Meeting Notes 2015-03-25

Sudoroom mtg - Wednesday March 25, 2015

Attendees

Ice breaker: something crazy you did this week.

• Noemie interviewed Gerald
• Niko saw a cinderella carriage on broadway
• Nik: nothing crazy, nothing out of the norm
• Leslie: ray tracing is good. Thatwas the most exciting thing I discovered this week.
• Niki: I spent a whole day not at the omni.
• David: Two funny things happened. I watched Oliver and Brian test the sound in the ballroom with electronic ears.
• Egon: the most exciting thing. I dropped a car battery on my foot and broke two toes.
• Matt: My friend goes to art school, I went with him and I saw art school students for a day. There were crazy drawings of twins being scared.
• Jenny: Nothing crazy, expect playing in the dirt. And I didn't spend much time on my computer.
• yar: idk, nothing really. it's awesome.
• jake: showed up late to two meetings and still talked a lot

Announcements

• We need to throw a fundraising party
• Matt stands up and goes under the stairs and pulls out a bike while he mumbles things. Then: "it's not exactly a good idea to sell it, it's good if people  want to borrow it. It's very sudo room." In a nutshell: This is a sudo bike, ask me if you want to use it. Otherwise they disappear.
• yar: Should we call it the Matt bike?
• I'm open to a better system!
• DK: my friend Renee has a cargo bike that we could use.
  • maybe FNB or phat beets wants it
• On sunday there was an event called don't spy on me. They split the proceeds with sudo room!
• Rob, Matt and Luis were setting up a sound system. don't touch them so we can have parties with an amp already attached to them. 
• jenny: http://sudo  the interface for our label printing system! We can start labeling things more clearly! the label maker itself is underneath the servers.

Finances

• $492.52/wk on Gratipay
• $862.76 in our bank account, haven't received a deposit from Gratipay since 2/20
  • hopefully will be fixed tomorrow
• maybe increase minimum membership dues?

Omni Proposals

Omni Yoga to steward Disco Room

• (Can someone link to this proposal or copypaste the email? Can't find..)

we interface with all users/renters of the disco room  (to make sure they have insurance or get on our plan as additional insured)

therefore we handle booking for the disco room

a portion (to be determined, sliding scale, situational dependent) of proceeds/fees go to the insurance fund

we keep the room clean, and pursue cleaning deposit deductions

get insurance as a collective UA!

Would be good to get this in a more formalish proposal format, to consensus list & on wiki http://omnicommons.org/wiki/Proposals

discussion

• Figure what portion of the income would go to insurance. 
• This speaks to people who do body movement stuff. For stuff like movies there is no implication. Want to make sure that the room stays open for everyone.
• so is "all users/renters" really the right language here?
• confuses financial transactions, 
• niki: need more self determination and less bureaucratic infrastructure

• • Rachel: agrees, we should change the language to "body-movement" rather than usrs/renters

& will ask niki what she means & sees this instantly getting other people involved in helping with omni-wide issues and tasks, e.g. Melissa asked after that OY meeting to be introduced to booking and commons

