- sudo-discuss - sudoroom.org

by Jenny Ryan

-----BEGIN PGP SIGNED MESSAGE----- Hash: SHA1 Hey sudo! Listen up! For those unawares, we intend to be moving to 4799 Shattuck Ave next month [1]. We will be sharing a building with a slew of amazing groups, including the Bay Area Public School and Counter Culture Labs. We've been closing the deal for over a month now and doing a ton of self-organizing. It's been amazing to see this come together, for all its alternately exciting and at times stressful moments! Much incredibly difficult and valuable work negotiating this lease has been done by in particular David K, and with huge props to Niki, and the rest of the folks organizing finances, bringin' it to meetings, diving into working groups, and otherwise putting in some heart, soul, blood, sweat and tears. We are almost there! This is (hopefully) the final draft of the lease we'll be signing next week. You will need to request access to the doc, which has been requested to be kept confidential by the landlord, and is in a read-only Google Doc with Comments enabled: http://bit.ly/S6J62n Via Niki: "There are two docs in this folder that may preemptively address some concerns [Q&A & TLDR]. These are works in progress and will be updated as questions are asked / answered. Please refer to them!! A lot of the language in this lease is extremely scary and often seemingly contradictory. Such language is, in fact, standard for a triple net lease. Please withhold final judgement until you've expressed your concerns. [...] Not having to have a guarantor is a HUGE win for us and one of the biggest concessions made by John in exchange for any concessions we have made." Bring questions and input to the weekly meeting tomorrow, where we'll be going over it accompanied by our lawyer." - --------------------------------- Here is the TL;DR rundown: Sudo: * Half the 'bocce ball court' room * $2K/month Basics: * 3 year term * $13,00/month + triple net (insurance [Building + Business], property tax, maintenance [except for roof {covered for 2 years} + furnaces {4 furnaces, covered for 6 months}] * Option to extend 2 times * Move-in is July 1st, 2014 Deposit: * $5,000 initial deposit paid * + $40,000 more deposit (first [$10,000], last [$13,000], deposit [$27,000]) * Why is deposit so high? ** Extra deposit in lieu of a guarantor * We are getting $1,000 back each month for 13 months Rent: * First month (July): $10K * Second month: Free * Third month: $10K * Fourth month: $10K (unless owners move out by the beginning of this month) * Starting November 1 (or possibly October 1), rent will be $12K/month (including the gradual return of deposit at 1K/month) * Starting December 1, 2015 (or possibly November 1), rent will increase to $13K/month Option to Buy: * Good until July of 2017 * No one else can buy it during this period. * Renting price averages out to .60/sqft * Buying price is about $90/sqft - at 1.95 million. Signatories: * Individual representatives will sign on behalf of their group. * Only groups who are currently operational and whose commitment represents a significant portion of the total rent will sign: Bay Area Public School, Sudo Room, Counter Culture Labs, Timeless Infinite Light, & Livespace * Groups (not individuals) will be held liable for their portion of the rent for the duration of the lease. * Any group that stops paying rent and does not find a sublessor could potentially be sued by the owner for rent for the remainder of the lease. Capital Expenditures (9.3): * If we're required to make a capital expenditure to improve the property, John will reimburse us 50% of that cost up to $25,000 (was initially 50K, but reduced in lieu of a guarantor) Insurance: * We are responsible for Commercial General Liability. * Building Insurance is in Landlord's name, but we are to pay it (this is standard for triple net leases) * We must maintain our insurance or landlord can charge us 10% or $100 more monthly rent (without notice). Abatement of Rent: * If we're given a written requirement for expenditures over $100K, we can safely terminate the lease without additional costs. - ------ Please reply to this thread and otherwise discuss. We will also be discussing this at length tomorrow and making a consensus decision. *Important:* The Omni's lawyer, Jesse, will be joining us at the sudo room weekly meeting tomorrow (which starts at 7pm) - please be excellent and respect his valuable time! You can participate remotely by joining our riseup pad: http://pad.riseup.net/p/sudomni [1] You can get involved and learn more about the building and the groups that are apart of it, plus the working groups that have been forming, ideas on decision-making and other systems, at the wiki: http://wiki.omni-oakland.org Love, Jenny http://jennyryan.net http://sudomesh.org http://thevirtualcampfire.org http://technomadic.tumblr.com `~`~`~`~`~`~`~`~`~`~`~`~`~`~`~`~`~`~` "Technology is the campfire around which we tell our stories." - -Laurie Anderson "Storytelling reveals meaning without committing the error of defining it." -Hannah Arendt "To define is to kill. To suggest is to create." - -Stéphane Mallarmé ~`~`~`~`~`~`~`~`~`~`~`~`~`~`~`~`~`~` -----BEGIN PGP SIGNATURE----- Version: GnuPG v1.4.14 (GNU/Linux) Comment: Using GnuPG with Thunderbird - http://www.enigmail.net/ iQEcBAEBAgAGBQJTjt9nAAoJEHTWWpBUSeDh2cwIALJleFIwvbFjkUNwslS8cGaT RthhY2MWeDJd3OHIVRj2hVtavGpuHbEXPdGIqh51P9m2PR/Y73cLmj8S/HmHOd0G WvdrOg+Wlqi7z4KWkJ6Vkx8mwbv14VoA49hHoKuDxHo1p46fIUANrcCA5sag74+M 3bwU/uYyIAJvWmbWti7M8NuD9qwEtRVaWQLHx1BXuz05An857IGD+CVtDDjWRApy E7dWMz1rUZhyaiMdou5++xhrv+llb38iY8QYHtneZuf2BWO1uJPqTsD81VPpVekD 8uSTE2zfHt+HsvaGR4Eq9eCYKnohQTEz+LG2+2x+TofRU1olFk4zvdHKVQG7tJs= =cxnJ -----END PGP SIGNATURE-----

11 years, 11 months

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Techcrunch: This Algae Battery Could Power A Tesla With 200X The Charge

by Ryan Bethencourt

Hi All, We're super excited for the first bit of coverage on techcrunch of what we hope will be transformative tech for batteries. http://techcrunch.com/2014/05/30/this-algae-battery-could-power-a-tesla-wit… Adam's company, Algas Biotech is developing early stage technology to replace the use of rare metals in batteries (i.e. much more eco friendly and it would remove CO2 from the atmosphere as part of the production of Algae). The technology is still early (with all the expected caveats that early stage science has) but Adam's going to have more news to share in the near future! All the best, Ryan -- Ryan Bethencourt Tel: (415) 825 2705 Conf Call: (650) 741 5013 ryan.bethencourt(a)gmail.com http://www.litmususa.com/ http://berkeleybiolabs.com/ www.bamh1.com www.linkedin.com/in/bethencourt www.logos-press.com/books/biotechnology_business_development.php

11 years, 11 months

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Fwd: Wind To Green - Clean tech grant writing opportunity

by Ryan Bethencourt

Hi All, Here's another opportunity, if you're interested please feel free to reach out directly to Peter! All the best, Ryan > *From:* Peter Swearengen <apswear(a)gmail.com> > *Date:* June 2, 2014 at 5:25 PM > *CC:* Ryan Bethencourt <ryan.bethencourt(a)gmail.com> > *Subject:* Intro > Thanks, Steven -- > Hi Ryan, my company, Aethrea, is a clean-tech engineering startup > focused on commercializing low-temperature ammonia synthesis for > agriculture and energy storage. We are planning to apply for a > California PIERS and Federal EISG grant, this Summer, and need to hire > an organized and passionate grant writer for these two short projects. > It could develop into a position in business development or even lab > management, but that's not a requirement. > Most of the compensation will be in equity. If you know of anyone who > would be interested, I'll be glad to talk to them. > > Best, > -Peter Swearengen > Managing Director > WindToGreen/Aethrea <http://www.windtogreen.com/> > >

11 years, 11 months

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Re: [sudo-discuss] maybe a combo CCL/Sudo meeting weds?

by yar

On Tue, Jun 3, 2014 at 6:11 PM, David Keenan <dkeenan44(a)gmail.com> wrote: > Just wondering if another combination Sudo & CCL meeting was possible / > useful? > > Since the lease will be posted up soon, I can ask Jesse to come and answer > questions and give his opinion in person - an expense, but I think possibly > worth it for a combo meeting? > > Seems like it might be a good idea - yea/nay? I'm all for it. Especially if Jesse can make it. In fact, I'd say Jesse is encouraged to attend the Sudo meeting whether or not CCL decides to join us. :)

11 years, 11 months

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maybe a combo CCL/Sudo meeting weds?

by David Keenan

Just wondering if another combination Sudo & CCL meeting was possible / useful? Since the lease will be posted up soon, I can ask Jesse to come and answer questions and give his opinion in person - an expense, but I think possibly worth it for a combo meeting? Seems like it might be a good idea - yea/nay? (cross-posted to omnilogistics) David

11 years, 11 months

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E-- Arrested with Felonies

by Gabrielle Silverman

E- was arrested yesterday (Thurs) while he was leaving the Albany Bulb. He's facing two felony charges that seem random and bizarre. No one is sure what the story is, he got snatched up while he was alone. E- is in custody at Santa Rita Jail and is being arraigned at 2 PM MON in Dept 112, 6th floor at Wiley W Manuel Courthouse at 6th/ Washington in Downtown Oakland. I have heard that he is currently facing charges of felony posession of tools to escape from jail and felony posession of weapons. This is the fifth arrest of Bulb activists in Albany in the last three or four days. We are trying to get E- a pro-bono lawyer through the National Lawyers Guild Demonstrations Committee and personal connections that people have. If you are/know a sympathetic criminal defense lawyer, please get in touch. We are also trying to get E- a jail visit sometime this weekend to check on him. Before his first courtdate, only a lawyer can visit. It can be any lawyer though, they don't have to take on his case. Packing the courtroom is good for E-'s morale and good for the judge to see also. Largely what they will determine at this first court appearance is community ties, which determines whether a person will be freed with or without having to post bail, or if that's even an option. Sometimes the cops are pissed and you get crazy trumped up felony charges that get thrown out or lowered down at arraignment. Let's hope this doesn't get too serious, but also it potentially is. Let's hopefully come together and have a big sudo showing for E- Mon at court! Feel free to contact me for updates... Gabby

11 years, 11 months

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TWL: Pre-requisite-free Set Theory: Just the Intuition

by Maximilian Klein

Hi All, I just made a new event for a one-off class I'd like to teach: https://sudoroom.org/ai1ec_event/prerequisite-free-set-theory-just-the-intu… Is anyone interested in helping? And can we collaborate with Today We learned? Max Klein ‽ http://notconfusing.com/

11 years, 11 months

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CoWorking panel at flight deck June 10

by mattsenate＠gmail.com

Received this message from panel organizer "I've set-up some discount codes for members of local coworking spaces so they can attend for free. SUDO Room community can use the code "SUDO". You can direct folks to http://creativecoworking.eventbrite.com "

11 years, 11 months

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Re: [sudo-discuss] Omni update & help wanted!

by yar

On Tue, Jun 3, 2014 at 10:17 AM, Hol Gaskill <hol(a)gaskill.com> wrote: > as long as we don't breach our consensus process any further than has already happened by getting timetables forced upon us, as long as we have time to read it and discuss at a meeting, and send it back with proposed revisions, that would be plenty. do we have an ETA for the next iteration of the lease? Sometime today, hopefully! As soon as we have it, we will share it. If it doesn't happen, that will be because somebody found problems so glaring that they were immediately sent back to our lawyer for further review. That's what happened the past few times in a row that we were supposed to have a final copy ready.

