Hacker Dojo Meets Fund-Raising Goal | Hacker News Reader

Hacker Dojo Meets Fund-Raising Goal

bits.blogs.nytimes.com

58 pointskfarzaneh8 comments

Great news, I is gratifying to see the support out there for these sorts of things. Now if we can get the Hacker Dojo enlisting people on disrupting the whole ADA 'racket' (where the cities exploit the ADA to raise revenue, egregious example: they changed the shade of 'blue' needed for parking spaces, need to re-paint them and get re-inspected, sigh.) That would be fabulous.

The regulations here don't seem to be a "racket" nor relating to trivialities like color of parking spaces (if that were the problem, it'd be easy). As the article notes, the two "big ticket" problems, which are real problems but expensive to correct, are: 1) the facility doesn't meet fire code for a structure that's going to be filled with people regularly, as opposed to storing inanimate goods as a warehouse; and 2) there are no wheelchair-accessible bathrooms. If a building is going to regularly host gatherings of hundreds of people, sometimes 24/7, imo it's not a particularly bad idea that it should follow fire code and be disabled-accessible.

Absolutely, these are needed things, they also get abused by cities. Both statements can be (and are) simultaneously true. I've been orchestrating a facilities move and dealing with requirements, some of which I don't quibble with at all like the number of fire extinguishers in a building or placement of fire detection/alarms. Other things I do quibble with (like 3.5% incline in the parking lot vs an allowable 3% [1] incline, you show me a building inspector that can accurately survey a parking lot to a tenth of a degree and I'll show you a civil engineer. When the guy puts down his iPhone to use the 'level' app to measure in one spot, you wonder what they are trying to achieve.

[1] http://www.ada.gov/reg3a.html - A4.8.2 Slope and Rise. Ramp slopes between 1:16 (3.58 degrees) and 1:20 (2.86 degrees) are preferred. The ability to manage an incline is related to both its slope and its length. Wheelchair users with disabilities affecting their arms or with low stamina have serious difficulty using inclines. Most ambulatory people and most people who use wheelchairs can manage a slope of 1:16. Many people cannot manage a slope of 1:12 for 30 ft (9 m).

It is fascinating that this low-budget warehouse space is worthy of NYT coverage. I have gone to a bunch of meetups at HD & made a small contribution to the fund - it is a great local resource. I'm just surprised that this inconspicuous venue attracts national media.

Hi, I'm the director of development at Hacker Dojo and handle most of our press work.

For us, there have been two things which have really helped us get picked up by conventional media. The first is spending the time to figure out what stories will be interesting to their readers, and how events can be best presented in an entertaining and newsworthy format. The second is to develop relationships with the reporters that are meaningful. Send them story leads that you don't benefit from in any way. Talk to them when you're not asking for anything. Treat them like humans.

You can see some of the other press on this story at:

VentureBeat: Silicon Valley community Hacker Dojo finds a savior in YouWeb incubator http://venturebeat.com/2012/09/19/silicon-valley-community-h...

Wired: Embattled Hackers Save Dojo With Help From Unexpected Savior http://www.wired.com/business/2012/09/hacker-dojo-saved/

Vator: YouWeb creator Peter Relan saves Hacker Dojo http://vator.tv/news/2012-09-19-youweb-creator-peter-relan-s...

GigaOm: Andreessen Horowitz, Wozniak, Google, and others give to save Hacker Dojo http://gigaom.com/2012/09/19/investors-step-in-to-keep-mount...

Mercury News: Hacker Dojo fights to the finish; last-minute donation propels organization to $250K fundraising goal http://www.mercurynews.com/peninsula/ci_21578858/hacker-dojo...

SJ Biz Journal: Hacker Dojo hits fund goal to upgrade co-working space http://www.bizjournals.com/sanjose/blog/2012/09/hacker-dojo-...

Remember, we were partnered with YouWeb's media team for this particular effort, so kudos go to them and their skills as well.

Last night I gave a tour to my friend who'd never seen the place before. Just before midnight, we left a dollar in the donation box. This morning this story comes out.

I can only conclude I made the difference.

edit: and by sheer coincidence, I also work for one of Peter Relan's companies (Agawi)

Awesome... I was able to check it out once during the summer and it was really nice, but I expect I'll be spending more time there once my classes near there start up.

We'll see if I can afford the membership fee, or will have to salve my guilt with occasional donations.

This is great news, I can't wait to attend more classes and meetups at Hacker Dojo, I hope they will go back to hosting bigger meetups there!

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