Srevilak: /* Proposals Introductions */

2013-02-19T02:39:45Z

Proposals Introductions

← Older revision		Revision as of 22:39, 18 February 2013
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	* Kendra. Discontinue hot-spot subscriptions, and return OB equipment that's not being used for Occupy activities.		* Kendra. Discontinue hot-spot subscriptions, and return OB equipment that's not being used for Occupy activities.
	* Steve. I'd like to discussion about ~~elections of~~ positions within Occupy Groups.		* Steve. I'd like to have a discussion about elected positions within Occupy Groups.
	* Carolyn. Set-aside funds for operating expenses, and low-cost actions.		* Carolyn. Set-aside funds for operating expenses, and low-cost actions.
	* Carolyn. Set aside discussion time to evaluate contributions of OB since camp, and to establish future directions. (Most likely a series of several discussions).		* Carolyn. Set aside discussion time to evaluate contributions of OB since camp, and to establish future directions. (Most likely a series of several discussions).
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	'''Proposal 1 passes in the bucket.'''		'''Proposal 1 passes in the bucket.'''


	==Set aside money for operating expenses and low budget actions==		==Set aside money for operating expenses and low budget actions==

Srevilak: initial revision

2013-02-19T02:36:52Z

initial revision

New page

= Minutes for 17 Feb 2013 =
== Details ==
Location: Community Church 
Time: 4:00 - 6:30pm 
Facilitator: Linda 
Stack: Carolyn 
Note taker: Steve 

== Summary ==

We had a debriefing discussion about the last GA

We passed a proposal to terminate our monthly contract with Clear (for
wireless hotspots). Clear has pay-as-you-go plans; we'll reactivate
the hotspots on an as-needed basis. We'll also take steps to ensure
community access to equipment purchased by Occupy Boston.

We passed a proposal to reserve $3000 to cover recurring expenses for
the next few months.

We'll dedicate the next GA to a discussion of post-dewey square
accomplishments, and what we'd like to do in the future. We'll try to
bring in as many working groups as possible.

Approximately 10 attending.

== Announcements ==

'''Radio''' (Sarah). Radio thanks us for the kind help. Now we can pay
our rent, and E5 thanks you too. We're taking a hiatus for radio camp,
to fix admin, tech, and promotion issues. We invite everyone to a
party on Sat 2/23 7-11p at E5. It's an open house, with music,
dancing. Get to meet the hosts. Starting on 2/24 for two weeks, we'll
be doing a series of workshops on radio, podcast, blogging.

On 2/24 noon-6pm - teach people how to broadcast over the internet,
and how to start a radio show. We'll have more workshops during the
week, from 7-9pm.

'''Linda'''. On Feb 21st, there's an event called Saggy pants is not a
crime. Stop criminalizing our youth. Oppose the idea that youth with
saggy pants should be arrested for indecent exposure. There are
groups of people who are trying to convince police that youth with
saggy pants should be arrested. The event's taking place at the Codman
Square Health Center, 637 Washington St, Dorchester 2/21. 7pm. There
are flyers on the table.

'''OBIT''' (Steve). We're cleaning up some of our hosting resources,
with the goal of scaling back from a $100/month hosting package to one
that's $200/year. We've gone through and disabled some unused web
sites. We're planning to go through our list of mailing lists and
hosted email accounts, and remove those that aren't being used. A year
ago, we had over 1000 visitors/day, and now we have around
150/day. Based on traffic, a more inexpensive package seems to make
sense.

(Pause for introductions)

'''Strike Debt''' (Rich). Tue 2/26 at Community Church. 6:30 food,
7:00 pm program. George Caffentzis speaking about debt resisters. He's
one of the big strike debt people in NYC.

'''Strike Debt''' (Rich). We have an event on Sat. April 6th 2-5pm at
the Middle East. We have three bands, there should be food, and
presentations about debt. We're looking for people to talk about
personal experiences with debt. We'll have a lawyer and a Debt
Collector talking about what your rights are. There will also be a
discussion of next steps, future actions.

'''Veterans for Peace''' (Bob). VFP. St. Patricks day parade. March
17th. Line up at D Street and West Broadway. Marshall at 2pm, start
marching at 3pm. This year, the police will leave the main barricades
up, and the street sweepers will follow us.