11 years, 11 months

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Omni update & help wanted!

by yar

The Omni lease still hasn't been signed. But it really is 95% likely to be signed in the next few days. We are expecting a final draft of the lease to be ready for review tonight or tomorrow. Sorry for the constant uncertainty. Getting this lease has been a unique and complicated undertaking! Our target move-in date is almost certainly July 1, with the option to store some things earlier. Anybody interested should subscribe to these lists. They already have rich archives of messages: https://lists.riseup.net/www/subscribe/omnilogistics https://lists.riseup.net/www/subscribe/omni-announce And it would be very awesome if more people could volunteer to do delegate work. In particular, to help follow Omni meetings and emails and make sure that our Sudo community stays up-to-date on all the important things happening!

11 years, 11 months

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nina mcneely, marlon, baseck @ codec - hollywood

by Romy Snowyla

Check out this video on YouTube: http://youtu.be/C-DcoVAa8W8 Choreography from Los Angeles with indie breakcore music ! Sent from my iPhone

11 years, 11 months

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Donations to ShapingSF for Processed Worlds

by Vicky Knox

I have just about every copy of Processed World (beautiful SF-based anti-corporate work zine from 80s/90s/00s) in my personal library for your perusal (including early editions from the 1980s). They were handed to me by Chris Carlsson to share with Sudo Room. If you'd like to access them at any point, please let me know. They are also preserved digitally on the Internet Archive: <https://archive.org/details/processedworld01proc> If you'd like to give thanks to Chris for this donation, ShapingSF, his San Francisco history archive and events series, is doing a big donation drive. They really need it! Here's a link: < http://www.foundsf.org/index.php?title=The_3%25_Solution> Hugs, V

11 years, 11 months

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Meeting Minutes 5/28

by Jenny Ryan

-----BEGIN PGP SIGNED MESSAGE----- Hash: SHA1 Hi all! Tonight's meeting was a fairly important one, so I will provide a brief summary below. You can read the full meeting minutes here: https://sudoroom.org/wiki/Meeting_Notes_2014-05-28 TL;DR: * Jenny will be signing the Omni lease this week on behalf of sudo room (consensus) * No tenant of 2141 Broadway is allowed access to sudo room, bay area public school, nor the common space adjacent unless permission is granted by consensus in two consecutive sudo room meetings [with the exception of Hair Candy employees & customers, Robert, Staff of Sound Room & new tenants as of June 2014 until given notice by any sudo room member] (unanimous consensus) * Regardless of Timon's current membership status, we find him in "bad standing" with regard to sudo room's values, specifically with regard to "safe space". We ban Timon from the sudo room, for an indefinite period. (unanimous consensus) * WE HAVE SURPASSED $500/WK ON GITTIP!!! https://gittip.com/sudoroom * Please contact info(a)sudoroom.org if you're a member in good standing so we can sign you up for an account on our member registry at http://sudoroom.org/crm ! Thanks for reading! Next week I'll be requesting we vote in a new omni delegate for the month of June at least, as I'll be out of town. Please get in touch with me directly or reply to this thread if you're interested in taking on this awesome position of community responsibility! Jenny http://jennyryan.net http://sudomesh.org http://thevirtualcampfire.org http://technomadic.tumblr.com `~`~`~`~`~`~`~`~`~`~`~`~`~`~`~`~`~`~` "Technology is the campfire around which we tell our stories." - -Laurie Anderson "Storytelling reveals meaning without committing the error of defining it." -Hannah Arendt "To define is to kill. To suggest is to create." - -Stéphane Mallarmé ~`~`~`~`~`~`~`~`~`~`~`~`~`~`~`~`~`~` -----BEGIN PGP SIGNATURE----- Version: GnuPG v1.4.14 (GNU/Linux) Comment: Using GnuPG with Thunderbird - http://www.enigmail.net/ iQEcBAEBAgAGBQJThtsAAAoJEHTWWpBUSeDhU6sIAMYSFqHyTtyntI0utNrtbKi8 2zVL6hRuZQeXMZIt/ncHdy1lH9+E06VtTZ0QJBiRZ6PksMKqGSxqdlTiHvwUg/lB srPmYr7Bo6SIKzMXN94xWd/QbPNgvY9Unphku+sH7ziLgqPDUfnWOOG9kHxVEmXP OnlK53bANhsLaxFMsVbK+iP3oyb6UMYKSmx86xVRigp5a4Gtt+g48o6z4Y6tjUoG V2gETMPCyY6BmN17ChyfWZddqN8ANdhswry/wnWJfPguKV0Aoning9EQdpLDYPpJ t53bl0q00wv0tTyAgs3N52vpypkco+yzx2SoPUpe8us+YVvmjLj02zUrk3wVBhY= =d+wo -----END PGP SIGNATURE-----

11 years, 11 months

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Hackpack inspiration

by Thomas Levine

http://dada.pink/dada/stuff/

11 years, 11 months

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ello

by Neil White

hi im neil mad as a brush if a brush was mad alcaholic anarchist with no reason i am on your side i love you all and i love this place so im sorry if your hypocracy psudo utopian politics wind me up but there is just little old me anything i can do for you i will do super user done i am crap at being normal so sorry and this email ends right here

11 years, 11 months

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Backyard Mold Forensics

by Louis Huang

Dear Biohackers, I was trying to find out what the mold in the backyard of Ahnons house was. It contaminated alot of CCL experiments! Patrik, Ahnon, and I made an instructable on how we found out the species and strain of the mold. It's a fun little project that can really help students and the curious learn how to do biochemical experiments in their own backyard. Check it out if you have time @: http://www.instructables.com/id/Backyard-Forensics/ Thanks everyone for the help and guidance! - Louis --- Typed with my thumbs.

11 years, 11 months

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Beer Spilled in Fridge

by Tom Fitzpatrick

Anyone have any idea what happened with the beer in the fridge? It looks like the end of the pipet is missing and all the remaining beer came out. Any idea if you broke or if the pressure may have broke it? The tank seems to have been exhausted as well. Any idea when this happended?

11 years, 11 months

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In gentrifying neighborhoods, residents say private patrols keep them safe | Al Jazeera America

by Romy Snowyla

http://america.aljazeera.com/articles/2014/5/30/oakland-private-securitypat… In gentrifying neighborhoods, residents say private patrols keep them safe OAKLAND, Calif. — On a sunny weekday afternoon on the main drag of Rockridge, traffic moves slowly on narrow streets past yoga studios, expensive boutiques and an artisanal ice cream shop. Troy Matthews, a polite 47-year-old with a Southern accent, spends five days a week, from 3 p.m. to 11 p.m., cruising the residential streets and commercial strip of this Oakland neighborhood. Matthews, a guard with the private security firm Premiere Protective Service (PPS), began patrolling Rockridge two months ago. He wears a badge and a dark blue outfit that resembles a police uniform. As he drives past a park on a quiet street, he smiles at adults and children. Rockridge is an upper-middle-class neighborhood in Oakland, California. Residents used a crowdfunding website to hire private security guards. Now a second neighborhood, rapidly gentrifying Temescal, is following suit. David Allen Corby “I wave at everyone,” he says. A few people wave back. Last September, two men, ages 17 and 22, held commuters at the Rockridge train station at gunpoint and robbed seven people of their laptops, smartphones and cash. That was the last straw for Paul Liu, a Google economist who lives in the neighborhood. Liu set up a fundraising page on the crowdfunding site CrowdTilt. Within a few hours, he had reached his $8,200 goal; in total, online campaigns have raised $90,000 for private patrols in Rockridge. This fund now pays for Matthews’ salary. Some 3,500 households in Oakland pay for neighborhood patrols, according to the area’s three main security companies, PPS, Intervention Group Inc. (IGI) and Bay Alarm. Rockridge, perhaps the first to use crowdsourcing to hire private patrols, has inspired another Oakland neighborhood to follow suit. Nationally, private security neighborhood patrols have gained in popularity in cities with shrinking municipal budgets and police forces, including Atlanta, Detroit, Houston and New Orleans. In those cities, homeowners’ associations and gated communities have increasingly hired security forces over the past decade. But in Oakland, the trend is spreading into mixed-income, non-gated communities. If you want to bring down robbery, you’ve got to reduce the unemployment rate in the city. Barry Krisberg Law professor, University of California, Berkeley The Brookings Institution recently named Oakland, where a technology boom has fueled rapid gentrification, the seventh most unequal city in the country. For critics, the patrols are the latest symbol of this inequality. In Oakland’s lowest-income neighborhoods, as many as 40 percent of people live below the poverty line. The city had 4,338 robberies in 2012, the highest per capita rate in the country, according to FBI data. Unemployment in Oakland last August was 11 percent, compared with a national average at the time of 7 percent. Some criminal justice experts say the solution to crime isn’t more patrolling but greater opportunities for young people and people coming out of prison. “If you want to bring down robbery, you’ve got to reduce the unemployment rate in the city,” says Barry Krisberg, a law professor at the University of California, Berkeley. Police, meanwhile, say the answer to crime is more cops, who — unlike the private patrols — can investigate crimes, do follow-up and put together cases. But because of city budget cuts, the local police department has shed 162 jobs, or 20 percent of its staff, since 2010. Oakland Police Capt. Anthony Toribio meets every month with the city’s three main security companies and says he has a good relationship with them. But, he says, “I can’t say what impact private security has had in crime. There has been private security in the Oakland Hills many years, and I can’t say definitively that’s made crime go elsewhere.” Oakland's police force, though, has its critics, too. The department has long been under fire for misconduct and constitutional violations. Following a decade of foot-dragging on reviewing excessive force complaints and complying with federally mandated reforms, in 2013 a federal judge appointed an overseer to keep the department on track. Private patrols, meanwhile, operate with less oversight and under a different set of standards than police do, observers say. Unlike the public police, they’re not under constitutional mandate to reveal their methods and keep or share their records — including whether they follow laws and company rules or engage in racial profiling. “There’s a degree of ambiguity about how private patrols actually operate,” said David Sklansky, a law professor at the University of California, Berkeley. Patrol area for the Rockridge neighborhood. Puck Lo Each private security firm negotiates with the neighborhood that hires it to determine whether guards carry guns and other weapons. Rockridge’s contract, for instance, does not permit guns. In February, in the wealthy Oakland neighborhood of Oakmore, a security guard chased, shot and injured an 18-year-old man who was later convicted of burglary. The guard’s contract with the neighborhood did not permit him to be armed. (Oakland police say they are still investigating why the guard was carrying a gun.) Some Rockridge residents say the patrols have been effective in reducing stubbornly high robbery rates. Liu compared the rates of robberies and burglaries in the five months since private patrols began with the rate of incidents over a “baseline” period of four weeks before the patrols started, and found they had dropped by 43 percent. However, two sociology professors, Hiroshi Fukurai with the University of California, Santa Cruz, and Traci Schlesinger with DePaul University, say the reduction that Liu’s study found is “statistically insignificant,” because of the short time frame of his baseline period. Schlesinger said Liu’s methods don’t take into account other factors that would explain a change in crime rates, like unemployment, housing and income inequality. Creating more divisions A crowdfunding campaign for private patrols launched in April by residents of Temescal, a rapidly gentrifying neighborhood adjacent to Rockridge, has split the neighborhood. Critics of the campaign, which met its $15,750 goal on Thursday night*, say that increased policing — whether public or private — will only send more low-income youth of color to prison. The Kingfish Café and Pub in Temescal, a mixed-income neighborhood in Oakland. David Allen Corby Dania Cabello, a youth educator with the Temescal Community Safety Coalition, recalls a meeting held last fall by residents who wanted to bring private patrols to the neighborhood. A security guard with the company ANI Private Security told attendees, “We target people who look like they don’t belong here.” That approach, she says, is “creating even more division within an already fragmented community in Oakland.” Cabello says she instead wants to see the neighborhood raise money for youth programs or a community center. Others worry that crowdsourcing bypasses the democratic process. In Rockridge, there was no City Council vote or public announcement to hire the patrols — just a handful of people with money who were making policy decisions for the entire neighborhood, says Sarah Fielding, a recently graduated law student who lives in Temescal. Approximately 226 people contributed the initial $20,000 for Liu’s crowdfunding campaign — less than 6 percent of the neighborhood known as Lower Rockridge. “You don’t have to knock on anyone’s door,” says Fielding. “You don’t have to talk to anyone who signs up. You don’t have to deal with them even for a minute — just send your check here.” People don’t know if we’re OPD or not. Nathan Cook General manager, IGI Matthews carries handcuffs, but no gun, as he patrols Rockridge. A security guard for 10 years, he previously worked the graveyard shift at a nursing home. His job now, he says, is to “observe and report” to the police. Matthews, who moved to the Bay Area from New Orleans a decade ago, says he “doesn’t stereotype” or make assumptions. In fact, he’s very hands-off. If he saw a person climbing through the window of a house, Matthews said, he would wait and watch from his car, rather than immediately call the cops. “The road to hell is paved with gung-ho,” he says. IGI, the security company Temescal residents are seeking to hire, takes a more aggressive approach. Nathan Cook, IGI’s general manager, says the company would not patrol Temescal with armed guards. But in order to be a “visible deterrent to crime,” IGI’s cars have spotlights and resemble Oakland Police Department vehicles, he said. Often, Cook said, “people don’t know if we’re OPD or not.” IGI officers greet “everyone,” Cook said, from “people walking dogs” to “someone sitting in their car,” and ask if the guards can provide assistance. Cook says it’s common for people who have been sitting in cars, presumably casing houses for break-ins, to immediately leave the area after being approached by a guard. Cook considers that crime deterrence. Others, like youth educator Cabello, call it harassment. You can’t really avoid being suspicious in this city past the hour of 7 if you’re black. That’s just how it is. Bianca Brooks Student at Oakland Technical High School Bianca Brooks, a senior at Temescal’s Oakland Technical High School, a 10-minute walk from Rockridge, says she wouldn’t “necessarily be opposed” to private patrols. Brooks lives in a mixed-income and racially diverse area a few miles south of the north Oakland neighborhood. “My house was robbed, and it took over three hours for police to come,” Brooks said. “You’d think they would have put more patrols in the area. But a few weeks later my neighbor was held at gunpoint in our building. If she had not screamed, who knows what could have happened.” The police never found the assailants in either incident, she says. However, Brooks, who is black, says she is also worried about how private patrol guards might perceive her. “You can’t really avoid being suspicious in this city past the hour of 7 if you’re black. That’s just how it is.” *Editor's note: The total for Temescal's online fundraising campaign has been updated to reflect the latest information. Sent from my iPhone

