[sudoroom] Meeting Minutes Tonight

Eddie A Tejeda eddie.tejeda at gmail.com
Fri May 25 00:13:05 CEST 2012


bankmigration.org is a great resource! Thanks for the link, Matt! ;)

On Thu, May 24, 2012 at 11:57 AM, Matthew Senate <mattsenate at gmail.com>wrote:

> Seems to me redundancy is a good thing and the purposes are becoming
> clearer:
>
> 1. WePay will be yet another way we can engage in transactions, which can
> be valuable. (Have we figured out how to accept bitcoin yet?)
> 2. A local Credit Union will be a valuable stake in the local community,
> though most of them simply offer car loans and other small loans, sometimes
> for housing, not often for businesses ;(. It will also keep us transparent
> in the interim before we spend or move the money to some other place.
>
> If you're interested in moving your money to a Credit Union, check out
> this site: http://bankmigration.org
>
> // Matt
>
>
> On Thu, May 24, 2012 at 11:50 AM, Eddan Katz <eddan at oaklandlocal.com>wrote:
>
>>  Thanks for anthropologicizing the situation, Sudo Agent! No reason why
>> we can't do both.
>> We'll open a local credit union account, and use WePay for online
>> transactions.
>> Any credit union recommendations?
>>
>> WePay, by the way, is associated with mid-size banks in order to qualify
>> to be FDIC insured. Otherwise, if you lose your .02c, you'd have no hope of
>> getting it back. The fact that the banks they are associated with are based
>> in Delaware only tells you that Delaware's corporate laws are the most
>> predictable for resolving disputes.
>>
>> As far as I understand it, WePay is basically serving as an intermediary
>> enabling a wider population to be able to make transactions. They've
>> figured out how to extend the assurance they can guarantee; so that people
>> and organizations could make transactions they otherwise couldn't.
>>
>> You're absolutely right though, that WePay is not based in Oakland.
>> They're in Palo Alto. Maybe we should offer to build one of the local
>> credit union's web interface? I think the combination of WePay and Flattr
>> for online transactions would probably be a good idea.
>>
>> -Eddan
>> [self-appointed Exchequer]
>>
>>
>> On 5/24/12 10:40 AM, Eddie A Tejeda wrote:
>>
>> Great research Micheal.
>>
>> I think keeping money in the local economy is definitely a higher
>> priority than friendly web interface.
>>
>> --
>> Eddie A Tejeda
>>
>>
>> On Thu, May 24, 2012 at 10:34 AM, Michael Scroggins <
>> michaeljscroggins at gmail.com> wrote:
>>
>>> WePay is essentially a user friendly front end pasted onto a medium
>>> sized business bank in Delaware. Their back end is Bancorp (rhymes with
>>> Newscorp) which specializes in white label banking solutions for their
>>> mid-sized "affinity partners", of whom WePay is one. That Occupy uses WePay
>>> because of flexibility and convenience says something about Occupy, but not
>>> something I find encouraging.
>>>
>>> A local credit union is..local. It is possible a Sudo Agent could run
>>> for and possibly be elected to the board of directors and have real input
>>> over how money is used and the money is more likely to be reinvested in
>>> Oakland, and so forth...
>>>
>>> My .02c - which I would like to stay in Oakland:)
>>>
>>>
>>>
>>>
>>>  ------------------------------
>>>
>>>    Matthew Senate <mattsenate at gmail.com>
>>> Thursday, May 24, 2012 12:13 AM
>>>
>>> ** Please Read Voting + Motions at bottom of minutes **
>>>
>>> In short, tonight at the meeting we decided that all who are present at
>>> our weekly meeting are welcome to vote on making non-binding decisions for
>>> Sudo Room during this interim period, with the requirement to report back
>>> via email and record these motions on the wiki. This is a great way to move
>>> forward in this period before we figure out the exact terms of
>>> decision-making (who, how, etc) which we can now figure out as we actually
>>> move forward to opening a room.
>>>
>>> I'll move this over to the wiki tomorrow, must sleep.
>>>
>>> ----
>>>
>>> *5/23/2012 - Meeting Minute**s*
>>>
>>>  *Attendees*: Patrik, Timon, Marina, Phil, Eddie, Victoria, Michael,
>>> Michel, Angela, Rick, Eddan, Patrick, Matt
>>>
>>>  *Marginalia:* Space and Time form a curved surface - and our new
>>> business. *- Nerd Night Bay Area happening near last week of October
>>> talk to Rick - *
>>>
>>>  *Old Business*
>>> 1. Model + Budget + Income investigations (e.g Noisebridge, other) -
>>> Jenny
>>>
>>>    - (ping via email)
>>>
>>>  2. Tax Structure Options: Eddan, Matt, Eddie
>>>
>>>    - ** Eddan and Timon (zoning) have done research, neither as Lawyers
>>>    (see below)
>>>
>>>  3. Distilling Decision Maker/Community Options (Matt, Marina, Rachel,
>>> Jenny, Timon)
>>>
>>>    - This is translated into future decision-making options (once we
>>>    open a space), since we have an interim solution for now
>>>
>>>  4. Most transparent process for making decisions
>>>
>>>    - This is also touched on below
>>>
>>>  5. Determining important deadlines
>>>
>>>    - Done, please expect an email to be directed to a space on the wiki
>>>    for this!
>>>
>>>  6. Clean up listing of table of properties
>>>
>>>    - Begun, needs more love, more listings, etc.
>>>
>>>
>>>  == Break-out Groups ==
>>> 1. Note-cleaning and -posting
>>> 2. Notable date / deadline / calendar comprehension (initiated, will be
>>> posted for editing on wiki)
>>> *Decisions That Need Deadlines: *
