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Grex > Coop8 > #32: The Grex's Landlords item | |
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| 25 new of 269 responses total. |
adbarr
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response 75 of 269:
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May 9 16:38 UTC 1996 |
Sure, but was some job still pending? If you passed the final inspection on
the last work - was there such an inspection? - then I wonder why there would
be any more inspections. In my experience it just does not seem normal for
city inspectors to just "drop in for a little chat". They come because they
have a permit on record, someone calls for an inspection of work on the
permit, or some other action by someone. It is possible there is some routine
every (x year) inspection process going on here. I live in the Grexbunker so
it is not a big personal problem to me, but if I lived in the Dungeon I would
want to know why the badges were in there. <Grexbunker location is classified
Top Secret, so don't ask.>
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rcurl
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response 76 of 269:
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May 9 18:21 UTC 1996 |
We don't know that anyone was inspecting anything (emphasis on *know*). Ask
Nick for specifics. Did he say an *inspection* occurred, or was he
ruminating? If so, get the date, and ask the city if an inspection at
those premises occurred on that date "for information". If it did, ask for
the report.
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jep
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response 77 of 269:
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May 9 19:52 UTC 1996 |
If Grex has to move, I have some useful suggestions:
There are two new buildings for non-profits in the Ann Arbor area;
Catholic Social Services is one. I'm trying and failing to remember who
the other is, but I mentioned it on M-Net in policy in the last item about
Arbornet's NEW Center lease renewal. Both are supposed to offer
businesslike office space. It'll cost more than $25/month, but less than
commercial office space. Grex wanted in to NEW Center; maybe one of these
buildings would be attractive to Grex.
Arbornet will have to move next year (not everyone is convinced, but
I tell you it's true); maybe some kind of Joint Operating Agreement with
shared office or operations space would be a good thing.
Note: I have no official position with Arbornet these days. I'm just
offering a suggestion.
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kerouac
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response 78 of 269:
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May 9 23:37 UTC 1996 |
maybe someone belongs to a church or synagogue that has a spare room
in their basement that they'd be willing to sublet in exchange for a
"donation"
Too bad grex isnt in DC. Here the city doesnt have enough money to
give a damn about code violations and just ignores them unless
someone makes a major fuss. In fact one of my employers owns some
property that was never going to pass code, so to get his occupancy
permit he went to the inspector's office, "accidentaly" left an
envelope with a couple of ben franklin's in it, and his permit came
in the mail a week later. Thats just life. Palm greasing is as
american as apple pie. I suspect the inspectors in most places,
including Ann Arbor, probably live pretty well.
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ajax
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response 79 of 269:
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May 10 02:46 UTC 1996 |
Yow...makes me glad Grex *isn't* in DC!
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gregc
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response 80 of 269:
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May 10 03:06 UTC 1996 |
That kind of thing happens anywhere and everywhere. If you think Ann Arbor
is somehow special in that regard, you're dreaming.
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adbarr
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response 81 of 269:
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May 10 03:21 UTC 1996 |
Well in Florida I met an inspector who wanted to extort a building lot
from a developer for easing the permit process. Grex better not move there
either. As they used to say in Chicago - "Vote early! Vote often!" I do not
recommend Grex try REPEAT - DO NOT TRY - bribing your local building
inspector. Better spend the money on shovels to dig out the basement - caveat
the caving wall problem, of course. There is some remote possiblity Grex
might talk to the major hospital/medical complexes around here. I have direct
experience with space donated to a local government agency ($1.00 per year)
and indirect knowledge of a very advantageous (don't know if it was donated
100%) arrangement with a social service type (non-government) agency.
Sometimes they have space going to waste in various buildings around the area.
You might offer to do some teaching as an added incentive. Some of the ICAN
people may have ideas also. I'll ask. Many of them are beggars like us. Both
were 24 hour access sites, by the way with public entrances. The more I think
about it the more I like the ICAN/Grex idea. What the heck - it just might
come up with something interesting, especially if you could offer some
technical services of some type - training or whatever. Will let you know asap
if I get any leads. I will call someone (name buried in the files) about
a contact at a major medical complex and let you know.