11 years, 11 months

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SFwd: 6/2014 Statement, 2141 Broadway

by mattsenate＠gmail.com

// Matt ----- Forwarded message ----- From: "Laurie Cooperman Rosen" <Lscoop(a)comcast.net> To: <mattsenate(a)gmail.com> Subject: 6/2014 Statement, 2141 Broadway Date: Fri, May 30, 2014 18:25 Hi Matt- Attached is the June invoice. No need to pay it if you are planning on leaving by month end, and there will be additional utilities accruing as we always bill those in arrears. We'd like confirm with Sean that he can do one of his events again on Friday, 6/20..wanted to make sure that there's nothing big planned for that evening already. Thanks! Laurie

11 years, 11 months

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Last night's meeting...

by Vicky Knox

http://runningahackerspace.tumblr.com/post/82404455310/when-a-meeting-start…

11 years, 11 months

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Re: [sudo-discuss] Fwd: Use of big space on Friday, 6/20

by yar

On Thu, May 29, 2014 at 10:19 PM, Matthew Senate <mattsenate(a)gmail.com> wrote: > Please confirm the availability of the big space on Friday, 6/20 (evening) > for another one of Sean’s events…..thank you! Who is Sean? Is this another rave? The common space is booked for the Heart's Desire Reading Series, which is a poetry reading hosted by BAPS: https://sudoroom.org/events/hearts-desire-reading-series-2/ Saturday night is still open on the calendar though.

11 years, 11 months

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Fwd: Use of big space on Friday, 6/20

by Matthew Senate

---------- Forwarded message ---------- From: Laurie Cooperman Rosen <Lscoop(a)comcast.net> Date: Thu, May 29, 2014 at 1:46 PM Subject: Use of big space on Friday, 6/20 To: mattsenate(a)gmail.com, poems(a)zachhouston.com, melissadmack(a)gmail.com Hi All- Please confirm the availability of the big space on Friday, 6/20 (evening) for another one of Sean’s events…..thank you! Laurie

11 years, 11 months

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Re: [sudo-discuss] Fwd: FW: Extra servers

by mattsenate＠gmail.com

Jenny or Maxb are maybe available. Can one of you confirm if you can make it tomorrow or Friday? If sometime next week works better, let me and Rachael know asap. Thanks! // Matt ----- Reply message ----- From: "Jenny Ryan" <tunabananas(a)gmail.com> To: "Matthew Senate" <mattsenate(a)gmail.com> Cc: "sudo-discuss" <sudo-discuss(a)lists.sudoroom.org> Subject: [sudo-discuss] Fwd: FW: Extra servers Date: Tue, May 27, 2014 19:08 -----BEGIN PGP SIGNED MESSAGE----- Hash: SHA1 This is wonderful! I'm free in the afternoons and will follow up with Rachel, unless you'd like to do so and join me? On Tue 27 May 2014 01:38:33 PM PDT, Matthew Senate wrote: > Hey Sudoers, > > Anyone able to pick up some computers, monitors, keyboards, mice, and > headsets this Thursday or Friday? > > Thanks, > Matt > > ---------- Forwarded message ---------- > From: Rachael Evarts <REvarts(a)foe.org> > Date: Tue, May 27, 2014 at 1:02 PM > Subject: RE: FW: Extra servers > To: Matthew Senate <mattsenate(a)gmail.com> > > > Hey Matt, > > > > We finally got our new computers in and we have 6 desktops to donate. > Would you also want any extra monitors, keyboards, mice, and headsets? Are > you available sometime on Thursday or Friday to pick up from the office? > > > > Thanks! > > Rachael > > > > Rachael Evarts > > Operations Associate > > Friends of the Earth > > 1100 15th St NW, 11th Floor > > Washington, DC 20005 > > REvarts(a)foe.org > > (202) 222-0734 > > > > _______________________________________________ > sudo-discuss mailing list > sudo-discuss(a)lists.sudoroom.org > https://lists.sudoroom.org/listinfo/sudo-discuss - -- Jenny http://jennyryan.net http://sudomesh.org http://thevirtualcampfire.org http://technomadic.tumblr.com `~`~`~`~`~`~`~`~`~`~`~`~`~`~`~`~`~`~` "Technology is the campfire around which we tell our stories." - -Laurie Anderson "Storytelling reveals meaning without committing the error of defining it." -Hannah Arendt "To define is to kill. To suggest is to create." - -Stéphane Mallarmé ~`~`~`~`~`~`~`~`~`~`~`~`~`~`~`~`~`~` -----BEGIN PGP SIGNATURE----- Version: GnuPG v1.4.14 (GNU/Linux) Comment: Using GnuPG with Thunderbird - http://www.enigmail.net/ iQEcBAEBAgAGBQJThUUgAAoJEHTWWpBUSeDhN9UH/3EQ+m+MpKuS8pgNIgE5Ze9d zyb17L9nw/Xsgh37xEnGB7pCN1TUwMqLc6YP8PpBk2j1XkMRDtYMPuo11mdkr7Dh ZBPe6nl29G070O6887nJKzOE/I+B7aJykkMVqYyTtkYsC0/7mcaYKsT7Xidu5FnB WYlGdezJGWsIFwbcd96UP08U+jLaxhVXmR1NMYHP9M17ez21UzZgtlWFTJkTG0MJ JTzZ7+/5YcaQTObmlnDFrwZXkol+4kbO5NWYV7n8e+UuKDBsDOTxACdZ80PRtEAA sPzL8XJ0b9/EHml0jGunpTR/QjUB1/i+HJ3++kTl5F63ExTWF0uaE15P99rddFQ= =xmyk -----END PGP SIGNATURE-----

11 years, 11 months

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Fwd: [omnilogistics] Fwd: [omnidelegates] Kazoo Introduction

by Matthew Senate

fwd'd ---------- Forwarded message ---------- From: David Keenan <dkeenan44(a)gmail.com> Date: Thu, May 22, 2014 at 9:00 PM Subject: [omnilogistics] Fwd: [omnidelegates] Kazoo Introduction To: "omnilogistics(a)lists.riseup.net" <omnilogistics(a)lists.riseup.net> ---------- Forwarded message ---------- From: *Kazoo* <lovekazoo(a)gmail.com> Date: Wednesday, March 26, 2014 Subject: [omnidelegates] Kazoo Introduction To: omnidelegates(a)lists.riseup.net Hello Omni! I am happy to be involved in this project! The Thursday meetings are hard for me to make because I have an intern who comes to my SF studio and gives me free labor on Thursday evenings, but I will try to rearrange that with her starting next week. I have also been a little late to the game because I have two other large projects starting that I had planned way before I knew about the Omni- building a studio from the ground up in Oakland, and writing and recording an album of my own music. I have been planning this six-month period from now until September for full-time engagement in those two previous projects canceling my regular teaching schedule. Ideally I would love to stay involved in the planning process with the Omni through the fall, but not begin my specific project within the space until the November. I'm not sure how that feels to all involved. I welcome your feedback. Here is a quick synopsis of what I want to do with the Omni Project: Creative Empowerment Project CEP is a screen printing and collateral production studio that makes all manner of printed media: tshirts, posters, book jackets, perfect-bound books, business cards, CD and DVD packaging, and various graphic design. The space has several functions. There will be a cooperative screen printing space where coop members will pay a small monthly fee (maybe 50$) to have 24hour access to the community screen printing space. The screen printing space will be equipt with 8 printing stations so that many people may use it at the same time. I currently bottom-line a space like this in San Francisco where I have been screenprinting for the past three years. This will help cover our portion of the Omni rent. There will also be an Education/Vocation component to the space where people who are formerly incarcerated, targeted by racism, or otherwise challenged to survive within the oppressive economic/justice system can build capacity for self-employment and group empowerment. Participants in the E/V program will learn the skills of screenprinting, digital design, layout, cooperative business functions, and self-promotion through classes and practice. The E/V collective will take jobs in printing and production to support its portion of the rent as well as paying its participants for their labor. Eventually I would like the E/V project to expand to include people who are under 18, targeted by racism, and disengaged with the public school system. The E/V project will employ its own students, and hopefully be taken over by those who have successfully completed the program. As far as the space is concerned, I think this could happen anywhere in the building, if it happens in the basement we would require some windows and a separate entrance so the coop members could have 24hour access without necessarily accessing the rest of the Omni building. Looking forward, Kazoo * please vote for my design: * * http://www.independentmusicawards.com/imanominee/13th/Design <http://www.independentmusicawards.com/imanominee/13th/Design> * *and this is what i do:* *etsy.com/shop/kazoostudio* <http://etsy.com/shop/kazoostudio> *www.thepartystarterdotcom.com/readingrainbow.jpg <http://www.thepartystarterdotcom.com/readingrainbow.jpg> *

