Event:2016/03/17 Delegates Meeting

Weekly Omni Delegates' Meeting - Thursday March 17, 2016

Who's Here?

Introductions

Introduce yourself: Name; Prefered Pronoun; Affiliation

• Marcus, Sudoroom, Fundraising WG
• Steve, BAPS
• Joe, FNB delegate
• David K, volunteer
• Ken, CCL delegate
• Renee, The Mess delegate
• Alex, Birdhouse delegate
• Tatille, Buried Seeds delegate
• Lori, GWS delegate
• Maryanne, CSC
• Jose, CSC delegate
• Yar, Sudoroom delegate, Building Bloc
• Liz, LL delegate
• Mitar, community member
• Kazoo, Art Bison
• Quentin, being shy
• Robb, Sudoroom
• Matt, Sudoroom

Meeting Roles

• Facilitator/s: Tatille/Lori
• Explanation of hand signals: "deaf applause", "raised hand", "point of process", "direct response"(wildcard), etc.
• Stacktaker: Joe
• Timekeeper: Liz
• Notetaker/s: Yar
  • URL of this pad: https://pad.riseup.net/p/omninom
• Vibe Reader: Renee
• Next meeting's facilitator(s): TBD

Delegates

• BAPS: Steve
• BH: Alex
• BS: Tatille
• CCL: Ken
• CSC: Jose
• FNB: Joe
• GWS: Lori
• LL: Liz
• Mess: Renee
• Sudo: Yar
• TIL: inactive, not here
• Quorum: 10/10 active

Announcements

• they all require deep breaths
• books in ballroom should be moved to the entrance hall. fire inspection may or may not happen tomorrow. someone may have called to cancel, but we hope he still comes. we've made a lot of progress, might pass.
• at a independent neighborhood council meeting, an OPD officer said it's their official intent to shut down omni because of "hacking"

Bans

• one guy was sleeping in the basement. slow to leave, threatening people. informed of mediation process.

Working Group Report-Backs (30 mins)

Building & permits

• not currently meeting - too much work to do!
• join the email list: https://omnicommons.org/lists/listinfo/building
• joe: communication about what we are/aren't/shouldn't be doing has been aggravating this week. question of fire inspection should hapepn or not is an example. earlier this week robb started putting up our swinging doors again, then people said we shouldn't...
  • robb: a lot has happened, we got a lot done. sorry you weren't here, discoruaged, but there's a new jamb flush with the wall, doors are hung, putting fininshing touches so the hinges don't swing back too far. almost complete. almost done with basement ceiling tiles. last thing on list is the books. otherwise we're ok. maybe need a door closer we don't have for sudoroom door near the stage.
  • joe: and jeremy made evacuation plan signs, so why did somebody think we should cancel?
  • robb: wrong panic bar came for inner shattuck door, but we just took off the latch. it swings, doesn't lock.
  • lori: how's the inspection rescheduled?
  • dk: we'll see. trying for tomorrow.
• robb: rodent war is doing well
• joe: yesterday judith was bringing food inside from 48th, and roberta frick (environmental services dept health inspector) was coming around because someone got sick from a meal they ate at an event here in february. couldn't give any more details, asked a few questions. judith told her the kitchen's not being used, under renovation, probably a caterer. haven't heard back. just to be very clear, FNB is *NOT* using omni kitchens.
  • DK: someone complained to nuisance abatement about CCL's fermentation events not being health compliant. i clarified the law, we're not at risk there because fermented goods aren't being given away or sold.
  • lots of cleaning has happened over the past few weeks. thank you so much everyone!

Commons

Meetings: Second and Fourth Thursdays at 7pm

• all large events on hold again until we pass fire inspection. not a security issue
• still need volunteers, still saying no to events because we don't have enough volunteers. also still losing events because omni doesn't meet their luxury standards, so you can indirectly help commons wg by joining building wg
• dk: technically 2 people in a room is assembly, so it's not just large events
• joe: OPD apparently also wants to shut us down because of permits
  • dk: the police are completely wrong. they don't understand. i talked to the district captain. permits aren't what they do, just enforcement. our building is complicated and the planning dept is doing a zoning determination and we will get paperwork saying exactly what we need, mostly held up by money.
• maryanne: we're scheduled to have an event on april 1. does this mean we can't do it?
  • dk: hopefully not. if we pass fire, maybe tomorrow, then we can accomodate any event with enough planning. to be on the safe side, if your event was at night with alcohol, you could get a permit with OPD. fire is the main issue with that. we'll know more clearly tomorrow.

