Why the future may hold more old-school commodes

This article appeared in the Dec 14th edition of Time Magazine - it's actually a pretty positive article, too!

    On Tuesday, March 17, 2009, the Rhizome Collective, including both  
the individuals and organizations that have called 300 Allen St. home,  
was barred from the building due to a mandate of eviction from the  
City of Austin. This is a tragic loss and has been traumatic for the  
people who have invested so much in the space, from long nights of  
hard work repairing bikes and mailing off books to days of tending the  
garden to evenings of laughter in the kitchen. Despite the current  
unfortunate situation, the Rhizome Collective is not dead.  The  
Rhizome Collective in actuality is not the space from which it has  
operated for the last 9 years. It is a collective that will continue  
to exist even through the hardest of times.  The Rhizome Collective  
also has 501-(c3) status that is not effected by the loss of use of  
the space at 300 Allen st.
    The Rhizome Collective takes its name from the root system that  
makes even seemingly insignificant plants notoriously difficult to  
destroy. Kill one plant, and one or two or hundreds more can blossom  
from the same root. The Rhizome Collective intends to do everything in  
its power to make certain that the Rhizome Collective lives up to its  
name, that it will flourish once again, whether in its old home or a  
new one.
        Right now, we are calling on the larger community—in Austin, the  
U.S., and around the world—to come to the aid of those organizations  
that are losing their workspace. In addition to the Rhizome Collective  
itself, groups like Inside Books, Bikes Across Borders, and Food Not  
Bombs will be losing their headquarters. We invite people to go to  
their websites to see what can be done to aid these important  
organizations in this time of crisis:
Inside Books: http://www.insidebooksproject.org/
Bikes Across Borders: http://www.bikesacrossborders.org/
Food Not Bombs: http://www.myspace.com/austinfoodnotbombs
        In addition to addressing the immediate concerns, the Collective is  
also looking to the future. In 2003, the City of Austin granted 9.8  
acres of land to the Rhizome Collective. Unlike our previous space on  
Allen st, which the owners had to sell quickly because of severity of  
the fines threatened by the City of Austin, this is not privately  
owned land; this is a property donated to the Rhizome Collective  
available for sustainable use.  The Rhizome Collective can not pursue  
the acquisition of the 300 Allen St. space for financial reasons.  But  
weather we pursue another space or use the land in another way be  
determined by the collective once the immediate crisis of being  
evicted has been overcome.
        Since 2000, the Rhizome Collective has been a center for social  
justice and community organizing as well as a model for urban  
sustainability. The building may remain closed, but we hope and trust  
that the spirit that has made the Rhizome Collective such a unique  
entity will continue to thrive like the unstoppable root structure  
from which it takes its name.
        Finally since we operate on concensus so please forgive the slow  
movement on updates.  Stay tuned, however, as more statements will be forthcoming.

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

Rhizome Collective Sounds International Call: Code Violations May Force Eviction

Austin, Texas – March 11, 2009 - The Rhizome Collective is a consensus-run 501c3 nonprofit organization that has operated a center for community organizing and urban sustainability in an East Austin warehouse since 2000.  This warehouse was inspected on March 3^rd by officials from the Building and Standards Commission of the City of Austin. On Thursday, March 5^th The Code Enforcement Division of The City of Austin delivered a letter outlining a list of code violations to the Collective. The City mandated that the residents and organizations based in the warehouse must vacate before March 16^th. The Collective is looking into all options, but is preparing to vacate the warehouse by the deadline.  Before this inspection, the Collective was in negotiations to buy the warehouse from its current owner.

The Rhizome Collective is making every effort to work with the City on this matter.  Contractors are currently completing an estimate of the cost required to bring the building into compliance with city building codes.  Based on conversations with contractors, the Collective does not believe it will be possible to get an estimate, obtain permits and complete the work by the City’s deadline.

The Rhizome Collective including Inside Books, Bikes Across Borders and Food Not Bombs is making an international call to supporters.  The Collective is seeking monetary donations, in-kind donations, funding sources and statements of solidarity.  Donate through the link below.

In 2004, the City of Austin donated a 9.8 acre brownfield in the Montopolis neighborhood to the Rhizome Collective. The property served as a legally operated municipal landfill from 1967 to 1970, and was illegally dumped on for approximately fifteen years following the closure of the landfill.  In the same year, the EPA awarded the Rhizome Collective with a $200,000 Cleanup Grant as part of their Brownfields Program.  From January 2005 to July 2006, 680 tires, 10.1 tons of trash, and 31.6 tons of recyclable metal were removed from the brownfield.  This property is not being affected by the code violations on the warehouse.

The Collective is an internationally recognized model for intentional communities that comprise a massive movement focused on justice and autonomous sustainability.