11 years, 11 months

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Problems with Johannes

by Marc Juul

Some of you may have noticed the blackboard message in the common room today. For those who haven't, it says: PLEASE MOVE. PLEASE TAKE YOUR ELITIST SELF-ABSORBED ASSES TO YOUR DREAMSPACE UPTOWN "OMNI" SPACE AND STOP PRETENDING TO REPRESENT "COMMUNITY" Last night at about 11:30 pm I was sitting in the common space, hacking away on my laptop, when Johannes (one of the tenants of the building) set up the projector and started watching a comedy tv show in the common room. It was just him near the projector and me and Anthony sitting in the couches near sudo room. Johannes went and turned off half the lights in the common room without communicating with us. I was bothered by this and went over and turned the lights back on. He then came over to me and angrily asked if I really _needed_ the lights on. I calmly responded "I prefer the lights on". He then got very upset and started ranting at nobody in particular (though of course in response to me) as he stomped around the room. I then said "It's polite to ask before changing the lighting in a room with other people". This is truly the extent of our interaction, and I communicated in a calm and neutral manner throughout. Johannes kept angrily ranting, then turned off the projector. He came back in and out of the room carrying a blackboard several times. It wasn't until I got up from the couch later that I saw the message he'd left. I realize this negative interaction could potentially have been prevented had I talked to Johannes first instead of just turning the light back on (though I have attempted this before when he's been disruptive in the common space, with limited success). The reason I bring this up on the list is that I am concerned by the disproportionate anger that this small incident triggered. I feel like it requires a serious lack of self-awareness / empathy to deal with the incident as Johannes did. I am documenting this in case this becomes a pattern of behavior that needs to be addressed in the future. -- marc/juul

11 years, 11 months

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Fwd: FW: Extra servers

by Matthew Senate

Hey Sudoers, Anyone able to pick up some computers, monitors, keyboards, mice, and headsets this Thursday or Friday? Thanks, Matt ---------- Forwarded message ---------- From: Rachael Evarts <REvarts(a)foe.org> Date: Tue, May 27, 2014 at 1:02 PM Subject: RE: FW: Extra servers To: Matthew Senate <mattsenate(a)gmail.com> Hey Matt, We finally got our new computers in and we have 6 desktops to donate. Would you also want any extra monitors, keyboards, mice, and headsets? Are you available sometime on Thursday or Friday to pick up from the office? Thanks! Rachael Rachael Evarts Operations Associate Friends of the Earth 1100 15th St NW, 11th Floor Washington, DC 20005 REvarts(a)foe.org (202) 222-0734

11 years, 11 months

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Timon

by Matthew Senate

I have been afraid. I don't often feel fear, or let myself get carried by that fear, but in this circumstance it has taken over me periodically for months now. I was afraid of Timon. I was afraid of his physical and psychological intimidation. I have been targeted, among others, by him, and this has made sudo room an unsafe space whenever he is present. But I'm no longer afraid. I no longer will allow this abuse to continue. Timon *asked *that I send a written message, so I sent an email to him and our landlords that indeed, Timon has no right (legal or otherwise) to sudo room, the public school, or the common space of 2141 Broadway. This is unequivocally true. However, the more important matter is that I sent this message because I, among others, have been habitually harassed and targeted by Timon. This harassment ends now. We provide a space that is safe for everyone to be fully expressed, where safe space and mutual respect is prioritized far over ideology. There is no argument to be had; your fellow members are begging for help, to hold fast and expect the most minimal of standards for behavior for anyone who enters our space. Please help end this abuser's targeting of myself and other sudoers. I know I will be present on Wednesday in full confidence and unencumbered by my previous fear. I have overcome this fear through support of the friends and community that truly makes sudo room an amazing place. Please join me if you have shed this fear too. Together we will resist this and future patterns of abuse. // Matt

11 years, 11 months

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multiple car break-ins

by Marc Juul

A sudoers car was broken into tonight right in front of the sudo room entrance. It was unlocked and was empty so nothing was stolen or broken. The car owner caught them in the act and they fled. Later, another sudoer saw one guy breaking into another car on the street and then attempting to break into the same car from earlier (which was apparently now locked). The sudoer ran toward the culprit and the culprit fled on his bike. The people breaking in seemed two be two teenagers. Those who saw them estimate that they were about 17. -- marc/juul

11 years, 11 months

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Sudo Calendar

by Matthew Senate

Hey all, Looks like we've finished up migrating the calendar events from our old calendar to the new one. Please take a look at the calender here and let us know if you spot any inconsistencies! https://sudoroom.org/calendar/ Many thanks to Ashley Graham and Judi Clark for moving these over! // Matt

11 years, 11 months

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make more blog posts

by Yar

People should be making more blog posts. When you have an event, make a blog post! When you do a cool thing at sudoroom, make a blog post! Pictures are even better. If you don't have an editor account yet, the best way to reach people with admin access is info(a)sudoroom.org or the sudo-sys list.

11 years, 11 months

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Gentrification report proposes bold solutions to stop Displacement in Oakland

by Romy Ilano

This is interesting, and it made me a little less depressed. I'm pro development, building up, but the speed at which things are taking place in Oakland has me taken aback. here is an interesting article someone passed along to me... http://oaklandlocal.com/2014/04/gentrification-report-proposes-bold-solutio… Proposals to protect Oakland's historic residents from displacement. Photo by Laura McCamy ♦ Last week Causa Justa::Just Cause (CJJC <http://www.cjjc.org/>) released a report titled Development Without Displacement: Resisting Gentrification in the Bay Area. The 112-page document, prepared in collaboration with the Alameda County Public Health Department <http://www.acphd.org/>, goes beyond describing the public health implications<http://oaklandlocal.com/2014/04/study-finds-gentrification-in-oakland-hurts…> of gentrification to proposing steps that cities like Oakland can take to stop displacement of historic residents. Six key principles create a framework for the report’s policy recommendations: 1. Baseline protections for vulnerable residents 2. Production and preservation of affordable housing 3. Stabilization of existing communities 4. Non-market based approaches to housing and community development 5. Displacement prevention as a regional priority 6. Planning as a participatory process “Because gentrification is an issue that crosses various different kinds of aspects, you actually do need a variety of policy strategies,” said Maria Zamudio, San Francisco Housing Rights Organizer with CJJC. “There is no silver bullet to take on the housing crisis.” [image: Gentrification Map created by Alameda County Public Health Department]<http://static.oaklandlocal.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/04/Slide7.jpg> The report classifies neighborhoods by their place on a spectrum of gentrification. “Gentrification in different neighborhoods is in different stages, so the need for policy interventions is different,” she said. The report lays out proposed policies, including just cause eviction<http://www2.oaklandnet.com/oakca/groups/ceda/documents/policy/dowd008118.pdf> ordinances, proactive code enforcement to make sure current affordable housing stock is maintained, inclusive zoning that mandates affordable housing be part of development projects, and community trainings to encourage resident participation in planning processes. A proposed community health impact analysis of new projects would be designed to help cities like Oakland welcome much-needed development while mitigating displacement. [image: Protesting urban renewal in San Francisco's Fillmore District. Photo courtesy of Causa Justa]<http://static.oaklandlocal.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/04/R3SD7k_HFUgLdfYBB…> Protesting urban renewal in San Francisco’s Fillmore District. Photo courtesy of Causa Justa “Right of first refusal” and “reparation and return” policies would allow residents displaced by habitability issues or urban renewal the opportunity to return to their former homes. A “No Net Loss<http://www.mapc.org/sites/default/files/One%20for%20One%20Affordable%20Hous…>” policy would “require all affordable units lost through renovation, conversion, or demolition be replaced within the same neighborhood if possible and within the same city at a minimum.” Public data on civic investment and demographic changes by neighborhood would highlight areas of neglect and displacement where resources are most needed. The report advocates against the market-driven planning process that is the norm in cities throughout the Bay Area. Instead, it suggests, cities should invest in affordable housing through Community Land Trusts<http://cltnetwork.org/> and Limited Equity Housing Co-Ops<http://www.policylink.org/site/c.lkIXLbMNJrE/b.5137049/k.A9DF/Limited_Equit…> and levy taxes aimed at making real estate speculation less attractive to investors. [image: zlqif57zdV_o-14iZUza4wMc081LuFM56QOlcrabHORjPhiTYlvBkAFZd3qd2pQb2w=s190]<http://static.oaklandlocal.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/04/zlqif57zdV_o-14iZ…>“Policy fights need to be organizing opportunities,” said Zamudio, highlighting another recommendation: to bring affected communities into the process of preventing their own displacement. “Our policies are never going to be visionary enough to take on the problem,” she said, without input from “the most impacted residents of neighborhoods” experiencing gentrification. Some of the proposals in the report are already being implemented in other cities. San Francisco is listed as a model for a number of the proposals. Yet displacement is, if anything, a bigger problem in that city than in Oakland. “We’re seeing a compounding of impacts,” said Zamudio. “Planning by the city has been in line with changes that the speculative market wants.” She noted that demographic shifts, as working class residents are pushed out, compound the problem by raising the median income and, with it, the threshold for affordable housing. “The income of the city is unbalanced,” she said, which leads to increasing challenges in finding housing affordable to working class residents. [image: Public development expenditures in Oakland. Chart by Causa Justa]<http://static.oaklandlocal.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/04/i-3rCsd5nF7YeGPLF…> Public development expenditures in Oakland. Chart by Causa Justa Robbie Clark, Regional Housing Rights Campaign Lead Organizer with CJJC, sums up the recommendations as “Community health upheld over profit.” “Money shouldn’t dictate how much power people have in land use developments,” Zamudio said, adding that community investment should also have value. Clark sees several opportunities to put these policy recommendations into practice in Oakland, starting with keeping the pressure on the city council to make sure the proposed rent control changes which strengthen tenant protections, is approved when it comes before the council on April 22 and May 6<https://oakland.legistar.com/MeetingDetail.aspx?ID=305862&GUID=D21765D0-49F…> . In May, CJJC will begin a campaign to put an ordinance on the November ballot that will go after some of the strategies landlords use to get around just cause eviction laws: allowing units to become uninhabitable and harassing tenants. “This is a problem that the city knows about,” Clark said, noting that landlords may threaten to call the police or ICE<http://www.ice.gov/> if tenants complain about unhealthy living conditions. “We believe some protections need to be put in place to punish landlords that do this.” The ballot measure would institute fines for failure to maintain habitable rental units and for threatening or harassing tenants. Pointing out that 90 percent of Oakland’s housing stock was built prior to 1978, Clark said the aim of the proposed law is “making sure that people can stay in the places where they live now.” [image: Art by Design Action Collective]<http://static.oaklandlocal.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/04/k-Tvc1dYsAa5yQwr-…> Art by Design Action Collective “There has been a significant shift in who owns properties, especially in heavily gentrified areas,” Clark noted. The rise in investor ownership of previously owner-occupied properties has lead to more rentals in Oakland that aren’t covered by the tenant protection laws. “This would be a significant piece of legislation to protect all tenants and not just tenants covered under the rent stabilization law,” he said. “As we legislate against a problem, we’re never going to legislate a complete solution,” Zamudio said. “Policy interventions will always have loopholes and the market with continue to shift to find ways to make a profit.” This is why, she added, organizing and strong community involvement are crucial. Get a copy of the full report here<http://www.liberationink.org/content/development-without-displacement-resis…> . ============================= Romy Ilano romy(a)snowyla.com

