Since we have the space when are we open, I know there are a few keys with a few people and there was talk of having office hours for some members. When can we come by and hang out and hack ect.

I will highly suggest a more lenient approach to this modeled after noise bridge in San Fran they are open 24/7, anybody can come, classes are open to everyone, members support it, people become members because they see value in what is going on.

Noise Bridge Member FAQ

i really like the intent of that however, it's not realistic with many of the things we want to offer.

it's not responsible and could be considered negligent to leave potentially lethal if not seriously injurious power tools for practical purposes on the street for anyone to use. that's a great way to get sued and loose everything.

additionally, in our current space, there is access to the other tenant's space (in a limited fashion) so allowing anyone in at any time is not responsible, and is probably a breach of our lease.

I fully understand your concern but at the same time I wonder how it's all going to work, I am sure that this is being addressed at meetings (that I have not been to in awhile)

Let me suggest the following if we are looking a having expensive or dangerous equipment: have limited or supervised access.

I really think if we want this thing to take off the members current and future need to be able to use the space otherwise we will lose membership. If we offer the same weekly meeting schedule then what is the difference form having it at a coffee shop.

Telling people where not to go is easy, people are not stupid.

I believe this is what people are expecting, and this is what I have experienced at working hackerspaces they are open pretty much all the time, anybody is welcome, and people are there.

If people have to start to reserve time slots or wait for office hours to go to a place that they paid for I fear it will have a hard time making it.

I would strongly advise the group in general to have an "open" policy.

The alternative would be what NYC Resistor is which is a small group of people (20 or so) and once a week offer a day for the public to stop by and hang out. It sounds like this is what we are leaning towards even though we all had intentions of being an open group. Still if this is the case then all "members" should have access to the building.

paul, you're right, i believe all of your concerns have been or are being addressed at meetings.

i'm not certain the forum is the best venue for this as it's being discussed live, and it's a chunk of work to rehash things here.

the shop management committee and board are really working to make things as open and accessible as possible, however we're also trying to do things in a responsible manner that protects not only the group, but also the individual member so that we're all around for the long term.

in answer to your subject line, we're aiming for every evening and most of the day every weekend, but need to get that coordinated, you'll have to be patient. wrangling about 40 shifts worth of scheduling and coming up with a way to do that reasonably painlessly is not an overnight process. of course a big announcement will come when that's live.