Labor DayWeekend Meet-up

Brimstone Baritone said:

I'm fine with Montgomery. I didn't find anywhere I felt was suitable, although I was hoping for a larger group.

On Edit: Hope everything's okay, SFC. Maybe eye95 can find a place with a phone and we can conference you in.

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I appreciate it. It's a minor thing, but one that will keep me pretty well in the house for a couple of days. As for the phone, I don't hear all that well and have a lot of trouble with phones. Perhaps we can, before I take my trip to the Mysterious Far East, get together for another work session.

I have a few thoughts (very few) and will try to get them written down. One of the things I mentioned above is the business of paid lobbyists. I would strongly recommend that we start with volunteers from within our group and somewhere down the road look into paid lobbyists. That does not preclude reimbursing the volunteers for necessary expenses.

There are two factors there: How could we be entirely sure that the paid lobbyist is familiar with and sympathetic to our goals? How would we be able to pay said lobbyist in the beginning? On the latter point, it is my understanding that a really competent lobbyist does not come cheap.

We will have to come up with a system of dues somewhere down the road. Also, we might want to look into discounted insurance, both liability and legal, for our members.

Like I said, I've got a few thoughts running around in what is laughingly referred to as my mind.

Since the group is so small (which is actually good for a working group), let's just meet at the usual Montgomery meeting place, the Starbuck's in Eastchase. I propose 5 PM this Saturday. I could be there as early as 4 PM if folks'd prefer.

Please RSVP in this thread if you intend to attend. Also, please post if the time or place is a problem.

Thanks.

JohnH had to bow out, but I'm still in. Look forward to seeing everyone again.

Here at Starbucks, trying' out the new iPad. (Yeah, I know, I'm a bit early.)

Typin' up some some notes on thoughts about the new non-profit.

If we do this right, we oughta be ready for a Labor Day meeting with the full membership, proposal in hand, ready for a few tweaks, a vote on approval, and an election of the first board of directors.

It was a productive, though not well-attended, meeting. It was good to see mcdo....er...myst...er...Baritone again. We don't always see eye to eye, but he is one of my favorite folks to disagree (or agree--more often than not) with.

Anyway, we discussed some of the broader ideas and came up with a framework to flesh it out over the next few weeks. We will be creating some Google Docs and sharing them with a handful of others to come up with a proposal to present to a wider grassroots gathering for amendment and approval.

We need that handful of folks to join the collaboration. I assume that JohnH, Kirbinator, and SFC will participate. I hope one or two others do.

Let us know so that we can add your Google accounts to the collaboration. Even if you think you don't have a google account, you likely do. If you don't, they are easy enough to create.

Thanks in advance.

Please add me in. Much to my surprise, I do have a Google account. PM if you need more detail.

I completely forgot =(

Give your email addresses to Baritone. He can give you access to the draft by-laws.

I thought I did waaaay back in the dark ages of "the movement" when we were concerned that any one of us would be arrested and disappeared for a few days.

I remember going to Starbucks and thinking "Where the devil is ... Baritone?"

There you go, Kirb.

Hey, eye, do you think you could upload your notes from that day? Or email them to me and I'll do it. I think it would help to give everyone who's working on it an idea of what our thought process was.

Brimstone Baritone said:

There you go, Kirb.

Hey, eye, do you think you could upload your notes from that day? Or email them to me and I'll do it. I think it would help to give everyone who's working on it an idea of what our thought process was.

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I uploaded the notes to Google Docs, giving you and Kirb permissions to view. As others jump on board the process, giving us their Google emails, I can add them to that view list.