>>>
>>>    1. Space. (Before end of June = negotiation w/ EBALC; space would be
>>>    ~November)
>>>
>>>
>>>    1. Banking Structure (i.e. what to do w/ our donations collected)
>>>
>>>
>>>    1. Interim/ Long-Term  Tax Structure (interim vs permanent) (501c3,
>>>    fiscal sponsor, LLC, B  Corp)-- how long does it take to apply for each one
>>>    of these?
>>>
>>>
>>>    1. Membership Structure/ Pricing/ When Begin to Pay
>>>
>>>
>>>    1. Decision Making (once have paying members)
>>>
>>>
>>>    1. Revenue Models
>>>
>>>  3. Sudo Room option listings (begun, on wiki)
>>>
>>>  *New Business*
>>> + Focus on concrete goals and deadlines
>>> *====Space and Time====*
>>> Update from Timon about Zoning
>>>
>>>    - @TODO  investigate zoning laws esp in Oakland.  Learned much from
>>>    oakland city  website "CBD Central Business District Zone Regulations"
>>>
>>>
>>>    -      Eddie suggests that "playing as we go" is not the way to go.
>>>
>>>  Update from Eddan about Tax Structure
>>>
>>>    - @TODO fill out wiki with all options and comparative analysis for
>>>    both tax structure and organization structure
>>>
>>>
>>>    - Eddan  wants some feedback--but it would be wise to have an
>>>    environment that   enables different types of innovation funding. Fixing
>>>    computers,  teaching classes, etc.
>>>
>>>
>>>    - The    diversity here is how you could fund publicly-minded
>>>    projects. This    could be beneficial, we should consider ways of fostering
>>>    this.
>>>
>>>       Eddan is not acting as a lawyer. Looking at tax structure, ways
>>> to organize it - 501(c)3. Also have the jobs act and crowdfunding, very
>>> new. Comparing to different structures of organizations. Wants to ask
>>> everyone a question:
>>>
>>>    1. Become a non-profit?
>>>
>>>
>>>    1. Can't do lobbying (too much), supporting candidates, other
>>>    reporting requirements. Potential for pigeon-holing.
>>>
>>>
>>>    1. Could be advantages to being forced to foreclose, be
>>>    transparent--but that can also be a choice to be transparent.
>>>
>>>
>>>    1. Keep going, loosely bound collective, move forward without
>>>    worrying about other things?
>>>
>>>
>>>    1. Options include all the way to a Super PAC
>>>
>>>
>>>    1. LLC - $900 / year
>>>
>>>
>>>    1. *Pop-up lease opportunity.* Oakollective + Popup Hood are great
>>>    examples of this.
>>>
>>>
>>>  == Voting ==
>>>  The group recognizes that we have critical decisions to make, and
>>> everyone wants to move forward with making decisions. Further, the group
>>> points out that we need an interim decision-making process and that this
>>> should (and will) change once we have a room [the ultimate goal]. It is
>>> also recognized that we must make a leap of faith in order to begin with
>>> interim decision-making.
>>>
>>>  *Motion: In this interim period, non-binding decisions will be voted
>>> on at Sudo Room meetings by those attending and interested in voting, these
>>> will then be shared with the email list and recorded on the Wiki.*
>>> 11 Vote in Favor (2 abstain, for sociological and journalistic reasons
>>> respectively ;)
>>>
>>>  *Motion: To aim to find an initial location, a Sudo Room (rather than
>>> a full-fledged Sudo Space), targeted for the end of July*
>>> 10 in Favor - One dissenter, Patrik's offers that Techliminal is a
>>> sufficient platform and that it is not necessary to strive to open another
>>> space. There are advantages and disadvantages to this position, it is good
>>> this position is visible for thought and moving forward. (Again 2 abstain
>>> for obvious reasons).
>>>
>>>  *Strawpoll (not a vote, just ): Willing to pay on a regular interval
>>> for Sudo Room as a hackerspace (no discussion of membership,
>>> responsibilities, benefits, etc.)*
>>> 10 - One dissenter, Patrick based on the lack of an option to contribute
>>> without financial payment. A valuable sentiment, and brings up that one
>>> topic from the last meeting included strategies for allowing folks without
>>> funds to contribute and participate in the space. This is on our radar as
>>> we move forward! (2 abstain ' ' ' )
>>>
>>>  *Motion:* To create an interim solution for storing our current
>>> donations by (a) using WePay on the condition that it acts just like a bank
>>> and won't charge us any fees! (WePay is encouraging since its used by
>>> Occupy for its flexibility.) If this fails to qualify such conditions, then
>>> (b) the alternative is to have Matt and Eddan sign a Doing-Business-As and
>>> sign up at a local Credit Union for a free account to store this money. The
>>> caveat is that this can be changed easily, we can always move money to some
>>> other bank, or under different names or a corporation, but our current
>>> situation is non-ideal.
>>> 10 - (One abstains ' ' ' ) The emphasis behind this motion is to (1)
>>> deal with the fact that we have donations from our fundraiser in three
>>> locations and it would be good to consolidate them (2) this makes things
>>> more transparent for everyone and (3) it allows us to easily start adding
>>> more income to the coffer at the apporpirate times, and (4) spend money
>>> easily when that is appropriate.
>>>
>>>
>>>
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>>
>>
>> --
>> Eddie A Tejeda
>>
>>
>>
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-- 
Eddie A Tejeda
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