[Sudo-kids] Sudo Kids Update & Status for Next Week

Hi everyone, To catch everyone up on what's been going on, during Tuesday night's Sudo Kids, George, one of our landlords, came to the space and asked that all children under 18 leave. Yardena and others spoke with him and kept kids night going for that night, but he insisted that in the future children under 18 would no longer be allowed. His request was ostensibly based on an email (included below) sent in mid-August from Laurie (George's wife and the co-landlord of 2141 Broadway) regarding children in the space. Unfortunately, not everyone was aware of her email before this past Wednesday. While this was part of the source of the problem, the other part of the problem was that George's request (that no children be allowed in the space) was not the same as Laurie's request (that all children be accompanied by parents and that George and Laurie receive advance notice before any child-oriented events), and that George did not communicate his request in a productive way. On Wednesday we discussed what to do and a number of us drafted the below email which Matt sent to Laurie in response to her August email. We haven't yet heard back from her. So the current situation is that we must unfortunately assume that Sudo Kids is on pause until we hear back from her. We will keep everyone updated on the situation if we have any updates. And we will still have Sudo Kids outdoor chapter at my house on Sunday morning! Marina ---------- Forwarded message ---------- From: Matthew Senate <mattsenate(a)gmail.com> Date: Wed, Sep 4, 2013 at 11:26 PM Subject: [sudo-discuss] Letter sent to Laurie, one of our Landlords To: sudo-discuss <sudo-discuss(a)lists.sudoroom.org> Hey all, As a result of our meeting tonight and a discussion the on-going issue with sudo-kids, we drafted and sent this letter to Laurie. We wrote it in collaboration with folks at the space after the meeting, and sent it in do-ocratic fashion. We provide a copy below in transparency and accountability: Hi Laurie, This week George addressed a group of folks in the common area outside of Sudo Room and the Public School regarding the presence of minors in the building. His behavior was confrontational, hostile, loud, and very upsetting to many of those who were present, including some parentally-accompanied minors. There has unfortunately been a series of miscommunications about this issue, and we are dedicated foremost to resolving it amicably. First, thank you for communicating the building's policies on minors via email. Unfortunately, due to a lapse in our own internal communication, the contents of your email were not conveyed sufficiently to the relevant sudo room members before Wednesday of this week. Please understand this was a lapse in communication that has been rectified. Secondly, since early June, every Tuesday evening parent-supervised minors have attended sudo room. We provide no supervision services for minors. In fact, we provide no services to customers (we don't have customers) as we are a membership association. It was unclear that this event was specifically of any concern since it followed the requirement of supervision by parents. We are willing to meet the necessary requirements to ensure that you and George are provided with the appropriate advanced notification of any planned future sudo room events involving supervised minors and their parents. It is relevant to note that in the past we have allowed accompanied minors to be in the "Art Room" and not use common space, but in recent instances the common room has been used as well. Further, since we are interested in being as accessible as possible to different communities and demographics, we would like to clarify what opportunities there might be (through city services, insurance, waivers, etc.) for minors to be in the building in ways other than those outlined in your email. Thirdly, regarding the damage to the bathroom you discuss in your email, we understand your concerns and are sorry that it happened. We have raised awareness in hopes of preventing instances like this from happening in the future. While we are happy to take shared responsibility for ensuring the bathrooms are clean and usable, we want to communicate that we are not aware of any evidence that the minors who have been at sudo room were responsible for the damage. We fully support your desire to keep all parts of the space (including the bathrooms) vandalism-free, clean, and usable, so we have made all sudo room members aware of this incident, reinforced the expectations surrounding bathroom cleanliness, and reiterated the policy that children should not use bathrooms unaccompanied. Please let us know if you encounter any problems with the bathrooms in the future so that we can take appropriate action. However, we also ask for understanding that if there are problems with a shared space in the building, that absent specific evidence, sudo room may not have been the source of a particular problem. Finally, we would like to share with you a few of our expectations as lessees that we hope will help us continue to stay in this building that we have been very happy to rent for the last 9 months: Our Expectations: That issues with our use of common space or our use of our rented "Art Room" be conveyed in writing, with disrespectful confrontations being completely unacceptable, in any circumstances. Consistent with Sudo Room standards, that minors continue to be able to participate at Sudo Room, provided they are accompanied by parents or a legal guardian. To work together with you as we grow, which requires we be accessible to more communities and demographics. To consider options for mitigating liability through additional insurance, waivers, etc. // Matt _______________________________________________ sudo-discuss mailing list sudo-discuss(a)lists.sudoroom.org http://lists.sudoroom.org/listinfo/sudo-discuss ---------- Forwarded message ---------- From: Laurie Cooperman Rosen <Lscoop(a)comcast.net> Date: Wed, Aug 14, 2013 at 8:01 PM Subject: Children To: eddan(a)eddan.com, mattsenate(a)gmail.com, exchequer(a)sudoroom.org, poems(a)zachhouston.com Hi All- We are having big problems with the number of children in the building. We are not insured for children, and to use that space for any type of children’s program the City has stringent requirements that must be met, both in terms of physical layout/inspections and insurance. Children (under 18) should not be in the space except when accompanied by their parent(s) with advance notice to us. There should be no special programs involving children happening in the upstairs area. We are also aghast at the destruction that has been done to the restrooms by the children, and ask that all children using the bathroom be accompanied by and monitored by their parents. The stress on the restrooms in general has been huge because of the number of people in the building from The Bay Area Public School and The Sudo Room, and we ask that you start to clean the bathrooms regularly or be prepared to start to pay for the additional Janitorial time/supplies that are driving us both crazy! Also, the ADA restroom is for the disabled, and should not be used except when others are full or for a special reason. The stress being put on that room could mean that when it is really needed it may not be in working condition. Please call George if you need any clarification on these issues, and thanks in advance for cooperating with us on these matters. Laurie & George On Thu, Sep 5, 2013 at 9:38 PM, Carolyn Lunger <carolyn.lunger(a)yahoo.com>wrote;wrote: