Tech Valley Center of Gravity — Local services in Troy

June 13th, 2019 Tech Valley Center of Gravity

I arrived late to the tech incubator, but that’s all right. Everybody keeps their own time clock. A bank of three dimensional printers hum and throb to my right. I hate music from speakers I cannot see, but I love the music made by these four printers. I know the sound of production and learned to love it. So today, it is very pleasing to me to hear those printers running. When I hear techno music rooted in Detroit, I can hear the rhythm and repetition of those machines.

I stayed up late on the graveyard shift in 1987, turning camshaft blanks in a factory near my Grandmother Aino’s house. During the day, I went to see her at the nearby convalescent home. I worked all summer to earn a thousand dollars and put most of it down for tuition the fall semester I taught as a student teacher. When the line worked and worked well, I could tell by the music the line made. What’s funny is I worked on the line with a guy named Andy who was saving up money to go to New York City. He eventually became the owner of one of the most prestigious galleries in the city.

I walked over to the lab to see what was on slab. Jobs must have visible tickets. The tickets read, “Suspension for a Monster Truck” and “Wheels for a Monster Truck” and “Rollbar for a Monster Truck”. I watched as the filament head layered on features. A man watched me watching the printing. He came over and explained, “My son wouldn’t take a bath. He wanted to play with his Hot Wheels. So I am making soap molds to make cars to take into the bath”.

“Well, that’s really some outside the tub thinking”.

“Yes, I’m trying not to throw the baby out with the bathwater, though”.

“A lady on main street by the art center makes soap in her shop”.

“That’s right. I made three prototypes out of soap and displayed them by the register to collect feedback”.

Somehow, I think I have found the right place for my personal...

The TVCoG is a fantastic resource for makers, tinkers, entrepreneurs, and anyone looking to learn a new hands-on skill. The staff is friendly, attentive, and happy to lend a hand if needed.

They offer a variety of membership levels, and one of those is a co-working membership, where you can either use open seating as available, or pay more for a dedicated space in which you can leave a computer, desk, peripherals, etc. The latter is the main focus of my review.

The coworking membership where one is assigned a dedicate space is one of the most expensive offerings, yet the quality of that service suffers because there is no meaningful separation between people taking conference calls for work and loud group conversations, people banging on things with a hammer, etc.

I really appreciate that the TVCoG is staying true to its roots by prioritizing Makers, but would appreciate more thoughtfulness as it applies to the coworking aspect if charging the same amount as their premier...

I appreciate the idea of this center, but they are not executing it properly in a residential area. There are environmental issues here. I live on 3rd St. and TVCOG is venting air mixed with burnt cardboard or other chemicals right out front near their door, onto the street level without pipes to divert it upward. This smoke seeps into the front of my home right up into the hallways and into apartments. I should not have to live this way! It makes me ill and hurts my lungs. This has gone on for months now. I have called EPA and Troy City Code. I have called COG and no one answers the phone here. But last night Mon 2/03/2020 and Tues morning 02/04 the air quality is noxious! I am posting on Google...