Communications

• sign up for email list: https://omnicommons.org/lists/listinfo/comms
• putting together a newsletter for april 1, print and digital, join the list above to participate - will be pinging collectives this week for updates!
• yar: i can add anyone to any email list!
• comms: connect@buriedseedscollective.com maryanne jose
• marcus: i think there's an extreme amount of miscommunication at omni. collectives don't know what each other are doing. propose we elect a communications person whose role is to check in on a weekly basis personally with everyone, get to know everyone, have a grounded understanding of everything
  • tatille: sang volunteered for that
  • renee: he's working on it

Finance

Meetings: First and Third Thursdays at 7pm

• Barely got it together for April rent - still $10K under. All collectives *please pay all current and past invoices asap*
• Jenny will be resending all invoices currently marked 'Open' in our Quickbooks this weekend. Please don't be offended if you've paid and receive a request, just clarify that the payment wasn't registered in the QB for whatever reason and we'll check Omni's bank statements.
• robb: we're broke

Buy the Building/Fundraising

Meetings: Mondays at 5pm

• marcus: still want to buy the building. until then we're in a real crunch. please help raise funds or strengthen commitment.
• yar: people have been working very very hard on this - our 501c3 app, mortgage app, and all the dependencies. for instance, just filed our 2014 taxes. shit like that.

Community/Neighborhood relations

• fallout from shooting - more info

proposals

Updating Officers and Directors

via jenny, 3/15:

As we prepare to file our 501c3 application later this month, it's a good time to update our Officers and Directors.

• Mary Ward for President (she's in CCL now if anyone wants her to drop in and say hi)
• Mary Ann Tenuto - Chiapas Support Committee Director
• Sang Kim - The Mess Director
• Tatille Jackson - Buried Seeds Director
• Lori Nairne, Global Womens Strike Director

discussion

• these are just the changes to the existing omni board. adding 4 new people, and changing our president
• maryanne didn't expect her name to be there, was confused about delegate role, but consents to it
• robb: this is a matriarchal takeover [laughter]
  • yar: that happened long ago
• ken: i don't understand how the delegates... i hear mary from CCL is gonna be president? but she wasn't on it at all before? we have our internal delegate system and also officers according to the state?
  • yar: this proposal is basically from our lawyer. our lawyer said we need this, so that's what we're doing
  • steve: so what are the rest of us? other delegates?
  • lori: this delegate council is the decision making power for omni. the board is just on paper for the state. but this here is the decision making body and will continue to be so.
• ken: i want to clarify my question. what are the ... we need secretary, treasurer
  • these are just the changes. jenny is secretary, matt is treasurer
  • ken: ccl and fnb are the only legitimate 501c3s...
    • sudoroom was approved today!
  • ken: sometimes lawyers give bad advice
  • maryanne: this is a democratic org. we're giving gov what they want. from what i've seen it's being done correctly.
  • yar: this is FUD
• delegates for: steve, joe, ken, renee, alex, tatille, lori, jose
  • abstaining: liz, yar