This should be the last year with two separate parades. First year we
had 500 people, last year we had 2500. We're expecting 3500 this
year. We have seven divisions. Show people that we're not going to put
up with bigotry and hatred any longer. We have at least two bands,
maybe four high schools, a trolley, bread and puppets. Should be a
whopper of a time.

'''Kendra''' Mass pirates are holding a crypto party at E5 3pm on Feb
23.

'''Linda'''. There will be a big AIPAC action in DC on Mar
2-5. There's more information on code pink's web site. See "Five
Broken Cameras" (a new documentary) for more on AIPAC.

== Debrief of Last General Assembly ==

We decide to have a debriefing discussion about the last GA.

Kendra. I apologize for the screaming at last GA.

Bob. I realize that there are several people that are still pending
trial. Are we still holding onto the funds for the NLG?

Linda. All of the charges were dropped. But we did give the $5611
(remaining legal funds) to the NLG. There are civil actions pending.

Kendra. I talked with Ursula. There are still legal (civil) cases, and
NLG still needs money to defend them.

Linda. I think that's a good point. Money was given under one set of
circumstances. What does it mean now that set of circumstances have
changed? I had a conversation with Ursula about what they have, what
they're doing, and what they need for money. They've paid a lot out of
their own pockets. I didn't hear any real details when this was
presented at our last GA; only broad statements. I think a lot of that
was money already spent, and I think they're entitled. They really
were ready to go to trial with these cases.

Bob. It wasn't so much a question of money or the legal funds. I had
to leave because of the discussion after that.

Carolyn. How do you handle someone that's totally off the wall, like
the proposer was. I didn't see any way to reign him in, aside from
waiting for his friends to reign him in. I was glad that you did what
you did (threatening to women). There were two distressing moments for
me. Allie blasted off and walked out. I can't remember what the other
thing was. Many people came up to me afterwards, and said this wasn't
what they intended. But I think many people came with an agenda, and
that agenda was to finish off Occupy Boston.

Linda. I don't think we should target people who aren't here.

Rich. I disagree. They seem happy enough to talk about us when we're
not around.

Sara. I do want to speak to the point of having a serious
disruption. We have incidents where people are filmed, and sometimes
the film doesn't tell the whole story. (A few people were unaware that
the last GA was being videotaped, and were surprised by it.) It's the
facilitators role to do the best they can. If facilitator can't handle
the situation, and we can't help them, then we should end the meeting.

Linda. I got really angry at the end, because I thought that anger was
the only thing the proposer would understand. The proposer has done
this a number of times. My response was to put up information about
One Billion Rising and other events. I felt terrible that that's what
it took to stop him. I was glad I was able to meet that sickening
energy. We could talk longer about individual dynamics, and things
other people could have done differently or better. Part of the
facilitator's job should be to keep discussion under control, and
people in the room should support the facilitator.

Steve. I wish I had turned my chair around and faced the wall. As an
act of protest, when things started getting out of hand.

Bob. I think that's an excellent idea. What I wanted to say, no one
ever won anyone to their side through argument. Argument only creates
animosity. The more than we can keep hot-headed people under control,
the better chance you have at coming to agreement. Once stuff gets out
of hand, you won't get anywhere.

Linda. Bullies don't respond well to civility, and we've knuckled
under to bullies in other times and places. They've subverted
things. I'm glad I did what I did. I would have felt really sad if I
did nothing.

Sara. I'm glad you said "bully". People shouldn't be allowed to come
in an exhibit bullying behavior. That's why I'm here today.

==Proposals Introductions==

We have four proposals tonight.

* Kendra. Discontinue hot-spot subscriptions, and return OB equipment that's not being used for Occupy activities.
* Steve. I'd like to discussion about elections of positions within Occupy Groups.
* Carolyn. Set-aside funds for operating expenses, and low-cost actions.
* Carolyn. Set aside discussion time to evaluate contributions of OB since camp, and to establish future directions. (Most likely a series of several discussions).

We take questions, to see what stays in the bucket.

===Proposal 1===

Question: Where are the hotspots now?

Linda has one. Rene has the rest. Supposedly one is lost.

Question: Are there purposes for these hotspots that this proposal
would interfere with?

The hotspots were used for livestreaming, and we haven't done very
much of that in last few months. We reactivated some accounts for S17
streaming, but the police were blocking the streams.

I think the equipment should be returned. People are holding
equipment, and say that money doesn't matter. If money doesn't matter,
then the equipment should be returned.

