The People’s Convention of Florida

[Solus Hospes]

Map to Senator Beth Johnson Park: maps.google.com/maps?hl=en&q=Senator%20Beth%20Johnson%20Park

Facebook Group: www.facebook.com/groups/PeoplesConventionOfFlorida/
Website: www.peoplesconventionofflorida.org/

((I didn't write this, just sharing it. Is this something we want in on? It was discussed at OSC GA last night and they agreed that they want in on it. They decided one or two reps to represent or bussing everyone who wants to go via charter at $35 per person or carpooling, etc. They have not yet selected people to go and were asking for volunteers. It was noted that if just sending reps, those individuals should be good speakers, good note takers, and have a comprehensive list of goals for the group their representing.

Announcing “The People’s Convention of Florida,” An Occupy Florida Event

On November 5, 2011, Occupy Orlando reached consensus at its General Assembly to begin the process of hosting a Founders-style People’s Convention in Orlando with delegates from the local Occupations of Florida. At present, our political and economic systems favor the interests of corporations and lobbyists over those of t...he common citizen. Corruption is endemic; politicians have failed us. We the People are gathering together as Occupy Florida to decide what changes we wish to see at the state level.

The People's Convention of Florida is unaffiliated with any political or special interest groups. A majority of local Florida Occupations have agreed by consensus to support the Convention. To ensure that this is an inclusive conversation, delegates will be anyone from each local Occupation who wants to join us as well as members of the general public who wish to attend.

We will convene the weekend of December 9-11, 2011 to develop a list of desired changes that will resonate with any ethical person. On January 10, 2012, the first day of the Florida legislative session, we will march on Tallahassee to deliver The People’s Plan directly to the State Capitol.

Reclaim your voice. Let’s make the pursuit of happiness possible again.

Further details will be released soon.
______
>>Answers to your burning questions:<<

1. Yes, this is actually happening. We have official consensus from Occupy Miami/Tallahassee/Tampa/Palm Beach/Bradenton/Sarasota/St. Augustine/St. Pete/Daytona/Naples. Occupy Ft.Myers/Jacksonville/Pensacola/Lakeland/Melbourne will be deciding soon.

2.Yes, the statement is light on details. We haven't decided most of the major things yet. That's why it's just an announcement. We want people to know this is coming together and get excited about it.

3. Yes, Dec 10th is a global day of action. What's more active than holding a Convention? Also, we plan to incorporate some type of march into the Convention schedule.

4. Yes, it's meant to evoke a sense of the Declaration of Independence. Hence the "Founders-style," "We the People," and "pursuit of happiness."

5. Everyone is welcome! Visitors may stay on site or book a room at the Double Tree across the street.

SPREAD THE WORD FAR AND WIDE!

Tentative Schedule:
Dec 9th: We meet from 12-5pm officially to get know each other, make signs for Saturday, and just generally unwind with fellow occupiers. It is an optional day because many people cannot make it on Friday due to work or school or kids, etc.
From 7pm till it's done, there is a GA at City Hall (see map above)

Dec 10th:
10:00am - Commencement address to explain process/etc.
10:30am - Divide into discussion groups, with 20 mins breaks every 2 hours
1:00pm - lunch time
2:00pm - Reconvene into groups, people can switch into new groups at will.
7:00pm Tentative end time, anyone who wishes to stay later discussing can though.

Note: We will not be formally breaking to join the Day of Action Events. Many people who are coming in from out of town have expressed a desire to continue working/discussing instead. Anyone who wants to go to the events and then return is welcome to do so however.

Dec 11th:
8:00 am - Commencement
8:30 am - GA begins with 15-20 min breaks every couple of hours
12:00pm - Lunch
5:00pm - Tentative end time once again

***It's been decided due to restrictions and tighter police security around the park that the convention will be held at City Hall each day.

Reasons for the Convention as listed since the beginning:
1. To come up with a list of statewide goals, anything on the list will be voted on at local GAs, these are not hard and fast demands.
2. To improve cohesion as Occupy Florida now and in the future
3. To speak with a stronger voice than as individual occupations.

Our intention has never been to replace or silence local Occupations. We are working on statewide issues, not local.

