On Sun, Sep 4, 2011 at 9:29 PM, jim <span dir="ltr"><<a href="mailto:jim@systemateka.com">jim@systemateka.com</a>></span> wrote:<br><div class="gmail_quote"><blockquote class="gmail_quote" style="margin:0 0 0 .8ex;border-left:1px #ccc solid;padding-left:1ex;">
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Terrific report, specially the ending!<br>
<br>
Seems to me good that we all get comfy with the<br>
idea of gathering together to heavy out people when<br>
such become clearly obnoxious. I'm guessing that<br>
obnoxiousness occurs mainly in the night times, yes?<br>
There are people who are regularly there and<br>
unobnoxious at those times?<br>
<div><div></div><div class="h5"><br></div></div></blockquote><div><br>That's one of the things I think (night, early morning)<br><br>There's a mailing list adminned by Mitch and Rob 1.0 for the people who spend a lot of time at night in the space, but it hasn't really been used or spread around. <br>
<a href="https://www.noisebridge.net/mailman/listinfo/night">https://www.noisebridge.net/mailman/listinfo/night</a> <br><br>d.<br><br></div><blockquote class="gmail_quote" style="margin: 0pt 0pt 0pt 0.8ex; border-left: 1px solid rgb(204, 204, 204); padding-left: 1ex;">
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On Sun, 2011-09-04 at 21:06 -0700, Just Duncan wrote:<br>
> Things have slowly been getting crazier this week, escalating<br>
> to the police being called last night.<br>
><br>
> In order descending order of severity and risk are:<br>
><br>
> (1) Jay (J?) who is belligerent, disclosed he has schizophrenia but<br>
> won't take medications for it, has auditory hallucinations, paranoid<br>
> delusions, and has basically moved into Noisebridge every night and<br>
> day. He disappeared for a few days last week and then reappeared with<br>
> scrapes and cuts to his face, saying he had been arrested and beat up<br>
> by police for doing "mime" in Union Square, was 5150'd at SF General,<br>
> and<br>
> "escaped" (his claim) when the drugs they had injected him with wore<br>
> off.<br>
> The tipping point is that he drinks heavily and generally sees NB as a<br>
> place to come by, get smashed and party, interrupt work, ramble on<br>
> with<br>
> his latest drama, and swing from being civil to belligerent and<br>
> threatening.<br>
><br>
> Last night he was very intoxicated and, as I sat next to Kayla on the<br>
> couch eating a burrito and enjoying the 1 beer I got with it, he came<br>
> over to get a laptop off the table and wanted to apologize for an<br>
> outburst he had at me earlier. All fine and good until he decided he<br>
> wanted a hug from me, comes over into me sitting down after I'd<br>
> verbally thanked<br>
> but declined, stumbles on a power cord, and drunkenly slurs/knocks<br>
> into me...<br>
> knocking the newly opened beer in my hand and splashing it all into<br>
> the keyboard of Kayla's Macbook Pro laptop. Seeing it was his<br>
> intoxication that had<br>
> caused it, Kayla was furious as her computer was dead by appearance.<br>
> She called the police and went downstairs to wait for them with Ramon.<br>
> Prior to leaving, Ramon talked with Rolf about asking J to leave and<br>
> Rolf asked if I would assist. I agreed. Alex was also enlisted and<br>
> very rigid about the police not coming in. I went down to find Kayla<br>
> to<br>
> see if that would work for her, but she and Ramon had gone down to<br>
> 17th<br>
> street to find police and were no where to be found.<br>
><br>
> Returning upstairs, NB was clearly emptying out. Alex said he was<br>
> about to<br>
> leave with Stephen and Mek, said it was then or never. We all agreed<br>
> and<br>
> J was asked to leave... which turned into him becoming belligerent,<br>
> refusing to leave. Meanwhile, I left them them trying to convince him<br>
> to leave and was<br>
> pulled to go down stairs to handle another person of concern. This<br>
> was<br>
> successful and is detailed below.*<br>
><br>
> Returning upstairs again, it was clear that Alex, Ramon, Rolf et al.<br>
> had failed. I was going to stay, but frankly didn't/don't feel safe<br>
> being alone at NB with him. I left, only to encounter the police<br>
> outside with Ramon, Mek, Stephen, Kayla, and Alex.<br>
> Kayla wanted them to remove him and get his name for her; she called<br>
> the<br>
> police. Alex didn't want police to come up stairs, even though there<br>
> was no way to remove him and he, himself, had failed to remove him.<br>
> The officers were an older-school/rookie-- but even the older-school<br>
> had the new police view of "look, we know you're a collective and you<br>
> don't<br>
> want outside involvement ever. Unless someone is dead, you can't have<br>
> it both ways and we're very hesitant to go inside until you've all<br>
> consensused on it and agreed to let us come in." The younger rookie<br>
> was<br>
> clearly new and naive, telling Kala to file a claim under her renters<br>
> policy or her parents homeowner policy... i.e. he had no clue that<br>
> people might not have such things. I proposed the compromise between<br>
> everyone (Alex, Kayla, police) that we were OK for now, but if we<br>
> needed<br>
> help further would call them back. Kala left upset that when a person<br>
> calls for police help from inside Noisebridge that "police" aren't<br>
> allowed in when things are out of control. Neither she nor I are any<br>
