For the past nine years the Rhizome Collective has strived towards its goal of being a living model of radical urban sustainability and as a central hub of community organizing. We have had many successes, and have learned in earnest from our mistakes. The Rhizome has garnered a lot of attention over the years, including front page articles in the weekly Austin Chronicle, the Earth First! Journal to name a couple, won awards, including Austin’s Best Place to Survive the Apocalypse, and hosted hundreds of events and benefits which have helped keep countless other organizations afloat through difficult times. Even more, because the space was originally purchased by our friend and contemporary, Scott Kellogg, the Rhizome goes beyond an embodiment of our hopes and dreams, it is a real place that actually has the infrastructure to do the good work we all struggle to do against terrible odds elsewhere. Rhizome has become a point of pride in activist communities worldwide with folks looking to it as an example of how much positive influence we can have, and how much we can accomplish when we have a stable space to experiment, grow, love, and work in.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:
Rhizome Collective Fund
c/o Rebecca Batchelder
2504 E. 11th
Austin TX 78702