On Process:
As Occupy Orlando will be hosting this event, we will follow the GA process as decided by our GA. We have allowed for debate on the topic, but the modified consensus model is the one we know. At this point, it would be too much to work learn a new one, especially when we want this Convention to go smoothly since many will be watching us.

Occupy Orlando GA process:
*Modified consensus* - 90% - allows for more efficient while still strongly encouraging compromise.
*Stack* - We take stack on a first come, first serve basis. We feel that progressive stacking is divisive, confusing, and time consuming.
*Blocks* - are to be reserved for MORAL OR ETHICAL conflicts with a proposal. If you simply disagree then please vote that way. If you think that the proposal has dire moral implications, then block. Blocks are only valid if the blocker explains in front of everyone why it is they are blocking and is willing to actively work with the presenter on synthesizing a solution. Otherwise, a block is counted as invalid. This prevents people from blocking unnecessarily or to slow down the process.

One small modification to this process: Since we only meet as Occupy Florida very rarely, instead of blocked proposals being tabled, they will be placed at the end of the stack while a new synthesis is reached. If after a new version is created, a proposal is blocked again, then it will be considered tabled.

As to how to count votes:
Oakland and LA have some rather large outdoor GAs at times. What they do is break the participants into section with a couple of vote counters per section. These people do not count vote and speak for the group. Their only job is to accurately count the number of yes/no/blocks/questions/points of information then relay that information to the Coordinators and Facilitators of the GA.

Positions:
We need a few people lined up to volunteer to keep things running smoothly. These are subject to change if there is a conflict or if someone else wishes to to help out. The only point of doing this is make sure there are at least some people ready right away so we can start on time.

For discussion groups:
1 moderator - who can be rotated out every 2 hours
1 stack-taker - to focus on making sure people get on the list
1 or 2 minutes people - so that we know what each group has been working on.

For GA:
Moderators - again can be rotated out every couple of hours
Facilitators - to relay info between coordinators and Mods
Coordinators - go to sections to get vote counts as well as to individuals who wish to get put on the stack
Vote Counters - 2 people at least per section to count yes/no/block/questions/points of info. I feel a couple of people at least is best to reduce confusion and ensure accuracy.

Topic Groups:
We wish to have a few set up before hand so we can start discussing right away. However, anyone can make any group they wish at this convention.

Please remember that we cannot tell anyone what to do. This is the agenda and guidelines that most of us will be going by. If you wish to do something differently on your own then please do so.

WHAT NEEDS TO BE DONE NOW:
Allocation of funds for equipment
Press Release for tomorrow morning-From Occupy Orlando
Final graphics
Decision of what printed materials to present at the Convention
Best options for housing people.
Whether to have both days at the City Hall or 2 days at SBJ and one day at City Hall.

There will be an online meeting tonight (Dec 6th) at 7:00pm to discuss these and any other issues. If you have a vested interest in discussing these topics then please be present for that discussion.

Many seem to complain about the decisions we make and yet are conspicuously absent when we try to make decisions.

(for a more updated schedule, please visit www.peoplesconventionofflorida.org/media/?mingleforumaction=viewtopic&t=41)

[gm0ney]

Anouncments were made at Monday's GA, but I don't recall any decisions being made as to:
how many are we sending?
do we want a couple of people to represent us?
what concerns do we want to bring?
are we going to orginize a carpool?
Does somebody have friends or relatives in the Orlando Area who will let us stay/camp out?

This is happening next week, and I want to go, but we need an official group to go and I would like to carpool. I don't plan on driving to Orlando back and forth for three days. We need to have a discussion and proposal ready for next Monday, so I recommend we get the word out more before that time.

Also, there are some events, I think a march, in Orlando occuring in tandem with the Convention so that people can go there and do that too or in stead of the convention depending on whatever fees might be involved.

I'm all in. Who's with me!?!?!

