Cooperative Startups - Bay Area

[Tinoire]

Anyone know anything about this?

NoBAWC Event Tells Stories of Cooperative Startup

Hear from a sampling of Bay Area worker owned cooperatives about how they came into being, the benefits of this model, and the value of cooperative principles. This event will have live English-Spanish translation provided. June 23rd in Richmond, CA. Sponsored by NoBAWC and Richmond Mayor Gayle McLaughlin. Spread the word: http://on.fb.me/mq2kzZ

Panel Participants

Other Avenues (grocery store)

TechCollective (computer services & web design)

DIG Cooperative (contractors)

Box Dog Bikes (bike shop sales & repair)

Natural Home Cleaning (eco-friendly house cleaning)

Arizmendi Pizza & refreshments will be served.


http://www.american.coop/content/nob...rative-startup

[blindpig]

Nope, mebbe Starry does.

We've talked about this sort of thing before, it is good and admirable and all that but these worker owned businesses must still swim in a capitalist sea. They will be constrained by and must respond to the vaguries of the market in capitalist fashion else they will go under. This can be mitigrated to some degree but. if the market demands layoffs and you use up your mitigating options you gotta play or get out.

[Dhalgren]

Yeah, what the pig said. I think when we discussed a very similar topic before, we arrived at the conclusion that "worker-owned" was better, but basically the same as capitalist-owned - its the "owned" part, I think...

[starry messenger]

Nope, mebbe Starry does.

We've talked about this sort of thing before, it is good and admirable and all that but these worker owned businesses must still swim in a capitalist sea. They will be constrained by and must respond to the vaguries of the market in capitalist fashion else they will go under. This can be mitigrated to some degree but. if the market demands layoffs and you use up your mitigating options you gotta play or get out.

I've been to Arzimendi, they have excellent cheese rolls. 1) I agree with what the pig says about these kinds of ventures. It's a short-term band-aid. 2) Despite this event taking place in Richmond, I can guess what the audience will largely be--white hipster enterprenuers. I'm not saying they don't have good intentions, but most of these businesses are in gentrified or already "nice" areas of the East Bay. Efforts to get a grocery store in the run-down poor neighborhoods can be hung up for years with red tape, but suddenly over the past decade, efforts like this have sprung up with a lot of support. (I'm speaking from what I know from hearsay, just to be clear, but I have friends who get involved in these kinds of ventures from the periphery. I also worked in Richmond for 5 years).

They don't really benefit the people who suffer the most from the system, and they become trendy in up and coming yuppie neighborhoods. One branch of Arizmendi is about half a mile from Pixar, the movie studio, in Emeryville, which is condo central. Just across the street and two blocks over West Oakland starts--you know that scene in the Wizard of Oz where Dorothy steps out of the black and white of her house and into a full-color fantasyland? It's kind of like that, but in reverse.

[Tinoire]

Thanks to all of you. You've pretty much summed up my instincts. I remember Chlamor had a really bad experience with a co-op he belonged to. If I recall correctly, they threatened to prosecute him for threatening someone. Their whole charge was ludicrous and politically motivated after he made a few strong observations they didn't like. Trendy and yuppy bandaids- full-color fantasyland.

I like the way Dhalgren summed it up -"its the "owned" part".

[meganmonkey]

People gotta do what they gotta do to make a living, and if these types of businesses help then that's great, but it's not a greater political statement and it's no solution to capitalism, as others have expressed above.

It is also very much infested with the bourgie yuppie crap and is only accessible to those who are already starting from a point of privilege, for the most part. At least these types of things that I've encountered. On the other hand, I won't lie, if I were hiring someone to work on my house, for example, I may be more likely to choose someone from a group like this than some big asshole company, but that's just a 'personal choice'..

Sure, there are people who will pay extra to know that there isn't some anonymous mega-corp making profits off their bike or home repair and to know that the staff is making a living wage, but those people are few and far between - not because they are morally superior (as they might like to think), but because they have disposable income (and may be suckers, LOL).

If these types of co-ops made enough of a dent in the big businesses market, you know they would be crushed soon enough anyway.

I've heard about (and am tempted to go to out of curiosity) some folks here in Ann Arbor and apparently in Detroit as well who have an event, I think it is monthly, or maybe even weekly, where dozens of people show up for a big $5 breakfast and many of the people submit some sort of idea or proposal and the folks at the breakfast vote on the best idea and that person wins the money, a couple hundred bucks or so. As far as I know there are no strings attached (eg no need to prove your success or any such typical 'grant' BS). I don't know what kind of ideas there are, starting a business or planting flowers in the park or paying your rent or what, but I am intrigued and curious.

Again, not a solution but a very interesting economic exercise, AFAIC. Anyone else hear about this kind of thing?

[Tinoire]

I just spent a little time on the website. The site itself is interesting. They basically gather anything they can on co-ops, where they are, how to start one, hints etc...

I really like the event you discussed. I'm going to mention it to a few activists down here. It sounds like a fine neighborhood project.

[Allen17]

Yeah, it may be a "good idea" (whatever that means), but in practice it only benefits rich white yuppies.

[Tinoire]

The co-ops yes but it's Megan's idea I like, not the co-ops. Additionally, I can assure you there are no rich white yuppies in the normal neighborhoods down here in Guatemala. The the people have no voice at all. Not only do they have no voice but very few take things into their own hands after centuries of being terrified into submission.