Moses Mathis, known as “The Bicycle Man” throughout the Sand Hills of North Carolina, might have to saddle up and move out over a lease dispute with the owner of the warehouse.
Mathis has been repairing children's bicycles and giving them away since 1991. The Tiffany Pines Community Outreach Center, which he founded in Fayetteville, North Carolina, has given away more than 8,000 bicycles to area children; 700 this past Christmas alone.
According to reports here and here, Cumberland County owned the warehouse where the center is located, then sold the building to the Fayetteville-Cumberland County Martin Luther King Jr. Committee.
For Mathis to stay, the Committee wants proof that Mathis has insurance for his operation and doesn't make a profit. Mathis says he's supplied the info, but the Committe said they never received it and told him to find a new home by April 1.
Seems easy to resolve, doesn't it?
Well, there may be more than meets the eye here, because both sides are digging in their heels.
The Committee says they have to protect themselves against liability in case someone is injured. Mathis retorts, “If they want me out of the building, they're going to have to get an eviction notice and have me evicted.”
Let's sit down and talk people. The losers in this whole mess will be Fayetteville's kids who don't get bikes this Christmas.
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