11 years, 11 months

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Re: [sudo-discuss] Medicine to the People: Stories from Community Health Projects (Sun May 25)

by Yar

On Sat, May 17, 2014 at 11:23 AM, Yar <yardenack(a)gmail.com> wrote: > https://www.facebook.com/events/1430569700530791/ > > Come for an evening celebrating healers building projects to reclaim > medicine in different communities and hear their stories! Just a reminder, this event is tonight at Sudo, 7pm! I'll be there early to help clean and set up, would appreciate company. :)

11 years, 11 months

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Biotech 2.0: Rise of the Biohackers

by Ryan Bethencourt

Hi All, I just published my first Linkedin Article on the biohacker movement and I'd love your thoughts! Feel free to let me know if I missed anything (which I most likely did)! But it's my initial attempt of letting Big Pharma and Big Biotech know we're coming! R https://www.linkedin.com/today/post/article/20140523224352-2371689-biotech-… -- Ryan Bethencourt Tel: (415) 825 2705 Conf Call: (650) 741 5013 ryan.bethencourt(a)gmail.com http://www.litmususa.com/ http://berkeleybiolabs.com/ www.bamh1.com www.linkedin.com/in/bethencourt www.logos-press.com/books/biotechnology_business_development.php

11 years, 11 months

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Gentrification and the Urban Garden : The New Yorker

by Romy Snowyla

http://m.newyorker.com/online/blogs/currency/2014/05/gentrification-and-the… GENTRIFICATION AND THE URBAN GARDEN In 2012, Linnette Edwards, a Bay Area real-estate agent, produced a video promoting NOBE, a name conjured up by developers for an area covering parts of Oakland, Berkeley, and the town of Emeryville. She posted it on NOBE Neighborhood, a Web site she created to drum up buzz among potential home buyers. The video includes interviews with enthusiastic young residents, a local cupcake maker, a bartender at a new watering hole, and with Edwards herself. It also features a local, volunteer-run enterprise called the Golden Gate Community Garden. “We’re super psyched that there’s a community garden across the street—it’s definitely a bonus to this block,” a new homeowner says, over footage of greenery. “The fabulous edible garden movement is in full swing,” the NOBE Web site notes. “It’s not uncommon to find neighbors crop swapping their homegrown edibles and frequenting the local Farmer’s Markets.” The site listed several neighborhood community-gardening programs, including one run by a nonprofit called Phat Beets Produce. NOBE is a fiction. It lumps together several longstanding neighborhoods that, since the fifties, have been largely inhabited by low- and middle-income African-Americans. The rebrand was designed to attract mostly young, upper-middle-class transplants who were fleeing high prices in neighboring San Francisco. When volunteers at Phat Beets saw Edwards’s video, and her Web site listing their programs, they were livid. The Golden Gate Community Garden is run by the city of Oakland, but many people involved in Phat Beets also used the space. “Our work wasn’t the cause of gentrification, but our programs and our aesthetics were being used to sell land and help displace people,” Max Cadji, a Phat Beets volunteer, told me. In December, 2012, Phat Beets created a caustic parody video on its own Web site, repurposing the term “NOBE” to stand for Neighbors Outing Blatant Exploitation. Phat Beets launched a campaign against the video, demanding that Edwards remove Phat Beets’s market from the NOBE Web site. Edwards understands the criticism, and is sympathetic to those forced out of their communities, but she believes that promoting local gardens and markets benefits longtime residents as well as newcomers. “The energy of community gardens helps curb crime,” she said. “Having a new park in the area creates a hub of community and conversation.” She went on, “First, there’s a community garden. Then what we hope will follow is a café, and a little market that might pop up, providing organic food. These all draw people to an area.” As an agent, Edwards represents both buyers and sellers. “The way that these community gardens translate into home prices is self-evident,” she said. “It impacts resale value.” She told me that she didn’t know of any real-estate agents actually funding community gardens, “but maybe they should.” Before the NOBE rebrand, it was hard to find grocery stores in the area; for years, there was an abundance of liquor stores and bodegas but a scarcity of healthy, affordable food. Such neighborhoods have been the focus of community organizations like Phat Beets, which strive to provide access to low-cost, high-nutrition food in low-income communities. Initiatives like theirs typically have an anti-commercial ethos: we don’t need to buy our food from big chain stores at a high markup, or rely on government handouts, because we can grow our own. But for house buyers, these community gardens simply have aesthetic appeal, contributing to a kind of rustic, down-home vibe that makes nearby real estate more attractive. And it hasn’t taken long for real-estate agents and developers to take advantage of that commercial potential. “It’s not uncommon for real-estate agents to stage veggie beds in the back yard,” Edwards told me. She often uses this strategy herself. (When my boyfriend and I attended an open house in West Berkeley, I noticed a small bed of vegetable sprouts in the backyard. It was obviously a gimmick, but—kale!—I was sold.) “It’s a life style that buyers buy into,” Edwards said. “The life style of growing food. Which they may or may not do, but they’re buying into that food culture.” The “blighted” lots suitable for urban agriculture are often found in lower-income neighborhoods like NOBE, as well as in post-industrial neighborhoods like West Oakland and West Berkeley. These also happen to be neighborhoods that developers see as ripe for construction. For decades, the overgrown grass across the street from Jeff DeMartini’s commercial property in West Berkeley (formerly his grandfather’s cabinet factory) had been giving him trouble: weeds encroaching on the sidewalk, phallic graffiti, dead trees that occasionally came crashing down. Last year, a community-agriculture organization called Urban Adamah acquired the space, and announced plans to install a small farm—chickens, goats, and all. At first, DeMartini worried that the animals might degrade the site even further. “I thought, Will it smell?” But, within a matter of weeks, interest in his property spiked, and prospective renters came calling. “One of the signs of a so-called ‘quality’ neighborhood is open space and green space,” Gopal Dayaneni, a member of Movement Generation, an advocacy organization, said. But quality, in real-estate terms, means higher prices. Many community gardens are started with the intention of supporting lower-income communities, Tiny Gray Garcia, an activist and journalist, said. But once they are built, she added, “the real-estate companies come in and start to reassess the land and use the property value to displace poor people of color. The community-gardening people may be well meaning, but they don’t always understand that they’re pawns in the game.” Ideological tensions can emerge even when relationships between developers and farming nonprofits are strong. Before the recession, the Emerald Fund, a San Francisco development company, invested in an undeveloped, two-acre lot in West Oakland, hoping to build housing. The lot abutted a gentrifying area, but it was also rimmed by run-down Victorians, abandoned industrial buildings, and tarp-covered vans and buses that were being used, presumably, as homes. When the recession hit, the Emerald Fund had to give up its housing plan, Marc Babsin, a principal at the Emerald Fund, said. To try to recuperate some of its lost costs, the company got in touch with City Slicker Farms, a community-agriculture organization, which sought and won a state grant to increase urban green space. The grant funds allowed City Slicker Farms to purchase much of the land. “We had to spend a lot of time and resources, when we owned it, keeping the homeless out. People would set up encampments, people would dump things there. Instead of that, having this very activated space where people are coming and going and growing vegetables—it’s got to be better for the neighborhood and property values,” Babsin said. Still hoping to build homes on its remaining swath of land, the Emerald Fund wanted to make sure that the farm was ultimately a draw to future condo residents, and not another form of blight. The developer suggested several minor changes. “We said, ‘The farm is for the whole community—not just for your condos,’ ” City Slicker Farm’s executive director, Barbara Finnin, said. Finnin pointed out that poor people have been gardening and raising chickens in low-income urban neighborhoods across America for years. “That it is now fashionable is more a function of whose stories get heard and whose don’t,” she told me. And those stories contribute to a broader association with gentrification—a transformation that is as painful for some as it is profitable for others. If young home buyers like chickens and goats and kale, real-estate agents like them even more. Lauren Markham writes about youth, migration, and the environment. Her work has been featured in the Virginia Quarterly Review, Guernica, Orion, Vice, and on “This American Life.” Above: A rendering of City Slicker Farms’ plans for a farm and park in West Oakland. Image courtesy City Slicker Farms. Sent from my iPhone

11 years, 11 months

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Oakland: Brooklyn by the Bay - NYTimes.com

