Minutes from GA 1.10.2012
Announcements
People’s bribe – DJ Hudson
People’s bribe action went well today. We asked the legislators to accept our bribes, we got some press and we think they got the message.
Financial results – Johanne Greenwood
During 2011 we received a total of $7,803 of monetary donations.
We ended the year with $3,380 in the bank
$125 of which is allocated to Tech for locks but not yet spent
Considering how we spent cash received, we spent a total of $4,423, 39% Outreach, 37% Logistics, 7% Direct Action, and the rest tech and media.
We have lost $442 due to theft. An additional $111 was stolen from Direct Action and reported last Saturday.
And a further $265 for which we have no receipts
Total discrepancy of $707. It means we have lost about 9% of what has been donated in money.
This has to be discussed with NPJC, as it has an impact on their books.
This is in addition to losses of money from the break in to the donation box, since those funds did not go to the bank and are not on my books.
Donations so far in 2012 were $329, and we spent $402.50, mostly on items for camp.
There are presently no approved budgets. Logistics, Outreach, Social Media, anyone who needs money next Tuesday needs to have a proposal approved no later than Saturday’s GA.
Banking – Johanne Greenwood
At our request, NPJC board voted and have agreed on moving their account to Cornerstone Credit Union.
Miscellaneous – Johanne Greenwood
There are a variety of topics that are in the limbo of "discussion before announcement or proposal". So I am going to announce several of them tonight. Some of them, in my opinion, don't need to be announcements but appear to be required to counteract the gossip and rumor mill.
NPI / NVC: I reached out to a donor, whose email address indicated he was a counsellor, and asked if there were ways we could get help or teach-ins in a variety of topics, from interpersonal skills to group ethics. This resulted in some people responding from Nashville Psychotherapy Institute. It led to the NVC session, which has been offered widely within ON, but I have not made an announcement of all the people from NPI who gave feedback.
Art royalty: Someone in ON brought me an offer for a donation of proceeds relating to sales of art. I contacted that person, but they have not responded to me. Since I have not actually received anything, I have not made any announcement of that to GA until tonight. Nor, to my knowledge, has the occupier who first brought me the offer.
AFL-CIO: AFL-CIO offered to Dorsey to discuss an office space. Dorsey talked to me, Will and Cecily. We had no idea what the details might be, but we made a list of things that might be useful - space, desks, chairs, noticeboard, etc. Will, Dorsey and I met at AFL-CIO in mid-December to find out what they might donate and confirmed that, consistent with our consensus, they do not seek to influence us on specific topics or ask us to take any particular action. (Naturally, there are some things we could do that would cause them to terminate support. E.g. if we have direct actions that campaign directly against collective bargaining we might not be supported by labor groups. Fact of life. Since our consensus is we support bargaining for fair wages, I don't see why we would do such an action. In exactly the same way, I imagine that if ON starts doing anti-gay actions, our gay donors and others who support equality will stop donating, and rightly so. Our consensus is, if donations stop as a result of any act of our collective conscience, so be it.)
The result was AFL-CIO offered to make a room available in their building, but it would only be accessible during office hours. This is not really what we were hoping for, which was somewhere close to the plaza, not within any other place of business, and where we had freedom of access. They were about to close the building for Christmas, so nothing was available until January. I was leaving town for work: Dorsey, Will and Cecily had other topics to work on, so it was not urgent and a proposal for how this offer might be accepted has not been designed. It seems to me the access restrictions are problematic and would have to be addressed in any proposal. No-one has been back to AFL-CIO since then.
When I got back to plaza this week, the topic of working space came up with Clay and Lance, and both times, transparently, I said we had an offer of a space but it was not clear how to use it. Dorsey nearly made an announcement at last Tuesday's GA, but when we saw the other announcements and proposals on the agenda (finance report which we thought would have a lot of challenges, foreclosure letter proposal, Michael's transparency proposal) it was taken off the agenda due to lack of time.
Friends Meeting House: We also received word from Nashville Peace and Justice Center that we could use the basement of the Friends' Meeting House for meetings. This has not been announced at GA, but we have been meeting there, not GA, but the foreclosure group. The first meeting was organized by email and the second and third ones were on the calendar. So really, there is more to complain about regarding the Friends Meeting House than there is AFL-CIO, since a group has actually been using the House and did not make any announcement about it, but no group has used AFL-CIO.
Other meeting spaces: There was also a meeting at my home, and the home of another person, related to the Rumsfeld action. This was a discussion group, not a working group, and we did not announce that we were using our homes for meetings and not meeting at plaza, etc.
Other unions donations: Apart from AFL-CIO's offer, which has not yet been engaged, one union made a financial donation. One loaned tables and chairs for events at plaza - at the last minute the night before Thanksgiving. There have been donations of water. There is an offer to pay for toilets, which we have not yet engaged.
I am sure that there are many other people working on ideas that have not yet come to fruition and I trust that they will all be laid out in the fullness of time.
Foreclosure project – Johanne Greenwood
Potluck at Helen Bailey’s home went well. Her community turned out in support and we had good TV coverage. A written petition with approx 80 signatures has been faxed to Chase. There is an online petition with over 200 signatures so far. Every time someone signs it, it sends an email to Chase’s lawyers. The next action is on Thursday – be at the plaza at 9 AM.
So far the results have been
- when we made the press release, Chase that day requested a 30 day delay on the sale of the home
- Chase has now assigned a specific negotiator – until now Helen Bailey’s lawyer could hardly get anyone to respond to him
- We have been contacted by change.org who may help us get national promotion for this campaign
Day of Action against Torture / Guantanamo – Jane Hussain
Wed Jan 11 is the day of action against torture / Guantanamo. There will be a protest at the federal courthouse.
Proposals
There were none.
Don Jon from Austin closed the meeting with encouraging words
