CO-OP NEWS

UC Santa Cruz Center for Agroecology & Sustainable Food Systems profiled the Alvarado St. Bakery in its Innovative Business Models series.

To view the entire report, see UCSC.

The winter of 2008-09 has been marked by exciting changes for affordable co-op housing in San Francisco. In February, San Francisco's most recent Limited Equity Housing Cooperative began taking applications for new members at 53 Columbus Avenue, as a result of the steadfast efforts of tenant leaders, the Asian Law Caucus, and the San Francisco Community Land Trust (SFCLT).

The pending conversion of 53 Columbus Avenue into a tenant-owned affordable housing development will mark the end of a 10 year struggle by tenants looking to stave off displacement and permanently preserve the affordability of their longtime homes. The 21-unit building, now incorporated as Columbus United Cooperative, houses 15 original families, and is filling the remaining 6 units with new co-op members who income-qualify.

The story of Columbus United Cooperative began in 1998 when their building was slated for demolition. San Francisco City College had bought 3 neighboring buildings on Columbus Avenue with intent to demolish the structures in order to build their new Chinatown/North Beach campus. While the City College was working with tenant leaders and the Asian Law Caucus to ensure an equitable relocation of residents, a neighboring structure, the Colombo Building, gained official recognition as a historic structure, making the demolition and new construction project unfeasible.

At that point, negotiations refocused toward options to preserve the affordability of the housing while allowing the community to remain in place. A win-win solution was arrived at with San Francisco City College, who sold the building to the San Francisco Community Land Trust in May 2006. SFCLT rehabbed the units and converted the residences into a Limited Equity Housing Cooperative(LEHC).

Limited Equity Housing Cooperatives are a form of cooperative ownership that ensures permanent affordability for current resident-members as well as for new resident-members who buy into the community in future years. The pending conversion of Columbus United Cooperative will represent a victory—not only for the tenants of 53 Columbus, but for the entire cooperative housing community, as the conversion will pave new ground in city policies.

Before December of 2008, the San Francisco subdivision code prohibited the conversion of apartment buildings of six or more units into cooperatives. But with the passage of the Limited Equity Housing Cooperative Conversions Ordinance in December (championed by the SFCLT), this roadblock to cooperative ownership has been removed. Now, in San Francisco, low-income households have the chance to convert their buildings, with residents given the choice to either buy into cooperatives as part-owners, or to choose a lifetime lease option that maintains their rent at permanently affordable levels.

Advocacy work still remains for housing co-op enthusiasts to streamline the process. Attorney Malcolm Yeung, who worked on the case, commented “As a next step, we need to seek a statewide adjustment to the Subdivision Map Act that would exempt LEHCs from having to go through the conversion process at all.” An adjustment to this law would save future co-op conversions both time and money on legal documents, surveyors, and inspections.

Two SFCLT members, Rick Lewis and Malcolm Yeung, will be speaking about the conversion process at CCCD's upcoming training, “Nuts & Bolts of Cooperative Housing: Ensuring Permanent Affordability and Home Ownership" on February 27th at the Women's Building in San Francisco. Their talk will highlight both the local advocacy work and creative funding that have made the project possible.

The SFCLT's talk will be one piece of a full day of education on implementing the Limited Equity Housing Cooperative model put on by the California Center for Cooperative Development (CCCD). Other speakers will include Allan Heskin, a UCLA Professor Emeritus and writer, researcher, and organizer of LEHCs; Eileen Piekarz, a housing specialist and organizer of Manufactured Home Park Co-ops with the Rural Community Assistance Corporation, and Margaret Lund, a co-op developer and funder with over 16 years experience using cooperatives for grassroots community development.

The Nuts & Bolts training, now in its second year, will accept advance registrations until February 26th. Walk-in registrations will be welcomed on a space-available basis. The event runs from 8:30 am to 5 pm on February 27th and will be held at the Women's Building at 3543 18th Street in San Francisco. Registration is offered online or by mail-in registration through a downloadable form available at the CCCD website at www.cccd.coop/events.

Danielle Fodor & Kristin Koster
CCCD

by Melanie Bowden

When you bite into a muffin from an Arizmendi bakery, you’re benefiting from a connection to the Basque region of northern Spain. These Oakland, San Francisco, and Emeryville bakeries are named after Father José María Arizmendiarrieta Madariaga (his name is thankfully often shortened to Arizmendi), the founder of the Mondragon Cooperative Movement. 

