on paper! The City owning the building lead to it's own unique situations. Our agreement on tenant improvements was that I paid materials and the City provided the labor. While this was great for the budget there were some shortfalls in the execution and some misunderstandings. Don't get me wrong, the space turned out great and I don't know how we could have stayed within budget without them, but there are still some rennovations (bathroom, for example) that will need to be done before we can really consider it finished. It has been a learning experience and we are excited to be "in the game". Jesse Jones The Working Place Wasilla, AK On Apr 8, 3:35 pm, Beth Buczynski <[email protected]> wrote: > Thanks to David, Brian, and Angel for providing such great responses > about their experience with government. If anyone else has had > experience joining forces (or fighting) with local government, please > share your story! If you prefer to reply off-list, I'm at > [email protected]. > > Beth > > On Apr 8, 1:06 pm, Angel Kwiatkowski <[email protected]> wrote: > > > > > I presented on coworking yesterday at a Green Summit (for eco-minded > > folks) and the Facilities Manager of our county govt was there. He > > just came out and asked, "how can the county government participate in > > coworking as part of our telework plan?" I about dropped dead (in a > > good way!). Especially since I used to work at that county government > > and it was a 6 week process to even get approval to telework. He seems > > progressive and open-minded and even mentioned his plans to give up > > his fancy office for location independence & coworking to prove his > > point to the commissioners. > > > We'll be setting up a meeting to talk more but in my perfect world, > > county employees would just become members of existing coworking > > spaces with their dues paid or reimbursed by the county. I think that > > coworking spaces that serve only govt or a mix of govt and private > > should be run privately to maintain the core values and the concept of > > intentional community cultivation. I'll let you know what shakes out. > > > Angel > > > On Apr 7, 1:05 pm, Beth Buczynski <[email protected]> wrote: > > > > Hello Community! > > > > I'm researching a story for Shareable.net about coworking and > > > connections to city governments. And once again, I'm wondering if you > > > might share your thoughts on the following questions: > > > > Do you have any experience working with local government? What sparked > > > the interaction? Was it overall positive or negative? Would you advise > > > new spaces to try it? > > > > How can new coworking space owners introduce themselves to local > > > government in a way that will encourage collaboration? Or do you think > > > it's best to wait for them to find you? > > > > What can coworkers and coworking space managers do to create the > > > cities and economy of the future in collaboration with city > > > governments? > > > > Thanks in advance for your feedback :) > > > > Beth > > > [email protected] > > > @gonecoworking -- You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups "Coworking" group. To post to this group, send email to [email protected]. To unsubscribe from this group, send email to [email protected]. For more options, visit this group at http://groups.google.com/group/coworking?hl=en.