Vote on Buried Seeds proposal

• sudo room blocks - juul (omni cannot afford to give people free money / lower anyone's rent right now)
• tatille: we're being honest about what we can afford
• matt: maybe you could pay it off over time?
  • they're open to it if omni is. not trying to put omni in a situation. money's tight everywhere. also looking at kiva/zip and other fundraising activities we can do internally. we know for sure we can afford the 500/mo
• marc: i understand everyone's struggling but omni's only surviving because it's borrowing money from other people and you're basically asking us to borrow more money. asking for free money. we just can't afford to lower anyone's rent. can't afford our own rent. we're looking at shutting down in a few months and leaking thousands/month. not the org to ask for free money right now. not a loan you're asking for and even that wouldn't be great, we're borrowing ourselves.
• kazoo: if you don't get the help you need would you have to leave?
  • tatille: if we were asked for this money we'd have to leave.
  • renee: some money's better than no money, but ti's like a family that can't pay rent. so what are you gonna do? asking for low rent, not no rent
• joe: if it was done on a monthly basis what would it amount to each month? a couple thousand?
  • tatille: they offered us 2k insurance - we have to pay half of it whenever it starts and the other half after 30 days
  • steve: it's just insurance for one collective? yes, for bruied seeds
• steve: radical idea. people are stressed because we're paying rent to owner... could owner forgive debt?
  • yar: point of process, that's a long off topic discussion. come to fundraising wg, we talk abt that week after week after week
  • they're working with different agencies
• kazoo: i have cheap business insurance, maybe we could reword it for cheaper insurance. talk after.
• yar: if baps proposed to lower from 1k to 600 would you block that? it's how they've been paying for like a year already
  • marc: we could rerent that room, and BS is for-profit
  • skepticism that that could happen easily. room needs lots of work
• ken: some people in CCL are pissed off. they're not getting what they need from landlord to get water. we haven't had results. lots of talk about moving, we like it here, but we're not getting action we need. shooting was a great thing, because it got everyone to go "bottom line", clean up the (rent?). you guys need water, we want you here to get your water in. we haven't seen our needs served for the rent we're paying here for people to get their asses on board...
  • yar: those people need a reality check. they're not paying shit for this area. getting a huge commie discount
  • robb: i'm here all the time. nobody from CCL has shown any interest in participating in working groups
  • ken: i just wanted to report what i had. i've done that.

books

• marcus: friend of mine proposes putting them in free book stands throughout west oakland
• robb: is that gonna happen tomorrow morning?
  • marcus: i could have got it organized by tomorrow but was told it wasn't necessary or important so i didn't put effort into it
• yar: a lot of people have different ideas on that. let's continue moving them to entrance hall for now. this deserves more than a last minute proposal. send an email and give people time. i personally donated books that i would take back if they were gonna go on the street.
• matt: bookshelves are affixed safely in ballroom. it's just the excess books that need to be moved.

art bison

• kazoo: our situation is, we have a studio that's cool, no rush to leave. we'd like to join although it sounds like things are perilous right now. happy to come in and help make them more concrete. we do a lot of community things. are we not open to the public right now?
  • matt: what kind of activity?
  • kazoo: i teach middle schoolers and take them to my studio for classes. usually 15 and sometimes 30
  • matt: that'd be private. you have insurance?
  • they're insured for it. kazoo would be their guardian. SF rent is 400/mo. each pay 20 for supplies & internet. attractive membership - $70 for 24hr access which you can make money off of. or make stuff for movement purposes, which most do. unofficial proposal. sounds like you need money big time. we're not ready to leave our secure studio of 5 years to join something that might shut down in 2 months. so to start we'd set up a small satellite space. starting at 200/mo maybe, with goal being 500.
  • originally thought about former MPM space but now thinking of the den. water access. wouldn't have to put in plumbing right away.
  • all water based, not smelly, don't need special ventilation
• marcus: you need to become a member to get a card to open door? so all your members would need a card? what's the policy in terms of usage? can people be here 24h/d?
  • members can. and members can have guests.
• most of the den would be common but they'd need some area to lock up supplies. a closet or a cabinet. they have a 4-arm press and would secure the press & table to the ground
  • robb: are they loud? no it's hand, not electric
• straw poll: nobody anticipates problems with this
• yar: if commons wg wanted to book, say, a poetry reading up there for a couple hours and tell you well in advance, would your membership be open to stuff like that?
  • kazoo: yeah, i think we'd be open to that

