RT @TesselizaTC: unclear on details, but there are apparently 100s of #CPD at @99Solidarity convergence center. buses being held up, arr …
RT @TesselizaTC: …they wont be allowed to leave the state. ill keep yall posted as more info comes in. @occupywallstnyc @occupychicago …
RT @TesselizaTC: let’s not panic yet nothing is confirmed. all i know for sure is that there are tons of cops and the buses were suppose …
RT @OccupyWallStNYC: OWS Stands in Solidarity with the #M15 Indignado Movement. Global Uprising Now. meet at 4pm Bryant Park Times Squa …
The #OWS #MayDay Popular Assembly is now convening at 55 Water Street in Manhattan’s Financial District! Read @OWSTranscripts for tweets!
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RT @OWSTranscripts: We’ll actually be transcribing tonight’s #OWS community dialogue here: http://t.co/aUkNlFCZ cvqvGJ-43I4Ox4y9aixsXLH0 …
Contact Person: Dan Marks
Working Group (if applicable) : Inter-Occupy Article V Work Group
Contact Email: hardtruthpac@gmail.comdan.marks99@gmail.com
Contact Phone: 808-345-3990
This is a Proposal for: General Assembly
Proposal:
Emergency Proposal for General Assembly: Sign declaration demanding Congress’ call to assemble an Article V Constitutional Amendment Convention as 49 of 50 States have applied for. We still have time to elect delegates in the 2012 election.
We involved with Inter-Occupy Article V Work-group unanimously acknowledge the fact that the States have satisfied the required two-thirds numerical threshold to call for an Article V Convention under Article V of the US Constitution and Congress should call an Article V Convention to order.
We offer the attached data to support our agreement of fact.
http://foavc.org/file.php/1/Amendments
Corporations and wealthy individuals have crowded out voters from being heard by elected officials in the legislative process and as the primary resource of candidates in their campaigns. As a result, our government can no longer be considered truly a government of, by, and for the people.
The States have done their part in asking for a Convention to amend the United States Constitution. A Convention would give the people the ability to make the changes needed to fix what’s wrong with our political system. It is time for Congress to do its duty and call a Convention to amend the United States Constitution as required by Article V of the Constitution.
The record is clear, the reality that Congress is remiss in their duty is clear. If the power of Congress is to ignore, then Occupy and the States must acknowledge the record as fact. The truth is on our side. The States must begin the delegate selection process immediately. If we cannot wake the States up by the end of April we will not get another chance to elected delegates until 2013. We are ready now. All we have to do is shame a Congress with a 9% approval rating that they will not call this convention to order.
The only option left is the public pressure we can create. This is a political choice as much as a legal choice now. We have the records to wave in their face. Once 20 Governors are waving the records, Congress will call the convention and we will be able to propose amendments. We are running out of time. We need to involve this message in national actions, this is our Constitution to amend.
The States have satisfied the required two-thirds numerical threshold to call for a National Constitutional Convention under Article 5 of the US Constitution. Seize the day!
Proposal from Vision and Goals to present the latest version of this statement (below)
A Vision of the People’s Movement of Occupy Wall Street
Occupy Wall Street assembles to protest the unjust laws and rules manufactured by
less than 1% of the Earth’s population.We come from everywhere in America and
abroad; our views are as diverse as our origins, but the one idea that has brought us
together is our shared wish to see a better world based on human dignity.
Although we do not always agree on the world we want to see, there are strands of
vision that unite us all. Many of them are listed below. We are working together with all
of humanity to refine and complete this beautiful vision.
Occupy Wall Street, by its existence, creates the possibility of a future where the world
emerges in continual transformation as People, Nature, and the Planet live in harmony;
each providing for the welfare of the other.
All that we need is already here.
Vision of the peoples General Assembly (February, 2012)
Occupy Wall Street, by its existence, creates the potential for a future where the world evolves in a continual transformation of Humanity and Nature thriving on our planet in a harmony where each element of the system provides for the welfare of the other elements.
All we need is already here.
Basic Human Needs as a top priority:
War is Obsolete;
Conflict resolution, rehabilitation, and support.
Basic Human Needs are a top priority
Systems favor mutual aid and collaboration to distribute resources
Healthy food.
Health care for everyone
Education is free and of the highest quality.
Human resources; we are the valued resource
A philosophy and practice of mutual aid.
Contribution is valued as work
All to benefit all people: The world’s resources are used for everyone’s well being.
Environmental care and respect
People live harmoniously with nature and planet
Conservation of and sharing of resources
Shared resources,
Bioregionalism; locally based smaller communities all over the world.
A non-proprietary respect for Earth
Tubes in the ocean to harness the power of the currents.
A Sustainable environment where we work with the earth and not just take from it.
No more fossil-fueled polluting automobiles.
Beneficial Social Structures
Fulfilling and meaningful work.
Healthy lifestyles as the new normal.
Everyone has the freedom to go anywhere in the world without discrimination.
A Society that encourages inclusion instead of competition
A Society where Cooperatives thrive over exploitative systems.
Complete equality
3 parties, 4 parties, 5 parties…
Self-Governance through Direct Democracy
Priority of intellectual and religious harmony
Celebration of our Culture over profit margin
Emphasis of We culture that we appreciate
A Culture of Spirituality and a sense of humanity
Power from within instead of power to control others.
Freedom of religion
A new world ethic
No us/them – no more separation.
The practice of active listening in our communication
We have real relationships for a true human connection
In the future: A free and wonderful Life Paradigm
We have the freedom to go anywhere.
And live a balanced life.
With access to nature and city.
To Travel anywhere and have food from everywhere
In a world that is stateless, borderless.
We live without discrimination and see truthfully that everyday justice prevails.
By Valuing and celebrating other cultures; the human experience is Dialectic,
Informative, Transforming and Becoming.
As Occupy Wall Street we are busy creating the potential for a future that finds ways to evolve positively with the continual transformation of Humanity and Nature on a Planet that lives in harmony; each element providing for the welfare of the other elements.
All we need is already here.
All the contents of the main body of this document were created by a February General Assembly in an excercise where Occupiers shared their Vision for the future world they hoped to see. It is important to state that this is meant as the first version of a living document that is meant to improve itself as we learn together as an occupation and enhance our wisdom of the ideas and systems involved in this vision.
Proposers: Sean McKeown
Proposer Contact Information: s_mckeown@hotmail.com
Date of Proposal: 3/31/12 General Assembly
This proposal is intended as a proposal to improve OWS accounting and accountability methods
by drafting proper protocols for the movement as a whole to follow as we move revitalized into the
American Spring.
Part II: Accounting Standards Reform
Before even a single dollar of additional donations can be spent by Occupy Wall Street in good faith,
is an absolute necessity to achieve financial transparency moving forward. Both for our confidence in
each other as a Movement, and to enable us to say to the public at large that we are acting with radical
transparency to the best of our ability, any funds or materials we receive must being properly managed
and used to sufficiently high standards. For this purpose, this proposal is asking that we consent as a
body to the following:
•
Where possible and convenient, we will seek in-kind donations for supplies rather than
monetary donations, be they targeted needs (like bicycles for growing the Bike Coalition) or
general needs (like garbage bags for storing bags at an occupation site during wet weather).