by Romy Snowyla

http://mobile.nytimes.com/2014/05/04/fashion/oakland-california-brooklyn-by… Oakland: Brooklyn by the Bay OAKLAND, Calif. — On a recent Tuesday afternoon, a group of well-dressed and soon-to-be well-groomed men sat patiently in the sun outside Temescal Alley Barbershop waiting for $25 haircuts and $30 straight-razor shaves. Some idly pecked at their phones, while others wandered into Standard & Strange, a men’s clothing store that stocks rugged-looking American-made apparel and accessories as well as some carefully selected items from overseas like Tender jeans, which are handmade and dyed by one guy in Britain and sell for $350. (A leather belt thick enough to harness a thoroughbred, also from Tender, will set you back $240.) Walking around this outpost of cool off Telegraph Avenue, you may forget that you’re just across the bay from San Francisco and not in, say, an oft-cited borough of New York City where style, shopping and food have become major draws. If so, you wouldn’t be the only one. Style.com recently published an article on Temescal Alley and pronounced it “Williamsburg-esque.” Last year, VegNews, a vegan-oriented website, ran a travel article titled “11 Reasons Why Oakland Is the New Brooklyn,” calling it “the new vegan mecca.” And in an interview with National Journal, the mayor of Oakland, Jean Quan, citing the city’s thriving arts and food scenes, proclaimed, “We’re a little bit like Brooklyn.” (Even HBO has jumped on the bandwagon, setting “Looking” — the gay man’s answer to “Girls” — partly in Oakland.) Jonathan Hewitt, a 35-year-old London transplant who works as Standard & Strange’s operations manager, and who was describing that same “Manhattan is to San Francisco as Brooklyn is to Oakland” parallel for a recent visitor, was asked if anyone really believed that Oakland was like Brooklyn. Video | Intersection: Oakland’s Style “People are antinormal,” Sarah Barnekow said of the style in Oakland, Calif. “Abso-bloody-lutely!” he said. “I hate reverting to a cliché like that, but it’s just so true.” Many people seem to be hoping that the Oakland-as-Brooklyn narrative — or at the very least, the idea that Oakland is a top-flight creative capital — takes off. In April, Visit Oakland, a nonprofit dedicated to increasing tourism in the city, kicked off an ad campaign, logo and hashtag (#oaklandloveit) in an effort to lure visitors. For many residents priced out of San Francisco, Oakland has come to be seen as a welcoming oasis, crime and civic challenges notwithstanding. “The starving artist will literally starve in San Francisco,” Mr. Hewitt said. “Whereas they can come to Oakland and they might not live in the nicest part of town necessarily, but you can afford to live here.” What keeps Oakland from being merely a cheaper option than San Francisco, however, is the way the city’s deep cultural roots entwine working-class African-American and ethnic communities, progressive politics, arts, food and more recently technology entrepreneurship. One of the biggest draws at First Fridays, a once-a-month block party in Oakland, is the Telegraph Beer Garden. Thor Swift for The New York Times “The low burn has gotten hotter in the last year.” said René de Guzman, 50, the Oakland-raised senior curator of art at the Oakland Museum of California. “Oakland is becoming the creative engine of the Bay Area.” Walking around Oakland, it’s easy to spot unironic displays of civic pride that have nothing to do with defining Oakland in opposition to San Francisco. Many of those signs are found on witty T-shirts and hats from Oaklandish, a local apparel company. Screen-printed by hand, Oaklandish’s shirts incorporate local iconography like the waterfront cranes and the view from the Bay Bridge, precisely the sort of unpretty nuts-and-bolts infrastructural details some cities may choose not to aestheticize. The company’s main store, located on Broadway in the heart of downtown, is a celebration of the city, a kind of unofficial gift shop, with a signed poster for the Oakland-set indie film “Fruitvale Station” and double doors leading to its printing facility adorned with a mural that proclaims, “Pride & Roots”; “Local Love.” Exploring Oakland and some of its many art galleries at a First Fridays festival. Thor Swift for The New York Times Started as a public art project in 2000, Oaklandish now employs 30 people (nearly half again as many during the holiday season) and has added a second line, There There, focused on other cities like Baltimore and Philadelphia. (Manhattan and Brooklyn are conspicuously absent.) It takes its name from Oakland’s own Gertrude Stein, who famously put down her hometown by declaring, “There’s no there there.” “People have pulled over U-Hauls to get shirts,” said Angela Tsay, 41, Oaklandish’s chief executive and creative director. “They want to be wearing an Oaklandish T-shirt the first time they walk into their new house.” Outfitted correctly or not, it’s those new homeowners whom some longtime residents are eyeing warily. Gentrification is as ubiquitous a topic in the cafes and bars of Oakland as pour-over coffee and Google buses are in San Francisco. The fear that rising housing costs will push out working-class families and truly turn Oakland into the next Brooklyn — a shabby-chic bedroom community that feeds white-collar workers into the bustling metropolis next door but doesn’t see much of them or their money — is an ever-present one, especially when reporters from the national news media come calling. “We’re glad to welcome folks who add value to the city,” said Chinaka Hodge, a 29-year-old poet and screenwriter who grew up in several neighborhoods in Oakland and now splits her time between the city and Los Angeles. Ribs from B-Side BBQ. Thor Swift for The New York Times Ms. Hodge and other longtime locals want new residents to understand that while Oakland may be new to them, it’s not new. “We were here,” she said. “We’ve been here. We’ve struggled to survive here, and the moment that it’s cool, not only can we not afford to live here, but our entire history is whitewashed, for lack of a better term. “I feel in many ways that it’s violent,” continued Ms. Hodge, who is African-American. “We’re being erased from history.” Ms. Hodge addressed this violence in a tongue-in-cheek music video she made in collaboration with the Bay Area rapper and poet Watsky called “Kill a Hipster.” Set in Oakland (but shot in Los Angeles), it depicts tattooed, badminton-playing newbies as “Walking Dead”-style zombie invaders, their hunger for authentic ethnic foods turning into a grisly feast on authentic ethnic people. Its refrain (taken from the slogan of a T-shirt) says it all: “Kill a hipster; save your hood.” “I think there are two narratives about Oakland that have existed for my entire life,” Ms. Hodge said. Mateo Challed, 3, with the band Dum Spiro Spero. Thor Swift for The New York Times The first narrative, she’s quick to note, is safety. Driving a reporter by her family’s home, Ms. Hodge was frank as she noted the circumstances of her childhood. “We were easily the richest family in the poor neighborhood,” she said. “When we moved in, this was a crack house, this was a crack house,” she said, pointing across the street from her father’s beautifully restored yellow Victorian with stained-glass windows. “There was police tape across the front of our house. We came home one day, chalk outlines on the front.” “Now, all white folks live there,” she said. “The second narrative has been gaining attention over the last few years,” she continued. “It’s the Michelin stars, the cool pop-ups, the Eat Real festival, the uptown story. “Any exposure can be great, but I want to be able to afford to live here in 20 years. I want to be able to raise my family in the neighborhood that everyone thought was ugly until Jerry Brown encourages 10,000 new people to show up and make Oakland theirs.” A Cypress Sling, a signature drink at B-Side BBQ. Thor Swift for The New York Times Those 10,000 new residents were lured to Oakland as part of the 10K Project, a program of urban renewal and revitalization undertaken by Gov. Jerry Brown when he was mayor of the city from 1999 to 2007. The governor has lived in Oakland since 1994 and remains one of the city’s biggest cheerleaders, favorably citing its “edgy quality.” “I’ve seen the downtown utterly changed,” Governor Brown said in a phone interview. “You have a very lively scene. It’s restored vitality to downtown that hasn’t seen excitement in 60 years.” That excitement is on full display at First Fridays, a once-a-month block party that grew out of Art Murmur, an open galleries event. During a recent evening, crowds filled a five-block stretch of Telegraph Avenue checking out the galleries, vendors and food trucks. Drum circles, rappers and brass bands vied for attention amid lowrider cars, comedians and models strutting down a makeshift runway to James Brown’s “Say It Loud — I’m Black and I’m Proud.” The scene collapsed boundaries among subcultures: hip-hop, Burning Man and foodie posses mingled promiscuously. At times, the scene seemed to break the constraints of time itself with vendors selling “Free Angela” and “Free Huey” buttons as if the heyday of the Black Panther Party for Self-Defense were still in effect. The same mixing of crowds can be found at Brown Sugar Kitchen, a soul-food-inflected breakfast spot in West Oakland that opened on Martin Luther King’s Birthday in 2008 and now features long lines around the block most weekends. “It’s like the New York City subway here,” said Tanya Holland, the restaurant’s 48-year-old chef-owner. “You can have the steampunk sitting next to the cop sitting next to the millionaire real estate developer. You see every kind of person here.” Brown Sugar kitchen, along with B-Side BBQ (also owned by Ms. Holland and her husband, Phil Surkis) and Fauna, an Art Deco bar on Telegraph that adjoins Flora, are just a few of the restaurants that lure San Francisco diners to Oakland. Owned by Dona Savitsky, 43, and Thomas Schnetz, 47, Flora has all the details of a major metropolitan restaurant with none of the airs. “Being over here is great,” Ms. Savitsky said. “I don’t think we’re trying to be San Francisco. Nor will we ever be.” One area in which many are hoping Oakland can be both cutting edge and truly supportive of the community is technology. Mitchell Kapor, the software mogul behind Lotus 1-2-3, moved to Oakland’s Jack London Square from San Francisco’s upscale Pacific Heights less than two years ago with his wife, Freada Kapor Klein. “Career-wise, my talent has been seeing around corners,” Mr. Kapor, 63, said. “We had the feeling we were at the beginning of a big moment in Oakland. “There’s a sense that everything is possible,” continued Mr. Kapor, whose Kapor Center for Social Impact funds various groups in the Bay Area committed to diversifying the face of technology, like Black Girls Code and Hidden Genius Project. “We’re going to see an explosion of tech in Oakland. It’s the next big area.” Pandora, the music streaming service, has its headquarters here, and there are rumors that Google has considered opening an office in the city. Mr. Kapor’s enthusiasm is echoed by some of the young tech founders who share a work space in Jack London Square called the Port. Among the developing companies found there is deliberateLIFE, an app-based lifestyle publication that showcases socially responsible products and travel; Shop Pad, a mobile e-commerce platform; and Clef, an identity verification tool that seeks to replace passwords with users’ phones. The office buzzes with collaborative energy as they work on different projects. Once a week, the team from Clef makes dinner for everyone. They’ve served falafel, ramen, and chicken potpie along with beer and sympathy to end rough days of fund-raising or to fuel late nights of coding. “Having creative people around has really made a difference as we’ve grown,” said Fay M. Johnson, 31, chief executive and founder of deliberateLIFE. Ms. Johnson was sitting in a conference room with Clef’s Brennen Byrne, 23, and Shop Pad’s Aaron Wadler, 30, near the terminus for a slide that was being installed between floors. “This is a much more collaborative version of what I’d get at an incubator in the city.” Across the hall is Ms. Johnson’s office, where there’s a blackboard with the outline of the state of California. Written across it in a confident hand is the phrase, “Where Awesome Lives.” An arrow points directly at Oakland. Sent from my iPhone

11 years, 11 months

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Can you pick up 2 tables/desks from SF for sudo room?

by Marina Kukso

my workplace is getting rid of 2 very nice tables/desks that would be appropriate for sudo room/omni on the condition that they be picked up from our office in the mission in SF. the desks are these: http://www.ikea.com/us/en/catalog/products/S89842465/ they are 63" x 31.5" and pretty much in perfect condition. they come with 2 optional desk chairs. if you would be willing to come get them from SF sometime in the next week (they need to be out by 5/30), please let me know. thank you! marina

11 years, 11 months

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where is sudo laptop?

by Marc Juul

The sudo laptop (the lenovo) seems to have disappeared. Does anyone know where it is? -- marc/juul

11 years, 11 months

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Greetings from an Akronite

by Torrie Fischer

Hiya, sudoroom. I was visiting the space earlier this week. Quite a lovely place y'all have there. My home base is in Akron, Ohio, where I am returning to this Sunday night. It was a pleasure to meet you folks. I certainly do plan on returning to the bay area in the near future for various reasons, including visiting you wonderful folks again :) Thanks for the hospitality <3

11 years, 11 months

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Fwd: [spaghettinight] Shared Space for Artists, Crafters & Eco-Hackers @ PLACE in Oakland

by Marina Kukso

---------- Forwarded message ---------- From: Jonathan Youtt <jyoutt(a)gmail.com> Date: Thu, May 22, 2014 at 4:15 PM Subject: [spaghettinight] Shared Space for Artists, Crafters & Eco-Hackers @ PLACE in Oakland To: The Spaghetti Night mailing list <spaghettinight(a)tentacle.net> Shared Space for Artists, Crafters & eco-Hackers $100-$300/month depending on use and space requirements http://sfbay.craigslist.org/eby/ats/4478625101.html http://aplaceforsustainableliving.org/get-involved/makers-place/ PLACE for Sustainable Living 1121 64th St, Oakland, CA 94608 at Marshall St. (near Alcatraz & San Pablo Ave Email: sharedspaceatplace(a)gmail.com Maker’s PLACE: We’re looking for more makers and shakers who wish to create in our artist coworking environment. Are you a sewer, painter, jeweler, or other type of crafter or artist with eco consciousness in your approach, materials, and methods? PLACE has a new maker’s space with communal creation stations as well as some private tables for folks who wish to store more stuff and leave out their work. The room has some shared tools, supplies and an industrial sewing machine. FAB LAB: Another space onsite known as the Fab Lab, which is dedicated to folks working in the realm of environmentally friendly sustainable design and appropriate technology. From bike builder to rocket stove makers, gasifier to methane digester, the Fab Lab is an incubator for new ideas in a solutionary future. The space is better suited for metal and wood working, soldering, custom bike frame & trailer fabrication. We have shared equipment including a welder, chop saw, band saw, drill press and several hand tools. We are looking for others to bring their own equipment to share with other makers, so we can create a more robust and versatile working environment. Daytime use 10am to 6pm is consistently available. Most evenings til 10pm is also available, although there are occasional activities in the adjoining Art Barn that may require quiet due to the nature of the event (film screenings, classes, discussions, meetings). Some storage space may be available for an additional monthly fee. ALSO, COMING SOON: Open Hearth: A shared space for food artisans, fermenters, herbalists & the like. If this is something you’ll want to know about when it goes live, please contact us so we can gather interest for this space as well. PLACE (People Linking Art, Community, & Ecology) We are a public-serving, experiential learning center that showcases and fosters sustainable living practices, urban homesteading, community resiliency & preparedness, social justice and artistic expression. www.aplaceforsustainableliving.org. The non-profit DIY bike repair shop, Spokeland is also based at PLACE. The Neighborhood We are located on 64th Street and Marshall, half a block from San Pablo Ave and a block south of Alcatraz Ave. We are a 20 min walk from Ashby BART and equidistant from Ashby and Powell exits off the I-80. We are a block away from the Actual Cafe, Victory Burger, A Verb for Keeping Warm(yarn, fabric, and fiber shop) and James and the Giant Cupcake. The Donut Farm, Tribu, Ruby’s and Farley’s are the other cafes within walking distance as is Urban Ore salvage yard, Ashby Lumber, Ashby Plumbing, MacBeath Hardwoods, Discount Fabrics, and Berkeley Bowl WEST. _______________________________________________ spaghettinight mailing list spaghettinight(a)tentacle.net Rabbit administers this list; email them at rabbitface(a)gmail.com if you have questions To subscribe new people, have them send an email to spaghettinight-join(a)tentacle.net To unsubscribe send an email to spaghettinight-leave(a)tentacle.net https://tentacle.net/mailman/listinfo/spaghettinight This list is dolphin safe

