[sudoroom] Meeting Minutes Tonight
Eddan Katz
eddan at oaklandlocal.com
Thu May 24 20:50:23 CEST 2012
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 <mailto: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 <mailto: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)
>>
>> 2. Banking Structure (i.e. what to do w/ our donations collected)
>>
>> 3. 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?
>>
>> 4. Membership Structure/ Pricing/ When Begin to Pay
>>
>> 5. Decision Making (once have paying members)
>>
>> 6. 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.
>>
>> 2. Could be advantages to being forced to foreclose, be
>> transparent--but that can also be a choice to be transparent.
>>
>> 2. Keep going, loosely bound collective, move forward without
>> worrying about other things?
>>
>> 3. Options include all the way to a Super PAC
>>
>> 4. LLC - $900 / year
>>
>> 5. *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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