12/28/11

dec 28 2011

In attendance: Jay, john m, greg m, tara, Jorge, patti, Patrick, glenn, wildebeest, monica, eric, martin, Liam, Bobbi

Jay - did not get to requirements for use of the space Wk grp space etc

Recap of properties looked at: Jorge john and jay

Jorge - got an email from somebody at community gathering about what we would like to see in an HQ A number and info of a prop owner, I will forward his info to the grp

Bobbi - what kind of

Jorge - warehouses, etc so end: cheap, looking for low-maintenance tenants 617 332 1250 isaac beck

Greg: Jorge, want to call him?

Jorge - yes

Greg - we had talked about hey paul we want to go look at this number [Paul Johnston] We called already, the brokers will ask the owners if they will consider year leases inst of 3 yr leases

liam - he said it’s useless to these property-owners till we decide on organizational and payment issues There’s a 501c3 that we need to talk to [united for a fair economy, brian miller] if we show them that we have the money, they wd sign a lease?

tara: I’m anti-501c3 for occ bos; we would become a fundraising org, so we should partner w a 501c3 we would have to agree on some liability issues, eg insurance rider

jay - partnership w a 501c3 would have to be agreed by GA

patti - if it was united for a fair economy, they would be responsible, we’d give them the $

greg – I had a half-hour conversation at the media tent would you consider this? And miller said he “could probably sell it to my board” talked to haymarket fund, jp tidewss found might be interested in sponsoring but united for a fair economy is the only one who I’ve asked to sign a lease.

Tara - Language that you use in agreements w larger 501c3s is important under state law Loose wording, avoid certain terms

Greg - I think the pieces are be a little bit clearer about the uses of the spaces, money

Wildebeest - does anybody know what we will get for our money?

Patti - the office where I work is 5 6 7 8000/mo

John m - 25 / sq ft

Rachel - 17 is low and most of those places don’t look like places where you would want to be

Wildebeest

Jay recapping last week

Uses: work groups, ga, etc

Signs, library

Especially access to a kitchen for food

Speaking to people who have been to ows, 2 main groups: sis [logistics] and food In the uses of space, e5 has 6 occupy Boston groups tonight, so wg space would be essential Space in designated area for info in the front so people could see when they come in 150 ppl cd fit in about 1200 sq. ft. incl stage [community church]

Wildebeest - has anybody seen ows donations, since the camp went down…?

Liam - They had a half million we had 50000

Greg - if there was that much space, if we use that 1200-1400 , how many wgs cd we have at a time there?

Jay - I had done a layout: 4 dedicated spaces 250 sf for wgs, and I had designated logistics, food, and media That leaves another 250-500 that cd be broken up to a couple of smaller spaces of 10-20 people in each I was working on an open space with partitions.

Liam - people want spaces for media, radio, etc to work

Greg - if we cd get those numbers down

Jay: ask how much would a wg require?

John murphy –

Greg I agree that there are core wgs that need space

John - the medics shouldn’t be sharing w the sign tent

Patti - there is a lot of space that landlords will build out to yr specifications

Greg - if you didn’t ask for that maybe they would be more agreeable to month to month

Bobbi - have we thought about what heat will cost?

Jay - some props I was just browsing say that all costs are included. On some leases, you only pay what you use Triple net lease, you pay association fees, you pay taxes, also snow removal

Greg - that’s the norm for a lot of office space

Jay - we spoke of finding a distressed owner, under threat of foreclosure, because no tenants for so long Probably more likely give a better deal

Bobbi - cd we find out if it would be foreclosed while we were in it?

Jay - would under threat

Martin - told about a tour that I took. I saw a church at Andrew Square station, big, open, space for gas, kitchen, office space, They’re willing to sell or lease, maybe the 3 of us, or anybody who wants to come I took a lot of pics from there It’s not abandoned, but vacant

Greg - on other follow up, raw space, owners will build out, we talked to our union friends, who are willing to do that

Jay - as long as you get permits, and have licensed ppl do it, owners like that

Patti – there are a lot of different technologies for moving walls and multiple uses.

John - From the door to the bookcases and to the door [here], about 1700 sf

John - 2000 ought to be the minimum

Greg - I envision a multifloor space

Jorge - are we assuming that

John - we cd just move the chairs away for a ga

Jay - we cd have gas in several neighborhoods

Jorge - facilitation is working on this in terms of a road-show ga…

Greg - the core groups who need space, logistics, medical, media, food

Jay - logistics, medical, media, food

Patti - my question is for medical, what are they actually gonna do in that space, because if they’re actually going to be practicing medicine in that space, that cd be an issue.

