1/15 GA Minutes

Note: 

posted twice for website reasons

OCCUPY HARRISBURG
SUNDAY JANUARY 15, 2012
AFTERNOON GENERAL ASSEMBLY (GA)
Attended by: Barbara, Ben, Bob, Brendan, Brett, Carol, Cat, Dan V, Darryll, Dave J, Ed, Ian, Jose, Karl, Lisa B, Lisa L, marie, Mary F, Melissa, Rick, Roland, Ryan, Sarah, Sarah S, Stan, Steve, Susan N, Travis, Will, Woody

Opening - Brendan
- statement of purpose
We are here because of Occupy Wall Street, and to build a sustainable community for the future.
- hand signal review
Agreement (Hands in air)
Disagreement (hands downward)
Undecided/In between (hands straight out)
Point of Information (finger in air)
Point of Process (thumbs and forefingers meet to make a triangle)
- assign roles
Facilitation – Melissa, Bob
Minutes – marie
Stacks – Susan N
Doorkeeper – Sarah
Timekeeper - Lisa L
Scribe – Darryll
Peacekeeper - Bob
- presentation of consensus

Working Group Reports
Direct Action (Mary F)
Events this week:
Monday – Satori Farm rally at the courthouse
Tuesday - Occupy Congress and your local Legislature
Rally at the Capitol Rotunda in Harrisburg, at 11:00
Anti-fracking rally at the same time at the Capitol Rotunda
*** Ben B is renting a van to go to Occupy Congress on Tuesday - $10 per person. He will pick up people at the steps, if there's interest, at 9:30 on Tuesday morning.
Wednesday – potential eviction at Satori Farm
Friday - Occupy the Courts on the 20th York courthouse
February - response to NDAA and SOPA – stay tuned.
Speak to Mary F to get involved in Direct Action.
Finance
Darryll has been emptying the box every 3 or so days, about $25 every time he empties it. When cash on hand gets up to $100, he deposits it to the Members 1st account. Currently cash on hand is about $90, and the account balance is $484.
Facilitation
marie – This group meets Wednesday at 5:30 at the Midtown Scholar to create the agenda for each week's Sunday GA. All are welcome at the meeting, and agenda items can also be emailed to the google group.
Paradigm Shift
Sarah – This group addresses issues related to oppression in all its forms. Meetings are on Tuesdays at 8 at HMAC, but will probably not meet this week due to Occupy Congress.
Health and Safety
Dan reminds people going to Occupy Congress about ACLU pamphlets.
Public Relations
Brendan – working groups have pretty much been doing their own PR, but the group does still exist. He would like to start promoting OH events. The winter months are reorganization time, and we should be getting ready to come back strong in the spring and promote things for our full community, not just those who come to the GAs.
Capitol Steps
Ed – the group met Friday at a church in Steelton. Some of the things discussed:
Steps coverage for the DC trip day (Tuesday). There is a list on the table at the steps to sign up for coverage.
Satori farm, people need to be transported to York. Sarah is helping with that.
Will and Brett have created two plexiglass walls that will put up at the steps. Not too stable but okay.
Dan v provided a battery-powered 2-burner stove for cooking
Heated seat cushions, hand warmers
Occupy Supply delivered 12 sets of long-johns. They have ponchos, tents, etc.
Pam is compiling a list of items needed. Still think sleeping bags are necessary.
Legal issues – call Andrew, the National Lawyers Guild representative, for issues with capitol police – information is at the steps for contacting him.
Food – managing supply of food at the steps. A schedule has been established for hot meals (for about 6 people) to be delivered between 4:30 and 5:30 to the steps. Sign will be on the table telling people to take what they need, but no more. Carol has a calendar for delivering meals. Satori farm has volunteered to do a lot of cooking for the steps. They will be at the meeting today, and meeting with the Steps Working Group afterward to discuss coordination.
Mission Statement
Lisa B – This is a newly-formed group. They have not set a time for meetings yet, but there has been talk about using the Saturday visioning sessions to work toward a mission statement that will serve the vision that they come up with.
Movement/Development
Brendan – went to Occupy Lancaster, they seem very open to working together, to grow both our communities. FB Occupy PA page. Inter-Occupy works on ideas for Direct Action among the different Occupations. Satori Farm is something that we're coming together on. Reading, Lancaster, Erie, Phila, and Pgh Occupations are being contacted to participate in statewide activity.
Capitol Steps Needs List Review
The list that came out of last week’s meeting was revisited to see if all items have been addressed.
From last week, there was a coverage schedule, to have at least 2 people for safety reasons. Is there a list? Cat says there's a list at the steps if people want to sign up.
List of “reserve occupiers”, Larson signed up, there is no formal list, but it needs to be expanded to more people and then we'll have a list. Keeper of the list is Mary F – she will make a google doc, so they know who they can call when they need more bodies.
List of support volunteers. Is there a list? For provisions. No list. Karl said there was one last week with 2 people on it. Mary F will keep this list too.
Work group for statement of purpose happened.
Sharpen OH's presence – on the agenda this week.
Meal schedule – Carol took care of this.
Teach-ins – many are happening. Brendan wants to put a video together to teach people how to call a legislator, so people won't be afraid to do that. Will talk to Ron Buxton about that, and record the whole conversation. Brett says we need two video cameras, he has one, and someone else volunteered one. Safety teach-ins – tomorrow at 7 at the steps about hypothermia.
Cleaning up and creating a presentable image – happened after GA last week. Cat – still need plastic bins to put blankets away during the day, but otherwise, things are good. There is an ongoing needs list on the website. 4 or 5 bins are needed. There are 4 sleeping bags and 6 comforters and a lot of smaller blankets that need to be stored during the day.
Need to express that all are welcome – will be covered today.
55-gallon trash bags are needed IMMEDIATELY at the steps.
Darryll maintains the needs list on the website.
Karl will be point of contact for the steps group.

