Meeting notes 2018 02 27

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Link to todays meeting notes: https://pad.riseup.net/p/nbmeeting20180227 ; feel free to help us take notes!

Noisebridge is having a meeting!

- Intros incl. pronouns

Attendance: 23 Roy (they/them) - moderator Aaron - notetaker (he/him) Alex (any pronoun) Matt Lee (he/him) Lizzie (she/her) Jason Augur (she/they) Kevin Trent (he/him) Danny Zack Micah (any pronouns) Matt (he/him) Doug (he/him/they/them) Jeremy (he/him) Umayah - (he/him) Jade (she/her/they/them) Kevin (he/him, they/them) Jay (He/him) Patrick (He/him) Kevin (he/him, they/them) Naomi (she/her)


- Safe space policy - Noisebridge is a safe space.

Roy: Asked to leave policy: If someone asks you to leave, please leave. 
If someone is harrassing you and isn't stopping, please ask them to leave. 
If you don't feel comfortable doing this, ask someone you are comfortable with to do so. 

Zach: If the mediation list is slack or not? 

*Tabled for future discussions: how does the 
ask to leave policy and mediation actually work? 

*Action Item: Roy will check how these actually works. 

- How can you become more involved in Noisebridge?

- Philanthropist / member applications.

How to get 30-day access token? If you've been here for a while, you can apply to get a token to help you access NB during day hours.

Philanthropists are allowed to close up Noisebridge.

To become a member: submit an app with at least 2 sponsors - rest is on the wiki

Membership has the ability to 'block' on conensus items

A block is not the end of the conversation,

but the beginning of a new one. Opens doors for further collab. 

  • First week of Lizzie's proposal.

- SHORT announcements.

Aaron: I'd like to teach a class on Tuesdays, Thursdays and Saturdays for practicing algorithms, data structures, and job problems. I'd like to create a meetup starting next week. Action Item for Aaron: Check to make sure there is no conflict on Thursdays and Saturdays.

Zach: Friday evenings, 7-8 pm, me, Jarrod, etc. are doing a really cool project (arcade cabinet) for Maker Faire.

Matt: Sawdust extraction unit fixed!

Wednesday 28th: real ww2 enigma machine will be brough to the space, 1 hr talk and a chance to try it out to encrypt and decrypt messages

Kevin: Neurohacking group: Machine learning server is coming online tomorrow! Interested in being an early adopter? Talk to us!


Proposal: change format of meeting to discuss discussion items first before consensus items (5-minute speal about searching for a new NB space)

  •  

Need: - Accessible property - Size >= 4,000 square ft - Rent <= 6,500

Need to have daily contact about new properties, property visits, conversations w / brokers

  • Breakout after mtg for &NBSP

Zach: Hi everyone,

    It was recently brought to my attention that the search for a new Noisebridge home has included many (perhaps solely) inaccessible places.  Meaning, the future Noisebridge would not allow me, or anyone else in a wheelchair, walker, etc. to enter.  This would eliminate me from being part of the community entirely.

Now, I know the search for a new place is very rough, rents are exorbitant, and I would not want to stand in the way of Noisebridge continuing to exist. But I think there needs to be a huge shift in the effort being put towards finding accessible spaces. I have some ideas listed below. But first, I want to pose a question to the community because I get different answers / opinions from different people:

Is equal access for all a fundamental part of Noisebridge's mission?

I don't know the answer to that question, but I think it is a good one to talk about among the community.

Now, as far as an actual sincere effort to searching for an accessible space. Here are some suggestions:

  • Include disabled people in this conversation and ask them about their needs* -this is very important. Please don't assume what people's needs are. Please include some disabled people in the closed-circle Noisebridge building search.

Call and ask the landlord exactly what accessibility looks like. How many steps are there? What is the size of the door, gate, etc? How narrow / wide are hallways and entry areas? Is there a large single-occupancy bathroom? What is the slope of the entry way? Is there a working elevator? Relay this information to disabled members for feedback and input /before/ going to a space, taking pictures, and getting really attached to it.

Reach out to organizations and do an internet search for accessibility options, and laws around construction and such.  You, yes, /you/ can actually step up to do some of this research.  Call:
           Senior Disability Action (https://sdaction.org/  (415) 546-1333)
           ILRC (https://www.ilrcsf.org/ (415) 543-6222)
           or similar places to ask for advice.

familiarize ourselves with what ADA access means. We've been throwing this term around, myself included. I want to be clear that I don't expect to be a part of Noisebridge come August. I know finding an accessible space is going to be really, really hard. I do ask that people really try though. That includes educating ourselves around access and including disabled people in the search and in the conversation.