Money is not needed for many of the needs of the Occupation, and should not be considered
the logistical answer to every problem.
•
Where money is being used, Occupy Wall Street will strive to follow Generally Accepted
Accounting Principles as well as radical transparency of accounting and book-keeping
records. These are already the principles by which members of our Accounting working
group must abide if they are to act properly within the law to the necessary high standard,
and we must as a whole stand in solidarity with the Accounting working group rather than
potentially expose them to state violence with the threat of arrest for their work on our behalf.
In asking Accounting to maintain these high standards, we must note that they can only do so
if we ourselves maintain these high standards. This requires receipts and a trail of information
for all financial disbursements, and by consenting to these principles as far as our use of
money is concerned we will be agreeing that no reimbursements will be made immediately
without a valid and well-documented receipt for any goods or services.
•
As these situations will still arise, and there is some flexibility within accounting protocols
for disbursement of funds without proper chains of information or receipts, the following
protocol shall be enabled for the disbursement of funds without meeting Generally Accepted
Accounting Principles.
For any disbursal of funds without a receipt, after a one-week delay, if such a receipt
cannot be found or replaced for presenting to the Accounting working group, it can be
requested of the General Assembly or Spokes Council as a proposal to those bodies by
the individual seeking these funds in this way.
The Spokes Council is enabled by its design to hear such proposals of a strictly logistical
nature for intra-occupation budget items, while the General Assembly will remain the proper
body for all expenditures (logistical or otherwise) involving more than one General Assembly
working together or the NYCGA interacting with the outside world.
•
In keeping with the principle of radical transparency, we as a General Assembly will
authorize the Accounting working group to upload digital scans of bank statements and any
other such information, with account numbers redacted, as a general practice. Currently, the
only barrier to this radical transparency is the lack of GA direction in this capacity, and other
Occupations have used these standards of radical transparency to good effect. In addition to
making a weekly report to Spokes Council and General Assembly, as they have been, we
would be authorizing and requiring the Accounting Working Group to upload on a weekly
basis scans of this information for public scrutiny inside and outside of OWS. This consent to
publish financial information will be granted and back-dated, as far back as any records we
possess go, but not required by any particular timetable.
•
In addition to these weekly accounts summaries, in keeping with the principles of radical
transparency, we as a General Assembly will authorize our book-keepers, the Alliance
for Global Justice who are our fiscal sponsors for 501c3 purposes, to make reports of all
donations (including any cash received) public on a monthly-report basis. These reports
should likewise redact donor information and account numbers, but otherwise faithfully note
all donations into WePay, percentages taken as overhead by WePay or the Alliance for Global
Justice as our fiscal sponsors or any other outflows prior to budgetary tracking, and confirm
the transfer of funds to OWS accounts plus confirm that these accounts match those currently
tracked by the Accounting WG after any holding periods. The recipient of each disbursement
shall be provided in these monthly summaries going forward. For the purposes of masking
individual actions, monikers and/or Working Groups (where applicable) will be accepted (as
they presently are) for any who do not wish to publish their real name, but as with current
Accounting protocols and Generally Accepted Accounting Principles, one’s real name and
similar information must be privately tracked internally (as it already is).
Additionally, the $100 per-day “petty cash” system, in place since the early weeks of the Occupation,
came into existence without direct GA consensus. The history of this system’s implementation came
about quite simply, as it was determined very early on (at a GA for which there do not appear to
be surviving records) that it was reasonable to require a $100 threshold for requiring the consent
of the body as a whole before making a financial expenditure on behalf of the Movement. By
logical inference, then, it became OWS practices not to require GA consent via a proposal for any
expenditure of up to $100. Likewise, to answer the questions of ‘by whom?’ and ‘how often?’ when
the Occupation was considerably smaller than it is today, the reasonable answers to these questions
were determined to be ‘by Working Groups’ and ‘on any given day,’ thus creating without an actual
proposal the system of petty cash as we have known it.
•
As part of its budgeting process discussions, the Spokes Council ratified with full consensus
the proposal to exclude petty cash expenditures without consensus and oversight as part of
our budgeting practices. As this proposal is seeking to conclude the spending freeze and put
into place best practices for the movement to follow going forward, the General Assembly
is being asked to consent that this system which was never brought into place via group
consensus shall not be used. In its place, if Working Groups, projects, or other proposal
items require flexible budgeting options as part of any budgets they seek approval for, they
can request such as part of their budgeting and such would be subjected to all appropriate
oversight within the guidelines of such budgeting structures.
With these requirements for transparency and accountability met, we can in good conscience lift the
spending freeze. Instead of simply concluding the spending freeze, however, by the passage of this
budget and its associated protocols, we would seek to modify the conclusion of the spending freeze.
For any given month, failure to complete a monthly report of our book-keeping and accounting
statements on the NYCGA.net website at accounting.nycga.net by the seventh day after the agreed-
upon deadline will result in an automatic and complete spending freeze. Presentation of such a
transparency report, for accountability purposes, either lifts or prevents such a freeze; unlike the
spending freeze proposed 1/14/12, this budgetary freeze shall have no exceptions based on category of
expenditure or the repeating nature of any budget.
Proposer: Justin Samuels
I propose that Occupy Wall Street has a voters registration drive. Occupy Wall Street was originally about pointing out and fighting economic injustice. This message has been lost due to nightly battles with the police officers at Union Square. I propose that instead of focusing on trying to hold union square at night (something that occupy will lose) that occupy focus more on changing things within the framework of the system we have. If the public thinks that the NYPD is too brutal, we can vote in a mayor who has different policing policies.
Occupy National Gathering Proposal
Proposers: Nathan Kleinman & Larry Swetman (for the National Gathering Working Group, Occupy Philly)
On January 7, 2012, the Philadelphia General Assembly came to consensus on a proposal from the Philadelphia Committee of Correspondence to form a national working group dedicated to conceiving of, and implementing a strategy towards, a National Gathering of the Occupy Movement.1 This National Gathering Working Group (NGWG) has met seven times via conference call with people from across the country using the InterOccupy system to debate the merits and discuss the logistics of convening a mass convergence of the Movement in one place at one time.2 Participants have included Occupy activists from Sacramento, Philadelphia, Minneapolis, Asheville, Missoula, Phoenix, Las Vegas, New York City, Houston, Los Angeles, San Diego, Santa Cruz, Palo Alto, Denver, DC, Oakland, Albany, Schenectady, Delaware, Alabama, Chicago, Tampa, San Francisco, Boston, New Hampshire, and Kalamazoo, as well as Canada.
