[sudo-discuss] membership reboot?

[Tony Barreca]

>> While I was inspired by their hosting Oakland Data Day

For the record, Oakland Data Day WAS NOT hosted by The Hub.  It was
organized and administered by OpenOakland, the Code for America brigade in
our fair city.  The Hub was merely the venue we could get, and they were
gracious enough to provide it.

I was there as an OO volunteer that day, and for the record, found The Hub
staff more than pleasant.  Indeed, they were thoroughly supportive and
delightful to work with.  Of course, these folks were not from The Hub;s
hierarchy, and your mileage may vary.



On Mon, Mar 24, 2014 at 8:55 PM, Yar <yardenack at gmail.com> wrote:

> On Fri, Mar 14, 2014 at 8:11 PM, Danny Spitzberg <stationaery at gmail.com>
> wrote:
> > I'm currently renewing my HUB membership (already
> > 3 years in, a really open-minded organizer is has their community
> engagement
> > role) and was prompted to click agree/disagree with the following:
> >
> > [snip]
> >
> > So, my question: has there been any discussion around membership
> > recruitment/ retention/ rebooting?
>
> I added this to our meeting agenda on a whim. Most of the discussion
> was me being bitter about their co-option of language. Hol had the
> quote of the night: "they're ctrl-v-ing the hell out of us", referring
> to the Kopimist cut-and-paste mantra.
>
> I'd always been skeptical of them. Their fundraiser got 100k in one
> night, and they charge $400/month for their co-working space. They
> have paid positions, and their leadership appears hierarchical and
> opaque. For example, there is no mailing list, only a glitzy
> "newsletter". While I was inspired by their hosting Oakland Data Day,
> I felt most of the value came from volunteer attendees. In other
> words, where is that money going?
>
> This ridiculous video didn't help me take the "impact hub" concept
> seriously: http://vimeo.com/35373512
>
> Put simply, Sudoroom is a grassroots organization and always will be.
> Our ultimate goal is to serve our communities. I believe the HUB's
> ultimate goal is to extract rent from our communities.
>
> After reading on Oakland Wiki yesterday that their building is owned
> by Signature, the same developers behind Brooklyn Basin, I believe all
> hypothetical good faith I had in that project has vanished. It's
> marketing, marketing, marketing. You could argue the HUB is not their
> landlord, but then why are they naming their new building complex "The
> Hive"? It turns out this "hive" also includes the 5 story condo
> building a block from Sudo that has literally had a "now selling" sign
> since we moved in two years ago. This is absolutely a collaboration
> between speculators and gentrifiers in my mind, and I think it is
> extremely gross and fucked up.
>
> To be honest, I think we'd be very wise as an organization to
> explicitly distance ourselves from these kinds of projects.
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-- 
Tony Barreca
LinkedIn: http://www.linkedin.com/in/tonybarreca
Skype: tonybarreca
Twitter: tbarreca
Mobile: (510) 710-5864
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