Event:2015/07/16 Delegates Meeting

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Weekly Omni Delegates' Meeting - 16 July 2015

The meeting begins promptly at 7pm, every First and Third Thursday, and ends promptly at 9pm, unless delegates agree to continuation. Contents:

  • Introductions
  • Announcements
  • Working Group Report-Backs
  • Proposals
  • Discussions
  • Action Items
  • Tabled
  • Optional Breakout Session

Attendees

  • Facilitator/s: Joe Matt
  • Introduction to the Omni Commons & our values:
  • Explanation of hand signals:
    • "deaf applause", "raised hand", "point of process", "direct response", "time's up", "stop and reflect", "kermit" (wildcard), etc.
  • Stacktaker:
    • Explanation of progressive stack: Raise your hand and make eye contact with the stack taker. Please wait your turn, and try not to interupt or speak over others. Direct responses are allowed only as Points Of Information/ Clarifications, etc (use hand signal). For everything else, please raise your hand and wait your turn.
  • Timekeeper:
    • Reminder to keep comments brief.
  • Notetaker/s:
  • Important Note for the Pad:
    • Please do not move or delete meeting notes from the pad, unless you have archived them properly. Always leave the most recent meeting's notes, and the template at the bottom. !! Thank you.
  • Vibe Reader:
    • Reminder to stay calm, be respectful, and think before speaking.
  • Next weeks facilitator(s):

Delegates

  • BAPS: Leah
  • CCL: Jacob
  • FNB: Joe
  • La Commune: Steve
  • MPM:
  • Sudo Room: Jenny
  • TIL:
  • OptikAllusions:
  • Quorum:

Introductions

Please be brief! Introduce yourself: Name; Prefered Pronoun; Affiliation; If you are new, what is one thing that brought you here?

  • Optional Ice-breaker: "I am _____ % here today. The rest of me is ______."
  • Matt - 50% here, 50% 50 other places
  • yar - sudo - trying to be mostly here
  • Laura, BAPS, trying to be mostly here, also with relationship & omni issues
  • Niki - Mostly here, the other part of me is walking away fromthis building in any direction
  • Steve, La Commune - 33% here
  • Mia, 80% here, 10% with her dad, and 10% with red sandals
  • Jenny, 50% here, 50% with close friends struggling
  • Joe, FNB, 50% here, 50% with everything else going on at the Omni
  • Dusty, 50% here, 50% with an earlier confrontation at Omni & with the Gill tract
  • Lauren, BAPS, 50% here
  • Robb, sudo/ccl, actually all here, lots going on
  • Kelvin, 40% here, 40% on future goals, 20% on crazy topics geopolitics etc
  • Jacob, CCL, 50% here, 50% thinking of a job interview
  • Pam, La Commune, i'm here
  • Daniel, sudo, 80-90% here

Announcements

Any Omni-related announcements. Please be brief! Maximum 1 (one) minute per announcement. Reminder: Working Groups reports are after this, please save W.G. announcements for later.

  • Lesley - Ferment Change in the ballroom on August 16th to benefit Phat Beets. "pickle party!" Come pickle and eat fermented things!
    • Re-activated sub-collective: Fermentation Station :D ;D :D - Wednesdays at 7 in CCL
    • 'Tour-de-Ferment' (homebrew bike tour) rsvp via Dylan C? Check! Check! Check! - https://fermentchange.wordpress.com/
  • Joe - Showers!!! My intention is to take a half a day, probably Monday, and check with Gabby again for schedule, and set up towels and soap, and watch people clean up / send em through / etc. I welcome others to also step in in this way, open to comments and feedback! We'll talk about this later in the meeting ;)
  • Digital Detox event next Friday, July 24th, 7pm-midnight, will fill much of the building - ballroom on Thursday night to setup, will be around all day Friday (mostly in ballroom, but also front half of La Commune, upstairs Den [game room] and Disco Room [tea lounge]) - Kitchen off-limits, curtain up in front of the computers but not inaccessible - request that people in these spaces not use devices or use them subtly.
  • Next Thursday, 7pm, discussion on our options for buying the building, legal entity options, etc; All welcome, come with questions / input / research!
  • Thursday July 30th - official annual Board Meeting - need a Board representative from each collective - officially selecting the Officers of the Corporation: Lara Durvak nominated as President, Sarah Pritchard as CFO, Jenny Ryan as Secretary
  • Last-minute, there's a man who will be here ^.^ who is from Germany, some sort of expert in radical therapy--workshop tomorrow (fri 7/17 @6pm-10pm) somewhere in the building, maybe La Commune, Steve gives two-thumbs-up. There may or may not be food. BYOF.
  • Is this meeting a digital intox?