11 years, 11 months

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The Flight Deck opening, panel on co-working - sudo representative?

by Matthew Senate

Hey all, See this opening festival schedule: http://www.theflightdeck.org/blog/the-flight-deck-opening-festival-schedule This week I spoke with Trevor runs the co-working space Oakstop down on 18th and Broadway. He was invited to join a panel about co-working on Tuesday June 10th for the opening festival of http://theflightdeck.org/. He mentioned the organizers wanted to get in touch with other co-working spaces in the area for that panel. I put Trevor in touch with Anca from Tech Liminal. However, I wanted to reach out to the sudo room community since Trevor offered that he'd connect us with the organizers of this event about having a sudo room representative on the panel. Hub Oakland is also going to be on the panel, and the panel itself seems to be advertised at an attendance fee. I presume the fee contribute to proceeds for The Flight Deck, which /is/ a non-profit. What do ya'll think? I was offered to join the panel, but I think we could send any one of us once we're put in touch with the panel organizers and if we'd like to. I thought it could be good to show that balance of the types of spaces that folks /do/ creative work at in Oakland, and especially downtown. // Matt

11 years, 11 months

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IF IT RAINS THE NEXT FEW DAYS KEEP KIDS OUT OF IT

by johanna faust

there was a rather disturbingly large fire at the crippled Fukushima plant on the evening of the 20th. so if it rains in the next few days, it would be wise to keep kids, especially very young ones, out of it. at least so my conscience bids me inform you all. video proof below. have a nice day. video here<http://femalefaust.blogspot.com/2014/05/looks-like-somethings-on-fire-again…> and more info on request -- *Be seeing you.*

11 years, 11 months

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FYI: Oakland Council voting tonight on new California TRANSPARENCY law

by Phil Wolff

Should Oakland endorse Prop 42? CMs Kalb and Kaplan are putting a resolution to the Council tonight to support this new law; final vote. They're inviting the public to speak on tonight, agenda item #16. I'll be stepping out for a minute this evening to speak in favor. - Phil Text: Resolution in SUPPORT of California Proposition 42 - Constitutional Amendment to protect the public's right to know by requiring compliance by local agencies with the Public Records Act and the Brown Act for open meetings WHEREAS, public transparency and freedom of information safeguards are of significant importance to and benefit for the citizens of Oakland and California and the integrity of government; and WHEREAS, the California Public Records Act, passed in 1968, is a critical tool for the public and the press and facilitates obtaining government records, awareness of the activities of government, and effective advocacy in the interests of the community; and WHEREAS, the Ralph M. Brown Act, passed in 1953, guarantees the public's right to attend and participate in legislative bodies of local agencies, including boards, commissions, and councils; and WHEREAS, state and local governments have been in disagreement regarding the amount of state financial support that is required address the costs to local governments with complying with these transparency laws and, at times, local agencies have used the failure of the state to reimburse their costs as an excuse for not complying with the transparency laws; and WHEREAS, requiring the state to reimburse local governments for compliance costs with these laws does not encourage local governments to take steps to reduce their compliance costs, such as through proactive transparency procedures; and WHEREAS, California Proposition 42 on the June 2014 ballot would secure the California Public Records Act and the Ralph M. Brown Act in the State Constitution and relieve the State from paying for local governments' costs of compliance with these open government laws; now, therefore, be it RESOLVED: That the Oakland City Council hereby endorses Proposition 42. https://oakland.legistar.com/LegislationDetail.aspx?ID=1739719&GUID=98A2B36… More on the law... - League of Women Voters: http://www.smartvoter.org/2014/06/03/ca/state/prop/42/ - EFF (Vote Yes): https://www.eff.org/deeplinks/2014/05/california-voters-check-yes-42 - Pando Daily's analysis (insightful on the implications): http://pando.com/2014/05/02/oh-the-things-prop-42-could-do-for-the-open-gov… - California Legislative Analyst's Office (cities have to pay for their own compliance, a few $10s of millions statewide): http://www.lao.ca.gov/ballot/2014/prop-42-062014.aspx

11 years, 11 months

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Meeting Notes 5/21

by Jenny Ryan

-----BEGIN PGP SIGNED MESSAGE----- Hash: SHA1 Hey sudoers! Meeting notes from tonight archived at https://sudoroom.org/wiki/Meeting_Notes_2014-05-21 - -jnny -----BEGIN PGP SIGNATURE----- Version: GnuPG v1.4.14 (GNU/Linux) Comment: Using GnuPG with Thunderbird - http://www.enigmail.net/ iQEcBAEBAgAGBQJTfZXeAAoJEHTWWpBUSeDhiQQH/jAPd3BxD2Mp6cNgBBFTucBb i2LBFrPYVvEn42zUDJwGMG/D6fTZ3sq5RIHdZIaHCR7+VUn8ofHZq5zpJnEgN6Od Hqe0pTo0HMkCwDT4amh27X+8C4gSCRHJ7t8FBlJgxmAU3mGeCmVU/y6D3flZaekS oC8RHztSsav6bToK/2ZdwZOM19tRyy14YXwZ9U5xCCS+FivCSHKNAyDMeQPdRTkB 56WoE9TZFTjHA7ahSOjEa1t4oh4UHlz1Uj71sWwIVg46rTRFkU/0Imyx/mRUUx2H k9RnfdyzaCu8kJNRrqdkx1xg9wfP+C2s+h62Kv2z259iZ5Rvh7adtZ6h53ba+LQ= =slLs -----END PGP SIGNATURE-----

11 years, 11 months

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Fwd: [sfchalkboard] looking for open-web enthusiasts and programmers

by Vicky Knox

I don't know who these people are (do you?), but the project seems interesting. If you'd like to learn more, please email me privately for their contact info. If you'd like, please share with the list what you find out. :] ---------- Forwarded message ---------- From: [redacted] Date: 2014-05-21 21:08 GMT-07:00 Subject: [sfchalkboard] looking for open-web enthusiasts and programmers To: sfchalkboard at lists.riseup.net Hi All We are looking for some skilled freelance programmers to help out on a project for the next couple of months, with the possibility of extension. We received a grant to create a collaborative web platform to support open/participatory data, and digital story-telling centered around water crisis. The idea is to develop a web resource, combining government and activist-science datasets that both publicizes issues of water contamination and serves to build resilience and political change on these issues. The content of the website will be generated through our community organizing and community-based participatory research. We are looking for self-driven folks who have worked in some of following - jekyll, angular.js, html5, node.js, python, - or are generally experienced at web development and data visualization. There are currently two people working on the tech development side of the project and we are expecting whoever joins to work collaboratively and divide tasks with them. Because we are a new organization and working on a starting budget we are looking for people who are interested in the project because they support open data and the community nature of the project. We are able to pay stipends and compensation is negotiable depending on experience. Feel free to contact me if you have any questions about the job or project. If interested, please send a resume and some examples of projects you have completed to [ask Vicky for contact info]

11 years, 11 months

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The Omni

by batkid＠gmx.com

Where will Timon live if Sudoroom moves to Temescal?

11 years, 11 months

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The Omni

by batkid＠gmx.com

Where will Timon live if Sudoroom moves to Temescal?

11 years, 11 months

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New sudoroom site

by Romy Snowyla

It kicks ass! It's awesome Sent from my iPhone

11 years, 11 months

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Re: [sudo-discuss] Almost at $500 on Gittip!

by Somebody

I checked about 40mins ago when showing a friend how people can help. :) Also, yesterday afternoon I mentioned to a Sudo member and he also got excited and said will put 20 weekly. I am wondering if he did. Makes me happy too! :) Yar <yardenack(a)gmail.com> wrote: >You guys, if you haven't noticed by now, the Gittip is at $485.77 > >That means we are making more money than we spend, and we are very >close to covering the costs of our newer bigger future space as well. > >This makes me so happy. > >https://www.gittip.com/sudoroom/ >https://sudoroom.org/wiki/Gittip >_______________________________________________ >sudo-discuss mailing list >sudo-discuss(a)lists.sudoroom.org >https://lists.sudoroom.org/listinfo/sudo-discuss

11 years, 11 months

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WOSP – City of Oakland’s Plan for Gentrification: A Target For Anti-Displacement Activity : Indybay