In the nine years of its existence, the collective has collaborated with many local, national and international organizations by providing free or low cost space and through direct participation in their initiatives.  The Collective has provided space to people working with the organizations mentioned above and, to name a few others: The University of Texas, Campaign to End the Death Penalty, Acción Zapatista, Rosa Clemente and Monkey Wrench Books.  Members of the Collective have supported initiatives including projects of Indymedia, PODER, El Comite Obrero Fronterizo, Pastors for Peace, The American Friends Service Committee, The Student Farmworker Alliance and communities in both Mexico and Cuba.  Inside Books sent over 18,000 books to Texas prisoners last year. Bikes Across Borders has organized more than fourteen bike delivery caravans since 2001, sending over 700 bicycles to Cuba, Mexico, and Central America.  Projects directly benefiting the community have been prioritized at the Collective such as the creation of educational systems for sustainable living in urban areas,
workshops on puppetry and street theatre, after-school programs focusing on bicycles, gardening and the arts. 

The people affected include those who work at the warehouse in order to: furnish books to Texas prisoners, feed the homeless, teach neighbors how to fix their bicycles, run independent media projects and organize workshops on urban sustainability. The work performed here over the past nine years is a point of pride for the Collective, the greater Austin community and communities worldwide.

This is an official communication arrived at by consensus of the Collective.

For more information, please contact Laura Merner.

Contact Info:

Laura Merner

Collective Member

Phone: (201) 739-6341

Email: lorax@riseup.net

Web:

-DONATE NOW

-rhizomecollective.org/

-insidebooksproject.org/

-bikesacrossborders.org/

-myspace.com/austinfoodnotbombs/

-kpwr.org/

###

We have also earned some unwanted attention.  Since the beginning we have been unendingly harassed by anonymous ill-wishers who apparently call Code Enforcement on us a couple times a year.  The Code Enforcement system is set up such that anyone can call without divulging any information about themselves and file a complaint against anyone else at any time, and even a clear and obvious case of harassment has no safety check built into it.  Code Enforcement is obliged to follow up on every complaint they receive.  We have heard firsthand reports of police officers suggesting to homeowners that they call Code Enforcement on neighbors they don’t like if the police cannot legally handle a complaint.  Either the city is fed up with the calls, or fed up with lefties in Austin as other organizations have been stressed by similar situations – in any case, we have recently been subjected to a battery of inspections which are poised to end what for nearly a decade we have struggled so hard to make.

We have received an exhaustive list of code violations ranging from “missing electrical plates and switches” to more intense Land Use violations.  It should perhaps be noted that the City granted Rhizome a Certificate of Occupancy in the beginning when the situation was in fact much worse, and which has been improved upon little by little until now, when it's greatest fault is not having been previously inspected.

For many of us here at the Rhizome Collective our worst nightmare has come to pass.  We have grown to love our junky dilapidated warehouse and the vast amount of work we have been able to do from here.  It is almost too much to bear to think of, for example, the Inside Book Project - which sends out thousands of free books to Texas prisoners every year - will have to scramble to find a place to continue the work they do which is difficult enough in the best of circumstances.

We need help, desperately.....

We can try to raise money to fix our current home.  So far no contractor has been willing to offer us even a rough estimate about how much we might need to make these repairs.  Needless to say, our optimism on this front is waning.  Though we may well lose the building we are currently housed in, we do still have options open to us.  The Rhizome Collective is the sole owner of a ten acre former Brownfield across the river from where we are currently located, and as a registered 501c3 non-profit organization, it is both a tax-free property as well as a tax-deductible one (check the story on our website for more details about this - http://rhizomecollective.org/).  We can potentially rebuild there if we cannot feasibly repair our current home. 

It is the hope with this letter that you and your groups can throw a benefit on our behalf in your city.  Moving and relocating is not going to be easy for any of us, be it temporarily if we can make the needed repairs, or permanently if it proves nigh on impossible; it is going to be expensive and demoralizing.  In addition to funds we also need this story to percolate through the larger community. 

Help us keep the Reality alive!

More information is available on request, as well as pictures, our upcoming press release, and links to more history of the Rhizome Collective and our current ongoing projects.

Donations can be sent online here:....

https://www.networkforgood.org/donation/MakeDonation.aspx?ORGID2=260041254

or through the mail here:

***the BOXCUTTER CABARET***

An evening of sundry Puppet shows presented by a ragtag association of cardboard wigglers, horn tooters, and paper mache chuckers.  Plus! Sweet music from our collected brass and string ensembles to tickle your ears and pick up your bones.  And! Feast your eyes on the bell-strapped "Leo the Human Xylophone!" shaking his way deep into the heart of America.

And, if the shows aren't enough, don't miss the traveling Cheap Art Gallery and Store.  Jam packed with original prints, posters, paintings, subversive booklets and zines.  All prices negotiable and all art impermanent!

a TOUR DE FORCE featuring:

MODERN TIMES THEATER:

puppet shows for the street, the school, the barn, the pasture and the subway.  The shows convey a general dissatisfaction with post-modern convenience and promote a return to old-timey difficulty.

R.P.M. PUPPET CONSPIRACY:

stinky garbage men with trashy ideas that are designed to expose and tear down this apocalyptic vision of global capitalism's disposable planet.

the DOLLY WAGGLERS:

offer up a new low in lowbrow puppet entertainment,
the crankiest crankyshows, and cantastorias painted on the dirty sheets of America