Black Hole labspace

https://omnicommons.org/wiki/Black_Hole_Collective_Lab

discussion

• someone whispers "that's bullshit" under their breath
  • Lol, that was me, but I said it because of something irrelevant/unimportant about the proposal! No harm, no foul! - Matt ;)
• there's lots of proposals to do things with those basement rooms
• that's a lot of space for $400
• they have 16 members right now
• they're also paying thousands upfront for ventilation and plumbing work
• not convinced that resisting the obsolescence of technology is at all the kind of resistance Omni is about
  • when checking the spelling of the word "obsolescence" i found this image
  • should look at it in terms of art, not technology
  • community of radicals even if they're not visible in the omni. the people are very involved in east bay politics, filming protests and stuff. speakers from RCA & church came via black hole stuff. they often are screening films about radical politics for the public.
  • they're super committed to making it a public space that anyone can use. even more than material print machine. their plan is fully for the community.\
  • they haven't really been here because they've been working on their stuff all the time
• the space they asked for seems pretty small for what they want to do. seems like a lot of wasted space in the basement. maybe the print studio could be more compact.
• matt: this is a tough proposal, been developing for a long time. my brother studied film and he says it's useless knowledge, a waste of lots of space. wrong place, wrong time, wrong price. competing with other proposals. huge commitment on our part to this group vs other potential groups who could be in this building. also, don't knock MPM, they are budding into a cool thing. also, sudoroom members have contributed SO MUCH and aren't asking for shit, so let's not act like we owe black hole people anything. no debt, no quid pro quo. questions:
  • Are BHCL interested in digitalization? yes.
  • Equipment for that? Still film visualization
  • it's for any kind of film, not just 16mm
  • are they archiving stuff here, or do they have external storage space? storing shit for the prelinger library and other places.
  • noisebridge got rid of their film lab
  • we discussed using the platform in the east hallway
    • they did want that first, but fire inspector won't like it
    • re: the historical use (misuse) of those rooms and the opportunity to finally use them right away
• they don't expect anything in return for fixing the ventilation. it was an act of love, no reciprocity needed. they've done the same thing in their last place.
• if they can move in so quickly, they can probably move out quickly too. so what's the risk of saying yes right now?
• niki: i also went into debt for art school, i'm sad that these things are not valued by society. they are still meaningful for peoples' emotional & spiritual well being. also seeing burnout happening, so reacting to proposals too critically. new people want to join and have to endure so much negativity. want to see more people in the space actively working on their projects. i love idea people but excited that these people are actively doing their life work. agreed $400/mo should be provisional. wait & see their community engagement - i wish la commune had more of that.
• yar: if someone's excited about doing something at omni we should embrace that as it happens. organically. i was paranoid about MPM at first too, but had a change of heart after omnidance left.
• matt: it's decadent as hell. so much infrastructure work.
• jake: idk who else is seeking space here, who can afford it, who's putting energy in. maybe we should ask for one month free instead of two.
• noemie: it's another enclosure. one of the last open unclaimed spaces left in omni. wish omni could be rounded off by something with a more complete mission of social justice. too bad omni music project didn't work.
• jake: wait, they want the corner space AND a library room? fuck no, that's too much space. i thought the corner space was a little cheap but no, asking for an existing room is way too much.
• nick: hypothetical group brings in 8-9k/mo. would we be skeptical of them because of their methods?
• DK: decadent? look at your damn tesla coil and robot arm. this film is allowing people to pursue art and expression. it doesn't matter what medium or tools you're using, it's about the community and the art. space concerns are legitimate but this is two projects: a wet dark room with chemicals, and an editing room with big bulky machines. they're already saving money to fix ventilation and plumbing so there's an expectation they'll pay a lot more. re: omp, I tried so hard to support that vision - it was great on paper but it didn't work out. more important that there's a harmonious use for those rooms than nothing. better to have good people in those rooms like BH and phat beets.
• jenny: too much space for too little money, and a lot of overhead next to all the other construction renovation stuff. also, i fear this turning into a white artsy hipster mall. we already have a big chunk of the basement gobbled up. would like the rest to be filled by groups that are really open and not elitist.
  • dk: bh is not just a white community. names lots of individual people who are either poc or work with poc apparently
• matt: re: decadence, it's just a lot of upfront capital.
  • yar: they already have the equipment
  • matt: i'm making a philosophical point actually and defending my use of the word "decadent". also i had to defend that robot arm in the past. i intend to use that robot arm to cut wood and build structures to be used in the real world
• robb: people come to omni to use stuff. don't see too many people using the printing press, assume it will be the same for the film lab. screenprinting is a use the community can engage with. not a graveyard for dying technologies. is the plumbing work going to be usable for something else like a bathroom if the darkroom doesn't work out?
• david: yes, definitely yes.
• nick: maybe if BH commits to financial transparency it will be easier for omni community to swallow the projected rent numbers
• nico: confusing to hear everyone calling this technology obscure or niche. i know lots of ppl in my community who do b&w film stuff. especially older people! is that just your life experience and limited knowledge? accessibility of space is something that keeps a lot of people from doing things at omni. i love somebody using that corner space, it's just a bunch of random crap right now. dangerous to give precedence to people we already know & trust, but that keeps a lot of people away who can't establish a foothold.
• egon: concerned this will be like TIL - secret backroom, opaque, idk what goes on there. want it to be something that holds public events, bring people in.
• dk: there's a cultural bias here in how people are dismissing film. capitalist mindset about productivity. this community is good people, i know they've been invisible but please trust me on this. they do want to open it up. not a cool kids club.
• jessie: as a random community member, i'd totally go to a film class. but i wonder what other cultural production could happen in all that space otherwise?
• nick: "out of date" isn't respecting all the history
• matt: you don't get it, i love printing, i just accept that it's niche. fine with the wet lab, but the problem is that editing area. i like the general purpose art room idea. it's just hard because of expensive equipment and access control.
• dk: we COULD do other things in that room. they could build all this stuff and then move into the hallway later.
• yar: maybe say yes with an understanding that we all want BH to move to the east hallway when it's ready. realistically we have more space than people around here. volunteer shortage. if we say no to them, i see these spaces sitting empty in april, may, june, july... if someone's excited about doing anything at omni, just say yes please. the rest will fall into place.