After several weeks discussing several locations, dates, and purposes we would like to submit the following proposal to General Assemblies across the Occupy Movement for general ratification:
We, the National Gathering Working Group (NGWG), propose a National Gathering of the Occupy Movement on July 4, 2012 in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania at Independence Mall in order to collectively craft a Vision for a Democratic Future. We further propose that our convergence begin on June 30, 2012 for four days of community and Movement building exercises including speakers, teach-ins, and free-flowing open discussion at a location to be
determined by the Philadelphia General Assembly. To facilitate the visioning process we also propose the use of the attached
“National Gathering Visioning Process Proposal” which utilizes a small network model of communication to organically produce a vision statement of all those in attendance. We also encourage the creation of local or national processes by which movement resources could be directed towards funding travel for active movement participants who otherwise would not be able to attend. We fully understand that no single gathering can be representative of our entire movement, but we cannot ignore the value derived from face-to-face contact. We recognize that attending in person will be challenging or impossible for many, so we also commit to pursuing an online component through which anyone can participate via the Internet.
In keeping with principles of the Occupy Movement, the NGWG will continue planning this gathering only if this proposal is ratified by a preponderance of General Assemblies from across the Movement. We are committed to operating in an open, inclusive, and transparent way. Therefore, all planning will be done via direct democratic conference calls through the InterOccupy system. We convene every Tuesday at 9PM EST/6 PM PST.3 All are welcome to participate. We endeavor to convene an historic gathering that will require a great deal of organization, so we invite participants from every Assembly to join us in the planning and facilitation of this effort.
We have included a copy of the process proposal that outlines how to effectively and efficiently produce a collectively written document. By utilizing this small network, consensus-based model, we will work together to produce a vision for the future. We will also prove, through the entire process leading up to July 4th, that our movement is capable of coordinating mass action and collaborating on a broad scale, while still holding fast to our principles. In many ways, the process is more important than the gathering itself.
This Movement will always live primarily at the local level, but every great Movement should have the chance to gather en masse as a demonstration of solidarity and strength. A National Gathering of the movement will provide such a demonstration. At this pivotal stage in human history, we feel we owe nothing less than a beautiful expression of our collective will to an anxious world grasping for reasons to hope again.
Once your Assembly has considered this proposal please email your decision to NationalGathering@gmail.com. For media purposes please feel free to utilize @OccupyNG and #NationalGathering for social media coordination. Updates will be posted to InterOccupy.org and OccupyNationalGathering.com.
In keeping with the spirit of equality and social justice that is the
lifeblood of the Occupy movement, I want to have 25-75 LGBT occupiers
and straight allies take part in the June 24 NYC Gay Pride parade down
5th Avenue.
Proposer: Karim Walker
We’re getting started with the General Assembly here at 60 Wall Street! Yoni and Josh facilitating. #nycga #ows
We have 32 people here tonight. Starting with reportbacks. First is Mandolin: There will be a discussion on a Collective Council… #NYCGA
…This Thursday 6pm at Union Square. #nycga #ows
There will be a Coordinators Meeting this Thursday at 9am at Union Square. #nycga #ows
Reportback from yesterday’ Community-wide discussion: there were lots of people there, we discussed GA&Spokes,skill shares, & more. #nycga
Stairs is now reviewing the process. #nycga #ows
First proposal is from Direct Action Painters (@DAP). @lmnopie presenting. #nycga #ows
“I had a proposal to ask for $1,000 for printing for a poster I made for #MayDay, but I raised that money independently.” #nycga #ows
So there’s no need for this proposal! Applause. #nycga #ows
Next proposal is from Billy: Moving the GA to Union Square. “The energy & light that once poured into Liberty Square has now…”#nycga #ows
“has organically sprung up in Union Square” Proposal is to move General Assemblies to Union Square. #nycga #ows
This was brought as an emergency proposal-We’re taking a temp. check on whether this GA feels this qualifies as an emergency. #nycga #ows
Temp check was mixed. PoI: An emergency proposal is defined as addressing unforeseeable circumstances that made it impossible…#nycga #ows
…”to be submitted within the 24-hour deadline” #nycga #ows
After some discussion, we did not reach consensus that his is an emergency proposal. Movin on to Sean’s proposal for discussion. #nycga #ows
You can find the full text of the proposal here: http://t.co/fZMSF9uL #nycga #ows
Ravi PoI’s that @OWSAccounting made good faith efforts to reach out to the proposer,@smcke0wn, before he submitted this proposal.#nycga #ows
We are now breaking out to discuss this proposal. #nycga #ows
Now coming back with reportbacks: First group: “While we think this is a well thought-out proposal, it is redundant, and still..”#nycga #ows
..”doesn’t address some of the core issues of why problems are reoccurring” #nycga #ows
Next is Trish: “I’m very concerned about where we are fiscally. We need to get a neutral outside entity to look at principles of bookkeeping
..and at the model we plan to use and see if it’s and acceptable model. We should interact with Accounting and hold them accountable. #nycga
We have had a lot of problems by giving an entity power without informing the community. #nycga #ows
Trish finishes her rant. Someone PoI’s to clarify Trish’s false claim that Accounting is an autonomous group.It is a GA Working Group #nycga
Two gentlemen add in that we need to work with @OWSAccounting to make sure receipts get scanned & uploaded. #nycga #ows
We’ve reached the end of discussion on this topic, and there are no more agenda items. GA is over! #nycga #ows
Thanks for watching, this has been @shawncarrie for The @LibertySqGA LiveTweeting Team. Thanks fam! See ya next time! #OccupyWallStreet
Proposal to move the NYCGA officially from Liberty Plaza (backup: 60 Wall) to Union Square for the foreseeable future.
Proposer: Bill Livsey
NYCGA 3/27/2012
Location: Atrium at 60 Wall Street
Co-Facilitators: Josh, Yoni
Stack: Katherine
Time:
Vibes:
Minutes: Lauren
Announcements and Working Group Reportbacks
This Friday, 7-8pm Union Square there will be a vigil for the disabled community to honor those in our community who have been murdered by family members and caretakers. These murders go unanswered. 7-8pm by the statue of Gandhi
My coalition had a meeting today that was awesome. We are actively figuring out how to have bikes that are accessible and maintained provided as an option to other forms of transportation such as the subway.
Union Square Thursday morning at 9am we are going to have a coordinators meeting over breakfast everyone should be there
Yesterday there was a community dialogue meeting we have gotten to a place where we focused on things we can do and things we can perform one of which was looking at the GA, which is not well attended, also skill share, spokes council, very good and populated, more than here, the next one is going to happen on Monday 7pm, 220 East 23rd.
Grand Hyatt Thursday 5:30 against congressman Crowley
Thursday at 3pm we will be teaching bike safety class
Thursday at 6pm I would like to start a discussion on a new form of spokes council it will be at Union Square at 6pm, brief discussion.
Tomorrow at 5am there will be a van leaving to new haven as they may be evicted tomorrow you can also go through metro north, not much more than a 24 hour trip in the van.
Proposal: DA Painters: I made DA poster, was going to ask for 1,000.00 but raised the money separately to print 1,200 copies 2ft square, skill share on we paste etiquette, then we will distribute occupy Oakland will be using these posters. I have a concern about the budget, we would be wise to set aside money for printing for May Day. Thank you.
