Davis Bike Church ordered out of UC Davis campus

The Davis Bike Church is a volunteer run bicycle repair cooperative located in the midst of student housing. Citing safety and liability concerns, University officials ordered the Bike Church to dismantle their ad-hoc geodesic repair shop by the end of this year.

From the UC Davis Bike Church web page

On October 29th, 2008, UC Davis Student Housing sent the Bike Church a letter stating that we have until December 1st, 2008 to dismantle our structures, and until December 31st to completely remove all traces of the Bike Church from our current location. The reasons given essentially revolve around the perception that the Bike Church grounds are a health and safety risk, that our dome is an unapproved structure and a fire hazard, that our methods of collecting donations in the form of money and goods are a liability, and that the fact that we are open to the Davis community-at-large is also a liability due to the presence of non-students in a housing area (a security issue). Student Housing has not given us any possible alternatives, stating only that we need to get out.

Needless to say, we are all quite shocked at this turn of events, especially given the amount of progress we have made in renovating our space, making it safer, cleaner and more functional. We are currently exploring a number of options for our future, but being an ever-optimistic bunch of people, we are also looking forward to working with the university to stay in our present location that we have come to love, and which we have made so beautiful. The last thing you should expect is for the Bike Church to disappear completely. We will continue to exist, even if we have to do it somewhere else.

We need your help to keep the Bike Church going. Many of you have been blessed by the Church in the past, but we need your blessings and voices now. Come to our fundraiser on November 8th at the DOV, sign a petition and write some letters. Participate in our future. The Bike Church has been there in your time of need... now the Bike Church needs your help.

More about this in the Sac Bee. Davis Bike Church photos.