Bans

Announcement of recent bans.

  • Joe reminded Kwikness that he is not welcome here until he resolves the previous issue that caused others to ask him to leave--namely threatening physical violence.
    • He's come back a number of times, but keeps coming back.
    • He was accidentally let in under the auspice of attending a BAPS Spanish class.
  • Elmo was found sleeping in Omni Commons again, after many repeated warnings.
    • No one objects to an indefinite ban

Working Group Report-Backs

Please be brief! Maximum 5 (five) minutes per W.G. WGRBs are Alphabetical; All W.G.s are equally important. Report-backs consist of answering 3 (three) questions:

  • What did you accomplish this week?
  • What problems or action items are you currently working on?
  • What do you need to bring to our attention and/or need help with?

Building, permits, and Facilities

Meetings: Mondays at 8pm

  • This group needs help; https://omnicommons.org/lists/listinfo/building
  • Ballroom-readiness needs and plans: https://omnicommons.org/wiki/Ballroom-readiness
  • We got uni-directional lighting fixtures donated ;) send requests to Rob of LuLzLuX
  • We're working, please help us, please come help us, for the love of dog, please help...
  • Sudo Mesh has completed many of the network upgrades, including hard-wired ethernet cables run very professionally to the public terminals in the mezzanine above the cafe entrance. thanks daniel!!
  • configuring more APs tomorrow
  • need to clear shit from the red platform area in the basement - organizing work party for Monday afternoon - contact jenny@omnicommons.org or just come by!
  • south wall permit also includes front door + electrical work. we've had 1/3 inspections. wall is ready for #2 but not door & electrical. drywalling will be delayed. jack is waiting for john & jake re: hardware, so front door project is moving along. joe's gonna find out the cost of an extra inspection.
    • Had a meeting with electrical volunteers today, seems more clear what work and materials are needed, just a matter of buying supplies and doing it!
  • door rehanging party noon tomorrow. please come help!
  • all rooms now have list of fire code violations hanging physically
  • all spaces now have certified fire extinguishers with the exception of the k-class extinguisher

Challenging Dominant Culture (CDC)

Meetings:Sundays at 3pm

  • There was a Restorative Justice training on Sunday where about a dozen or so Omni volunteers and a few other folks learned about how to do RJ processes to build community and resolve conflicts and when harm has been done. We hope to begin using what we learned soon. CDC will discuss how it can inform our processes.
  • planning monthly potlucks for building community and stronger, more trusting relationships
  • weekly restorative justice / healing circles also being planned

Commons

Meetings: Saturdays at 1pm

  • Big event "digital detox" next week on 24th
  • Commons meets every sat at 1 to go through all the event requests. WE CAN ALWAYS USE MORE HELP. IF YOU ONLY TOOK ON ONE EVENT PER MONTH IT WOULD BE VERY HELPFUL ;) ;) ;) :)
  • We see and are attempting to address problems in how we host events, looking to refactor:
    • Delegating roles / responsibilities better
    • Sober events only for a temporary period?
    • MORE, join the meeting or email list...

Communications / SysAdmins

Meetings: nope :)

Finance

Meetings: Every other Thursday at 7pm

  • see discussion section

Fundraising / 'Until the Revolution'

Meetings: Mondays at 6:30pm

  • We're talking about how to structure buying the building.
  • we have potential donors and lenders
  • next week's thursday meeting will be dedicated to this subject

Kitchen

  • on hiatus due to lack of money

Welcoming

Meetings: Thursdays at 6pm

  • jenny: on hiatus unless someone else wants to pick it up. you can hold down a door shift. just hang out in la commune, answer questions, give tours, etc. https://omnicommons.org/frontdesk

