Meeting Notes 2015-02-25

attendees

Icebreaker question: name a place you're looking to travel to, and why

• remote yar, all by herself ... at first but not anymore
• you are not alone! -jenny
• the big anthropomorphic void where our money should be
• sam - camp tipsy
• liz - evans paganland
• david - finish sailing around the world
• shawn - east africa, ethiopia
• nic - zardeen(?)
• moose - new hampshire
• jenny - also east africa, someday!
• remote april - nashville and new orleans

new members

• moose applied two weeks ago, returning to new hampshire to start a space there

finances

• Down to $471.75/wk :(
• Internet credit union bank acct: $2,867.72
• Balance after paying March rent: $867.72

Omni Proposal: PHAT BEETS to join the Omni

Brought by La Commune on behalf of Phat Beets, 2/19,2015 The mission of Phat Beets Produce is to connect small farmers of color to urban communities through the creation of farmers markets, school produce stands, youth market gardens, csa’s, and community kitchens. Phat Beets Produce operates 2 farmers markets, a youth program, a double food stamp program, a youth business, and a small healthy food business incubation program. We also provide support and capacity building for the Self Help Hunger Program, The North Oakland Restorative Justice Council, and the Edible Parks Task Force. A majority of the collectives work is volunteer, with a few paid staff. In addition we run a youth program and youth business, so we would be able to bring more youth from the surrounding neighborhood into the space. Phat Beets Produce is looking for a small secure 1-­2 room office space for our 7 member food justice collective in North Oakland. In addition to an office space we are looking for 100 sq feet of storage for our farmers market equipment and small commercial refrigerator (we are currently collaborating with Helen from Food not Bombs on the OMNI walk in construction). We are able to pay upto $750 per month and provide targeted sweat equity support for political education events at the OMNI and committees pertaining to the walk­in fridges, commercial kitchen, and youth related activism. Our representatives are Toveo Hill and max cadji. We can be reached at market@phatbeetsproduce.org

discussion

• One of the first groups we showed the space to
• yar wonders where this office space is supposed to materialize. really tired of groups asking generically for unspecified office space. where?? who is supposed to solve this problem for the applicant? it happens every time, they expect someone else to figure it out for them.
• apparently they may be more flexible than indicated above, and may only require desk space: 2-3 desks, locking file cabinet somewhere
• what about desks in the front room of the old TIL office / Meetspace?
• or desks along the current open library area in the basement (north side of north wall of cluster of basement offices)
• we should build piblic terminals in that space anyways
• maybe we should create "shared office" infrastructure in anticipation of the bajillion requests for office space we get. and say "take it or leave it"
  • +1, but where?
  • the northwest corner of the basement could work
    • NW corner of basement.. complex there is plumbing & darkroom supposedta go there
    • i thought black hole wanted the raised area next to the kitchen?
    • its complicated..depends on who goes where elsewhere in the basement..everything depends on everything else kinda, BH is in dialogue with other basement groups around this (ie they are slowly all getting into dialogue together)
      • black hole/darkroom are still being worked out

Proposal: Sudo Room provisionally consents to Phat Beets' membership application pending concretization of space needs (where exactly will they go?) and Omni's ability to fulfill of those needs. Also clarification of whether $750 is a total amount incl. expenses, or if they are able to also pay expenses in addition to base rent.

• 9 consenso, remotes?

BAPS money proposal

Proposal from the Bay Area Public School to lower our monthly payment to the Omni Commons Thursday, February 19, 2015 The Bay Area Public School's central purpose is and has always been to provide a venue for free, learner-directed classes on as wide a range of topics as people can think up. We take the idea of "free" very seriously, and so we've created an environment that goes beyond being nominally free of charge and seeks to prefigure a learning community beyond financial pressures, with the attendant guilt and shame that can come along with them. To this end, it's been a longstanding practice that no one will pass the hat or otherwise solicit funds at any of our classes or public events. Alongside that, we've maintained a policy of non-incorporation. Individuals associated with us have procured grants and donated to BAPS, but our central goal has been the creation of a de-centered group of community supporters. These practices continue to be debated, challenged, and revised. Nonetheless, the reality is that they have put certain constraints on the sort of fundraising we do, and despite our continuing efforts and a significant cadre of monthly supporters, we are currently unable to meet the financial obligations to the Omni that we've committed to. In an effort to be transparent about what share of the Omni's rent and expenses we can truly be responsible for, we propose that BAPS' financial obligation be reduced to $1,000 per month. The caveat to this is that we intend to donate any funds that we raise that exceed $1,000 (beyond a relatively small working balance in our bank account) to the Omni to help ensure its expenses are met. Some months this may be $0; others it may be quite a bit more. We will seek advice from the Finance Working Group about which of our expenses are the most important to pay. Our fundraising committee continues to work to increase the number of donations we receive each month, and we hope that we'll consistently be able to increase our share over time.

discussion

• yar is in support as omni has always been based on need and ability. we'll figure it out together. not interested in policing groups' policies about this even if i disagree with them.
• current renewed discussion of baps' relationship to money, has up til now been largely self-imposed constraints on raising money
• much of baps' core organizing energy now going into omni
• april: riseup sends a message to its list once every month or two being very explicit about financial needs. there's ways to hedge your language to stay true
• Baps has no exclusive space, although it has ultimate priority in two rooms.
• jenny: notes the ultimate scope of this project is to provide resources to those truly without. if this sets a precedent for other collectives reducing their rent, the scope gets lost, the hypocrisy gets embedded.
• more financial transparency, thermometer thingy on your website
• Only 4 groups are actually paying shared expenses - if every group paid shared expenses, it would be reduced to ~$250/month

Friendly amendment: 3-month time limit to reduced rent payment, then reassess 6 consenso, 4 abstentions

• • this sum includes remote-yar

new board members

• new nominations for 2015 include: leslie, april, and scott e.
• those members who have stepped down: vicky and max k.
• we need the current list of board members to be finalized so that we can move forward down the road of federal tax exempt status becoming
• proposed new 2015 board: Anca M, Hol G, Jenny R, Julio R, Liberty M, Marc J [treasurer], Marina K, Matt S, Romy I, Troy M, April G., Scott E., Leslie

nonresponses:

• romy, marina, scott e,

discussion

• what are the liable risks of being on the board
• what are the actual responsibilities? occasionally meeting and voting on things relating to our legal status
• what's the minimum number of board members required by law?
• should we consider having more impressive people on the board
• April will inform Naomi that we accepted her volunteer proposal to step down if we need an odd number

Consense on April, Scott and Leslie? yes approved. 9 consenso, 2 abstain

New Proposal==: Reducing Quorum

Reducing our quorum to 7 members

• Sam: Better to encourage more people to participate
• Liz: 7 seems awfully low, not comfortable with this proposal.