Dear Bikerowave, an open letter
Thread started by tortuga_veloce at 08.14.11 - 10:04 pm
I recently posted the following open letter to the Bikerowave membership on the Bikerowave forum. A couple of days later, I went back to check if anyone had commented, and found that my post had been deleted from the forum, and that my login had been banned.
I offer it up to you, the bike community to tell me if I was out of line in posting this, or if I have valid grievances with the co-op that was once a very big part of my life.
I also want to make it absolutely clear that I'm not bashing the Bikerowave. You should all go there. They are a part of your community and mine. But I believe that as a community bike shop, they have an obligation to be open, transparent and responsible to the community.
(Full disclosure: Because this is being posted in a much more public forum, I have edited out one person's name at their request. I have also edited my email address, but if you can figure it out, you're all welcome to contact me. I would like feedback, public or private, of any sort.)
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To the members of the Bikerowave:
As many of you know, I've been living in Canada since late last year; and as some of you know I was banned from volunteering shortly before leaving town. I chose not to fight to stay a part of this organization at the time, and I have long regretted it. I first began volunteering when the Bikerowave was still at its original location. My contributions include that little box of index cards which you guys use to file all the project bikes, and helping numerous people get riding. I'm proud of the work that I did as part of the Bikerowave. Today I'm on the board of directors at a co-op here in Vancouver, and I often find myself wondering what happened at the Bikerowave to make myself so unwelcome. I have never before felt as if a group of people believed me to be so deeply flawed, and my closest friends at the Bikerowave cannot make sense of it either. What happened has left me feeling deeply hurt and betrayed, but more than anything, I feel confused that things had gone so wrong.
I wish I had been given a chance to speak, but of course, I hadn't been notified of the meeting. I had asked Steve a number of times to reinstate my membership on the forum, only to be deleted a few days later. Sensing the futility in trying to deal with Steve, I contented myself to simply volunteering once a week, and not getting involved. If my membership was in question, I would have had several volunteers to vouch for me. But the question of my membership was added to the agenda at the last minute, in blatant violation of the bylaws.* My friends were not informed of the meeting, and my girlfriend and I were not invited, even though we were both members in good standing. Even though you had both of our phone numbers. Whether I was a member in good standing at the time may have been in question, but there was no question that Siku, Stella or many others were. And none of them had a chance to speak for me.
I feel I often went well beyond what was expected of members. I cared about my community and I wanted to make sure that people who needed our services got in touch with us. On the occasion in question, I came in with a friend on members only day. I had been trying to get him to come in for weeks to put a brake on his bike, and the day before he was almost hit by a car. Since I was a member, I offered to fix his bike for him and let him watch. I told Raina what I was doing, and she insisted that I wasn't a member either, and that I had no right to be there.
Raina had said the same thing to my girlfriend a couple of weeks ago and had been very rude to her as well, insisting she wasn't a member. I told her that I volunteered on Tuesdays, to which she replied “no you don't!” I felt this was unbelievably rude and condescending, and not wanting to get into a childish argument, I asked her to talk to Steve, believing he was the authority on such matters. She continued to follow me around, ignoring what I had said. I was worried that my friend would be ashamed to come back, so I told him to ignore her while we put the brake on his bike. Raina continued to hover and yell at us, and I simply continued to ask: “talk to Steve.” As I worked, she got increasingly erratic. Frankly, I found her behavior to be completely outrageous and out-of-line. I could see why my girlfriend had been so upset over the way she had been treated, and I felt the same way.
A couple of days later, I was surprised to receive a phone call from Steve explaining that I was banned from volunteering. I had been given no opportunity to speak for myself or even to ask my friends to speak for me. I can assure you all that at least five people were shocked and told me that they would have voted in my favor if they had only known.
I'm not asking to be reinstated. I'm not asking to have anything to do with the Bikerowave. I live three states and a province away from you all, and I can assure you that I will probably not step foot in the Bikerowave ever again. I just want to know why. You see, it just doesn't make sense to me. I thought the Bikerowave was there to serve the community. I thought we didn't turn people away for lack of funds. I thought I was honoring Gern, Art and ****, and the spirit they brought to this place when they founded it. I believed in that spirit. And this sad event has deeply challenged and marred that belief. I've been told by several people that some of you had made statements against me in confidence. I ask, I beg that you please make those statements public. I believe it is only right that we live our lives in the full light of day, so that we can all learn and be wiser from what has happened.
If any of you who were there would like to talk privately, you can reach me at en4ne1*g****.***. Thank you for taking the time to read this.
Sincerely,
Iain Marjoribanks
*see the section titled "Announcement"
reply
It's back on brw forum, it was placed in private because it was addressed to the members. Names were removed and it's been put back in the public forum.
Iain you should be able to login, check again.
enzomatic
08.16.11 - 10:39 pm
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Thank you, Enzo. I sincerely appreciate it, and I look forward to hearing from the membership. I don't feel this needs to be a public matter, so I've kindly asked Don to remove this thread.
tortuga_veloce
responding to a comment by enzomatic
08.17.11 - 12:57 am
WWWHHHHHAAAAATTTT!!! So those are the reasons I don't see Iain around anymore!! If it makes you feel any better, ain't nobody able to find that membership trapper keeper when I have a question about when my card expires, but if I come in on a members day... shit, not only do I need my card in a quick draw holster, their list is on speed dial =)
clearskittles
08.17.11 - 9:58 pm
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The Bikerowave has a lot of great members. You should support them and the great work they do. I just believe that people that run the Bikerowave need to start abiding by their own bylaws, like posting the (complete) agenda a week in advance.
When I was removed, there was no notice, besides a cryptic post asking it to be added the day before, and as a result, none of the members I worked with were at the meeting where I was banned.
So if you care about the Bikerowave, get involved, and speak up for openness and member democracy. There are others there that agree with those principles, but they're marginalised and in the minority.
Otherwise, it's not a community co-op; it's just a volunteer bike shop. I'm still happy they're there, but I believe that falls short of their mission.
.........................................
I wrote this letter because I wanted to know what happened, and I got those answers, however unwillingly, from the membership. I'm posting this now because I want the community to know the importance of paying attention to co-op governance and holding these organisations responsible to the communities they serve.
tortuga_veloce
08.19.11 - 11:37 am
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shit totally forgot about deleting this... do you still want it deleted?
Roadblock
responding to a comment by tortuga_veloce
08.19.11 - 11:41 am
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please.
tortuga_veloce
responding to a comment by Roadblock
08.19.11 - 12:42 pm
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