Power Pack Acquisition for the steps
Darryll has looked at several options. Anything that's worth it is about $160, and he would like to buy two.
Lisa B – spare solar panel offered by satori farm. Is the need immediate? Hesitating because the solar panel will change things.
Brendan – could charge things with it.
Bob – can we authorize an expenditure now?
Dan – wait until after satori farm discussion today.
Brett – this is a defined need that we could put out on the website and try to raise money for.
Marie – we could go ahead and buy them, and raise money via the website to replace the money after the fact, if the need is immediate.
Woody would like to see a well-rounded proposal; he's concerned with other options that could be put together like bicycles and solar panels.
Marie – working group?
Cat – steps group could take care of it.
A task group was formed, to address energy at the steps. How do we get energy to the steps, as opposed to specific implementation. Karl, Darryll, Dan.
Bob – discussion needs to take place before we authorize expenditure.

{Break - 10 minutes}

Coordinated Direct Action across the state
What state level issues would you like to see addressed through a coordinated effort? Movement/Development is in touch with other Occupations in Pennsylvania, and they’re looking for ideas for things we can do collectively.
Brendan – fracking, much agreement from everyone on that.
Brendan – vouchers bill
Karl – reassigning people who were previously assigned to Sandusky case. Using their offices for campaigning.
Lisa – vouchers, bigger focus on an equitable formula for school funding. How insecure the voting machines are. Voting is not secure in this state. Independent redistricting commission.
Woody – something about food. Farm Show did not demonstrate sustainability. The need for sustainable food production in our state.
Brett – forcing our attorney general to act on the nationwide bank settlement.
Mary F – funeral for democracy – statewide.
Karl – Stage on Herr has a casket, hoping for Feb 13, have a hearse
Brendan – a mock election, a cat and a dog and a 3rd party lemon juice and milk as a spoiler. Showing the 2-party system doesn't work.
Brett – in the state there will be special elections for the state house.
Dave – discuss possibility of a general strike – national one planned for May
Cat – 27% of occupiers are not registered to vote.
Dave – get a list of candidates that support Occupy
Roland – Corbett's budget cuts, cutting education, transportation, social services.
Lisa – legislation for voter Ids is imminent
Karl – regional things? Multiple states? Occupy Kentucky derby.
Carol – Occupy Superbowl at Annapolis.
Brett – Banks were defrauding everybody, and all the AG's met up and created a settlement with the banks, but after OWS drew attention to it, NY dropped out and that stopped it. Now others have joined him in dropping out. PA should drop out too. Current AG isn't a careerist, next AG will decide this. Acting now will make it a campaign issue.
Will – 4-year crop of newly-available voters. Combine Occupy with voter registration. Don't make it a walk through Allison Hill, make it a knock on every door and register people to vote before laws are passed to suppress it.
Brendan – reggae band will help get people out of their houses when we march.
Melissa – can Direct Action hone that?
Karl – do it at an event, like MLK day, get more people registered. Knocking on doors will not be fast enough.
Melissa – Mary O's conference call will take place tomorrow at 5.
Lisa – lack of focus on social services, health care, the homeless.
Melissa – Corbett budget will be released on feb 7th
Woody – focusing on human needs outside of the budgeting process.
Dave - fracking, tell people to rally at 11:00 at the rotunda on Tuesday
Lisa – is fracking the only environmental subject that we want to address?
Brett – energy – enough votes in the state house to pass bill to help solar, but some are fighting it.
Susan – addicted to energy, how we use energy
Dave – fracking is making water across the state toxic
Lisa - it's all interconnected, the privatization of resources.
Melissa – do we want to prioritize this list?
Dan – Mary O will prioritize
Brendan – issues will be uniform across the state
Karl – re-establishing public control of the media
Lisa – now that we've made this list, let's not forget about it, let's consider it with our local actions.
Bob - if you're interested in this list, it will be in the minutes. (and here it is!)
Will – fracking – once done, can NOT be undone. It is the most important.
Darryll – fracking is most important.

