Do you want to build a space for occasional use by a random, large assortment of people, or one where the members make consistent, weekly use of the space and value the space highly?
All of those things besides the tools are a waste of money. The machine shop at my university was free. The foreman filtered morons and transients by throwing a 300-page safety book at anyone who wanted to cross the yellow-black tape. As a consequence everyone who was there really wanted to be.
A low membership price puts it in the range of people who just want access to the tools. The kind of people who would also be hanging out when someone new shows up with an idea and a lot of questions. If boutique makerspaces work, then ask yourself why this place failed.
It wasn't free, it was paid for by the university and it's revenue sources. There is a difference.
No. Free means that the end user does not pay for it. Not that nobody pays for it.
Paid for by tax payers is not free.
I agree that there should be government investment in hacker spaces since they are just machine shops that aren't stuck in 1950. The name however was stupid and killed any take up by government. Maker spaces were a slightly better rebranding which at least didn't actively push sponsors away.
>If boutique makerspaces work, then ask yourself why this place failed.
Because at $100 a month it wasn't boutique. If you want the top end you do what universities do: charge $2k a month and give scholarships to the worth while members who can't afford that.
Humanmade in SF charges US $250/month for access.
You know, it's a little crazy that it's men being constantly accused of sexism in the tech industry when there are hard-coded rules for excluding men from places, employment opportunities, and not simply treating everyone as equals.
I comfort myself with the idea that such rabid hatred isn't sustainable in the long run. People mellow out, society mellows out and becomes ever more accepting. Fifty years from now this sort of thing will seem just as alien as, say, the McCarthy era, or indeed the alternate reality of communist states.