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

[Matt Joyce]

Hi all,

   My name is Matt, some of you know me, many of you do not.  I am a recent
transplant from NYC, where I was a member at NYC Resistor ( the scandal! ).
I live in mountain view so I don't make it up to Noisebridge very often.
However, on the few occasions that I have made it up, I've had the
opportunity to see Frantisek basically get singled out as the sort of person
this community really does like.  Obviously someone who does contribute a
great deal, and more amazingly someone no one has a bad thing to say about.
Even Al's letter which should be a condemnation is very clearly in no way
begrudging Frantisek.  I don't believe for a minute that anyone wishes harm
to come to Frantisek in any form, be it being thrown out on the street, or
simply character assassination.  And that's why this is the best way to
discuss this issue.  Frantisek happens to be a person seemingly above
reproach.

  For the past few months there have been recurring complaints of people
crashing at NB.  In NYC, and n Mountain View at Hacker Dojo this has not
been in my experience an issue.  However, as Jake rightly pointed out, there
are contributing factors to this being an issue in SF.  The Bart, and
Caltrain which I have grown to deeply despise are a very real issue and one
that cannot be discounted out of hand.  Now, I am not perfect, and while I
haven't yet odds are I will one day spend a few minutes too long at a bar,
or just working on something and I will miss that last train home.  And
there I will be in SF 20 minutes from NB at 12:15 am wondering what I am
going to do for the next 5 hours.  For someone who isn't 6'4" tall and a
dude, that may also include a justified fear of assault.  So, a little late
night hacking suddenly sounds like a good idea.  And that can inevitably
lead to a late night nap.

  No one at Noisebridge wants to put someone in a position of hardship or
risk.  This is a community first and foremost, and that is the message Jake
is trying to convey ( or at least that's my take ).  And, in that spirit I
see an opportunity for this community to act like one.  I don't know what
the contributing factors are for Frantisek's nocturnal faux paux, but if
anyone in this community is in need of a little assistance there should be a
mechanism by which they can come out and say hey, I need some help.
Hopefully that will give people an opportunity to help each other out.  In
Frantisek's case especially it seems there are people who want to make sure
that he gets whatever help he may need.  And that's what communities are all
about.  Helping each other out when we are down on our luck.

  Specifically regarding crashing at a hackerspace like noisebridge there
are SERIOUS concerns.  First it violates the lease.  Once or twice every now
and again I doubt that's an issue, but twice a week... is going to piss off
your landlord.  But more importantly, Noisebridge is NOT a residence.  It is
not designed to be a residence.  It does not have adequate fire prevention,
and what it does have is a world of possible points of ignition for a
conflagration.  While you might feel bad about putting some folks out on the
street, you'd feel much worse if someone died in a fire at NB.  Or you know,
drowned on their vomit after a late night out drinking.  Or got assaulted
during a break in.  Or got pinned under a fallen metal rack... a million and
one things that would leave them alone without assistance for many hours.  A
workshop even one as nicely maintained as NB is no place for someone to be
left alone in for extended periods.  Especially if no one is aware they are
there.

  What I am saying is this... sleeping in Noisebridge serves neither the
space, nor the community.  People who need assistance need to be able to
reach out to other people in the community.  Using the space doesn't help
them, it puts them at risk.  And that is far more important than anything
else.  It's more important than the lease, and it's more important than the
physical assets of noisebridge.  And ultimately what it comes down to is
that NB is not suitable for crashing for a number of reasons.  And it's
obvious that some folks in this community do want to reach out to those who
need assistance if at all possible.  So the discussion should be, how can we
help our community members without putting them at risk?  How can we make it
easy for someone who needs help in the community to reach out for it and
hopefully get it?

In short, are you AmeriCANs or AmeriCAN'Ts?

-Matt




On Tue, Nov 16, 2010 at 10:41 AM, hep <dis at gruntle.org> wrote:

>
> On Nov 16, 2010, at 10:18 AM, Jacob Appelbaum wrote:
>
>
> Personally, I think it's pretty fucked up that he doesn't have other
> options; part of the general Noisebridge goal is to provide an
> alternative to the rest of the world for people in our community.
> Frantisek is part of our community and has been for quite a while. I
> wonder what will happen? Will someone step up and help him as he has
> helped the Noisebridge community? Will we change some things at
> Noisebridge to deal with a specific issue in our community that people
> care about? Or will we turn our backs and tell him to get fucked?
>
>
> With that said, we have long since agreed not to live in the space but I
> will personally not ask Frantisek, a member of our community, to sleep
> on the streets.
>
> I understand the principles at play and I can't fucking live with myself
> if I'm pushing him into the winter rain. I really dislike your appeal to
> economics as a reason for your lack of compassion. If you really care
> about Noisebridge and money issues, why don't you kick in some more money?
>
>
>
> people in san francisco have more options for emergency or shortterm
> housing than almost any other city in the us. glide offers emergency housing
> placement services every day of the week (glide.org), there are more SROs
> per capita than in any other city on the western seaboard, often running
> anywhere from 80-150$ for a week's stay. some places offer discounts if you
> are disadvantaged, and you can always apply for HUD which will help place
> you. there are a variety of emergency housing solutions, one of which is of
> course THC (tenderloin housing clinics, which offer both longterm housing
> placement and short term emergency shelter placement). it is also trivially
> easy to sign up for care not cash and get shelter vouchers.
>
> it is pretty disingenuous to claim classism in this single case, when there
> are thousands of people sleeping on the streets of sf, often right outside
> the space. or is it that it's only sad if someone is homeless if they know
> how to use computers? unless people are down with opening up the space as a
> night shelter, in which case i know hundreds of people that i work with
> daily at glide who would be quite overjoyed with another housing alternative
> in sf, and  i would be happy to start the process of passing out keys among
> the disadvantaged in san francisco. otherwise  you were just using classism
> as a ploy in this single case and you honestly don't actually care about
> other homeless people in sf.
>
> pretending that the only solution a person who is housing disadvantaged in
> sf has is to sleep at noisebridge is disingenuous at best, and at worst
> outright malicious and insulting to the plight of the truly disadvantaged.
>
> -hep
>
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>
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