Proposal: In a sense an EMT proposal, to move GA To Union Square this fall all the energy was flowing into Liberty Park, now we are in this place, 60 wall, now there are many people in Union Square. I am proposing we move our GA’s to Union Square so we can heal GA and harness the energy that is inclusive of the whole movement. Temperature Check on if this is an EMT proposal, temp check mixed but mostly negative.
Proposal: Breakouts to discuss Financial Transparency
Minutes was not able to catch all of the reportbacks, they are at the start of the second recording for this GA
Proposers: Sean McKeown
Proposer Contact Information: s_mckeown@hotmail.com
Date of Proposal: 3/24/12 General Assembly
This proposal is intended as both a fiscal budget for the remaining OWS funds, in
replacement of the weekly budget frozen by Accounting for the week of 3/19, and a
proposal to improve OWS accounting and accountability methods by drafting proper
protocols for the movement as a whole to follow as we move revitalized into the
American Spring.
Part II: Accounting Standards Reform
Before even a single dollar of additional donations can be spent by Occupy Wall Street
in good faith, is an absolute necessity to achieve financial transparency moving forward.
Both for our confidence in each other as a Movement, and to enable us to say to the
public at large that we are acting with radical transparency to the best of our ability, any
funds or materials we receive must being properly managed and used to sufficiently
high standards. For this purpose, this proposal is asking that we consent as a body to the
following:
•
Where possible and convenient, we will seek in-kind donations for supplies
rather than monetary donations, be they targeted needs (like bicycles for growing
the Bike Coalition) or general needs (like garbage bags for storing bags at an
occupation site during wet weather). Money is not needed for many of the needs
of the Occupation, and should not be considered the logistical answer to every
problem.
•
Where money is being used, Occupy Wall Street will strive
to follow <a href=“http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/
Generally_Accepted_Accounting_Principles_(United_States)”>Generally
Accepted Accounting Principles</a> as well as radical transparency of accounting
and book-keeping records. These are already the principles by which members
of our Accounting working group must abide if they are to act properly within
the law to the necessary high standard, and we must as a whole stand in solidarity
with the Accounting working group rather than potentially expose them to
state violence with the threat of arrest for their work on our behalf. In asking
Accounting to maintain these high standards, we must note that they can only
do so if we ourselves maintain these high standards. This requires receipts
and a trail of information for all financial disbursements, and by consenting to
these principles as far as our use of money is concerned we will be agreeing
that no reimbursements will be made *immediately* without a valid and well-
documented receipt for any goods or services.
•
As these situations will still arise, and there is some flexibility within accounting
protocols for disbursement of funds without proper chains of information or
receipts, the following protocol shall be enabled for the disbursement of funds
without meeting Generally Accepted Accounting Principles. For any disbursal of
funds without a receipt, after a one-week delay, if such a receipt cannot be found
or replaced for presenting to the Accounting working group, it can be requested
of the General Assembly or Spokes Council as a proposal to those bodies by the
individual seeking these funds in this way. The Spokes Council is enabled by its
design to hear such proposals of a strictly logistical nature for intra-occupation
budget items, while the General Assembly will remain the proper body for all
expenditures (logistical or otherwise) involving more than one General Assembly
working together or OWS interacting with the outside world.
•
In keeping with the principle of radical transparency, we as a General Assembly
will authorize the Accounting working group to upload digital scans of bank
statements and any other such information, with account numbers redacted, as
a general practice. Currently, the only barrier to this radical transparency is the
lack of GA direction in this capacity, and other Occupations have used these
standards of radical transparency to good effect. In addition to making a weekly
report to Spokes Council and General Assembly, as they have been, we would
be authorizing and requiring the Accounting Working Group to upload on a
weekly basis scans of this information for public scrutiny inside and outside of
OWS. This consent to publish financial information will be granted and back-
dated, as far back as any records we possess go, but not required by any particular
timetable.
•
In addition to these weekly accounts summaries, in keeping with the principles
of radical transparency, we as a General Assembly will authorize our book-
keepers, the Alliance for Global Justice who are our fiscal sponsors for 501c3
purposes, to make reports of all donations (including any cash received) public on
a monthly-report basis. These reports should likewise redact donor information
and account numbers, but otherwise faithfully note all donations into WePay,
percentages taken as overhead by WePay or the Alliance for Global Justice as
our fiscal sponsors or any other outflows prior to budgetary tracking, and confirm
the transfer of funds to OWS accounts plus confirm that these accounts match
those currently tracked by the Accounting WG after any holding periods. The
recipient of each disbursement shall be provided in these monthly summaries
going forward. For the purposes of masking individual actions, monikers and/or
Working Groups (where applicable) will be accepted (as they presently are) for
any who do not wish to publish their real name, but as with current Accounting
protocols and Generally Accepted Accounting Principles, one’s real name and
similar information must be privately tracked internally (as it already is).
Additionally, the $100 per-day “petty cash” system, in place since the early weeks of
the Occupation, came into existence without direct GA consensus. The history of this
system’s implementation came about quite simply, as it was determined very early on
(at a GA for which there do not appear to be surviving records) that it was reasonable
to require a $100 threshold for requiring the consent of the body as a whole before
making a financial expenditure on behalf of the Movement.
By logical inference, then, it became OWS practices not to require GA consent via a
proposal for any expenditure of up to $100. Likewise, to answer the questions of ‘by
whom?’ and ‘how often?’ when the Occupation was considerably smaller than it is
today, the reasonable answers to these questions were determined to be ‘by Working
Groups’ and ‘on any given day,’ thus creating without an actual proposal the system
of petty cash as we have known it.
•
As part of its budgeting process discussions, the Spokes Council ratified
with full consensus the proposal to exclude petty cash expenditures without
consensus and oversight as part of our budgeting practices. As this proposal
is seeking to conclude the spending freeze and put into place best practices for
the movement to follow going forward, the General Assembly is being asked
to consent that this system which was never brought into place via group
consensus shall not be used. In its place, if Working Groups, projects, or
other proposal items require flexible budgeting options as part of any budgets
they seek approval for, they can request such as part of their budgeting and
such would be subjected to all appropriate oversight within the guidelines of
such budgeting structures.
With these requirements for transparency and accountability met, we can in good
conscience lift the spending freeze. Instead of simply concluding the spending freeze,
however, by the passage of this budget and its associated protocols, we would seek
to modify the conclusion of the spending freeze by attaching it to the completion
of transparently presenting a March 2012 monthly report of our book-keeping and
accounting statements on the NYCGA.net website at accounting.nycga.net.
Proposer: Justin Samuels
I propose that we end both spokes council and the GA for several reasons.
Over at @OWSTranscripts, @DiceyTroop is livetweeting tonight’s Occupy Wall Street community meeting re: Spring 2012. #OWS
Hey fam, @CyMadD0x is livetweeting tonight’s #NYCGA! You can follow our directly democratic process over there tonight. Thanks Dallas! #OWS
Proposal: To form the Union Square General Assembly affinity group.
Mission: To facilitate the continued occupation of Union Square NYC.
Meetings: Mondays 10AM @Union Square.