finance reform

• Schedule regular Open Houses for coordinating communication and tours with prospective member-collectives, renters, and event renters -** Considering maybe first one on weekend of 3/19 - 3/20 or 3/26 - 3/27
• Modify sublease term -- extend to 1 year (or 6 months? 3 months?)
• Modify sublease to include a 60-day move-out notice instead of 30-day.
• Modify sublease to require delegate's participation.
• Add new item to delegate's meeting agenda: Collective Report-Backs, where the delegate from each collective shares:
  • Financial Status (ability to pay invoices, balance sheet)
  • Membership Status (health of collective)
  • Outline of any other updates / items of business
• Create Communications consultant position to ensure each delegate, and each collective are in regular communication about Omni's health (especially financial) as well as each collective's health are communicated in order to ensure information is flowing between all collectives.
• Create a Delegate's term that lasts 1 year.
• Raise rent to incorporate both a reasonable rate for use of space as well as pro-rated share of operating expenses.

discussion: general

• matt: it's fucked. fucked philosophy. race to the bottom. nobody's ever paid us more money, only lowered. (Liberated Lens offered more for the ticket booth room :P) we need to look viable for a bank. primary income - 40% rentals - is lowering & lowering. we all gotta tighten the belt, figure out how to raise money. every little loan, every little thing you can do. i don't care but it's more important to come away thinking & believing - racing to the bottom will kill us
  • yar: says the guy who posted our pews to craigslist
  • matt: yeah i did. no one's gonna buy them
• matt: we talked about this at fundraising wg, and finance didn't meet today - they really need help though, just our bookkeepers and matt g.

open house

• matt: maybe could schedule open house on an upcoming weekend?
• yar: does this need approval?
• matt: we could make a working group?
• who wants to do this work?
• renee: would it even be possible to have them join and paying by april?
  • matt: we could schedule more weekends on more thursdays. magic could , depending how open house goes.
• tatille: this weekend seems really quick. maybe put the date of this upcoming weekend for this open house, allow collectives to look at that & decide
• ken: as far as i would say, if you can get it together, try to get volunteers. if anyone wants to block it, i can't think of a reason to block it
• yar: maybe we could consense on which parts of omni we'd be willing to block off for anyone as dedicated non-common space for tenants or member collectives?
• ken: worth a shot getting proposals
• robb: i think now's not a good time for collectives to join. why would they? we need to have a giant fundraising campaign for omni
• matt: fundraising meeting seemed to think we need new collectives. i've talked to a lot of people who wanted to move in here and it didn't happen. ambiguity, wrenches thrown in the process. need upfront agreements about what's available and what boundaries there are
• proposal: hold an extra delegates meeting on thursday the 31st and schedule open houses for 26th and 27th. empower fundraising and commons working group to figure out rentable spaces, understanding that all such uses would come back to delegates for final approval
  • delegates in favor: steve, liz, joe, ken, renee, alex, atatille, lori, jose
  • abstaining: yar

lease terms

• it looks really bad to have month to months for our mortgage app
• almost never do we find a replacement after 30 days
• add delegate participation in sublease itself

collective check-ins

• get real numbers, financial info, at each delegates meeting. how's membership? any other updates. schedule time for this.
• we don't even have time for this this week

comms consultant position

• contracting or subcontracting someone with a unique skill - pay them money - per diem / grant - to help with communications. our #1 problem so let's try to solve it.

delegate term

• it has a commitment and an end term. clear process to make transition if someone else needs to. could have seconds / backups.

raising rents

• we should raise the rent on everybody right now because we're not even paying a serious fraction of our actual operating expenses, and when that happens you raise income, not get out of the lease. raise expectation to contribute more and figure out how to make those numbers work so we're not taking out those loans and have more stability in the longer term. so that's finance reform.

Agua Viva Member Collective Proposal [TABLED]

via niki and jenny, 3/14:

1. Mission statement What do you do? What happens in the world because you exist? (1-3 sentences)

Agua Viva is dedicated to providing a warm and welcoming introduction to the Omni Commons. A cafe is a place that people understand and feel allowed to enter, providing community members who are not already familiar with the Omni with a reason to come in and explore the space. In addition. Agua Viva will provide the existing Omni community with a convivial space in which to gather and collaborate. We will serve affordable and responsibly sourced coffee, tea and snacks and will donate a portion of any profits made from sales of these items to the Omni.

