Bikes not Bombs looking for a new home

http://boston.indymedia.org/feature/display/40738/index.php

Bikes not Bombs looking for a new home
by Pete Stidman
Email: pstidman (nospam) yahoo.com (unverified!) 26 Aug 2005



JAMAICA PLAIN.—Keeping the enormous steel thicket of bicycles, at 59 Amory St. organized and manageable is a tall enough task for Bikes Not Bombs' (BNB) industrious volunteers, yet founder Carl Kurz and his bike mechanic cadres now face an even bigger challenge. Moving. The organization has been a tenant-at-will for over two years. Only a few other possibilities for a home have presented themselves since then, none were perfectly matched. Without a lease, members of the group worry that the building may be sold or the owners may decide to renovate. “We’re part of the fabric of JP that people love,” said Kurz, “if we move too far out we won’t be able to attract the same numbers of people and the same support, so it’s a tough problem.”



BNB began in the early 80’s when a group of bike shop employees began shipping used bicycle parts to small cooperative bike shops in Nicaragua. Today they have shipped over 22,000 bikes to locations all over the global south that need affordable transportation. The group has taught over 1600 children bicycle safety tailored to the streets of Boston, instructed around 700 in the art of bicyle repair, and instituted many other youth groups such as the Girls Action Initiative to help boost girls’ participation in the program. Kurz and crew are looking for spaces in Dorchester, Roxbury and Allston. Only one possible location is in JP so far.

The Jamaica Plain Neighborhood Development Corporation is offering a space that may suit their needs at the Haffenreffer Brewery, but rent and heating costs would equal well over double what the group currently pays. A more pressing problem for the group is the impending loss of 1,500 square feet of bike storage space in the basement of the building. Originally, bikes set aside for shipping to countries in the global south were stored in a trailer outside the building. After the city’s Inspectional Services Department levied fines for violations related to the trailer, landlords M & S Realty Trust (MSRT) asked for the trailer to be removed and offered the basement as an alternative. Now MSRT is asking the group to vacate the basement space by Sept. 15. “I’m trying to organize a shipment to either Guatemala or El Salvador,” said founder Carl Kurz, “but there are all these little things you have to do to set up something like this, normally it takes one or two months.”

Once the basement is emptied, the group may temporarily discourage bicycle donations. “If you know anybody who has or knows about a 3,000-4,000 square foot space with a retail store front,” said Kurz, “let us know.”