Event:2016/08/04 Delegates Meeting

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Weekly Omni Delegates Meeting - 4 Aug 2016 - 7pm

Agenda

  • Introductions (5 min)
  • Meeting Roles (5 min)
  • Delegates (5 min)
  • Announcements (10 min)
  • Working Group Report Backs (10 min)
  • Proposal for Coworking Space in the Basement (15 min)
  • Proposal: Timeless, Infinite Light to use the Haunted Closet in the Basement for Book Storage (15 min)
  • Proposal: Read Proposals Before Discussing (5 min)
  • Other Proposals [sent to consensus, but maybe not proposals to be decided on] (5 min)
  • Discussion: Liberated Lens' budget plan, as requested last month (10 min)

starting at 7:25pm, fast intro

Introductions

Introduce yourself: Name; Preferred Pronoun; Affiliation

  • Marcus
  • Steve
  • Jose
  • Helen
  • Ken
  • Robb
  • Julio
  • Mary anne
  • Lori
  • Dragon
  • Lynn
  • Jenny
  • remote-Marc
  • Angel

Meeting Roles

  • Facilitator/s: Marcus
  • Explanation of hand signals: "deaf applause", "raised hand", "point of process", "direct response"(wildcard), etc.
  • Stacktaker:
  • Timekeeper: Julio
  • Notetaker/s: Julio/Lori
  • Vibe Reader:
  • Next meeting's facilitator(s): Jose

Delegates

  • ABDC: Marcus
  • BAPS: Steve
  • BH: inactive
  • CCL: Ken
  • CSC: Mary Anne
  • FNB: Helen
  • GWS: Lori
  • LL: Dragon
  • Sudo: Robb
  • TIL: inactive
  • YES: Almaz
  • Quorum: Yes

Announcements

  • Steve: Big Poster for BAPS directly inside the Omni. To get folks interested in teaching.
  • Marcus: Planning alt-IKEA sale 3rd Saturday August 20 >> replaced the rummage sale that was going to happen this weekend.
    • There is a pile in the basement far corner (old MPM Space), not from outside Omni, but from within collectives.
    • Don't know exact time.
    • Other collectives have agreed to put on other things. ABDC and AguaViva having open houses.
    • There will be an announcement about a time to organize things. Flyer is ready for distribution.
    • Ken says to send him the flier to send to other distributions.
    • If people want to bring stuff from outside Omni, send them to Ashby flea Market: Dragon bring donations to Ashby flea market, Aug 14th.
    • Steve said to connect with Friend of Adeline, as they have been doing a lot of work defending the flea market and neighborhood in the area.
    • Robb: talked to George Shores (former owner of Omni) looking for John Givenss' number, saying someone wants to buy the building.

7:39pm

Bans

https://omnicommons.org/wiki/Asked_to_Leave#Banned

  • via CCL: Arif Shaikh - added to 'Asked to Leave' page on the wiki
    • Dangerous to the lab. Told mutliple times not to open the autoclave and he tried to open it while it was on.

Working Group Report-Backs

Building & permits

  • This group needs help; https://omnicommons.org/lists/listinfo/building
    • Robb: Joe is working on the wall
    • Jenny: if anyone wants to donate candelabra LEDs for the ballroom $6 x 60, email building@omnicommons.org
    • Anyone know a currently licensed electritian, need someone to sign off work that is being done for AguaViva, contact aguaviva@omnicommons.org

Commons

Meetings: Second and Fourth Thursdays at 7pm

  • Listing Omni's rentable spaces in venue directories. Please help with this outreach: https://pad.riseup.net/p/omnicomms
    • list your name if you already did it... set the accounts to point to booking@omnicommons.org
  • Volunteers needed. Join us for a meeting, or reach out to commons@omnicommons.org

Communications

In hiatus:

Finance

Meetings: In tandem with Fundraising, Monday @ 6pm

  • We borrowed another $5,000 from another community member for August
  • August Expenses:
    • Rent: $15,677;
    • Internet: $150;
    • PG&E: $2,170.52 (includes 4 mo. gas)
  • In the bank after expenses: $1,481.90
  • Still waiting for payments from: Phat Beets ($750), Real Vegan Cheese, ($1,868), Vouched Books ($450), Durga Press ($150); considering imposing late payment fee to incentivize folks to pay on time. Total incoming = $3,128.
  • We are getting our books reviewed by a professional CPA friend of Jose's next week

Fundraising/Buy the Building

Meetings: Mondays at 6:00pm

  • Rummage sale -- moved to August 20th. Fundraising WG proposes this be expanded to include an open house in the entrance hall. Interested collectives so far: Art Bison, Agua Viva. Will start a thread on discuss!
  • Moving forward with real estate loan application, will have a rough timeline by the next meeting.
  • Seeking short-term loan(s) or grant(s) in the interim, please help if you can!