Jay - same thing as on a march, first aid and call EMS. In general, they would have information

Patti - but not like a clinic or anything

Jay - no, maybe first aid,

Greg – if there’s a thousand there, what’s a storefront size?

Jay - about 750

Greg – so about 3000 not 2000

John - is that the minimum we’re looking for?

Jorge - so do we know the potential rents on a 3000 sf space?

Jay - there’s a space in the so end, it’s 4500 sf, for $5000, sorry, its down Harrison ave, a loft How long will that last for this amount?

Bobbi - we also want space for a library, it’s nice to have a storefront, but we need to be sure it’s up to code. We can’t afford to buy stuff that’s up to code

Greg - we need a lounge

Bobbi - we cd sell flowers

Eric - by next winter, we would have a plan of business. Why can’t we have more autonomous actions? If it’s all occupy boston, there would be issues of liability. Locking into rent for longer than 3 months, not good. I have ideas to get us through the winter months I will get to later

John m – we cd have one place downtown where people cd go through and donations, and we cd have another place, like in jp, much less expensive If we go out of core boston, 99% chance that we’ll stay

Bobbi - I’ll explore Cambridge and Somerville

John - donations are down.

Wildebeest – let’s go back to what we had, let’s set up somewhere else, if it was good before, why not now?

Greg - I don’t think you’re alone, others have the same idea

Wildebeest – I would need some help I was an occupier not a paper occupier but a real occupier What makes you think they will pay our rent? Dude , were falling apart

Jay - the march aspect as the visibility, it’s almost impossible to do right now. Work groups aren’t working together

Patrick - you need the visual

Eric - occubagos would be visible. The other thing what about the donations of space.

Greg

Eric - till we get some

Liam - we desperately need something that’s high profile. As far as movement building, high profile, I think that it’s a death throw to move to a distant place. It has to be in boston and sustainable Wildebeest – you want them to pay charity for rent, food, we might as well be adopted

Greg - if there’s a space for a center, and there is also work that gets us out of dependency, that creates revenue, and acts as a magnet for people to come check us out.

Wildebeest – I love the idea, I just don’t think it’s feasible

Jay – it’s not charity. I was on the sidewalk every day. Thousands of people pulled up and gave us stuff and said it was because they couldn’t be here. It’s tough for the public. They don’t know where we are

Liam – the reason that I am really stressing the coop is because I’ve been part of two, in NYC, built housing for 25000 people, a café, a used clothing store. We just have to commit ourselves to that process I’ve also been filming with a coop in Venezuela

Greg - we need to be out of here at 930?

Jay - we did see the outsides, I have 30 on a list, and we found 13 more properties in that vicinity There was about 10 that I pretty much circled all the ones that had potential enough that we talked about them, so I took a note

Greg - cd you tell if it was more than one floor?

Jay - you could see stairways

Greg - what characteristics drove this top ten list? There was something that grabbed you about it.

Liam - I know the back story on rogers jewelry

Greg - I got a question for you guys. You’re poised to type this list up? It’s ready to go to paul so he could find a list of brokers?

Patti - when you go through a broker it’s more expensive because the landlord has to pay the broker

John - we should go to the neighbors

Greg - they will say talk to the brokers

Jay - there was literally maybe three main realty companies

Bobbi - do we want retail, industrial…?

Randy - did we talk to e5 and get their advice?

Liam - yes

John - so our next step is create a next meeting date b4 we leave, and should we make another list?

Greg - as much as I want to be here, I think we should expand a little bit

Patti – there’s a lot of empty office space in the north end; there’s one on causeway street empty for 8 yrs

Martin – here’s a website that will give you all the information http://www.cityofboston.gov/assessing/search/

Patti - also see registry of deeds

John - so does anybody want to go out and look at other real estate? Create another list. I’m just pissed that we don’t have a place

Eric - john you were mentioning places outside of downtown boston. How far?

John - kenmore has a lot of foot traffic, north station, other train stations. We’re spending money, but we’re not taking in money, we have no fundraising

Monica - let’s do fundraising

Greg - I disagree. We should find a place. We should figure out what we can afford and ask donors for help

Martin – there’s a difference between fundraising at dewey, $20 at a time, and big donors

Monica - we want big donors, it’s less work.

Greg - it’s pretty much 50-50 between the box and the wepay

Aria - I was a professional fund raiser for ten years

Aria - 20 percent goes to overhead, the rest goes to the cause. Fundraising gets you toward structure

Liam - we already have some donors identified.

Aria - Fundraising seems to happen without you realizing it

Greg - next meeting either Friday or Monday. Will we have anything to talk about by friday?

John - we could come saturday morning.

Jay - 4:00 Monday next meeting.