GA Notes 1/19/12

Agenda: Report Backs
Office Space
Announcements
Evaluations

Report Backs:
Occupy Congress: D.c. action was successful. There were a lot of people from Occupy
Baltimore.
Sopa: Internet blackout was very successful. Over 4,500,000 people signed petitions from
Google alone. We won this round.
Youth Jail: Action has been very successful. There was a lot of media coverage on Monday
and a lot of people came out.

Office Space Proposal from Zak:

1. That Occupy Baltimore commit to selecting and obtaining a dedicated
indoor space for Occupy Baltimore to legally use exclusively.
2. That the space will be selected during a GA or (if assigned by GA)
working group meeting two weeks ahead of approval of this proposal,
flexible one to three days before or after that date.
3. All members of Occupy Baltimore will be enabled to submit and
present proposals for spaces, if said proposals have the following
confirmed details:

>1. Address
>2. Name/contact of owner/operator.
>3. Square foot size/configuration. Include a floor plan diagram, if available.
>4. Roughly representative photos of the space.
>5. Rent/cost, if any. Must be a confirmed offer with owner/operator, otherwise publicly-listed asking price is what must be considered. Ideas for negotiation/discounts/etc must be done and confirmed prior to the meeting.
>6. Estimated utilities. (The owner/operator should be able to quote this. If they do not provide this, then n/a is an acceptable submission.)
>7. Handicap accessibility.
>8. Nearby mass transit options, if any.
>9. Things that need to be fixed in order to inhabit, if any. If possible, provide cost estimates (cost estimates are not required but may be available from the owner/operator.)
>10. Any space stipulations. If this space is part of a friendly organization's building, then what are the hours we can access it? What are the limitations? Will they sign a lease, or is it a verbal agreement?

Note: None of these details have binding requirements that qualify or
disqualify the proposal. If, for example, a space is not accessible to
handicapped persons, the proposal can still be brought forward,
discussed and voted on. However, it is the responsibility of the
advocate to have that information fully available. If a space is
selected by GA with false information, then GA must later reach
consensus on allowing the candidate space to move forward. If
consensus cannot be achieved, then the next runner up is what we move
forward with.

4. When the spaces are being selected, people will have an up or down
vote on each specific proposal. The proposal with the highest amount
of support and least amount of opposition wins. For example, if space
A receives 31 yes votes and 11 no votes (+20 difference), then space B
with 25 yes votes and 4 no votes (+21 difference) ranks higher. This
will allow us to process an entire list of proposals in a democratic
manner, acknowledging individual desires and prioritize spaces if the
top or second selection cannot be secured for an unforeseen reason.
This method has precedent in being used to select our delegation to
the mayor's office.

5. This proposal does not bind Occupy Baltimore to specific uses of
the space (whether GAs, meetings, etc are held in the space.)

Call for consensus

Coordinating assembly for space search:
-Discussion of merits/demerits of different space ideas
> Paying rent
> Size/space uses
> Location
> Accessibility

-Dividing into sub working groups:

> Donated space search group?
> Neighborhood-level search groups?
> Proposal facilitation group? (ensuring that all space proposals have the information they need and get to the highest quality/chance for support as possible.)

Proposal discussed and passed with the addition of a "Null Option" for voting. This means that people will be allowed to vote for no office space if they do not like any of the choices.