Proposers: Sean McKeown
Proposer Contact Information: s_mckeown@hotmail.com
Date of Proposal: 3/24/12 General Assembly
This proposal is intended as both a fiscal budget for the remaining OWS funds, in
replacement of the weekly budget frozen by Accounting for the week of 3/19, and a
proposal to improve OWS accounting and accountability methods by drafting proper
protocols for the movement as a whole to follow as we move revitalized into the
American Spring.
Part I: Spending Down To Zero
Following the discussion about accounting budgeting held at General Assembly on 3/22,
that assembly broke out into groups to draft a budgeting proposal for GA, reconvened,
then achieved consensus to present to GA for 3/24 the following suggested framework
for the remaining $12,150:
Street Medics: $0. Given the recent trend of funding for this expenditure, it is
believed that in-kind donations will be sufficient moving forward.
•
•
Clinical Medics: $0. Given the recent trend of funding for this expenditure, it is
believed that in-kind donations will be sufficient moving forward.
•
Facilitation WG Space Rentals: $0. Given the current level of expenditures
needed for the spaces, as little as $40/week might be needed for this repeating
item and this can be crowdsourced via the ‘pass the hat’ method.
•
Tech Ops: $0. Suggest immediate move to an affinity-group model given their
current operational infrastructure, for website costs, or a future GA proposal to
recompense this WG for costs incurred as-needed.
•
Kitchen: $2,000. This is sufficient to provide for two weeks of infrastructure
costs – transportation needs, fuel costs, and kitchen space rental – and will allow
Kitchen several weeks of operational costs if used on these needs which cannot
be supplanted with in-kind donations, as Kitchen shifts over to an affinity-group
model that will allow them to receive outside donations to remain operational.
•
Metrocards: $3,000. This should be budgeted in three weekly budgets of $1,000
for the next three weeks, sufficient for ~35 cards per week. Revision of the
way in which these cards are distributed is highly advised – rather than issuing
persons private property, we should be looking to create communal property at
transportational ‘node’ locations so that occupiers can travel between Liberty
Square and Union Square, or receive a one-way trip from these sites to other
locations to help get people to direct actions. If the prior protocols are used for
tracking these cards, so that cardholders are held accountable for holding these
items reliably as well as held accountable for using this as communal property in
good faith, it is suggested that these prior protocols be tracked by an independent
coalition of members nominated to the task by this body rather than simply
entrusting any specific Working Group with their oversight, be it the Housing
working group or some other group, though these bodies may share members in
common.
•
Bike Coalition: $1,000. Given the support for this Working Group, and the
group’s ability to assist in mobilizing the Occupation presently encamped at
Union Square as well as assist in scouting and defense for marches, if the GA
believes this Working Group is worth supporting, some seed money should be
provided to enlarge their ability to act in this capacity. It is likewise suggested
that a bike drive be planned as quickly as possible, to further enlarge these
capabilities with in-kind donations.
•
Printing Budget: All remaining funds. $6,150. Given that all Working Groups
have access to these resources, rather than any one individual Working Group,
and the sheer importance of being able to provide fliers for outreach and events
is critical to the Movement between now and May Day, the bulk of these funds
should be allocated to printing to enable the Occupation to continue onward in the
next few weeks. As with Kitchen, if this can move to an outside-funding model
immediately, such should be done to the best of this budget item’s ability.
This reduces the current finances possessed by Occupy Wall Street to a zero balance.
This is not by itself intended to end the spending freeze; before doing so, and potentially
spending any further money, we should rebuild our financial protocols in the spirit of
transparency and accountability that we seek to bring into the world.
Part II: Accounting Standards Reform
Before even a single dollar of additional donations can be spent by Occupy Wall Street
in good faith, is an absolute necessity to achieve financial transparency moving forward.
Both for our confidence in each other as a Movement, and to enable us to say to the
public at large that we are acting with radical transparency to the best of our ability, any
funds or materials we receive must being properly managed and used to sufficiently
high standards. For this purpose, this proposal is asking that we consent as a body to the
following:
•
Where possible and convenient, we will seek in-kind donations for supplies
rather than monetary donations, be they targeted needs (like bicycles for growing
the Bike Coalition) or general needs (like garbage bags for storing bags at an
occupation site during wet weather). Money is not needed for many of the needs
of the Occupation, and should not be considered the logistical answer to every
problem.
•
Where money is being used, Occupy Wall Street will strive
to follow Generally
Accepted Accounting Principles as well as radical transparency of accounting
and book-keeping records. These are already the principles by which members
of our Accounting working group must abide if they are to act properly within
the law to the necessary high standard, and we must as a whole stand in solidarity
with the Accounting working group rather than potentially expose them to
state violence with the threat of arrest for their work on our behalf. In asking
Accounting to maintain these high standards, we must note that they can only
do so if we ourselves maintain these high standards. This requires receipts
and a trail of information for all financial disbursements, and by consenting to
these principles as far as our use of money is concerned we will be agreeing
that no reimbursements will be made *immediately* without a valid and well-
documented receipt for any goods or services.
•
As these situations will still arise, and there is some flexibility within accounting
protocols for disbursement of funds without proper chains of information or
receipts, the following protocol shall be enabled for the disbursement of funds
without meeting Generally Accepted Accounting Principles. For any disbursal of
funds without a receipt, after a one-week delay, if such a receipt cannot be found
or replaced for presenting to the Accounting working group, it can be requested
of the General Assembly or Spokes Council as a proposal to those bodies by the
individual seeking these funds in this way. The Spokes Council is enabled by its
design to hear such proposals of a strictly logistical nature for intra-occupation
budget items, while the General Assembly will remain the proper body for all
expenditures (logistical or otherwise) involving more than one General Assembly
working together or OWS interacting with the outside world.
•
In keeping with the principle of radical transparency, we as a General Assembly
will authorize the Accounting working group to upload digital scans of bank
statements and any other such information, with account numbers redacted, as
a general practice. Currently, the only barrier to this radical transparency is the
lack of GA direction in this capacity, and other Occupations have used these
standards of radical transparency to good effect. In addition to making a weekly
report to Spokes Council and General Assembly, as they have been, we would
be authorizing and requiring the Accounting Working Group to upload on a
weekly basis scans of this information for public scrutiny inside and outside of
OWS. This consent to publish financial information will be granted and back-
dated, as far back as any records we possess go, but not required by any particular
timetable.
•
In addition to these weekly accounts summaries, in keeping with the principles
of radical transparency, we as a General Assembly will authorize our book-
keepers, the Alliance for Global Justice who are our fiscal sponsors for 501c3
purposes, to make reports of all donations (including any cash received) public on
a monthly-report basis. These reports should likewise redact donor information
and account numbers, but otherwise faithfully note all donations into WePay,
percentages taken as overhead by WePay or the Alliance for Global Justice as
our fiscal sponsors or any other outflows prior to budgetary tracking, and confirm
the transfer of funds to OWS accounts plus confirm that these accounts match
those currently tracked by the Accounting WG after any holding periods. The
recipient of each disbursement shall be provided in these monthly summaries
going forward. For the purposes of masking individual actions, monikers and/or
Working Groups (where applicable) will be accepted (as they presently are) for
any who do not wish to publish their real name, but as with current Accounting
protocols and Generally Accepted Accounting Principles, one’s real name and
similar information must be privately tracked internally (as it already is).
