12-12-2011 GA Minutes

[Solus Hospes]

www.occupymelbournefl.org

Occupy Melbourne 12-12-11 GA Minutes
“Occupy Melbourne Florida’s (OMF) tenth General Assembly met successfully, with eighteen people in attendance, on December 12th at 7pm at the Sun Shoppe and Cafe in downtown Melbourne. The five members (Gary L., Dr. B., Evanne, Remmy, and Mandy) of the group who were able to attend the Peoples Convention of Florida in Orlando this weekend reviewed what it was like and a few of the topics covered including registering people at birth to vote and making them eligible at the age of 18 with a birth certificate on the day of voting as well as to make voting days a Holiday so that all (most) workers can be free to vote! All five proposals brought to the Assembly tonight were passed: 1. Calling on Mortgagees to write the tax collector and ask; 'Who requested my original tax statement and may I get a copy.' 2. A new donation fund to help with anything from brochures to getting people to the events outside of Melbourne. 3. Video Documentation of Occupy Melbourne Movement including a donated camera and volunteer to edit the film. 4. Raffles every GA where members make donations and are awarded a raffle ticket for a chance to win half the donation, the other half of which goes to the Occupation. 5. Melbourne Florida get a meetup.com group page as soon as funds are available. Then we concluded the night with a rather engaging open forum where we discussed everything from the privatization of prisons to the federal reserve and unemployment. We hope to see you next week!"”

Date: 12-12-11
Time: 7:pm-9:20pm
Location: The Sun Shoppe Café (540 E New Haven –aka 192- in Downtown Melbourne, FL)
Facilitator: Evanne-THANK YOU!
Minute Takers: 1 (Mandy)-THANK YOU!
Moderators: 2 (Ubor and I regret that I didn’t catch the name of the kind woman who also volunteered.)-THANK YOU!
Attendance: 18

Introduction to the GA [7:10pm-7:49pm]:
(Review of the GA process -see hand out(occupymelbournefl.files.wordpress.com/2011/10/proposalform1.jpg), select minute takers and moderators)

General Announcements

• Two events that some folks that come here are planning and would like to see participation in:
  
• A flash mob during the Palm Bay Christmas parade this Saturday the 17th. To be festive and have a presence there to occupy the parade. Details were (or may soon be) on the Occupy Melbourne Facebook Community page you can find here (www.occupymelbournefl.org) under Social Media, but we were unable to locate current references to this gathering and are (Mandy and Remmy) planning on going in “We are the 99%” t-shirts with business cards and brochures.
  
• After the holiday we gather at the Melbourne Square where the idea would be to stand in front of the entrances with messages regarding the 99%. When more details are fleshed out a new update will be offered! Suggestions always welcome [e-mail]
  
• I (Mandy Elliott) have post cards (front: www.lookpastit.com/Paint/ChristmasWinterWonderCard.jpg, Back: www.lookpastit.com/Paint/PostCardBack.png) available for $1.00 each, 100% of which goes to fund Occupy from printing of brochures and business cards to reimbursing car pool drivers, etc. I will bring them to Peace Corner and the GA’s.
  

Local Occupy Updates:

• Occupy Orlando is working on collaborating the Convention minutes to make “The Peoples Plan” available to our sites to work on locally. As soon as we have that list we will share it with all of you. More details on the convention below. Their website which includes a forum can be found here: www.peoplesconventionofflorida.org/
  
• Occupy Space Coast has their GA tomorrow at 6pm at Café Unique (607 Florida Aveue
  Cocoa, FL 32922 -Cocoa Village) (www.occupyspacecoast.com)
  
• OSC has their Sign wave on the 17th at 11am till 2pm at the S.E. Corner of SR 520 and SR 3/Courtenay Pkwy. (Bank of America corner) on Merritt Island (www.occupyspacecoast.com)
  
• Occupy Ocala and the Rainbow Gathering will be setting up an occupy camp to think tank the sort of things in The Peoples Plan in February, more information will be sent to us by the Occupy Ocala group as soon as they flesh them out. We’ll keep you posted.
  
• In March at some point Occupy Gainesville will host another Peoples Convention of Florida. They are looking for other groups to help come up with their agenda or activities for the Peoples Convention so please forward us any suggestions so we can make a list to offer them.
  