• jake reiterates friendly amendment: only one month of free rent, and only the west corner, not the library room. also i'm willing to help with plumbing
• nico: asking them to move to the east hallway after they already sunk a bunch of money into these rooms? that sucks
• yar: if it really turns out they spent a bunch of money and we feel bad about that, we could give them free rent for a year in that hallway. i don't see anyone else using that hallway for anything. we don't lose anything there.
• Niki we can ask black hole if they envision opening up these spaces to the community and if they want to be active stake holders in the community.
• Jessie: we request feedback from the commons working group about whether the basement rooms, as common spaces, could be prioritized (if not designated) for arts in general--music or other forms of art as well.
• Matt: Ask BHL if they can greatly reduce the amount of space they need to be lockable, especially for any "editing" area and for protecting expensive / rare / sensitive equipment (reduce the footprint). 

Given to BHL:

Feedback / suggestions based on SudoRoom discussion thus far. Seeking feedback from BHL about thesetopics:

• Reduce months of free rent forbuild-out from 2 months to 1 month.
• $400 is enough for the wet roomalone, need more $ for the dry room (Bunker 2) and the use of commonspace (tables in Bunker 1).
• We all (including BHL) expect thatBlack Hole Labs, in the future, at an appropriate time, in anexpedient fashion, will seek to utilize the South East hallway andstorage room in the basement, by building appropriate walls and othermodifications (with all appropriate contingencies addressed). Thiswould utilize currently (mostly) unusable space in a clever,creative, and excellent way that we hope can work for everyone. 
• We all (inclduing BHL) expect thatany investment in mold abatement, drywalling, ventilation,insulation, or other modifications to rooms in the basement(especially those made in a general-purpose fashion like adrain/sink) will be contributed by BHL, even if BHL ends up movinginto another location in the omni commons building or elsewhere.
• How do members of BHL see folks inthe community utilizing the space? Specific examples should be given,such as "person X comes to section Y of the space to do Z atcost $ with materials A, B, and C". Further, does BHL plan forthe public or folks in the community to come to full-fledged course,workshops, one-on-one instruction, do-it-yourself (DIY) usage,do-it-together (DIT) usage, open hours, 

or something else?

• How does BHL see itself as acollective of  stakeholders in the omni commons and the localcommunity?
• Perhaps informed by discussions orconclusions from the Commons Working Group, what does BHL think about(not exclusively designating), but generally prioritizing commonspaces in the basement for arts (including music, drawing/painting,and other forms of art)?
• In terms of the "dry"space, what are the precise needs that BHL has for (a) lockablespace, (b) protection for sensitive equipment, and (c) space forhanging / cutting / editing film (including descriptions of thespecific items and how often they are expected to be used)?
• Also in terms of the "dry"space, is there any way to reduce the overall footprint of thisspace?

