[Sudo-kids] From our landlord & future of sudo kids

[Carolyn Lunger]

Hi all:

Giving George's recent rant and the effect it had on my daughter and all these emails from the co-owner (the whole rant about recycling/garbage, access to the public and she is still stuck on the idea that it is childcare) and finding out there is no insurance, I cannot say we will be able to return to Sudo Kids and I would not feel comfortable telling others about it unless:

1) Sudo Kids is held in a different location
2) Has some kind of liability or insurance
3) Strict rules that parents need to be involved and present at the facility

In that note, I do believe that Hackerscouts has a really good setup on how to run things for kids and working collaboratively would be a good idea to start with so that Sudo Kids won't run into future problems. I am pretty busy and not a full member of Sudo Room but willing to help Sudo Kids get back and running as I believe that this is a good thing for the kids and the community. As you can see with the amount of kids that showed up the last couple of times that this kind of community/environment/activity is wanted. 

There was yet another open lab at Hackerscouts on Sunday and it was PACKED with people. We could barely move around. I am not saying I want it exactly like Hackerscouts as my children told me that the part they like about Sudo Kids was also the down time or hang out time. They liked the unstructured aspects about it as well. However that can lead to other complications as well which is all out basic chaos with running around and such. 

Carolyn

________________________________
 From: Marina Kukso <marina.kukso at gmail.com>
To: "sudo-kids at lists.sudoroom.org" <sudo-kids at lists.sudoroom.org> 
Sent: Wednesday, September 18, 2013 4:26 PM
Subject: [Sudo-kids] From our landlord & future of sudo kids
 


hi all,

during this evening's meeting we'll be discussing how best to address laurie's last message below. as you can see, a number of issues are tied together here, including having children in the space. all of you are welcome this evening to help us come up with a solution to this situation.

additionally, while we're on pause for tuesday evenings, this is a good time to evaluate where we want to go with sudo kids. what do we envision as the future of this program? how much and what can we contribute to making it happen? what needs to happen in order for sudo kids to be a success? is once a week in the evenings a good time? how should programming be organized, etc?

i'll start:

- my bandwidth for helping organize sudo kids and being present at sudo room every tuesday night is rapidly shrinking and i'm afraid i can't take on any new obligations at this time.
- with the larger # of kids the last few times, i didn't feel that we were able to provide the kind of adult support that i'd like to see for the kinds of things that i envision sudo kids to be about: hacking, making stuff, learning, etc.
- i think that in order to move forward, an insurance/waiver situation will be necessary. it will be necessary for someone to investigate the options and then for us to figure out a way to pay for it. i can't do this right now :(
- one way to move forward would be to partner with other organizations and/or become a chapter or affiliate of a larger program. one option here would be to pursue a possible collaboration with hackerscouts (who are looking for a new place and may be open to collaboration ...i am currently not able to start conversations with those folks about this).

- finally, there is the option of getting a separate sudo kids space, whether it's one of the other rooms at 2141, or a separate space entirely. this would involve looking for locations,finding enough people to commit to paying a regular share of the rent, etc. etc. i can't take the lead on this process either.

all right, that's it for me! what do others think?

- marina



Forwarded conversation
Subject: [sudo-discuss] Fwd: Children/Security/Janitorial issues.....
------------------------

From: Matthew Senate <mattsenate at gmail.com>
Date: Wed, Sep 11, 2013 at 9:16 PM
To: sudo-discuss <sudo-discuss at lists.sudoroom.org>






---------- Forwarded message ----------
From: Laurie Cooperman Rosen <Lscoop at comcast.net>
Date: Wed, Sep 11, 2013 at 6:03 PM
Subject: RE: Children/Security/Janitorial issues.....
To: Matthew Senate <mattsenate at gmail.com>