There was some livestreaming in Chicago (G8?).

In your proposal, would equipment be put into rotation for those who
need it?

We have to discuss that. But I'd like to see people have broader
access to the equipment. The hotspots are pay-as-you-go. We could
easily turn them off, and then reactivate them for events.

===Proposal 2===

Steve. I withdraw my proposal. People have brought more important
things for discussion.

===Proposal 3===

Question: How many months were you thinking?

I was thinking of six months, but we did three for radio. I don't have
the numbers, and we'd have to fill in the blanks. The idea was to have
expense funding for a given number of months.

So, we'd be budgeting, so that we're saving money, in order to have it
for actions.

We should always look for ways to cut expenses, in order to have that
money for other things, projects that we want to do, etc.

Space rental (for Community Church) is 15 or 30 dollars a meeting
(depending on size).

We discuss current monthly expenses, which are (approximately):

* $100/month Mayfirst
* $200/month (clear)
* $45/month quickbooks
* $168/month Extraspace
* $100/month for food during events
* $160/month for meeting space

Roughly $765/month total

Are we trying to clean the storage space out?

Yes. There's enough room in the log house to store everything, and we
can do that. We just need to pick a time to move, and then get a few
people together to do it.

Perhaps we can donate some of the tents, camping equipment,
etc. Perhaps we could put out a call to people to hold onto different
items. Or sell certain items.

We intend to pare down the operating budget.

I'd like to take this proposal out of the bucket.

Proposal 3 comes out of the bucket.

(Discussion about Media mac).

===Proposal 4===

Carolyn re-iterates the proposal.

Next GA is the first Tuesday in March, March 5th.

Proposal 4 comes out of the bucket.

'''Proposal 1 passes in the bucket.'''

==Set aside money for operating expenses and low budget actions==

We'll use the discussion process.

Our current monthly expenses are around $765/month. How long can we fund that for?

After the last GA, we had around $3500 left.

I'd propose we set aside $3500 for operating expenses, and future
actions. Money collected via hat passing would be added to that
amount.

What about petty cash/discretionary kinds of things?

The dollar amount isn't so important, I mainly wanted us to have
operating expenses set aside.

I think it's great that we're trying to budget over a period of time.

I'll suggest $3000, plus the amount that's collected by hat passes.

'''Proposal passes'''

==Discussions of Post-Dewey Accomplishments==

After the last GA, it seemed like we needed to do two things: (1) to
have money for operating expenses, and (2) to be able to speak to what
we've done. We need to make a case for ourselves. From there, we can
choose to incorporate other things. And it would be good thing to talk
about something aside from money.

Yes, it would be good to hear what WG's are doing.

'''Proposal Passes'''

==Fundraising==

(New Proposal, added by Joe.)

I'd like us to begin a discussion about whether we should begin an
effort to raise money. Before we go out of business, we should talk
about this. Could be through events, or grants.

Could this synthesize with the next GA? We're not an organization,
we're a movement. But money pays the bills.

Series fundraising might be an idea.

I've had some communications with David from Radio, re: the fiscal
sponsorship. Radio is interested in fundraising and grants, and
they're interested in being able to accept tax deductible
contributions.

I talked with Brian miller at UFE. Joe's been working on some of the
fiscal sponsorship documents.

It's prep work that would facilitate fundraising.

If we don't fund-raise, what are the expectations that money will
magically fall into our laps?

I think we need something more concrete. I'd be happy if we did a
temperature check about fundraising. We're just a small group; we
can't speak for everyone, but we can speak for ourselves.

I think an abstract proposal isn't that helpful. Having a concrete
idea of what someone wants to do would be easier for people to respond
to. I'm open to the idea of people just doing it, regardless of
whether the GA vets it.

Maybe a fundraising working group?

Sure. We've had every other kind of working group.

I have a preference for growth by attraction, rather than growth by
promotion. It's a different philosophy. It's a principle of 12-step
programs, if growth by attraction. People like to see progress.

Occupation was alive at the encampments. It spoke to a lot of people,
and money poured in at around the rate of $1000/day.

(Note taker misses part of this discussion).

GA ends at around 6:30 pm.

[[Category:GA Minutes]]

GA Minutes Sun Feb 17 2013 - Revision history

Srevilak: /* Proposals Introductions */

Srevilak: initial revision