Additionally, the $100 per-day “petty cash” system, in place since the early weeks of
the Occupation, came into existence without direct GA consensus. The history of this
system’s implementation came about quite simply, as it was determined very early on
(at a GA for which there do not appear to be surviving records) that it was reasonable
to require a $100 threshold for requiring the consent of the body as a whole before
making a financial expenditure on behalf of the Movement.
By logical inference, then, it became OWS practices not to require GA consent via a
proposal for any expenditure of up to $100. Likewise, to answer the questions of ‘by
whom?’ and ‘how often?’ when the Occupation was considerably smaller than it is
today, the reasonable answers to these questions were determined to be ‘by Working
Groups’ and ‘on any given day,’ thus creating without an actual proposal the system
of petty cash as we have known it.
•
As part of its budgeting process discussions, the Spokes Council ratified
with full consensus the proposal to exclude petty cash expenditures without
consensus and oversight as part of our budgeting practices. As this proposal
is seeking to conclude the spending freeze and put into place best practices for
the movement to follow going forward, the General Assembly is being asked
to consent that this system which was never brought into place via group
consensus shall not be used. In its place, if Working Groups, projects, or
other proposal items require flexible budgeting options as part of any budgets
they seek approval for, they can request such as part of their budgeting and
such would be subjected to all appropriate oversight within the guidelines of
such budgeting structures.
With these requirements for transparency and accountability met, we can in good
conscience lift the spending freeze. Instead of simply concluding the spending freeze,
however, by the passage of this budget and its associated protocols, we would seek
to modify the conclusion of the spending freeze by attaching it to the completion
of transparently presenting a March 2012 monthly report of our book-keeping and
accounting statements on the NYCGA.net website at accounting.nycga.net.
NYC General Assembly 3/24/2012
[Note: There was no minutes-taker at this GA. The text below was compiled by the facilitator and live-tweeter from the live tweets and recollections. The Minutes Working Group cannot independently verify the accuracy and comprehensiveness of these minutes.]
Location: 60 Wall Street, then Liberty Square, then 100 Williams St.
Facilitation Team: Sean McKeown, Justin Stone-Diaz co-facilitating, Ray taking stack.
Timekeeper not used. Vibes checker not used.
This proposal is for Printing for a May Day Poster to be distributed widely throughout NYC.
The print shop we will be using is union run and the paper is recycled newsprint.
We are looking to print 1000 copies on recycled newsprint, 2′x2′
We will wheatpaste the posters all across the 5 burroughs to raise awareness about MAY DAY
Occupy LA and Occupy Oakland are also printing this poster for their MAY DAY General Strike.
The cost for printing is $750. Shipping is $50.
An additional $200 would go to cover cost of paint, canvas, grommets and wheatpaste.
Total budget is $1000
There is a time pressure to get this printed asap.
Contact Person: Lopi
Hey fam! #NYCGA is starting in Liberty Square right now with about 13 people. Follow here for tweeets. #OWS
Corey is facilitating. Christine from accounting is starting with a discussion, about how we’re down to $12k. “Accounting doesn’t feel..”
Cont’d: “….comfortable just handing the money to whoever gets to us first,” would be making decisions beyond their empowerment. #OWS
Cont’d; “What I’d like to do is talk briefly about the 3 or 4 options,” pull a proposal out of what we’re hearing from the breakout groups.
Cont’d: “It seems like there are a few reasonable ways of dealing with this. One is to hand the $ to whoever gets there first; if…”
Cont’d: “…community was cool with that, we’d do it.” Could split up proportionally between WGs; there is a spending freeze but…
Cont’d: “…the things that the spending freeze” required can’t really happen now. Could spend on something else, or hold on to it. #NYCGA
Cont’d: “Before we breakout,” re: transparency, Christine has a report about where the $ has gone, plus copies of bank statements. #OWS
Corey asks if anyone else has proposals tonight. Dicey has an emergency proposal to eliminate the 24-hour rule, so we won’t need to make..
Cont’d: ..emergency proposals to make changes. “We need to be flexible.” #NYCGA #OWS
emergency proposal from dicey: eliminate 24 hour waiting period for proposals
we need more flexibility, we dont know what will happen, ga is up in the air, need to be able to adjust quickly
do we feel this is an emergency proposal? mostly uptwinkles
Opening stack for clarifying questions. CQ: “I disagree with you in the respect, this park does have energy. Problem is we’re being divided”
Cont’d: “Let’s keep this park as an exchange for ideas and meeting and togetherness,” other park has different role. #NYCGA #OWS
Cont’d: Suggests the reason folks aren’t here is “confusion” about where GA is going to be. #NYCGA #OWS
Corey asks if there’s a question in there. “That sounded more like a concern.” There are no CQs. Opening concerns stack. #NYCGA #OWS
Sean’s friendly amendment is that we don’t abolish it forever; just suspend it for two weeks. Temp check is good, Dicey accepts. #NYCGA #OWS
Concern: “Perception by people that this is a power grab — key word, perception — folks will say now we can do things without scrutiny..”
Cont’d: “…we used to have.” Next concern: “This is the first GA I’ve been to since the fall, so take that as it is — however my concern..
Cont’d: “..is that I was at a meeting in Crown Heights last week w/ 40 or 50 ppl there, and meetings in the Bronx have more people…”
Cont’d: Concern is that this small group has authority to make decisions about critical parts of #Occupy resources. #NYCCGA #OWS
Cont’d: “I’m concerned we’re not building the connections we need to be building.” #NYCGA #OWS
Christine’s POI: “This is not a normal size for this group to be;” we’re “in sort of a weird place.” But, quorum has never passed GA. #NYCGA
POI: “There have been a # of times when proposals have been brought forward with small # GAs and the proposers tended to table…” #NYCGA
David’s 2 POIs: “#1, since the weather changed last week, we’ve been having hundreds at GAs and they’re all up at Union Square.” #NYCGA #OWS
Cont’d: “#2, this proposal now is about simply doing away with the procedure for 2 weeks of having an advance posting of any proposals..”
Cont’d: “..there wouldn’t nd to be an emergency to develop proposals at GA.” Sean’s POI (POI: that’s the 4th POI): we’ve passed $ w/ less.
Camille’s concern: “We need people to come together for one GA to make a decision,” but we can’t do anything about that. “My FA is…”
Cont’d: “…that we get rid of the 24 hour rule, but establish that the LibertySqGA cannot make more decisions until folks who have…”
Cont’d: …been stakeholders are participating in that decision. #NYCGA #OWS
Trish asked if this was being streamed (no), minutes (me). Now she’s asking what the proposal is by stating it. #NYCGA #OWS
Cont’d: “That would be very detrimental to the GA. Why? There’s less than 24 people here; this would impact way future proposals…”
Cont’d: “…were dealt with.” Most important thing is to “realize we were at war.” We “need a strategy.” “We’ve been at war for nearly 4…”
Cont’d: “…days. We have people all over the city. They need metrocards and to get nourishment.” This proposal puts them at further risk..