(edit: title of thread and making a sticky)

[Solus Hospes]

I apologize for my absense the last couple days. Personal stuff.
1. As many as want to go.
2. There is one more GA before the event, I'd say anyone who can't go or doesn't want to should bring any concerns/goals/demands they might have and want to be considered at the Convention to be shared with the group. Preferably here so we can discuss it. We can take a temp check to see who's planning to go and then ask of them to represent us well?
3. We bring anything we need to stay somewhere for three days. As mentioned at the GA last week the convention meetings will take place in the Double Tree so we could share rooms in the double tree to rough it with them OTG (on the ground)
4. Any concerns we have. From End the Fed to the deceit and misdirection of our public education. If it concerns you, write it down.
5. I have an older sister, I will ask but I don't think they have room right now.

(I will comment more, my personal life is calling again. Sorry!)

[Solus Hospes]

Proposal: “To have a discussion about the issues concerning the Peoples Convention of Florida”
Amendments/ Concerns: Let’s talk about what we want to bring to the table in Orlando.

• Like who is going to go? Remmy and Mandy are going on Friday after Peace Corner, sleeping in their car or working on site Friday night, Saturday(night too) and Sunday… and have room for 2 more passengers on the ride up.
  
• Gary (Can fit 4 people aside from himself-Evanne will be one) will be going on Saturday and Dave (From Cocoa and Occupy Space Coast) will offer a ride back to Melbourne on Sunday.
  
• Are we going to carpool? Remmy and Mandy are leaving after 6pm and will have room for 2 more people.
  
• What days do we want to go? Friday’s plan is for Florida Occupy people to come, Saturday is planned to come up with proposals for items onto the list of goals and demands and Sunday is planned for finalization so on Monday they can make the first delivery.
  
• Is there someone we can stay with who hasn’t made arrangements already? Individuals can book a room at the Double Tree across the street from the park. They can also stay at the park –though no sleeping is allowed at the park or walkways- though there are additional locations outside of the park where free parking is available and some individuals can choose to sleep in their cars. (i.imgur.com/VJVBQ.jpg)
  
• Should we have a joint effort via carpooling with Occupy Space Coast.

What are our issues?

• Foreclosure- Restore Glass Stiegel; (This prevented investment banks from being the same as commercial banks to ensure that there was a balance)
  
• In www.the99Declaration.org , there was a suggestion to have Moratorium on the bills before so we could ask for another
  
• There are people who suffer because of Moratoriums. You have to be careful about unintended consequences.
  
• Give me one example of something that would be adverse… (We have people who have not paid their assessments in years for HOA or Mortgages, and those people cannot be kicked out as of yet because of current laws. There is the lien option but that costs the HOA and is essentially useless.)
  
• What do you want then? (We want wells Fargo to disposition this property. We’re not sure what’s going to happen to this person who has a free ride supported by Wells Fargo. There are hundreds of thousands of people in these situations and we can’t discount them.)
  
• Yes, but there are also families who were once able to afford the houses they have and now cannot because of the recession and bad job market and we still need to address this.
  
• Unemployment-Locally, the shutting down of the Space Center impacted thousands. (For every former space center employee currently unemployed there is two other unemployed persons which is really a lot of unemployment) Additionally, there have been reports that Orlando is the most unemployed city in the state.
  
• Homelessness- There are homeless families too afraid to ask for help because it could lead to having their kids taken away. Record numbers of homelessness.
  
• Debt (Student Loans)-This is a cascade effect so how do we want to handle this?
  
• Do we want to include specific corruption at the state level?
  
• Solar Panels for state and county buildings or at least get the gov buildings up to standards.
  
• Ask Occupy Orlando if the issues we are going to be discussing will be for the state specific or federal or all of the above…
  

Consensus: No additional vote needed but the information will be available through the thread which has been opened for this event: occupymelbournefl.proboards.com/index.cgi?action=display&board=directaction&thread=133&page=1

[evanne]

Corruption on a state level AKA the welfare drug testing idiocy?

[Solus Hospes]

That's a good addition Evanne that I think a lot of people wont agree with. I've updated the top part of this thread with new information so please review it if you can and if you want to participate but can't make it to Orlando, they do have a forum with open discussions on the Convention Website.

[Solus Hospes]

Updates: GA on Friday is at 7pm at City hall instead of 5pm and the convention activities will all happen at City Hall because of restrictions and tighter police presence around the park in addition to the growing number of arrested persons who cannot step on the park property at all.