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Comment by Invictus0 | Hacker News Reader

I'm wondering if this school will be sustainable in the long term. Given the correlation between low-income neighborhoods and poor school performance, how is I Promise going to be supported by taxpayers? Many school districts scrounge for basic supplies; how long will they be able to keep this free bike program going?

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They could make it self-sustaining by adding some business model to support it. As others have said, maybe buy up and renovate/rent out homes near by driving up property costs (and taxes), or 'encouraging' college alums down the road to give back from their success.

Maybe the model itself proves something on a national level, and the government decides this is the 'future' and earmarks more money for schools like this...

Or maybe they just get more donations from wealthy people who want to help. Either way, I'm sure there are ways to offset the costs and keep it going long-term.

> As others have said, maybe buy up and renovate/rent out homes near by driving up property costs (and taxes), or 'encouraging' college alums down the road to give back from their success.

Thus defeating the entire purpose of this school. Gentrifying will result in the school being surrounded by housing that the students parents can't afford.

That's why I said buy up, fix up, and rent out (at the same rent as before, but beautifying the neighborhood more) thus raising property value.

If the property value goes up the rent will go up, because nobody will be willing to invest in capital construction or home management unless they can make their money back.

Why not create community 'owned' housing, similar to a worker co-op, where poorer communities collectively 'own' the location. Everyone pays area-rental fees, but each month rented = 1 share ownership. Once the mortgage is paid off, the rent goes towards buying more rental properties and rinsing/repeating. A % of all rents is divided out by shares to each renter or ex-renter. A % could also go to LeBron's public school as a donation.

Obviously the longer you stay at a place and the smaller the place the more shares you'd have in the place. Shares could also = voting rights on properties/etc... More votes = louder voice.

Think of it as privatized (not government-ran) socialism in the real estate market.

If the property values go up, other people will buy the houses surrounding the collective, forcing the collective to pay more for housing and thereby raising the rents.

that sounds like a great way to just force out the people who's kids are benefiting.

How about trying to strongarm the government into actually giving out the damn funding.

The whole point is to change that trend.

The free bikes will surely continue as long as Lebron James maintains interest.

I guess maybe they would stop it if the bikes were just ending up at a scrap yard?

The cynic in me was thinking the same thing. There's going to have to be a change of thinking with a lot of folks as well - that bike may represent $20 worth of scrap metal, $20 in a pocket now that might pay for food, necessities, habits. And that program could quickly turn dark. Anecdotally, a close friend of mine operated a pawn shop in a downtrodden area of Detroit and would frequently comment on how many brand new bikes were walked through the door, for which they paid very little.

Getting some folks to realize that it's providing freedom rather than fast cash is going to be an accomplishment. Perhaps this will even produce a positive cultural shift.

The food bank should help with that. And the other social services.

That is were it is useful to have LeBron as the face of the program. To the kids, and families these aren't nebulously owned government bikes, these are LeBron's bikes.

Yeah, I was very surprised to see this is a normal public school. I'm not sure how that works with this school having a different schedule and teachers having different hours and perks (interesting from the union point of view). But I'm all for trying out different approaches and see what can be applied district wide. Cudos to Lebron and his team for doing this.

I assume as long as the benefactors continue to stump up more money. Or wishfully, a program like this is no longer considered necessary.

How long can the Nobel Prize continue? Rhodes Scholarships?

This is the wealthiest nation on earth. The money exists to keep this school going, and do not let anyone fool you into saying it doesn't.

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