by Romy Snowyla

http://www.indybay.org/newsitems/2014/04/18/18754399.php WOSP – City of Oakland’s Plan for Gentrification: A Target For Anti-Displacement Activity : Indybay Advertisement for Public Release of WOSP in Feb. 2014 March 29, 2014 Snapshot of the State and Capital in the Bay Area If the Bay Area’s economy was compared to every other national economy in the world, it would be the 19th largest. The Bay has the highest GDP per capita in the entire United States, and even outpaces London and Singapore. It captures 40% of the entire flow of venture capital in the US (p11), which constitutes a higher amount of capital than that captured during the dot.com boom. While the Bay accounts for only 2.4% of the total jobs in the US, it has 12% of the computer & electronics manufacturing, 10.3% of software development, and 8.3% of internet related jobs (p13.) Seven of the top 10 social media companies are here – Google, Facebook, Yahoo, Twitter, Linkedin, Zynga, and Yelp. In short, the Bay is home to one of the highest concentrations of capital in the world and mapping out the composition of capital is key for us to situate ourselves as we continue to engage in class combat. (Footnote #1) The regional state is well aware of its place within the world economy. Over the past years, city politicians from the greater Bay Area have come together to generate a 30 year strategy about how to restructure the region’s housing, employment, and transportation structures. Plan Bay Area (PBA) was developed by the Association of Bay Area Governments (ABAG) to carry out the tasks of determining how the state can support and facilitate the accumulation of capital throughout the region. In order to grease the wheels of the local capitalist economy, the PBA aims to redevelop housing and transit throughout the Bay; New units are set to be built, new transportation “hubs” developed, and both of these projects are to be coordinated across single cities and the bay area as a whole. PBA aims to align the various metropolitan areas of the Bay in their development of housing to match projected increases in employment. Internet, computer and electronics manufacturing, along with professional, scientific and technical services are accounting for some of the largest contributors to job creation here. PBA states that between early 2011 and late 2013 the Bay Area added more than 200,000 jobs, an increase of 7.5 percent that is well above the state’s average of 4.5%. PBA is projecting that this area will continue to outpace the rest of California and the US in its share of job growth due to the heavy concentration of tech related industries which forms part of the economic base of Bay Area political economy. (Footnote#2) West Oakland Specific Plan – One Part of Capital/State’s Total Plan “Opportunity Sites” We find ourselves in a city that’s clearly at the crosshairs of the system’s plans for intentional development and displacement: highly concentrated capital in the Bay Area and projections of millions of jobs being created in the next 10 years; a strategic plan by city politicians across the Bay to house these new high wage workers within its multiple cities; and the ongoing displacement of low wage workers and unemployed people. This is the situation Oakland Mayor Jean Quan references when she states that she’s seeking to bring in 10,000 new residents to Oakland while saying nothing about keeping long term residents and working class people in Oakland. The city of Oakland has developed a number of “Specific Plans” for the Coliseum, Lake Merritt and West Oakland in order to smoothly facilitate and attract investment by retail and tech companies, develop new housing units, and restructure the local transportation systems. The West Oakland Specific Plan, WOSP (really Jean Quan?!), is one local example of the city’s plan for carrying out this program of urban capitalist development (footnote #3). Emeryville part 2? The West Oakland Specific Plan is the City of Oakland’s plan to help developers and incoming high wage populations (both different types of gentrifiers – see footnote #4) speed up the accumulation of capital in Oakland. It essentially acts as a one stop shop for financial and retail capitalists to invest in West Oakland without having to go through the “nuisance” of making Environmental Impact Reports – EIRs – or dealing with zoning regulations. Instead of having new developments require zoning, and environmental impact regulations, the WOSP does it all for them and therefore saves money for the developers, retail chains, and financial interests seeking to build in and make massive profits in West Oakland. It is the state facilitating the accumulation of capital and dispossessing long term, and historically black, residents in the process by bringing in new investment that will increase property values while doing nothing to keep rents for existing residents from going up. The WOSP highlights four “Opportunity Sites” as the specific areas of West Oakland to be developed. The Four areas are the Mandela/West Grand area, the San Pablo corridor, the area around the BART station on 7th Street and the area next to the Port of Oakland around 3rd Street. These “Opportunity Sites” are determined to be the specific places where transit, new housing, light industrial and retail outlets will be developed. In order to “revitalize” these areas, the architects of WOSP have identified various barriers to development such as “graffiti,” “homeless encampments,” “crime of all types,” and “blight.” In the eyes of the architects of WOSP, once the barriers to development are gone there will be a flourishing of “new growth.” Right . . . What does this growth look like? A glance at the video accompanying the presentation of the WOSP to the Oakland Planning Commission featured the familiar architecture and spatial layout of Emeryville mixed in with your typical Whole Foods store. The development that’s presented is about attracting an influx of capital investment – retail, industrial, and high wage residents – and transforming West Oakland into a center of commerce for a new set of residents. New growth is about raising property values and attracting new residents and businesses, not improving the situations of those who already live there. But the planners who put WOSP together would disagree. They are quick to point out that they have “Chapter 9,” a section of the report that addresses equity and social justice issues. This is where they explicitly state that they hope to mitigate the “impact of neighborhood change and displacement on longstanding residents and businesses” (WOSP 9-1.) However, what one finds in Chapter 9 is little more than an inventory of existing city agencies and non-profit organizations that provide services to working class people. Rather than focusing on the needs of long-term and working class residents, WOSP is re-writing the rules for developers and financial capital to ease their access the city by re-writing the zoning regulations and providing them with a pre-packaged Environmental Impact Report. All that’s provided to working class people and renters in West Oakland is a list of the declining base of social service programs that already exist. Strategic Orientations for Fighting WOSP We seek the defeat of the WOSP in all its forms. Given the multiple challenges facing West Oakland, the burgeoning national and international debates around the hyper-gentrification of the Bay Area, and the ways in which the West Oakland Specific Plan is being promoted, we recognize the urgent need for a radical critique and effective action against gentrification and displacement. However, given these circumstances, we also recognize that simply being “anti-development” is not the most effective strategy, nor is it adequate to addressing the structural and conjunctural problems in West Oakland that have both shaped adverse conditions for local residents and made it a ripe ground for gentrification. Our orientation towards this struggle is built around the following core strategic goals: Reframing the Discussion About Development: We want to re-frame the discussion about gentrification and improvements to neighborhoods. The city and investors want to convince us that they know what’s best for West Oakland, and that they can make the type of improvements that residents really want. The truth is that West Oakland has been devastated by decades of economic and racial exclusion – for instance, the creation of the West Oakland BART station destroyed 7th Street as a center of culture, black owned businesses, and centralized location for community interaction; the 980 freeway cut off West Oakland from downtown so that white city officials could distance themselves from black “blighted” neighborhoods in the 1970s; the creation of the Post Office on 7th street bulldozed three blocks of residential housing with no relocation support for residents. Residents have real desires and needs for their community to be better served, and “no improvement” is not a viable option as an alternative to gentrification. However, though we do want improvements, we don’t want the type of “improvements” that the city and its developer allies seek to impose on us. The development plans of the city and capitalist real estate developers are NOT the way to create safer, more vibrant, and economically dynamic neighborhoods. (Footnote #5) Gentrification as a Question of Power: Many people in West Oakland want development, so the question isn’t so much do we want improvements or not. The question should be: who gets to benefit and make use of the developments? Is it going to be long term black, latino residents and working class people, or middle class, often white, newcomers who landlords and developers cater to in order to accumulate high rents. Long term residents want development like well serviced and fully funded schools and parks, fixed roads, improved plumbing, clean air, and access to affordable healthy foods, while developers want development that looks like biotech campuses, an increased police presence, and cafes that sell expensive coffee. Some of the questions we seek to put out there are: On whose terms will urban development proceed? Who decides what is implemented and where? Who benefits from urban development? Community Control over Community Development: If gentrification and urban development is an issue of power, therefore, we argue that the only way towards a positive outcome in West Oakland is for the people themselves to take control of the redevelopment process. ‘Community input’ in an otherwise top-down, technocratic planning process has proven to be a useless endeavor – mere lip service to inclusivity and equity. The real needs of the poor, black and brown and working-class communities in West Oakland have either been ignored, or worse, twisted and used to justify the aggressive neoliberal development strategies put forward by WOSP. By invoking the classic Black Panther slogan of ‘community control,’ we are also recognizing the need for a strategy that is locally rooted in Oakland’s Black proletarian constituency and its historical memory of struggle; one that emphasizes and prioritizes the material needs and political empowerment of the most oppressed sectors of urban society. (Footnote #6) Our on-the-ground strategy is to mobilize activists and community members on two fronts: Kill the WOSP: We seek to build a strong, vocal force of opposition to the West Oakland Specific Plan by staging interventions at all city planning meetings, developing and presenting a clear and coherent critique of the Plan at every point in the approval process. The mass displacement and “hyper-gentrification” of San Francisco has given us the opportunity to show what this new mode of urban development looks like, and why it must be stopped: “West Oakland Will NOT Be the Next San Francisco!” The immediate goal is to defeat or delay the final vote on WOSP’s Draft Plan and EIR. We’ve approached this goal thus far by organizing small, but vocal, interventions at the presentation of the WOSP to the city Planning Commission and the Parks and Recreation Commission. A People’s Plan for West Oakland: As an alternative to capitalist visions of urban development, we plan to deeply engage communities in organization and dialogue towards articulating their own vision of the kind of city they want to live and work in. Inspired by urban struggles across the world, we are attempting to facilitate the organization and empowerment of residents to create urban space themselves; to foster the imagination and social power capable of asserting the power to shape the city according to the needs, wants, and rhythms of their everyday lives. This is a longer-term community planning process that will hopefully be realized in a radical, innovative, and concrete strategy for West Oakland’s redevelopment. (Footnote #6) ————— Footnotes: #1: All statistics and information in this paragraph drawn from the “Bay Area Job Growth to 2040” document prepared for the Association of Bay Area Governments – http://www.onebayarea.org/pdf/3-9-12/CCSCE_Bay_Area_Job_Growth_to_2040.pdf #2: All information about Plan Bay Area taken from their “Draft Forecast of Jobs, Population, and Housing” document – http://onebayarea.org/pdf/Draft_Plan_Bay_Area/Draft_PBA_Forecast_of_Jobs_Po… #3: By “urban capitalist development” we refer to the ways in which city policies and programs are directed toward the benefit of businesses that engage in retail, financial, and real-estate growth. Cities in the Bay Area are strategic sites for businesses to invest in because higher wage workers are moving here in order to work at tech companies in Silicon Valley and San Francisco. This facilitates the creation of a base of consumers who buy expensive commodities (coffee, clothes, condos, cupcakes, etc) and pay higher rents. All of this helps businesses in the city generate flows of money, which then provides the city with a higher sales tax and residential tax base, hence the “urban” in capitalist development. The city deals with its declining budget from the state by welcoming wealthier residents, rather than fighting banks, ports, developers and corporations for higher tax rates that could fund services for working class people. #4: By “gentrifiers” we refer to three groups: a.) the capitalist developers who flip houses, redevelop properties, build condos, and rent/sell their properties to high waged workers and wealthy people; b.) the state bureaucrats such as city planners and other planning agents who produce documents such as WOSP in order to attract capital to the city, as well as passing racist laws and zoning regulations; and c.) the individuals whose high wages allow them to pay higher rents and in an overall sense benefit from redevelopment projects such as these. This third group, the individual gentrifiers, is controversial because it is argued that these people do not accumulate capital in the same way that private developers do. While this is true, we still refer to them as gentrifiers because of the problematic role that they play once they move into a neighborhood. Some issues associated with high wage workers moving into neighborhoods such as West Oakland involve calling and collaborating with the police on a more frequent basis than long-term residents and organizing private security firms to patrol neighborhoods. Additionally, many of these “individual” gentrifiers also are/become petty-bourgeois business owners of high priced organic food shops, cafes, and clothing boutiques. We recognize the challenge of using gentrifier as a term because it encompasses such a wide range of people and lacks specificity, while also seeing the value of its accessibility. Throughout this essay we’ve attempted to refer to specific groups, but we still retain use of gentrifier term because of its wide use. #5: We completely acknowledge that there are many different sets of people who compose any community. Our understanding of the needs and desires of residents comes from our experiences working alongside long-term residents, organizing around housing issues, working with young people in the community, and researching the WOSP and its background alongside people whose lives are directly affected by the plan. Putting forward the “needs” of West Oakland as a whole is an ongoing project that many are already engaged in and that we seek to support. #6: When we say “community control” and “people’s plan” we refer to processes where working class and black/brown residents, unemployed people, and youth put out their visions of how the community should be changed. Historically, terms like “community” and “the people” have been used in ways that obscure and diminish class differences within a given set of people, and have also been used in ways that facilitate capitalist divisions. This has meant that proletarian goals and objectives have been subsumed into middle class and capitalist projects – aka, populism. However, we choose to use these terms because they also signify bottom-up, working class and unemployed people’s power and agency as opposed to top-down state, developer plans for reorganizing the city. Sent from my iPhone

11 years, 11 months

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hard reboot

by Marc Juul

The power to all of sudo room was turned off and on again at the circuit breaker tonight between 4 and 5 am. This was done by am obviously drunk Timon. I don't know why he was flicking switches in the circuit breaker box. He apologized and claimed to not know that any of the circuit breakers were related to sudo room. I told him that he'd just caused all of our infrastructure to hard reset. He became agitated and started complaining that I was staying on the topic after he had already explained himself. I then asked him to leave the common space. He refused, became very agitated, claimed a legal right to be in the common space and among other things requested that I leave his vicinity. I felt threatened by his behavior. Most of the sudo room infrastructure seemed to recover gracefully from the hard reboot. The internet connection did not come back up automatically, but after a couple of reboots of the DSL modem the connection was back. -- marc/juul

11 years, 11 months

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