Other comments:

• Jake is willing to help withplumbing.
• Yar suggests that if moving roomsbecomes cost-prohibitive, at the time, we are all open and availableto discuss rent credits if necessary, as appropriate.
• Some sudo room members expressedexcitement for BHL stewarding a community dark room, especiallybecause of the dual use of developing not just celluloid, but filmphotography (still image film).

Optik Allusions Tenancy Proposal

https://omnicommons.org/wiki/Optik_Allusions_Tenancy

discussion

• bottom room as locker storage for stage-related equipment
  • Jenny: great to be able to point musicians at events to the lower-level 'green room' for storing their instruments
• niki: i love opal. just want to say that. why do you want to move upstairs?
  • noemie: it's too small for 7 people. upstairs we could fit more computers and people could sit on the loft. also not sharing space with equipment storage. also, downstairs room is more suitable for stage-related stuff.
• egon: i tried to go to an opal meeting and there was no space to sit, so i agree
• nic: could you be nomadic? or share the space with other people?
  • noemie: we'd prefer not to be nomadic because of equipment and locked computers. some other people could use the space sometimes.
• jenny: it's really useful to store stuff in that room during large ballroom events. makes sense for everyone in the building.
• dk: we could improve ventilation up there by connecting to ballroom fan.
• matt: ballroom space is gonna be tight in the future. they need this room.
• dk: under the stage will be cleared out soon. structural engineer suggested drawers.
• yar: this almost got passed like sometime last year, let's just do it already.
• straw poll: who's ready to consent to this proposal right now? 9/10 sudo members.
• matt: we want more members, not tenants
• yar: can we maybe just vote? it's 10:30 and seems like we have consensus
• niki: actually no, i wouldn't be ready to say yes to them as a tenant. i thought they would be a member collective.
• yar: i don't blame you for not wanting to be a member collective because it means going to so many meetings
• niki: but that's the work! it's not fair to ask member collectives to do all the work
• yar: i'm not doing a lot right now but when i was i saw it as "i'm doing this so that others don't have to, so that someday nobody has to". diversity of tactics.
• matt: we need participation because it won't work unless you participate. [lots of words i wasn't able to record.]
• nic: [sorry i missed what he said]
• niki: can we maybe approve it with the caveat that opal intends to be a member? sooner than in the distant future? we just really need all groups to participate to survive.
• matt: alt option is to put forward a similar proposal to Omni Yoga, to prioritize that room for certain use and steward it as a commons through the Commons Working Group
• consensus on this proposal sidestepping the membership vs tenant question? CONSENSED: 7 for, 1 abstain, 0 block

More Public Terminals in the Omni

duh

Conflict Resolution

Banning wooster aka Mischa

• he is manipulative, dangerous, acts in bad faith, and will knowingly expose Sudoroom members to violent abuse. Sudoroom is not a safe space with him around.
• someone who's famous for being a troll. also a harasser who directly targeted individual members and harassed them.
• you can google him for his picture, etc.
• posed as a sudoroom founder to manipulate freenode to steal our irc channel
• worries of inciting retaliation
• let's not make decisions (or not) based on fear rather than desired outcome
• desired outcome is that this person not come around the omni
• someone's gonna have to ask them to leave anyway

• 6 members vote for him to be banned.

Discussion

• Fundraiser party

Chris B

from notes here: https://sudoroom.org/wiki/Meeting_Notes_2014-12-17 "1. Chris B's access to Omni Commons is revoked (we expect any keys to be returned). 2. Chris B's membership to the Sudo Room is revoked. 3. Chris B is not welcome in the Omni Commons at any time. 4. Negotiation to restore these privileges to access resources of the Omni Commons and Sudo Room communities can only begin (merely start) after Chris B has demonstrated he has solid, persistent, long-term housing outside of the Omni Commons, to ensure Chris B does not repeat current behavior. 5. The only way Chris B can restore these privileges is to re-apply for membership to the sudo room. Vote: 9 aye - 0 blok - 2 abst"