I want to open this up for discussion because I haven't gotten a clear answer from people and I'm upset about how far we've moved along in considering spaces that are not accessible.  If we decide that an accessible place for the future is okay for the future of Noisebridge, I'm okay with that.

Augur: Accessbility is mandatory

Lizzie: Accesibility is a requirement. Early on in the new space search, we learned that landlords are not good at representing how accessible they are. We can't know how accessible something is before visiting.

Jermops: I can't speak to every conversation, but I've followed most of what's on slack pretty closely. From what I've seen, non-accessible spaces have been shot down, or the question "Could this be made accessible?" has been raised. Zach: Thanks; 2 things: I mentioned John Shutt's proposal which required a report back via email. Part of the confusion is that there hasn't been a report back. The 65 6th street location is completely inaccessible. It irks me when people say "Oh, this could be made accessible." The people who say this obviously have zero experience with making spaces accessible. We are kidding ourselves if we think that space is going to be made accessible. When we say "accessible", this means different things to different people. It happens all the time that disabled people are left out of the conversation and that's a problem that isn't just Noisebridge. Kevin: We're looking at industrial properties which is what's cost effective. Please join the search. There's also very little to work with. We're going to end up with a space with problems, and we're going to have to fix them. Kevin': Thank you Zach. I hear that we need better communication, and I'd like to re-establish weekly meetings, before the Tuesday meetings? Our communication should extend well beyond Slack. Our last line of defense is requiring consensus to sign a lease, so we should make a consensus decision to sign a lease so any objections can be brought there. The current search is mostly looking at the market and getting ideas. I'd like to better understand what the bar of "accessible" is for us. Micah: We may have a legal obligation to be accessible. We may need to check with lawyers. Zach: I think as a space, Noisebridge has done very well operating from a conscience and goal oriented place, and fear of lawsuit is not a good way for things to become accessible. I have to field all of this, all the time, and it's exhausting. I need people to start doing this research, without me continually asking people what they've done. It makes sense to be clear with landlords--there's no way that 65 6th street will be made accessible. I'm going to have to be the person handling the anger and frustration since I'm the only people at these meeting in a wheelchair. I don't want this to end up with me blocking this. I realize that rent is expensive, and that it's hard . We all know that there are obstacles. It really hurts when people bring up obstacles /while talking about accesibility/.

[ending notes for this item unless someone wants to continue taking them]

Discussion on slack about events that exclude men, continuing that discussion. Can we have one day per week when people can feel comfortable proposing Women only, or Men exclusive events. Zach: We had a 5mof that had no men and it went great and then 5mof went back to being mostly men. Alex: It would be great to focus people together with similar experiences Lizzie: Men coming to women-only and dominating them has been an issue. Alex: It seems weird that we would need to have a specific day; it's weird that someone would try to stop that. Trent: Just to clarify, I said that "There should be a day that is exclusively women-only or non-men events. Not that they couldn't happen any time. The purpose is to create a space where people know that is ok. (AND to cross-pollinate between events) Jade: it's not unprecedented for there to be gender-specific events. The 2014 for men only book club feminist book club comes to mind. ?: I'm a hundred percent behind this, I'd like to be able to come in. Kevin: Would this mean that the whole space would be innaccessible? Trent: No, the whole space would be available, except if an event had reserved a part of it. Only events that are women-only or non-men would happen on that day. Those events could happen on other days, but it creates a common day for that to happen.


- Consensus items. A. Noisebridge anti-harrasment policy update

- clarifying a bit, no opposition

B. &NBSP; Consensus Proposal

- Many revisions made to try and make it digestible; Kevin reads his version.

Kevin's revision:

 1. The board officers of Noisebridge may enter into loan agreements and building purchase negotiations in the interest of acquiring a suitable building to be our permanent home. This authorization lasts until a permanent home has been secured, or until Noisebridge has either renewed the 2169 Mission St lease or signed a new lease.
 2. The Board Officers shall keep a log of non-sensitive information stemming from the authorizations above to be published as a “note” on the #the-board, a Noisebridge wiki page, and the Noisebridge discuss mailing list, at a minimum interval of every 2 weeks.
 3. In the event that a purchase decision is required in under two weeks, a special meeting may be called with at minimum 2 days notice to form a special consensus on the purchase decision.

Naomi: I'd like for us to be super specific about procedure. This looks good. Kevin': It's imperative that we form a consensus around the new home of Noisebridge. Kevin: Two days may be too long. We need to get information around very quickly. Patrick: Two week long consensus isn't conducive to these decisions. This will help manage expectations. The window of opportunity for making this decision will be very short. Kevin: I've made edits on lease, and other point. There should be some form of notice before the consensus process.

[I'm stopping notes for now unless someone wants to take over.]


- HACK THE PLANET!