Proposal for Coworking Space in the Basement

Proposed by Marcus 07/07/2016

  • https://docs.google.com/document/d/1Hp7ebIlXAdH7joYxQfEb4G-u9qvCqZMY4STbrpUbj14
  • Long discussion during last meeting. Anyone who wants to discuss should have read the proposal by now.
  • Discussion:
    • Marcus: I did drop the ball for the guidelines for the membership process. Spoken to several members of the Omni, who have used co-working spaces before and shared the agreements they signed to get some ideas.
    • Steve: Sent expanded proposal to BAPS committee. They did not like the idea: the individually partitioned spaces; someone suggested if there was some addendum to collectivize the group to drive toward some political objective that aligns with the Omni's mission.
    • Julio: Are you willing to block the proposal if it goes to the vote?
    • Steve: Need to have discussion.
    • Robb: LL had similar concerns, that if we're going to go against our ethos, should charge more for it.
    • Helen: FNB was divided on the issue, but not everyone was opposed
    • Ken: liked that proposal was early, met with me, incorporated the feedback, and probably the best proposal in a long time. Very responsive. Could incorporate other folks objections and resubmit. In favor on proposal. Has a 6 month trial, so no commitment if it doesn't work. Place will look a lot nicer. Totally fine with getting a stipend.
  • Marcus: would like to have objections in writing
  • Steve: Space that is given for fragmented activity, individuals that come and go, that is taking space that could be used by collectives. Not a question of one individual running it, but a that it doesn't drive toward a collectivity with respect to something in the world.
  • Julio: willingness to write up objections? Has Marcus had a chance to talk to folks with objectives directly? Can we invite Marcus to BAPS meeting?
  • Steve: yes
  • Marcus: Understand that the original proposal seemed very individualistic. It is difficult to coalesce around a mission, Hope to bring in those folks first and then coalesce around a mission.
  • Robb: Every other use of the space is toward social justice on some level, which is what binds us together, so if I saw people just working here on money making stuff, it would ruin the vibe here.
  • Steve: I think your vision is idealistic. If you get people come in under an individualistic premise, it will fuel the individualism. If that kind of individualism was worked in under the first step, if not, I think it's not going to work otherwise.
  • Helen: What Steve said.
  • Julio - membership guidelines would be good. like to see those who use space more pay more.
  • Ken: people pay, but how do we get past the every present problem of people using the space, but not being really invested beyond money. Could write that into contracts for people who just want to use the space, not just money. Some people may want to do more individual stuff, but they're doing all
  • Dragon: suggestion: form a union based on some principle: arts and craft people.
  • Marcus: Thank you very much for all the feedback. I will follow-up with objections. Will come back to you in a week via email. and in two weeks.
  • Steve: Will try to get you into a BAPS meeting. Try to have a special meeting. Stay in touch with Marcus.

Proposal: Timeless, Infinite Light to use the Haunted Closet in the Basement for Book Storage

  • Brought up at last meeting 2016-07-21
  • Proposed by Joel 2016-07-28

We recently invited Chiapas Support Committee and Global Women's Strike into our shared space, which we are very excited about! This is great because they didn’t have a dedicated space to meet to work and store their stuff for quite awhile. One of the outcomes of this development, however, is that we offered up half of our storage space for their use. As we continue to produce more and more books, our need for book storage is increasing. We are now beyond capacity in our space.

We would like to use the Haunted Closet on the Eastern wall of the basement under the stairs. The one that has a spray-painted ghost and an “office” sign on the door and was previously used by squatters. We believe that it is currently not being utilized, and it has the space to accommodate our storage needs for quite awhile. We would need this space to remain locked to prevent damage or theft to our books.

In the spirit of helping keeping Omni afloat, we could contribute $30/mo for the use of this space.

  • Questions from Joe and Matt on exactly which closet is under consideration.