Is there some possiblity you could offer intangibles in return for space -
within reason?
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adbarr
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response 82 of 269:
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May 10 03:23 UTC 1996 |
Gregc slipped in and he is right. Sadly.
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n8nxf
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response 83 of 269:
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May 10 13:44 UTC 1996 |
(Perhaps Grex could be re-classified to get around the problem. Perhaps
as space heating equipment ;)
Best to comply with the law or get a variance. Perhaps if Grex applied for
the variance instead of the building owner, it would go through easier.
Grex is also in a better position to explain what Grex is to the variance
board. (There may be a $100 or $200 fee for this tough.)
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steve
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response 84 of 269:
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May 10 14:33 UTC 1996 |
We're going for the variance. It was filed yesterday, I believe.
The hearing will be held on June 23rd or so.
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janc
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response 85 of 269:
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May 10 15:08 UTC 1996 |
Somewhere in Ann Arbor there is a better location for Grex.
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rickyb
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response 86 of 269:
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May 10 22:53 UTC 1996 |
If the dungeon is in a rental/income building, Ann Arbor performs a regular
inspection every 2nd or 3rd year. It's not usually a major inspection, but
a screening for safety/security violations, primarily. If there was
non-permitted construction done since the prior inspection, it might not have
even been noticed by the inspector. However, it may have created a new space
which now needs to meet different safety standards.
I don't think anyone other than the property owner can request a variance,
but grexers should be well represented and supportive of the landloard, maybe
even paying any/all fees, costs, fines, etc. I'd be surprised if the cieling
height thing stuck, but the alternative may be either special ventilation or
automatic fire extiguishing system (like sprinkler system or auto CO2
or foam sprayers). There may also be an issue with a secondary path for
egress considering the space is not used only for storage, but I'd think that
could get a varience considering the kind of use it is...which is not much
more than storage...not like people are partying or sleeping down there, or
are they ;)
If you need legal help, check out the AA Tenants Union. They have lots of
experience dealing with issues in rental space in AA. Another possible ally
to have on your side could be the dispute Resolution Center at the NEW Center.
For alternative site locations, CAT is about to move from the fire station
to the Edison bldg. There _might_ be a small space that could be used for
a small fee if, maybe, there could be some sharing of service to the Hands
On Museum or something? Maybe?? Don't know how that would/could work, but
I'm just following a stream of consciousness. Maybe CAT will have a small
room available for grex if it could share some service with the AACAT On-Line
BBS (which currently has no e-mail outside of its own system)? Who knows,
grexers might even give birth to a series of cable shows on the internet, and
telecommunications in general. Not a bad match there.
Well...I'll keep thinking... <rickyb goes back to the drawing board and
begins to scratch his head>
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adbarr
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response 87 of 269:
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May 11 00:04 UTC 1996 |
I like the CAT idea. I sure cannot hurt to ask about it and see what might
happen. And, if they are not interested they might know of some alternatives.
Srw made an appearance before CAT not too long ago remember, and the Vice
Chair knows him from work with HVCN. The Executive Director should be
friendly also.
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steve
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response 88 of 269:
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May 11 00:18 UTC 1996 |
Richard, who would be a contact person for that place? Thanks for
the info.
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kerouac
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response 89 of 269:
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May 11 00:36 UTC 1996 |
maybe there is some organization who grex could trade a closed conf and
a few memberships in exchange for a place to live
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janc
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response 90 of 269:
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May 11 00:51 UTC 1996 |
Criteria that occur to me:
- It should be a place that we can likely stay in forever. It is expensive
to move Grex. If we are sharing space with someone, it should be some-
one pretty stable, and the deal should be pretty stable.
- Decent climate control.
- Decent access.
Personally, I'd prefer a rather business-like arrangement.