Discussion: DK Sabbatical

discussion

  • laura reads about DK's sabbatical
  • where is this stored?
  • how do people know about it? we sent an email
  • mia: i find phrasing deceptive. why isn't it a ban?
    • laura: we didn't want to make it a ban, because that has implications for ban reciprocity. it's out of concern for his well being. no specific violation of a policy, more concern about how his work pattern & stress was affecting others. ban would have to go on our ban page.
    • yar: because we ban people who are bad...
    • joe: would be good to have thanks & recognition. otherwise people will guess that something bad happened. we shoudl correct that.
    • matt: let's think about actionable things we can do today
  • dusty: i feel mia. feels patronizing, a euphemism for banning. sabbatical should be voluntary and good. i have feels, idk what happened, but is this indefinite? forever?
    • matt: can be overridden at any time. we have power.
    • dusty: 'indefinite' to me means forever
    • yar: nothing is forever around here
  • mia: is this permanent?
    • yar: nothing is permanent. october is another universe.
    • laura: david is not permitted to do any omni work or come here for the next 3 months.
  • leah: was david included in this discussion? why not? if not, i'm concerned about the precedent that sets.
    • yar: he wasn't involved in the past week and a half but when he heard about it, he didn't seem too surprised.
  • mia: who initated this proposal?
    • yar: a group of people. there was a delegate's meeting announced by word of mouth only (not email)
    • laura: several individuals concerned for his well-being; a cdc meeting w/ lynice pinkard on burnout - afterwards there was a debrief where lynice expressed serious concerns about david in particular
  • niki: in that meeting, we talked about continuing with lynice but that didn't happen. did anyone discuss that possibility? also, he's taken breaks before. last time he was asked to come back. so why not ask him to break voluntarily?
    • dusty: got a little lost. we can still ask.
    • matt: i came into this process late. saw group momentum and prioritized separating the discussion between david and you [niki]. but there was a clear agreement on behavior. he kept violating terms of agreements. it was overdue. wasn't perfect, could have been way worse.
    • kelvin: shouldn't there have been a policy drafted over time documenting issues with him? if he was demeaning and uncomfortable, shouldn't there have been something written saying which statutes he violated? otherwise how do you justify removing him?
  • matt: it was a decision by the delegates. this wasn't a conflict resolution.
  • yar: this is not a punishment. we were trying to save david from his own workaholism. he would always find a way, no matter his agreements, to come in an do everything. when asked to step back he would say "ok as soon as someone else does xyz", which is just setting impossible terms.
  • laura: 2 core reasons for the decision: his own physical and mental health and relationships and personal affairs; power imbalance where too much power and knowledge accumulating in one person to be sustainable
  • joe: agree with mia and to some extent kelvin, that there should be some sort of policy put in place to prevent this kind of secrecy from ever happening again
  • mia: he was doing a lot. how do we ensure other people don't drop the ball?
    • matt: tells story of david refusing to hand off a contact, instead continuing to meet with him spending lots of money
    • laura: not sure of those other times, but this last time i tried talking to him. i was concerned about the building wg. we needed his knowledge & contacts. we agreed he'd return to only work on building in very specific ways. it wasn't followed. but this time we're quite able to continue without him.
    • mia: we failed david as a community in terms of not doing more to prevent this happening, not stepping up earlier.
  • joe: tells story about working on the south wall with david. i tried to tell him people were stepping back, becoming disenchanted. he needed to recognize he was too large & overbearing. he kept saying "i can't until there's qualified people with long term commitments". i said, "that's circular! people feel you're an impediment." this conversation tipped me over.
  • julio: what do we do next time? no more secret meetings?
  • rob: trying to understand structure. how can you remove officers in secret?
  • laura: his term was up. everybody's is. there are no acting officers. they had a year term limit.
  • rob: ok but it still has gravity, the whole collective should have a say.
  • niki: i have 2 credit cards that i took from david. i've cut peoples' credit cards up because they kept giving them to david. it's not like this community isn't complicit. idk what to do.
    • dusty: so we're complicit in this situation?