Discussion:

  • No one from TIL here to represent this proposal today
  • GWS and CSC need space to store stuff.
  • Would like to move stuff currently.
  • Move to a vote:
    • Yes: 8: FNB, CCL, BAPS, CSC, GWS, LL, ABDC, YES
    • Abstains: 1: Sudoroom
    • Proposal Passed

Proposal: Amend Safer Space Policy to clarify temporary ban policy

Proposed by Marc 2016-07-20

  • to change: "In cases where someone's safety is at risk, a temporary ban may be put in place until the Omni's conflict resolution process can be followed to resolution."
  • to: "In cases where someone judges that someone's safety is at risk, a temporary ban may be put in place until the Omni's conflict resolution process can be followed to resolution. Any member in good standing of any current Omni collective can instantly invoke such a temporary ban which will remain in place until either the conflict is successfully resolved or a decision is made to lift or keep the ban either by one of the collectives via that collective's decision-making processes or at the Omni Delegates meeting."
  • This is how we've been operating but it doesn't seem to be written down anywhere so it remains ambiguous how the temporary ban may be put in place and by whom.

Discussion:

  • clarifications.
  • Move to a vote:
    • Yes: 8: FNB, CCL, BAPS, CSC, GWS, LL, ABDC, YES
    • Abstains: 1: Sudoroom
    • Proposal Passed

Proposal: Read Proposals Before Discussing

Proposed by Matt 2016-07-21

  • At every delegate's meeting, any proposal's discussion will be paused until all delegates have read through the entire proposal before beginning the discussion. Ideally, reading proposals will happen before the meeting begins.
  • (also brainstorming) What about a group decision-making platform like Loomio?
  • also suggested making it more robust to the cost of delaying a proposal needlessly.
  • Ken: do NOT want to read proposals besides. Would like to see all the duties of delegates so it's clear.
  • Julio: Start a pad for delegate process, revised proposal:
   https://pad.riseup.net/p/omnidelegates

Proposal: Omni T-Shirts

Proposed by Marcus 2016-07-01

  • Julio: Is this actually a proposal or just a message sent to consensus?

Proposal: Omni Communications Boards

Proposed by Marcus 2016-07-03

  • Julio: Is this actually a proposal or just a message sent to consensus?

Fundraiser Film Fest for Oaxaca's Teachers' Strike

Proposed by Angel 2016-07-28

  • Julio: not need to approve by delegates

Discussion: Liberated Lens' budget plan, as requested last month

  • Delegates wanted a proposal for liberated lens, about what we have planned to be able to pay the increase in rent.
  • Delay discussion since Liz isn't here.
  • Julio: why do they need to prove they can pay?
  • Jenny: Based on request pending proposal for LL to take over space, and try to increase the amount they can contribute.
  • Robb: Meeting less often, people are on vacation. We need to be patient. Apologies.
  • Marcus: Big proponent of transparency for financials
  • Julio: Great, but need to have for all collectives...

We brainstormed lots of ideas, then crunched some numbers to see what would be most profitable. Here is the speadsheet:

Please see the note at the top about our conclusions.

I also want to mention that we reapplied for Awesome Foundation. There are two other grants we're looking into.

We are adding a video recording service for Omni events, for a fee, on top of the usual audio/video operation. In order to process A/V requests, we created this form: http://goo [dot] gl/forms/yuEJkTuj8HBX1LI92 I hope folks on the commons wg will direct people to it.

To summarize what Tugg is: it's an online platform where people can request movies that they want to see to be screened at local theaters. A promoter then has to sell a certain minimum number of tickets, and if that quota is reached, the film gets shown. The profits are split between the theater, the promoter, Tugg, and the rightsholder. In our case, Omni would be the theater and we would be the promoters. Through this platform we can gain access to fairly big-budget films that would draw a regular crowd. Check out some of the films they have to distribute on https://www.tugg.com/

We are in the process of streamlining film night protocols, with the intention of making it simple and efficient enough to handle 4 screenings a month.

But we are also still in the midst of moving our editing suite to the basement; we've done a lot of cleaning so far and there had to be some discussion about how to design the space. So we have a lot on our plates for now and we hope you will be patient with us. We can't afford $300 next month, maybe the month after, but we'll have to see.


Previous Meeting Notes

Weekly Omni Delegates Meeting - 21 Jul 2016

End of Meeting

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