What's a CAT?
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mdw
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response 91 of 269:
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May 11 07:04 UTC 1996 |
The only "intangible" we can fairly offer is the ability to "do good"
for the virtual community of grex. Anything else, like ethernet
consulting, web pages for the elderly, or degaussing stale magnetic
media, would certainly detract from our real mission of providing a
quality service and is likely to be real disappointing, somewhere. It's
really simplest if it's kept strictly as a simple business arrangement.
We pay as little $ as possible, for enough space for our needs, & that's
that.
Things grex *NEEDS* (which people who offer "great" details for space
usually tend to overlook). 24 hour access. If the system crashes at
3am, we need to be able to get to it. Also, adequate power, phone
lines, cooling. The space need not be large (a 10x10 office space would
be a mansion compared to the current space), and it's actually an
advantage if it's out of the way. (Ie, that hard to sell "storefront"
on the 10th story, next to the maze of 1 way streets all going the wrong
way, with almost no walk-by traffic, would be just *wonderful* for
grex.) Water seepage is a bad thing. Really near "loading zone"
parking, nearish public parking, convenient toilet facilities, and
nearness to UM property (especially UM ITD) are all at least potential
advantages but not absolutely essential.
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srw
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response 92 of 269:
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May 11 16:19 UTC 1996 |
CAT is COmmunity access television. THat is where cable channels 8, 9, and
10 originate.
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kerouac
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response 93 of 269:
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May 11 22:22 UTC 1996 |
There must be an office building in A2 with a spare room, it might solve
some of grex's problems if grex was in commercial space as opposed to
residential space.
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scg
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response 94 of 269:
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May 12 03:47 UTC 1996 |
Office space in Ann Arbor tends to be pretty expensive.
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carson
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response 95 of 269:
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May 12 04:44 UTC 1996 |
if you can find it. =^) that doesn't mean it shouldn't be looked at,
or for.
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scg
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response 96 of 269:
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May 12 05:51 UTC 1996 |
Right. Hopefully there would be an empty storage room in some office building
that isn't really useful as an office, but that would work fine for us. I
think we've heard about a few such spaces over the years, but I'm not really
sure.
We do have to find somewhere to move to. Even if we get through the current
mess, I have the feeling there will be more. Every time something comes up
with our current space we keep getting ourselves into the mode of thinking
that it will be the last thing we have to deal with to stay there
indefinitely, and it never is. Our choice at this point, I think, is not
whether to stay there, but whether to move now or later. I think it should
be now, before we get to the point where it will cost us even more, both in
terms of time and money.
Moving is not going to be cheap. Along with the various other expenses, we
will have to move our fifteen phone lines, at $42 per line. That's $630 right
there. As Grex keeps growing we keep adding more phone lines, and every time
we add a line our moving costs go up $42. Paying that $630 now is going to
hurt us a lot. Having to pay even more than that after we've gotten bigger
is going to hurt us even more. I'm not sure that we can afford to add mroe
phone lines, or to think about ISDN, until we're in a stable location.
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steve
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response 97 of 269:
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May 12 15:28 UTC 1996 |
Right, moving is going to be expensive. Figure $1000, with $630 for
the phones, and $370 for "things", whatever they turn out to be: paint,
rental of a big van like last time, electrical things, locks, phone
cable for getting to the new room from the network interface box, fans
and associated things for ventiliation, etc, etc, etc...
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janc
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response 98 of 269:
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May 12 16:20 UTC 1996 |
Would it work to simply contact a realter and find out if they know of any
such properties? Likely the kinds of spaces we want aren't listed with
realters. Maybe we should just contact various groups that own or manage
office buildings in and around Ann Arbor.
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scg
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response 99 of 269:
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May 12 16:30 UTC 1996 |
It's also worth keeping in mind that we probably don't want to be on the East
side of Ann Arbor, the 971/973/677 area, since that would mean we would have
to change phone numbers.
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