(shakes head, sighs)
I've said it before and I'll say it again...in most cases,
putting the onus of personal safety on a neighborhood is
totally missing the point that YOU ARE RESPONSIBLE FOR
YOUR OWN SAFETY, full stop. Saying that you are
(relatively) more or less safe depending on where you are
is...is...well, it's wrong thinking on so many levels that
I don't even know where to begin.
Feel free to disagree with me, but when I hear/read
discussions about this based around "how safe is so-and-so
compared to such-and-such area" I think "Wow, if that isn't
privilege/entitlement/self-absorption then I don't know what
is." Not saying that any of you are, but I'm just saying. I
like and respect my sudo peoples...a lot. That's why I'm
pointing this out. I don't want anyone to be lulled into a
false sense of security/anxiety by thinking that just
because you're in one area bad shit is less prone to happen
to you, or vice versa. It's on all of us to be aware of
what's going on around us and to be prepared to deal with
whatever situations may come our way, alone or otherwise.
Good Samaritans notwithstanding, the cops are...well, the
odds of them being there when you "need" them (I personally
don't) are next to nil, and they only seem to make things
complicated after the fact.
What we should be focused on is locating an affordable
space that meets the needs of BAPS/sudo/CCL.
Sorry if I seem a little impatient but I've seen too many
important discussions get derailed like this, and right now
I think this is pretty high on our list of immediate
concerns.
And again, If anyone wants to straighten me out on this
issue I'm all ears/eyes.
Respectfully,
-chrisbee
On Tue, Nov 26, 2013 at 7:51 PM, Sonja Trauss
<sonja.trauss@gmail.com>
wrote:
Oh man I'm I total idiot, I just realized where 8th and
Alice is - I saw "8th st" and "near BART" and thought
you were talking about w Oakland BART.
On Tuesday, November 26, 2013, Pete Forsyth
wrote:
Sonja, given that -- as you say
-- West Oakland is "pretty mixed" racially
and culturally, what is it that leads you to
conclude that Amber was talking about black
people, and commenting on race?
Pete
On Tue, Nov 26, 2013 at 10:13 AM, Sonja
Trauss
<sonja.trauss@gmail.com>
wrote:
Yeah you need to
give black people more credit. Did you
know, some of them like coffee shops
also? some of them can read? Some of
them have computers? Some of them might
become sudo members? Black people are
pretty similar to white people and like
lots of the same things!!! Wow.
In any case w. O. Is pretty mixed.
There are lots burners and anarchists
there that would like sudo room too.
My roommate Randall will be there
every day if you move to 8th and
Alice.
Listen if anyone on this list is
actually worried about the harmful
effects of gentrification, I'm happy
to brainstorm how to accomplish these
two specific goals:
Under no circumstances should the
west Oakland housing projects move or
be converted. (This will not be a real
concern for 25 years, but still)
Make new building in w o very very easy.
The main attractive feature of w O is
cheapness of rent. We still have plenty
of empty space. There is no reason that
supply tightness should cause rents to
rise for 50 more years SO LONG AS ANTI
GENTRIFICATION concerns DONT
PREVENT NEW BUILDING.
On Tuesday, November 26, 2013,
Pete Forsyth wrote:
Everybody has
different views on
gentrification. But
speaking for myself, the
kind that bothers me is
the high-security condos
with on-site parking where
rich people get cheap real
estate and then have zero
incentive or inclination
to engage with their
neighbors. They drive to
work, drive to Whole
Foods, and in between sit
behind bars on their
balconies while their
neighbors push shopping
carts by their
fortresslike front doors
to the recycling center.
Sudo Room *exists* to
build community. It may
not build the kind of
community that everybody
wants to participate
in, but it does offer
opportunities that don't
exist absent a hacker
space. It's hard for me
to imagine Sudo Room
doing damage to its
neighborhood, and even
if something unexpected
happened, I think its
community would act
quickly to correct the
problem.
Pete
On Tue, Nov 26, 2013
at 8:45 AM,
AnimationAmber .
<amberyadaanimation@gmail.com>
wrote:
It
should be noted that
aiming for a space
in a
"less-gentrified"
neighborhood does
overlook the
possibility that
Sudo's presence
would have a
gentrifying effect.
Thoughts?
-amber
Matt,
Jenny and
myself went
and looked at
another space
that could
potentially be
a new sudo
space.
We've started
gathering
information
about it here:
My
personal
feeling about
the space is:
This is
an awesome
space with
lots of
natural light.
It addresses
two of the
major concerns
raised about
The Omni in
being two
blocks from
BART in a
neighborhood
that
seems/feels
safer than the
area around
MacArthur
BART, and in
being located
in a less
gentrified
neighborhood.
The one
drawback in
comparing it
to the current
space and The
Omni is the
lack of a big
separate
common area
for events. It
is _very_
similar to
Noisebridge in
almost every
way.