After the Spanish Civil War, Arizmendi was sent to the Basque region. The area was suffering great economic difficulties, particularly high unemployment. Arizmendi wanted to help his congregants and felt that cooperatives were the best way to bring about economic development.
He began with a school that was open to all young people in the area. Graduates of the school set up their first cooperative business in 1956. What is now called the Mondragon Cooperative Corporation has grown into more than 100 worker-owned businesses with a workforce over 34,000. 

BUILDING ON SUCCESSFUL COOPERATIVE MODELS 

In 1994 Steve Sutcher (a member of CBC—the Cheese Board Collective), Tim Huet, and Jaques Kaswan began investigating why there weren’t more cooperatives in the United States. The Cheese Board is a worker-owned cheese shop and bakery in Berkeley that opened in 1967. It is based on the principles that all workers should have equal power and work for equal wages. 

After visiting Europe to study the Mondragon cooperatives of Spain and also the thriving co-ops found in Italy, “We found that successful projects grew from filling a niche in a community, duplicating other co-ops that were working, and being part of a larger cooperative network,” says Huet, a board member for the California Center for Cooperative Development. 

Since the Cheese Board had been launching other collectives since the 1970s, the three men conducted a feasibility study on replicating Cheese Board business concepts. “We asked CBC if they would support us starting a bakery in Oakland that duplicated their cooperative model,” Huet says. 

The CBC agreed and provided generous help. They shared recipes, trained people in their bakery, opened the bakery on days it was normally closed, and allowed trainees to sell goods—a big risk for them since it could have lowered their reputation in the community if the trainees didn’t produce quality products. 

PAYING IT FORWARD ONE CO-OP AT A TIME 

To support the opening and operation of the Oakland bakery and to develop future co-ops, the Arizmendi Association of Cooperatives was formed. The Association provides financial and legal services, organizational and facilitation trainings, and mediation and conflict resolution assistance to cooperatives in its network. They also link with other cooperatives for mutual support and educate the larger community about co-ops.
Each new Arizmendi bakery commits to helping open other cooperatives and pays 25% of its profits into the Association. 

The first Arizmendi bakery opened in the Lakeshore area of Oakland in 1997. The San Francisco bakery followed in 2000 and the Emeryville store in 2003. The Association is currently exploring a future site in San Carlos. 

Bridget Berrigan, a founder and baker at the Lakeshore bakery, says, “All of us were involved in helping train the San Francisco Arizmendi folks. It’s fun to pass along the knowledge and the torch.” 

COOPERATIVE PRINCIPLES = HAPPY WORKERS AND CUSTOMERS 

According to Huet, starting pay rates range from $15 to $18 an hour (each bakery sets their rates) and worker/owners participate in profit-sharing. All worker/owners receive health, education, and disability benefits. The majority of them work part-time, usually three to four shifts a week. Turnover is very low and every worker has an equal say in making decisions. 

"Knowing about the Cheese Board made me realize there was a better and more humane way to be,” Berrigan adds. “That was by being a worker in a democratic workplace … I love the camaraderie and the insights that come from working with a group. It is such an incredible way to learn more about yourself by working with this microcosm of society.” 

Garrick Brackbill has worked at the Lakeshore bakery for over eight years. He says, “Financial benefits are better than most other baking/food service jobs. There is an opportunity for creative input into production and business decisions. Also opportunities for skill development in various areas, and personal development in general.” 

Bread, pastry, and pizza are available at the bakeries. Each location makes a unique daily gourmet pizza with organic sourdough crust and fresh seasonal vegetables. Daily Pizza Calendars are posted online and in the stores, and customers line up waiting for the first pizzas of the day.
Along with her love of her job, Berrigan values “the joy of baking good bread and pastries that make people happy.” Father Arizmendi would be proud.

Arizmendi Association of Cooperatives
1904 Franklin St., #204
Oakland, CA 94612
(510) 834-2221
www.arizmendi.coop

The Cheese Board Collective:

Bread and Cheese:
1504 Shattuck Avenue
Berkeley, CA 94709
(510) 549-3183

Pizza:
1512 Shattuck Avenue
Berkeley, CA 94709
(510) 549-3055
www.cheeseboardcollective.coop

Arizmendi Bakeries:

Arizmendi Oakland
3265 Lakeshore Avenue
Oakland, CA
(510) 268-8849

Arizmendi San Francisco
1331 Ninth Avenue
San Francisco, CA 94122
(415) 566-3117
http://www.arizmendibakery.org

Arizmendi Emeryville
4301 San Pablo Avenue
Emeryville, CA 94608
(510) 547-0550
www.arizmendi-bakery.org