• Occupy DC: They were in the process of setting up for ____ with union tents and other tents set up to collaborate their mixed ideas and origins. It looked like it was going to be a great thing but we saw no TV coverage. (We tried to google this and went to the ODC page to see if they had an event listed that matched this description and this is what we found: readersupportednews.org/news-section2/440-occupy/8793-occupy-movement-converges-on-washington-dc and this: occupydc.org/wednesday-day-of-action-occupiers-unite/)
  
• In our search we also found this: ODC erected a wood structure overnight and when morning came the cops told them they had to have a permit and to tare it down. When they refused –some sitting on top of the structure as seen here:
  
• they were arrested
  
• The structure was then dismantled by the cops
  

Working Group Reports/Updates:
Direct Action:We haven’t gotten a lot of interested feedback in collecting food for food drives so we discussed the option of getting to know everyone more instead and we’d like to suggest a Christmas eve pot luck and invite everyone. We also need input on ideas on where to meet but here is what we have in mind so far:

• We’re looking at outdoor options (Like Front Street Park, the Park on Florida Ave, etc) with indoor options nearby if we need to duck into some place warm. We’ve been checking weather reports and patterns and will continue to do so to have a location by next GA. If you have a suggestion, please let us know! [e-mail]
  
• The idea would be that everyone can bring a dish(es) to share with everyone else and we can swap stories and experiences over a shared meal we all helped to prepare.
  
• We want this to be like an Occupy Family event but not to have any specific agenda for the gathering except to appreciate one another and the food we have to eat. If we want to and end up talking about Occupy, that’s awesome. If we just tell stories about our lives or converse about our other hobbies and passions in life that’s great too.
  
• We’re opening a thread on the forum to discuss the details and offer your own suggestions: occupymelbournefl.proboards.com/index.cgi?action=display&board=directaction&thread=148
  
• There is a community purpose room in the mall (We will look into it but in the past you have to have high insurance coverage to go. We would be happy to look at it again and see if that is still the case.)
  
• Check churches and community centers.
  
• We’re continuing to investigate 24/7 occupation site as a think tank rather than a camp. (Office spaces, parking lots, or empty offices depending on what we can find.) More in Materials update.
  
• We want to organize a people’s soap box and we’re looking at doing that on a Saturday and combining it with an education fair or pot luck for a day. We need more input and volunteers for something in February. Temp Check: Feels good.
  
• If you have ideas, please e-mail them to [e-mail]
  

Issues:

• Special thanks from Dominick (who has been leading up the FB Politicians sub group of Issues work group found here: occupymelbournefl.proboards.com/index.cgi?board=issues&action=display&thread=147) for those who have been participating. If you have any questions, would like to participate, or make suggestions, please e-mail the issues work group at [e-mail]
  

Materials:

• Teaming up with Peace Keeper Facilitator to find a co-use zoned (commercial and residential) space to rent and donate the office portion to the Occupation for a 24/7 think tank site as early as the end of January. Current budget for rent is $700 a month.
  
• Teaming up with Media to utilize a projector, details in Media update.
  

Media:

• Teaming up with Materials to build a collapsible screen for the projector that Evanne is donating use for the Occupation so that we can bring it to the peace corner with us and set it up to have a large sign projected on a large white screen for all passing by to see. (Could we put www.occupymelbourne.org on the back of the screen?) Sure!
  
• Occupy Guest book where the occupiers from other sites that come to visit our GA’s or events can say “I was here” with pictures or drawings we can offer our websites and on a board so others can see who’s been here and show our solidarity.
  

Web:

• Foreclosure page on website should be up by the end of the week.
  

Old Business [7:48pm-7:49pm]


Old Proposals:No old business, for a review of prior GA’s go here: occupymelbournefl.proboards.com/index.cgi?board=gamin