Hi Matthew…
I think a meeting would be best because there are so many issues.  I agree that the confrontation was bad, and that George has a problem  when something hurts him deeply.  Hopefully those who know him understand that he has a huge heart, and repays kindness with kindness, but has a hard time handling any type of abuse relating to people, animals or the building, and he simply can’t control his emotions and what he says when a violent incident occurs that is uncalled for.  Accusations were not made at a particular person but there was ranting about the lack of control in the evenings and lack of responsibility/training/accountability for those using the premises that allowed this to happen, and in that he was righteous. 
The problem boils down to the security in the building.  Doors are being left open in the evening and are not being monitored. People not affiliated with the group having an event can enter, hide, and do what they want later (which only by INCREDIBLE luck has not been grand theft thus far).  We won’t be able to continue the late hours and will have to shut the building down after a certain time in the evening UNLESS we have a direct responsible person on-site that is trustworthy, has his/her own security code, and is fully conversant with the shutting down procedures and who also knows which doors should be shut (and when) throughout the entire 2141 floor during the evening.  It’s not ok for The Sudo Room (or the Public School) to leave it to the last member staying late to shut down and monitor what is happening in the building if that person is not trained and knowledgeable and does not have his/her own security code.
Sometimes people in 2141 leave the door from the office corridor to the bathrooms open when they should not.  This has never been a problem until recently, when traffic started coming in from the rear door.  In the past all traffic came in from the front door.   The person in charge should make sure that the rear door from the bathrooms into that corridor is always locked throughout the evening.
We have fixed the lock on the 22nd St. entrance so there should no longer be a reason to keep that door open during non-business hours (during business hours when certain hair stylists are there it might be kept open, because the stylists can’t use your security buzz-in system….something that should be rectified and would help building security IMMENSELY.  I have also noticed that even when not being buzzed in the elevator is always accessible…something that should not be the case).  
We are now getting calls up until as late as 3am on a fairly regular basis (one at 3am this past weekend—usually more like until 11:30 on weekdays and 12-12:30am on weekends), and it is almost at the point where we are throwing our hands up and saying “don’t send the police” at a time when it is possible that a robbery COULD be in process or the building could be open to theft in the middle of the night, because we don’t know who is in charge or who to call at that hour.  
For our part, we need to put in more cameras in a couple of places, although I will draw the line at having them in a restroom stall.  We met the gentleman who was likely the last person there the night of the awful event, and we believe that although his group was not directly responsible, he did say that nobody checked the restrooms before leaving, which should not have been the case.  For both security and for those that arrive in the morning, we are now asking that after every evening group meets that the restrooms be checked, excess trash disposed of and paper towels/toilet paper replaced as needed.  We have never been responsible for cleanup after events and since what has been happening there has been way beyond normal usage, we ask that you get together with the Public School to purchase some extra toilet paper/paper towels to keep on hand and to make sure that the restrooms are clean, stocked and ready for use when folks arrive in the a.m. 
 The person in charge for the evening (see more on that below) should be in charge of that (janitorial/security) aspect as well.  We will continue to come in late afternoons to take care of trash that builds up during the daytime.  In order for this to happen we will ask on every evening if your groups have people there after 9pm that we have the name/phone number of the person on the premises who will be closing up and whom we can contact in case of security issues.  It is possible for you (and a couple of others from The Sudo Room & Public School as designated by us) to be able to give people temporary codes for the security system if a person is trained but will not have access to the building on a regular basis.  The responsible people may give out “one time” security codes as needed, with the ability to call those codes in directly to Sonitrol (you would use your own passcode when  calling them, and then give them the name of the temporary
 person and temporary passcode) as the responsible person allowed to give out additional temporary codes.    
Also, George had me take care of the recycling on Saturday while he was dealing with the restroom incident.  We should not have to be doing that.  It took at least an hour to sort through the massive amount of glass to make sure that the insides of the bottles were cleaned out and that the plastic and glass (recyclable) was separated from the cans (which are returned for deposit).  In that mess was also a modicum of some gross garbage that found its way into the recycling.  We ask that this be done for us (glass-plastic separated, washed, into one set of plastic bags, and clean rinsed aluminum cans into another) and we will be happy to continue to haul them away, unless you prefer to haul them away yourselves—at this time the aluminum cans bring in a small amount of money after amassed for a month or two but the rest goes in our recycle can at home.   When unwashed they attract all kinds of bugs and animals which is why they need to be cleaned
 out if we are to take them.
I think that this and the other message covers all of the main issues.  There is more to discuss if a related but separate group wants to be holding some child care sessions on the premises, but I think that should be via a conversation with all parties present to address issues of permits, security, insurance and likely additional rent.
I think this is a fairly thorough response to most of the items, except the one (child care) that will require more discussion, because we don’t want to see anybody spend money for permitting or separate child care insurance until a more full understanding and agreement is made between all participating parties.  Obviously, at this point in a lot of ways it would be much easier if the Sudo Room and related parties were to expand into some additional space so that more of our costs for that space are covered and so that we can put some better security features in place and have less worry about constantly having to clear out excess furnishings, objects and garbage that do not belong in the large common space, as well as our complete inability to rent out space to unrelated parties on any regular basis with the way the space is being used.  At this point the headaches, stress, lack of sleep (for us) and stress on the building contents (i.e. walls,
 carpeting) and vulnerability of the building and its tenants are not aligned with the amount of rent received from your groups.  That is not in any way to say that we don’t support and love what your groups are doing……just that we very much would like to have it work and be a win-win for all of us, without putting our other tenants at risk.
Your thoughts would be much appreciated.
Laurie
 
 

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