Feedback

  • Ben D: I can’t be at the GA tonight because I forgot to ask off for work. Unlike two weeks ago where I did ask off work only to be uninvited from the ‘cancelled’ GA. I wanted to voice my opinion of being excluded from an important OMNI process and why I think it was problematic to do so. I want you to know first up that I forgive you and that I love you all for what you contribute to this amazing place. I also know that the situation you were dealing with was really tough, so I applaud you for doing something so

challenging as what I have heard described as an intervention. The issue I have is that someone or ones decided, without talking with me openly, that my OMNI credentials were not sufficient to participate in an important meeting. I think being found lacking is at least partially to blame for my forgetting to ask off work. I’ve been involved at OMNI for a few months now and I’ve somewhat recently decided to step up my involvement, in part because I had been asked by DK to take on insurance work. So here I was ready to commit to coming to GAs only to be told, no, don’t come. Now I could have taken this much worse than I did. It was slightly triggering for me. I could have just dropped out of OMNI altogether or just become less involved upon being held outside the inner circle. This isn’t happening however, so don’t worry too much. My exclusion or any other exclusions of OMNI activists was just plain bad organizing though. If an intervention is required, anyone who is being asked to take a break will need others to take on their responsibilities and will need to have their knowledge absorbed by the group. Any OMNI activist should be able to easily participate in that so we get the most out of it. Who is an OMNI activist? Someone who puts in time here to make this place work. If there is any uncertainty about someone I think it would be best to just talk to the person about their involvement. I think it would have been a better approach if someone were to just talk to me for a few minutes about the situation with DK and ask me if I wanted to participate. I knew that there was rising tension. I want this place to succeed. I wasn’t going to do anything to jeopardize anything. I think that should be the assumption about people who are putting in work here. Again, I love you and forgive you and thanks for all you do. See you at the next GA."

  • Daniel: Clear violation of our committment to transparency, I feel the decision should be reversed. We made that decision for him, do we have a right to decide what's best for someone else? If I were David I would feel betrayed by my own comrades

Possible Outcomes

  • Should we write a statement at this meeting affirming something important?
  • How do we support constructing a policy that promotes transparency.
  • What do we DO next time? Maybe less policy and more community perspective...
  • Delegate this kind of task to a new working group, to the Challenging Dominant Cultures Working group, or some other body.

Discussion: Immediate Omni-Wide Issues

Immediate problems we need to deal with asap:

  • access, back doors, non-member guests
  • safeway food delivery
    • Who is taking responsibility? If no one, who will communicate to end it?

front door / access issue

front door / volunteer coverage, la commune open hours

  • mia: if building is closed <can't remember>
  • jenny: lots of hostility, new people coming in and being very aggressive
  • robb: essentially that, potent voilence
  • dusty: turns off new people to come in and see hostility
  • joe: want to support those good people who are not members
  • laura: what are the implications of not making a decision re: access tonight?
    • joe: ...
    • niki: this going into an uncontrollable / irreversible direction
  • laura: values we need to hold in resolving
    • respect
    • solidarity
    • radical commoning of space and resources
    • safety
    • trying best we can to accommodate those who've been discriminated against, marginalized, oppressed
  • options for solutions?
    • matt: omni is closed to everyone except members and their guests
    • can always make exceptions to that as well
    • niki: more members being around and ready to stand ground, 'omni bloc'
    • robb: beyond access, how people react when you engage them about the space. people are disrespecting and intimidating people to get what they want. amendment to safe space policy re that? is intimidation covered?
    • daniel: have very clear signs at the door, eg; 'Members Only, or Guests with Members Only' - or La Commune Tues-Sunday 12-6pm
    • dusty: before we open to the public we need serious, real training about dealing with conflict w/ people who are for instance coming down from drugs
    • matt: formally concatenate our list of all members of all collectives as well as guests sponsored by another member - all up for review
    • niki: how does this apply to classes and events?
      • matt: person hosting needs to be 100% accountable of everyone coming to their event and escort them out of the building
    • jenny: maybe add back front door door closer and add one to the back disco room door tomorrow
    • niki: probably we'll need to draft a policy re: space access, which we've been reluctant to do up to now.