Cont’d: “…she says.” “Nothing is more important than to stand on the foundation we’ve established in the last 6 months.” #NYCGA #OWS
Camille: “Just to clarify, we’ve been trying to talk w/ ppl in Union Square.” Conversations she’s heard, they’re not into right now…
Cont’d: “…moving the NYCGA there,” as long as we’re holding it here, it’s here. “If it wants to get moved, it’s up to individuals in…”
Cont’d: “…union square to come down and consense on that.” #NYCGA #OWS
Kathryn: “I do agree with the fact that it should be a temporary” change to discard the 24-hour rule. Otherwise would be an awesome thing.
Christine notes that this will help facilitate the Accounting proposal, but since breakouts + proposal were posted, maybe can do it anyway.
Dicey responds: “The worst thing we could do is continue to do what we’ve done like nothing’s changed.” “You all know from working groups..”
Cont’d: “…and from being in the middle of actions, that consensus is best built in the moment frm collective input.” We need to do it now.
Dicey restates the proposal: to deactivate the 24-hour rule for 2 weeks so we can have an active consensus process in the meantime. #NYCGA
Trish is very upset about this. “Do not do this.” Someone’s not sure what 24-hour rule has to do with the GA- why it’s needed. #NYCGA #OWS
She notes that the 24-hour rule is how folks decide whether to come to a GA. Corey notes it’s not a concern. #NYCGA #OWS
stack re-opened for concerns #nycga #ows
some back and forth arguing #nycga #ows
concern: “It is finance group that wants the 24hr limit lifted” #nycga #ows
@DIceyTroop responds: “FIrst of all, I had this proposal in mind before I came here.” #nycga #ows
“Second, in order for us to figure out what to do, we need to have a conversation. When that conversation ends, we have a proposal” #nycga
“That’s how consensus will work. That’s what the GA was originally like” #ows #nycga
“It’s important for us not to hold on to process that isnt working” #nycga #ows
“Over the next 5 days, people will be making decisions that affect the next phase” #nycga #Ows
Two concerns: “Under no circumstance, lets not have GA anywhere else” #nycga #ows
Second “We are in a state of confusion” lets not act hastily #nycga #ows
Stairs: This proposal has nothing to do with where the GA is #nycga #ows
Same concern, reiterated: “What is the advantage?” #nycga #ows
Dicey responds: “I feel no confusion.” Also, we need to relax the 24hr notice so we can develop proposals and address … #nycga #ows
… as they arise #nycga #ows
Concern: Breaking the 24hr rule might allow the flood of proposals to return #nycga #ows
We as a movement have not gotten the ability to see what is coming to work yet, we can’t give up on it #nycga #ows
… as someone who works, it’s hard not to be able to see what’s coming #nycga #ows
Dicey responds: “I agree but we need to be able to talk together and come up with ideas” #nycga #ows
Dicey cont: “.. our GA has been a very straiightjacketed version of consensus” #nycga #ows
Trish: “in the scheme of things, 24hrs is no time whatsoever. Nothing is so important that we need to make fast decisions” #nycga #ows
Trish: “… people are in union square because they are making money and don’t have to deal with NYPD oppression” #nycga #ows
[Ed. - uh, what?] #nycga #ows
Stairs: This proposal has nothing to do with Union Sq. Trish: My concern is this proposal is not including them #nycga #ows
Concern: Even before we got raided, this was chaos. Now, mob mentality. If people wanted to be here, they’d be here. #nycga #ows
Concern: It’s not an emergency they didn’t come here, they chose not to. So it’s not an emergency. #nycga #ows
Dicey: I’m a little confused by that, but I think this rule will remove chaos. #nycga #ows
Stack: Want to clarify that people _can_ still post 24hrs in advance? Dicey: yes #nycga #ows
Dicey responds: Maybe we should enable ourselves to develop proposals after a facilitated discussion UNLESS posted 24hrs #nycga #ows
[ps: Dicey is not livetweeting, I'm @corpounreal] #nycga #ows
Question: Can you clarify what this is proposing? #nycga #ows
Dicey: Yes, this is to develop proposals *within* GA, rahter than having to post 24hrs ahead of time. Consensus should allow us #nycga #ows
… to make collective decisions. They could close Union Sq tmrw, so our decisions would be different tmrw. #nycga #ows
Concern: … that doesn’t hold water. Same ppl here every day. #nycga #ows
Stairs: Closing stack. #nycga #ows
David: I put myself on stack, it may be answered in the current FA. I just feel we need to be able to organically develop … #nycga #ows
… proposals. So I was going to suggest that we have a discussion, and then the decision could come at the NEXT GA #nycga #ows
Dicey: I’m disinclined to accept that, because the proposal may have been developed in a very different context. #nycga #ows
In some groups, consensus means that when the proposal is developed, we don’t even need any friendly amendments. #nycga #ows
Trish has a PoI: If we do away with this would allow us to lift anything as a GA that the already passed? #nycga #ows
Dicey: That’s not a PoI, but I respond: This doesn’t mean that things will change willy-nilly. We have 90% consensus #nycga #ows
Sean: We’re doing this because we need to be dynamic. Currently by the rules, the earliest we could do this is Saturday. #nycga #ows
… we should really trust ourselves #nycga #ows
Apollo: Since this is an emergency proposal, why do we need to make a new category for this? #nycga #ows
Dicey: Because this precludes someone coming with a question and developing a proposal from it #nycga #ows
Previous concern now an FA: If everyone votes in favor of it, then it gets implemented tomorrow #nycga #ows
… so it doesn’t affect this GA #nycga #ows
FA Accepted. Next FA: Vote on whether something is an emergency proposal. PoI: We did. #nycga #ows
Lots of angry back and forth. RespectTheHouse signs aplenty. #nycga #ows
Darrell: I think we should table this. I don’t want to wait 45 minutes more. #nycga #ows
Moving to consensus process. Restating proposal with FA’s: 2 weeks, soonest can take effect tomorrow. #nycga #ows
Explaining standasides #nycga #ows
Sean explaining the definition of block, in context of standasides #nycga #ows
Standaside 1: Didn’t find examples compelling. SA2: If proposals not required to be posted, won’t be. SA3: Find it unclear. #nycga #ows
3 blocks. 1st block: “No one is here” that means YOUR ppl aren’t here. Dicey: Sorry I offended you, didn’t mean it that way. #nycga #ows
2nd block: Trish. Ethical block based on “solidarity with 99%”, 24hr gap is safety net. #nycga #ows
3rd block declined. #nycga #ows
Dicey discussing with 1st blocker concern over his block. Stairs asks for FAs to clear blocks. #nycga #ows
Trish offers as an FA a 72 hour time period. Declined. #nycga #ows
ppl complaining lots effort to clear blocks. Stairs: explaining that clearing of blocks is an important part of consensus. #nycga #ows
blocker offers 2 days to clear his block. Dicey accepts. #nycga #ows
Trish is up. Her FA is… that whatever the next proposal is, it’s not swindling. [Ed. - what?] #nycga #ows
Re-FA’d to two GA’s: Thurs & Sat. #nycga #ows
Restated proposal: 24hr rule set aside for Thurs & Sat. Soonest resulting proposals can take effect is following day. #nycga #ows
Proposal did not pass, it was 14 to 7. Moving onto the financial proopsal. Christine suggests she thinks we can create a proposal… #NYCGA
Cont’d: …because the idea that we would create a proposal is posted on the website. #NYCGA #OWS
POP: Dicey disagrees with Christine. “The 24-hour rule sets expectation that proposals are posted before consensus. We can’t consense on…
Cont’d: “…any proposal we might develop in this group unless it’s an emergency proposal, because of the 24-hour rule.” #NYCGA #OWS
Trish’s POI repeated exactly what Dicey just said. #NYCGA #OWS
CQ: “Are we raising money?” A: “Yes, but it’s not nearly enough to meet our existing budgetary obligations.” #NYCGA #OWS
Trish’s CQ: “How much $ have you raised from the mailing list, apart from what is already posted?” A: “Those aren’t two separate things..”
