[Noisebridge-discuss] Frantisek is going to stop living at Noisebridge starting tonight.

[Albert Sweigart]

Frantisek,
As we talked about this morning, you need to make arrangements today
for spending the night with someone else. You can't sleep at
Noisebridge tonight.


Everyone,
This is something we shouldn't ignore anymore. This email isn't about
people sleeping at Noisebridge, it's specifically about Frantisek. And
it's not about Frantisek sleeping at Noisebridge, it's about Frantisek
living at Noisebridge (He sleeps here several nights a week.)

This morning around 7:00 I checked again for sleepers, and again found
Frantisek sleeping in the tea room. I confronted him about his
constant sleeping here. As always, he was very pleasant and friendly.
We talked a bit.

He says he knows and has known how people feel about this. He says
that he's set a limit for himself to spend no more than two nights a
week sleeping at Noisebridge. I don't find this self-imposed limit
(that nobody else knows about) comforting. The fact that he set this
limit tells me that he does sleep at Noisebridge more than twice a
week (otherwise he wouldn't set himself a limit). I asked him about
this past week, and he admits he's gone past this limit this last
week.

I asked him if he was planning to sleep here again tonight. He gave me
a very long explanation about his current situation, and avoided
actually answering the question. I asked him again if he was planning
to sleep at Noisebridge tonight. He again started on another
explanation. He did not say anything close to "no".

He keeps his clothing and possessions on the table next to the tea
room. This email is not about the question, "Is Frantisek living at
Noisebridge?" because you can't say he is doing anything but living at
Noisebridge.

This is a classic "just need a place to stay for a few days"
situation, and everyone who has been in that situation knows how it
ends. Frantisek has had months to figure out a living situation,
because that's how long this has been going on. But he lives at
Noisebridge because he knows we will let him and he will continue to
do so until we make him stop. I know it's embarrassing to call someone
out by name on the mailing list, which is why I haven't done so
before. But it's clear to me that trying to handle this situation with
him personally hasn't and won't cause anything to change.

I'm not pissed, he just has to stop sleeping at Noisebridge. Okay, I'm
a little pissed. Having someone live in the space is against our lease
and will get Noisebridge in trouble with our landlord. Having people
live rent free in the space isn't fair to everyone else. We never say,
"your donation/dues helps someone avoid living at a place where they'd
have to pay rent" to people who walk in the door and want to work on
projects.

Noisebridge's financial situation is still precarious, and we're in a
worse state than we were several months ago. Members have become
disillusioned and stopped paying dues because they see Noisebridge as
dysfunctional, unable to solve problems, and no longer predominantly
about hacking on projects. We need to admit that staying the course
will lead Noisebridge into bankruptcy as early as the first half of
2011. I don't intend for us to stay the course.

Frantisek doesn't need to be kicked out or barred from the space. He
doesn't need to hear jokes about running the table saws at 3am. He
just has to be told to stop living at Noisebridge starting now, and
not "just a few days" from now.

I plan on bringing this up at tonight's meeting, but I'm not sure
there's much more to say about this.

-Al