Tuesday - November 1, 2011

Amphitheater at the Courthouse

FIFTH OCCUPY SAN LUIS OBISPO GENERAL ASSEMBLY

No roll taken

Evan volunteered to facilitate, after asking for others to volunteer or asking someone to nominate someone else. No nominations or volunteers came from the floor.

Damion was asked to be crowd control. He accepted

Al volunteered to be stack monitor

Barbara was asked to be scribe. She accepted.

Discussion about the nights agenda proceeded.

Proposed, Structure, Small group reports, Affinity teams. From the floor, Article in the Tribune, the Current Face of OccupySLO at the Courthouse.

Evan presented a structure chart borrowed from other Occupy movements. The GA accepted the chart as an organizational guide for OccupySLO.

Small groups presented:

1.Legal:

The team presented ideas that would strengthen our occupation. Non Violence training, recording cameras for our defense arguments, County Code interpretations, Non-Profit applications, Trained event safety monitors. A sign up for those who need help with small claims cases was passed around. A manual about 'How to deal with the Police' from OWS was brought up. Legal asked Direct Action to start voter registration at the occupation.

Discussion as to what the legal defense team in Sacramento suggested we do, never say we are campers, we are OCCUPIERS.

Discussion about funds that have been collected as donations so far. What is happening with the money that is already donated? The GA has no process for accepting donations at this point. The GA must make plans to do so. Some felt that this was imperative, others weren't so passionate. No motion from the floor as to what to do. No action taken. We moved on. Many called for the 'Good Citizen Policy' to be enacted to quiet disruptive participants.

2.Outreach:

The team is working on press releases, and communication with KSBY. Their next meeting will be posted on line on the website. The team is working on press releases, and communication with KSBY and the Tribune. Their next meeting will be posted on line on the website. Contact Nate at nate@occupyslo.org.

3. Education:

The team is proposing a teach-in at Cougar Park grassy area in front of the library on Thurs. 11:00 am – 2:00 pm. A suggestion to reach the Vet Groups was made and the Outreach Team will do so. The official website is www.occupyslo.org. The website looks great, there is a new 'Groups' link. The Facebook page is administered by moderators. The team is encouraging everyone to take their conversations off Facebook and have them in the Forums tab of the website. All links and other information submitted will be researched for accuracy and validity of their source.

Discussion, Zach has a link to an article that he thinks we should post. Jim encouraged us to be careful about any Non-Profit Status since we could get button-holed into a legal category that wouldn't be flexible or could undermine our needs.

Discussion followed by a lot of consensus building about the pros and cons of us incorporating ensued.

Many called for the 'Good Citizen Policy' to be enacted to quiet disruptive participants.

4.Education:

The team wants to start discussions with other groups that are sympathetic to OccupySLO (ie: Women's Peace & Freedom League.) There will be a teach-in at Cuesta Campus on Thursday at Cougar Park (grassy area in front of the library) from 11:00 am – 2:00 pm. Topics to be discussed at future teach-ins include Student Loan Debt. The team is exploring having a table at Groupstock, a groups networking event.

Many called for the 'Good Citizen Policy' to be enacted to quiet disruptive participants. Discussion concerning communication. We all need to think about new ways to talk, think and communicate.

5.Direct Action:

The team has a Yoga lesson at 9:00 am Wednesday at the occupation . A speaker, Debbie Peterson will be at our Saturday rally. Printing is needed immediately. Our marches need red light monitors, please volunteer. Wednesday is a day of support for the Oakland General Strike. Wednesday will be a 5:30 pm march starting at the occupation. Thursday will be the “Silent March” through Farmers Market in SLO starting at 6:30 pm. Saturday there will be a rally at the Courthouse for 'Bank Transfer Day' and a GA at the occupation at 3:00 pm. The team meets everyday.

Discussion about 'Move your money Day.'

Announcement, Smokie wants to go to Oakland, he asked for a ride.

Discussion about what's happening with permits and the occupation? There is no permit process for 'camping' so camping isn't allowed. We are not camping, we are occupying, as an on going dialogue, exercising our 1^st Amendment rights.

Discussion about port a-potties. We can have them but they must be permitted. Again there is no precedent for a permit to occupy the Courthouse grounds. We all recognized the Catch-22 situation. Many called for the 'Good Citizen Policy' to be enacted to quiet disruptive participants.

At this point this volunteer became so agitated she had to take a break and come back to the meeting later.

There was a tremendous amount of passionate discussion and finally a proposeal was made and discusses and ratified. However many felt that the Gawas not properly represented. The motion reads:

Peacefully scribed and recorded by Barbara Hirahara