Omni Bloc:

  • Friday: Niki (8am), Robb (8am), Joe (10am), Jenny (10), Yar (12), Jessie (12)
  • Saturday: Joe (8am), Daniel (10), Mia (12), Commons WG (1pm in LC)

Now:

  • Install very clear signs at the door e.g. "Members Only, or Guests with Host Present" - Daniel A & Matt S
  • Create physical list of all members of all collectives, name guests who are sponsored by another member (but not guaranteed) - All Delegates ASAP, will send to consensus@lists.omnicommons.org -- Matt S will compile.
  • Add front and back door closers. - Rob, Dusty, Jessie, Yar, door party, etc.
  • Re-affirm that Omni Commons is NOT open to the public, access is granted ONLY to members and their attended guests.
  • Matt will make Sudo Mate for the "omni bloc"
  • Anyone hosting an event or working as point person for an event needs to ensure that all non-members are escorted out of the building at the end of the event.

Later:

  • Initiate training to deal with conflict at the omni, delegate to CDC - Julio R.

Discussion: money

sarah's email

  • "As many of you know, the Omni has been running a monthly deficit of about $8,000 - $9,000 every month. We've been able to make up for that by dipping into the funds raised in December through the Indiegogo campaign, but those funds are running out quickly.

We currently only have enough $$ in the bank to cover two months of rent and expenses. Member collectives can do your part by paying invoices on time (and even early if you're able!) for the next few months. If your collective has outstanding invoices for rent and shared expenses, this would be a great time to appeal to your members for extra support so you can pay any $$ still owed to the Omni. The finances working group has been updating our Quickbooks and will soon be able to present more detailed and thrilling financial reports so everyone will have a clearer picture of where the Omni's money is coming from and how it's being spent. Better data = more lucid decisions. Let me know if you have any questions about this. The next finances working group will be held on Wednesday, July 22 at 7 pm at the Omni. Come hang out with us if you want to learn more about Omni $$$."

discussion

  • niki reads sarah's email
  • what's not happening? from member collectives we nominally get 9k/mo, and often even that's not paid. expenses are 15-20k/mo.

Proposals

Please provide the following information with your proposal:

  • The date the proposal was put on the pad;
  • The group or person making/bottom-lining the proposal;
  • Who will be speaking to the proposal at the meeting;
  • Where the full text or other information about the proposal can be found, if it's not all here.

Policy on Shower

  • via Niki, 6/30/15
  • Today about 6 different people came by asking me how they can use the shower upstairs.

I think we now need to make clear that the shower is for use by those who participate in the stewardship of this space, and / or put some general guidelines in place. It's important to me that we're able to make this resource available but it's certainly unclear to most people using it what this space is and who cares for it. Additionally, Gabby needs to have access to the shower during business hours for her work so we should at the very least establish hours when people can use the shower.

  • "The shower is only available between the hours xx-xx (TBD) and is for use by Omni community members.

The Omni has no staff and so we rely on our collective work to maintain this space. If you would like to use the shower, we request that you participate in the Omni's care and community. See the chore chart for ways that you can contribute." Laura's amendment:

  • "The shower is for use by Omni community members only. It is only available during the following hours:
   Monday through Friday, 2pm-6pm
   Saturday and Sunday, 12pm-6pm

The Omni has no staff and so we rely on our collective work to maintain this space. If you would like to use the shower, we request that you:

  • participate in the Omni's care and community.
  • clean the shower and the shower room after you use it.

See the chore chart or the 'Help Wanted' bulletin board near the main door for ways that you can contribute." I would also propose that if this doesn't work out after a month or so that we keep the door locked and if people without a key want to use the shower they have to find someone with a key to agree to let them in. Then if someone isn't participating or cleaning up we can let eachother know and not let them use the shower any more.

Temporary Bike Parking

  • via Matt on 6/29/15

I would like the Omni Commons to temporarily designate the "red stage" area along the East corridor of the basement proper to be used as bicycle parking, that I will construct. This designation should be intended to last until (a) bicycle parking is no longer useful in this location or (b) some other, better alternative use of this space is designated by the Omni Commons. Attached is an image with a sketch of the bike rack and a map with the location marked. Also attached is the ~$80 budget: https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1lKApC7pBiLbH4Ds0eQKiZs0bJU8tpoLimOP9-Tb3rKo/edit Source: https://omnicommons.org/lists/private/building/2015-July/000698.html

Discussion

Meeting-wide discussion of issues, concerns, ideas, etc.

Action Items

For Next Week

Any Proposals or Discussions which were tabled for lack of time, etc.

Optional Breakout Discussion

This Week's Topic

Ideas for Breakout Discussions

End of Meeting

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