> great fans of the PD, but they do have times and places where they are<br>
> appropriate.<br>
><br>
> Moreover, no one here knew who to call (e.g. a Board Member). This<br>
> was<br>
> very frustrating as J stayed the night and is still here when I came<br>
> back at 10 this morning. The man is quasi-psychotic, is almost always<br>
> wearing a knit cap for id., paranoid, and clueless... he was playing<br>
> punk acid rock in the kitchen Friday night on the laptop, even after<br>
> Rolf politely asked him to turn in down. I, personally, do not feel<br>
> safe with him in the space... and some basic level of personal<br>
> security<br>
> is-- per Milo's argument at last week's meeting-- in my view, a<br>
> reasonable expectation of NB, along with the door working and Internet<br>
> access.<br>
><br>
><br>
> (2) Some guy named "Evan (aka Taemon?... "I'm the new guy that brought<br>
> beer!" at 3pm on Wednesday) has recently been showing up and always<br>
> with alcohol in tow. Just for the record, I've got no problem with<br>
> alcohol (I had some of one last night with my burrito), or other<br>
> substance usage. It is only a problem if people are using it and not<br>
> taking responsibility for their behavior and others in the space.<br>
> Getting angry or choosing vent frustrations with others while<br>
> intoxicated isn't productive; having the judgment to know when it is<br>
> best if they remove themselves from the space is. I'm particularly<br>
> bad, personally, at reading the difference between trolling and anger<br>
> with someone who intoxicated or in a different "reality" space than<br>
> myself. "Taemon" was a pure accelerant to J's drinking/drugging &<br>
> general craziness/instability the other night. Both were loud,<br>
> constantly inserting themselves into conversations not involving them,<br>
> while saying nothing of relevance. Taemon has spent the night both<br>
> times I've seen him this<br>
> week; I woke him on the couch at 11am this morning.<br>
><br>
> As someone who uses the space nearly every day, this week has been<br>
> a difficult one given the absences due to Burning Man, greatly<br>
> reduced presence of Robert 1.0, the "squatting" over-night by the<br>
> above, and yet a steady stream of new guests and potential members.<br>
> I've stepped up to giving tours. I love<br>
> and cherish this space, understand and know first hand that change is<br>
> constant in life, and think Noisebridge is getting better every day.<br>
> I<br>
> put at least an hour every morning into cleaning, do my best to do the<br>
> "are you new to NB?" and "what are you working on?" questions, and<br>
> encourage<br>
> some sense of maintenance routine to keep going. It is all good,<br>
> though I do<br>
> look forward to the return of others (members or not) who can help out<br>
> with these things so I can put more time into working on the various<br>
> projects that are demanding my time and attention. Lately, this<br>
> includes not only the wallets, but building a website/store, settling<br>
> an insurance claim for my backpack stolen in June.<br>
><br>
> On the positive side, I have probably given at least 25 tours this<br>
> week<br>
> and fundraising donations seem to be coming in. The Noisebridge WW<br>
> are<br>
> also selling, 100% to the NB General Fund. Also, Ed, has been week<br>
> and really helped launch an attack on the fruit fly situation. Best<br>
> of<br>
> all, he has a particularly wonderful talent for cranking out totally<br>
> AMAZING PIZZA! omyn, yom, yom! Joergen has also done some culinary<br>
> wonders this week. Best of all, both of these people and most people<br>
> around this week have really pitched in and worked hard to not only<br>
> get<br>
> the place relatively cleaner, but to keep it that way.<br>
><br>
> Lest this be taken as NB being "all weird and scary," let me be clear:<br>
> It is not. If anything, from what I've observed over the past 3<br>
> months, it is becoming more excellent every week. The vast majority<br>
> of what's going on at Noisebridge is awesome, outstanding, fantastic,<br>
> and positive. People are what make this such an excellent<br>
> space/community. Nevertheless, Noisebridge *is* a part of the<br>
> community around it and, I think, evolving for the good because of<br>
> this. If you are curious, want to learn, want to create, want to<br>
> share & contribute, want to be able to do something more than covering<br>
> the basic needs of existence... then Noisebridge is for you. The only<br>
> concern is that what before seeming to a few outliers has been<br>
> creeping lately into regularity.<br>
><br>
> I thus raise this issue with the following statements in mind:<br>
> -Communication is leadership.<br>
> -Problems are easiest to solve early and small vs. later and huge;<br>
> Prevention is best.<br>
> -No growth or change is possible until everyone admits the truth of<br>
> the reality of a situation.<br>
> -Groups working together can generally find better solutions than<br>
> individuals acting alone.<br>
> -This is an opportunity to improve, not a call to isolate.<br>
><br>
> Noisebridge is an awesome environment/space/community<br>
> and one that I am passionate about sharing and contributing to.<br>
><br>
> Peace and thank you,<br>
><br>
><br>
> Duncan (the Weightless Wallet guy)<br>
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