We’re excited to act as ambassadors to the Omni and hope to facilitate more open communication and participation through the curation and visualization of information about the Omni, its member collectives, upcoming events and meetings.

2. Origin and group history How did you start? What have you done? (1-3 sentences)

The collective is currently comprised of members of past and current Omni collectives including the Bay Area Public School, Sudo Room, and La Commune. Collective members have participated in various Omni working groups and performed myriad Omni organizational tasks.

After the closure of La Commune, a few Omni community members agreed that having a welcoming introduction to the Omni was important and began discussing their desire to move forward with opening a cafe in the entrance hall.

3. Participation in the Omni Why are you interested in becoming a member? How does your group intend to use the space? What are your needs? (less than 5 sentences)

Creating a welcoming introduction to the Omni Commons is the foremost aim of this endeavor, and an aspiration of the founding members since the inception of the project.

We intend to build out a viable cafe in the front counter area that will have regular open hours (TBD) and to steward the use of the entrance hall.

4. Group finances and paying rent What does your group do to support itself financially? What is your best plan for contributing your potential share of rent to the Omni? (less than 5 sentences)

The core financial aim of Agua Viva is to serve as a source of revenue for the Omni through a combination of coffee/tea/pastry sales and stewarding rental responsibilities of the entrance hall. At the same time, we believe in providing a fair living wage for collective members in order to ensure their ability to continue to participate in the collective as well as to to encourage the participation of community members who do not have the luxury of being able to make commitments as unpaid volunteers.

All financials and accounting will be made transparent to the public, and quarterly reports produced will be accompanied by a reevaluation of the amount we’re able to contribute to the Omni’s many expenses.

We propose a worktrade during the buildout phase (maximum 3 months), during which we’ll be focusing on finishing the wheelchair bathroom, fixing the electrical and drywall in the entrance hall in addition to building out the cafe space.

Our goal is to be able to make a regular monthly rental contribution of $1000 within 6 months of opening. We will also contribute to shared costs such as utilities, insurance and taxes in an amount TBD.

   Phase 1: Buildout (1-3 months)

   Phase 2: Open to the public (1-6 months): $500/mo plus shared expenses

   Phase 3: Open to the public (6+ months): $1000+ (after evaluation of Phase 2) plus shared expenses

5. Dedicated space If your group would like some dedicated space at the Omni, what square footage and what features are you looking for? Which specific rooms do you feel might be suitable? (1-3 sentences)

We would like to request the front counter and space behind it as dedicated collective members-only space.

We would also like to place tables and chairs throughout the entrance hall that could be used by other Omni community members at any time.

6. Other contributions to the Omni This question should inspire some imagination. We are exploring ideas to pay rent and purchase the building in the long-term. The basic plan is for each group paying a share of rent. Potential plans include groups sharing profit from their activities, producing Omni events, and booking other events. What is the best-case scenario for using the Omni space to further support your group? (less than 5 sentences)

Our primary desire is to contribute to the success of the Omni by fostering meaningful relationships with the surrounding community, supporting Omni member collectives, curating a welcoming space and nurturing a culture of mutual aid.

To that end, we intend to:

   Actively promote and curate events in the entrance hall with an eye towards programming free community events.

   Offering coffee, tea, pastries and other concession items for the purposes of increasing revenue for the Omni. 

   Hosting monthly neighborhood potlucks in the space.

   Offering commercial retail space for other collectives in the Omni (and obtaining the necessary permits and licenses for retail).

   Curating an Omni Infoshop and providing information about the Omni and its various member collectives to newcomers.

7. Additional Is there any other information that you think would be useful for us to know about your group? (as many sentences as you like)

Agua Viva will begin operations as a horizontally organized member collective serving coffee, tea and some pastries planning to eventually graduate to a more robust co-operative model with the addition of new members. We believe in starting small and growing slowly to ensure that we are building the necessary infrastructure to support the project and that we are engaging in open and mindful communication with all members.

End of Meeting

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