This article ran in Echo newspaper in December.

Community Economics is the title of our column, but it is an odd juxtaposition of words.
Community means so much more than economics. Imagine, for instance, that you want to buy a
bike for a Christmas present. What do you get when you buy a bike? More than bike, if you buy
it at the right place.

Ruth Stornetta and Roger Friend started the Blue Wheel bike shop on Elliewood Avenue
in the University Corner area some years ago. Ruth in particular has been very active in
promoting bicycling at the local and state levels. Her resume could double as a directory of bike
advocacy organizations for our region. She served as president of the Virginia Bicycling
Federation for several years, as well as being an active part the Charlottesville Albemarle
Bicycling Association and the Monticello Velo Club. She currently serves on the Virginia
Department of Transportation Committee’s Bicycle Advisory Committee, and she is the
Conference Director for the Atlantic Coast Cycling Conference, as well as coaching the UVA
Cycling team. The people who by bikes at Blue Wheel get bikes, and the rest o f us get bike
lanes, better shoulders on rural roads, inclusion of bicycle facilities in future road plans, bike
safety rodeos, and numerous other benefits that flow from one local business person’s civic
involvement.

If you buy your bike in a department store, you get what’s on the shelf. If you buy from a
local businessperson, you get involvement. Todd Ely runs Basic Cycles on Tenth Street. He sells
bikes, new and used. But unlike the unlocal department store, Todd lets customers get more
involved with their bike if they want to. People can come by and use the bike stands and the tools
by arrangement. Some folks even build bikes right in the shop. You can build with new parts, or
you can assemble from the inexpensive used parts that the abound in the well-used shop.
 When asked about the neighborhood kids, Todd replies, “I don’t treat them much
differently than any other customers, I just give them a little more leeway.” That’s an
understatement though, because the truth is that Todd has gone far out of his way to provide
bikes for many children in the neighborhood. “I don’t have an official program”, Todd says, “but
I don’t turn them away.” People who know that Todd works with the neighborhood kids donate
bike or parts. Kids can put together bikes for themselves or other kids, or if people bring him
operational bikes, Todd passes them along to kids who need them.

“I’m part of this neighborhood, and we are neighbors,” says Todd of his small
beneficiaries.

That’s the community in economics. That’s what you don’t get at the department store.