Developing the best ways to make it as easy as possible for all people to join OH
Lisa – before we started the weekly GAs, we were wondering how to get more of the community to be aware of us. Monthly information meeting with a potluck, now that we've added the weekly meetings, there seem to be a lot of opportunities. Do we need the monthly meeting? There are still a lot of people who haven't even heard of OWS, much less us.
Brendan – having the work groups list available at the steps, will accomplish a lot of this. Now that we have it, it's much easier. Talk to people at work, etc. Talk to people whenever you have a chance.
Karl – literature to be posted and given out at the capitol – educate the legislators who still don't know who we are.
Dan was the one who proposed the monthly meetings. The purpose is – all of the things we want to accomplish require more people. We need to stop preaching to the choir. Passion and fun. To bring people in, we need to attract. The monthly meeting is a party. So people understand that we have fun. Sign making, drum circles, promote it on FB. Need to promote events, advertise, etc. passion is what makes life worthwhile. But it doesn't happen spontaneously, it has to be planned. He supports the monthly meetings. Creative people need to get behind the idea. People need to look forward to coming.
Mary F – statewide participation at the capitol. Tomorrow is MLK day. The Affinity march was inspiring to those who participated.
Karl – thing at the rotunda tomorrow at noon, 10:30 at the steps.
Lisa – how will we follow up on this discussion? Will this be a work group? For an ongoing effort? Create outposts in other places like Allison Hill, etc.
Who wants to be in it? Brendan will talk to Lisa about Movement/Development. It will be a subgroup.
Darryll - really great ideas, some planning goes into events, but not enough lead time is given. We need 2 weeks at a minimum to promote and get people to come.
Brendan – need time to get the other occupies coordinated, get them to come to Harrisburg because we're the capitol. If we get a lot of people to come, people will realize we're still here.
Sarah – each of us represents Occupy. People ask “What can I do?”. People have no idea what to tell them, even though it's on the calendar. The calendar on the website is up to date, you can tell people about all these things.
Melissa – does anyone not know how to get something on the calendar – many people can post to it. (This is the calendar on occupyharrisburg.org)
Mary – we could put the week's activities in an email to the listserv.
Cat – it's on the whiteboard down at the steps.
Dave – take fliers to the capitol rallies. We need signs for fracking.
Dan – suggests that we all keep involved in events in our communities, like spaghetti dinners, etc., and use those events as opportunities to recruit.

Celebrating 100 Days at the Capitol Steps
Our 100-day anniversary is January 22nd. What should we do to celebrate?
Karl – Ocuparty at the steps.
Dave – new vegan restaurant might want to be involved. 2nd and Harris.
Sarah – a couple of us are planning to be there midnight to midnight – Saturday midnight to Sunday midnight.
Mary – meals throughout the day? Music.
Karl – contact media – there should be a press release.
Brendan – will do a press release.
Susan – is this the longest Occupation in the states?
Karl – we are in the top ones to have been in the same place for a long time.
Rick – if it's raining, should we have an alternative location?
Karl – we could have a mock trial of Tom Corbett.
Mary – a group to plan the party. She will do that. If you want to help, talk to her.
Brett – we have walls now. Wants to officially unveil it to the media on the 100th day.
Brendan – we should have a cake.
Brett – a vegan cake.

Announcements
Sarah – on the 23rd, at the Scholar, our own Ben Branstetter will have a teach-in on the mortgage crisis and you
Sarah – February 6th will probably be cancelled, since it hasn't been filled
Sarah – February 20th at the Scholar will be Jim Rietmulder from The Circle School, speaking about Democracy and Education.
Brendan – will try to fill February 6th
Woody – the gardening thing tomorrow? Reservoir Park greenhouse, 11 to 2
Karl – tomorrow at 10:30 we'll start the Occupy the Steps Voice for Martin, singing songs for Martin Luther King
Ed – steps group will meet after this meeting.
Brendan – if you're interested in Movement/Development, see him after the meeting.

Meeting Evaluation
Lisa – people got a chance to say what they wanted to say
Dan – flowed very well, facilitation was good at keeping it moving
Brendan – 2 facilitators worked very well. Need to watch our time in the future. Maybe giving a warning about time. Our timekeeper left early, so...
Woody – work group reports were more wordy than they needed to be to get the point across. With the roles that people were playing, people need to have a solid understanding of the roles to better carry them out.
Mary – it would be nice to have a way to draw others into the conversation.
Dave – nice to stop and ask if anyone wants to add anything.
Melissa – we're trying to get minutes posted on the website, and use it to develop the next agenda. If you have something, see someone from facilitation.
Sarah – the Satori Farm people are here, we can meet right after GA.

Meeting Adjourned