Cont’d: “…we do not actively fundraise. We have not sent emails to our donor list except for once saying thank you.” #NYCGA #OWS
CQ: “What is the size of the total reoccuring budget, and what day is it drawn one?” A: “The way it works now is point ppl email…” #NYCGA
Cont’d: “…accounting” and work out when the transaction occurs. “Every week, our reoccuring budgets amount to $1,709.” #NYCGA #OWS
We’re now in breakout groups, wherein high-profile disruptors are interrogating members of Accounting WG. #NYCGA #OWS
OK, reporting back breakouts. First one discussed setting aside $ for metrocards, printing specifically for MayDay, kitchen cap at $3500.
Someone adds a fourth from that group: the idea of cutting equally from all existing budgets. #NYCGA #OWS
Next: Sean is under impression Kitchen has been hoarding $ to keep it running a couple weeks beyond budget. Also, they’re raising $ at…
Cont’d: …union square.” “Also, people up there say it’s a dumpster diving mecca; they’re not worried about food.” Moves Kitchen get $0.
Cont’d: “Next, Medics;” they’re calling for in-kind donations and have stock. Also allocated them $0. #NYCGA #OWS
Cont’d: Next, $ for Spokes; right now Monday is free and Wednesday is $40. Don’t think we need to pay for that. $0. #NYCGA #OWS
Cont’d: And finally “we think it would be really great to have some money” set aside for the proposed bike coalition budget. #NYCGA #OWS
Cont’d: Oh, and they also wanted to allocate 6k (half of remaining $) to Outreach’s printing budget. #NYCGA #OWS
Cont’d: They wanted to give $3000 each to bikes and Metrocards. Next, Trish’s group wants to give Kitchen $0, Medics $0, give half to…
Trish’s group would also cut Facilitation’s budget, printing would be cut greatly she says. #NYCGA #OWS
Someone adds that folks are concerned that some groups will need Metrocards more than others as part of cutting card $. #NYCGA #OWS
Christine’s POI: “Printing doesn’t get $7000/week,” printout might have been confusing ” That was for #OccuCopy back in the day. #NYCGA #OWS
Cynthia chimes in to add that she liked Sean’s observations that folks in Union Square can get fed bt they can’t get Metrocards. #NYCGA #OWS
Camille recaps: “The first group… wanted to remove $ proportionally from each group so each got last little…” A: “We didn’t actually..”
Cont’d: “…agree on that.” “We’d rather be selective.” Also now that they know Kitchen has $, they might be OK with cutting to $0 budget.
Christine notes there’s no one here from Kitchen to speak to that, and no one has told them they have $20k, hearsay AFA Accounting Knows.
Sean: “I heard it from Dallas, who said he was putting together a proposal” originally slated for Thursday to announce they have backup.
Camille continues to summarize: Trish wanted half the Metrocard money, Outreach 1/3rd. #NYCGA #OWS
And the first group restates that they specifically want the printing budget to go only for MayDay. #NYCGA #OWS
Now we’re opening stack on broader discussion. Sean interrupts for an announcement: #OO just re-encamped! “Fuck yeah Oakland!” #NYCGA #OWS
First, Hermes suggests we freeze all the money, given the uncertainty of these days and our need for funding for MayDay and other stuff.
Next: “I don’t think we should get bikes; I think Metrocards are better,” we can travel all over the city on MTA vehicles. #NYCGA #OWS
Cont’d: …finally, Metrocards should be $15 on card a week instead of unlimited cards. #NYCGA #OWS
Trish gets up and repeats: printing 1/3rd, Metrocards, 1/2, and “everything else basically is locked down.” Doesn’t think “bikes are a…”
Cont’d: “…good idea, because we’d have to pay for bikes and then also licenses for bikes,” claims they’re needed. Heads shaking. #NYCGA
Trish also notes that “bikes would be liable to be seized by the #NYPD.” [I'm sure she is in fact an authority on this subject. -Ed.] #NYCGA
Camille: “There is no requirement in NY state for a license for a bicycle.” Next on stack: “I don’t think that amnt of expenditure is…”
Cont’d: “…necessary to form a bike coalition.” Someone clarifies it’s to build bikes ppl can use, which makes more sense to him now.#NYCGA
Gid suggests that we get bikes donated, thinks it would be easy. Cynthia is concerned that “people, I don’t want to say names…”
Cont’d: “..but this gentleman and this one” — “I don’t see people coming down to Wall Street from Brooklyn on a bike.” #NYCGA #OWS
Christine: “it sounds like ppl want to come together to make a budget for how to spend this last few thou,” not just cut proportionally.
She asks for a temperature check about that. Looks good. “Seems like what we should do is not just spend the $ but rather wait…” #NYCGA
Cont’d: “…for it to be put online and consensed upon.” Sean steps up to put the proopsal together, seek input. #NYCGA #OWS
Cynthia asks if we can see the budgets for the next few weeks, blowing everyone’s mind. We just read pages about this. #NYCGA #OWS
Working on timeline for meeting to discuss the proopsal and for the proposal itself. Sean asks if we want it for Saturday… #NYCGA #OWS
Cont’d: …and points out that if it would meet the 24-hour rule for Saturday, would need to be submitted by tomorrow. #NYCGA #OWS
So, financial assembly will convene immediately following GA to build the budget proposal. GA is over, thanks for reading fam. #NYCGA #OWS
Announcements: tomorrow at 6pm is the open spaces assembly, 235 West 23rd street until 10pm. #NYCGA #OWS
Ted reports from #OccupyUnionSquare, where they hope to experiment a little and keep roots nourished by fresh blood without… #NYCGA #OWS
Cont’d: “…it being tainted by our funkiness b/c we do have a little funky culture down here.” Wants to make sure ppl don’t feel excluded.
