[Noisebridge-discuss] Noisebridge Meeting 10/10/2017

Thu Oct 12 20:42:38 UTC 2017

I would like to avoid investing thousands more into common area repairs on a building we might get kicked out of when our lease ends next year, so we should be judicious in how we spend general fund money on the elevator. If there's a way to force the landlord to pay, that would be good. If we can pay for it ourselves and deduct the cost from our rent, even better, since the landlord is so slow at fixing the issue.

We also need to consider our two other options of trying to buy the building, which would mean we can confidently spend as much as needed on the elevator knowing the building is ours, or moving to the Redstone Building, where we may have an offer for a 15,000sqft space at below market rate. The Redstone thing is pretty vague right now, but we have some sense of how much 2169 Mission is worth, and I'm pretty confident we could cover a mortgage if we can get a down payment together and the owner is willing to sell.

With our lease running out next year, I want to keep growing the general fund cushion, since we may need it to survive.

John

Sent from my iPhone

> On Oct 12, 2017, at 1:03 PM, Trent Robbins <robbintt at gmail.com> wrote:
> 
> With regards to the elevator fund, I think $400 is too low and don't see any need to put a cap on expenses within reasonable expense.  As I mentioned in a previous email I don't support paying individuals for work except if mandated to do so by the state.
> 
> Trent
> 
> 
>> On Thu, Oct 12, 2017 at 12:45 PM, jim <jim at well.com> wrote:
>> 
>> +1 
>> 
>> 
>>> On 10/12/2017 07:06 PM, Trent Robbins wrote:
>>> I feel that paying people for work they do on Noisebridge infrastructure runs counter to what Noisebridge is.
>>> 
>>> I wanted to write something complex but this webpage has a far better collection of thoughts than I could come up with on my own: https://communitywiki.org/wiki/DoOcracy
>>> 
>>> Trent
>>> 
>>> 
>>> 
>>>> On Thu, Oct 12, 2017 at 11:33 AM, John Shutt <john.d.shutt at gmail.com> wrote:
>>>> X-post from #finance-wg on Slack:
>>>> 
>>>> I would support spending a certain amount of money for parts for the elevator, but share others' concerns about anyone getting paid for their time from the Noisebridge bank account. There are lots of critical tasks in addition to fixing the elevator: managing finances, cleaning trash, running the access control and server systems, leading tours, 86-ing hazardous people, etc. We can't pay for all of the work that needs to be done to keep the space running. Legally it's the landlord's responsibility to keep the elevator working, but they've done a very poor job and I recognize that DIY fixes will be faster. Even though we're spending money on a building we don't own, it's worth it to make the space accessible. As for a separate elevator fund, I think it would be best if there was a separate fundraising push or donation to make it happen, which was the case with the broadcast fund and equipment fund, but if it's less than $400 per year for parts I don't think spending from the general f
>>>>  und is a big deal.
>>>> 
>>>> Adding to the Slack post: I don't think $400 should necessarily be a cap on our budget for parts for the elevator, if it needs more than that. And I would encourage anyone interested in doing so to look into whether we can legally pay a licensed professional to fix the elevator and deduct the cost from our rent to the landlord.
>>>> 
>>>> I also think it would be excellent for people to donate money to Zach through PayPal for his work on the elevator, outside of Noisebridge funds. I donated what I could, which is unfortunately not much right now. I'm all for people being paid for their work, but know that Noisebridge itself can't afford to pay for all the critical work that has to be done to keep the space operating.
>>>> 
>>>> John
>>>> 
>>>> Sent from my iPhone
>>>> 
>>>> > On Oct 11, 2017, at 3:14 AM, Zach R <organicunity at hotmail.com> wrote:
>>>> >
>>>> > Thanks for the meeting notes and facilitation Naomi.
>>>> >
>>>> > Here is a follow-up email as requested.  I brought this item up as a "small-c" item 2 weeks ago at the Noisebridge meeting.  I was told if nothing was done in 2 weeks that I should bring it up as a formal consensus item.  So here it is. The proposed consensus item is as follows:
>>>> >
>>>> > I request that we establish an Elevator Repair Fund at Noisebridge.  This fund could be as modest or ambitious as people like, but I believe a minimum of $400 per annual year would do a great deal to benefit the space.
>>>> >
>>>> > The elevator is necessary for those that use Noisebridge with mobility aids (such as wheelchairs), for people with non-visible disabilities (elderly, diabetes, MS, fibro, etc.), for incoming large furniture and donations, and for taking out the regular trash.
>>>> >
>>>> > As many know, the elevator was broken for a full 2 months recently.  Unlike broken tools or equipment, this made the space completely inaccessible for members in the community.  I think it would be most excellent to prevent this in the future by establishing a modest fund whereby we could hire people, obtain necessary parts and supplies, and keep this "must need" basic access to the space.
>>>> >
>>>> > Note: the elevator still needs a lot of work to be fully safe and operational.  There is machine work to fix the broken front gate, a missing call light downstairs, a call box repair, floor switch detection issues, and other things all documented on the elevator wiki.
>>>> >
>>>> > Looking forward to hearing input from the community.  Hopefully we can all agree that this would be a positive benefit to Noisebridge.
>>>> > .
>>>> > -Zach
>>>> >
>>>> >
>>>> > ________________________________________
>>>> > From: noisebridge-discuss-bounces at lists.noisebridge.net [noisebridge-discuss-bounces at lists.noisebridge.net] on behalf of Naomi Most [pnaomi at gmail.com]
>>>> > Sent: Tuesday, October 10, 2017 10:02 PM
>>>> > To: Noisebridge Discuss
>>>> > Subject: [Noisebridge-discuss] Noisebridge Meeting 10/10/2017
>>>> >
>>>> > Greetings, NB(D),
>>>> >
>>>> > A meeting occurred!
>>>> >
>>>> > Notably, we have a Real Live Consensus Item from Zach concerning the idea of setting up an officially set-aside Elevator Repair Fund.
>>>> >
>>>> > The argument revolves around the idea that the Elevator is a "must have" whereas stuff in the general equipment fund usually falls into the category of "it would be cool if".
>>>> >
>>>> > Zach should post a followup to this email to make his proposal more concrete.
>>>> >
>>>> > https://noisebridge.net/wiki/Meeting_Notes_2017_10_10
>>>> >
>>>> >
>>>> > TLDR what happened at the meeting:
>>>> >
>>>> > *   Announcements: Haskell Class starting Oct 18th (every 1st and 3rd Wednesday). Cryptobuilders workshop every 2nd and 4th Wednesday.
>>>> > *   Finances: ???
>>>> > *   New members: nope but we should contact Merlin and let her know she's at 4 weeks!
>>>> > *   New philanthropists: nope
>>>> > *   Consensus Items: Elevator Repair Fund
>>>> > *   Discussion Items: people lost interest and went to the Internet Archive at this point.
>>>> >
>>>> >
>>>> >
>>>> > --
>>>> > Naomi Theora Most
>>>> > naomi at nthmost.com<mailto:naomi at nthmost.com>
>>>> > +1-415-728-7490
>>>> >
>>>> > skype: nthmost
>>>> >
>>>> > http://twitter.com/nthmost
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