New Business [7:49pm-8:21pm]
Review of The Peoples Convention of Florida:
First and foremost allow me (Mandy) to explain that we (Evanne, Remmy, and Mandy) barely got 3 hours of sleep during the convention and during the convention it was a wealth of information that was happening very fast. Try as you might you can’t grasp everything and often lose more in trying. In this we apologize for lax details and our rely on the work group and GA minutes being compiled by Occupy Orlando Convention Work Group as they are able through Facebook and Forum.
That said:
Friday was the day many cities arrived into Orlando and got to know some of the Orlando Occupiers. The gritty parts didn’t start until Saturday morning around 10am when the hundred plus Occupiers from 18 cities across Florida (Orlando, Bradenton, Tampa, Key West, Sarasota, St. Pete, Miami, Daytona, Naples, Tallahassee, Palm Beach, Saint Augustine, Space Coast, Jacksonville, Tavares, Melbourne, Gainesville, Ocala, and special guest drop ins from North Carolina and Puerto Rico) split into Work Groups to address major umbrella topics that effect our state on the local to state level including but not limited to: Political and Electoral Reform, Labor and Workers Rights, Human Rights, Homeless, Taxes, Inter Occupation Communication, Infrastructure and Transportation, Energy Reform, Housing and Foreclosure, etc.

• In these work groups a Moderator-this person kept the work group on topic and in process, Stack Taker-this person kept the list of individuals wanting to speak on an issue or make a suggestion, Minute Taker-this person recorded the meeting and discussion on paper or by typing it, Time Keeper-this person kept the time to make sure each two hours the group took a break and in some cases ensured each speaker got equal time to speak usually limited between one and three minutes depending on the situation and group, and Vote Counters-these individuals count the consensus signals to determine if consent is given.
  
• Most groups discussed a brief agenda and then got started into the suggestion of ideas for reform.
  
• One example was Infrastructure and Transportation who’s list included: The ending of profits for arresting citizens, the stop of privatization of prisons, and general reform of the justice system, as well as eliminating judicial support of private probationary institutions; demand for a public transportation development agency that can work toward making public access across the state more available; A specific request to repeal nuclear cost recovery. To deny progress energies request to raise rates to pay for their repairs to the Chrystal River plant in the amount of $2.5 billion. To change the Public Service Commission back to an elected body.
  
• Some of these groups reported to remain convened with breaks every two hours or so until 2:30 am on Sunday. It was truly remarkable the diversity of people who were ready to get right down to business.
  
• There were two Marches that were also planned and met up with the convention during the afternoon on Saturday as well as a media presence that was ignored by some, disapproved by others including signs in as many shots as possible, and accepted by others.
  

Then came Sunday which was supposed to start the GA to get these Work Group ideas into The Peoples Plan at 8am but was delayed because people didn’t show up until 10 am. Even so, what a remarkable day. Like Saturday, there were hand drums, bucket drums, and bongo drums in the background (when appropriate) played by Occupiers from different cities and spray paint artist doing Occupy T-shirts and even a tattoo artist doing Occupy Tattoos.

• Once everyone was there, the group decided that each work group had too many items to go through a GA in one day and therefore each group would present one item for the Peoples Plan. In some groups this was accomplished by choosing the most important, pressing and doable idea, in others it was done by consolidating ideas into umbrella ideas that could be explained in the “how” with some of the sub ideas.
  
• Political and Electoral reform, for example, proposed that Elections be made more transparent by requiring politicians to disclose entirely their campaign funds and contributions, their meeting schedules and locations being paid for by the tax dollars, not allowing politicians or their families to profit off of the companies they are regulating, paper ballots that are counted by real people and back-up counted by open software that can be verified and reviewed.
  
• Another example, since they included voting in Political and Electoral Reform they got a second proposal which demanded better voting practices including: registering people at birth to vote and making them eligible at 18 up to and including on the day of voting and to make voting days (the votes every two years) a Holiday so that all (most) workers can be free to vote!
  
• It was about 11am I think when the GA finally got started though I didn’t have a watch and we all gathered around in a large circle with some people on the outskirts of the courtyard in front of City Hall. Some people spoke via Mic Check(aka The Peoples Mic) and some used a microphone. There was some conflict but it was overcome by our reason for being there. Collectively we agreed on an agenda which included announcements from each City and an agreement on how we would reach consensus on each item. Finally, we dove in.
  
• Occupy Melbourne FL’s Announcement included thanks for this opportunity, the plans for a training video for the GA process generic enough to be used Occupation wide and the request for ideas, suggestions, requests and even footage in addition to our Brochures which can be found here: www.occupymelbournefl.org/OMF_Brochure.pdf
  
• After each group made their proposal and we came to agreement on it, they let each group pick someone to read their entire list and it was remarkable. Lots of agreement and lots of great, Revolutionary energy.
  
• During this process as mentioned there were the artists on the outskirts, an information table, and the media conducting interviews (which included one from a very own Evanne of which we have pictures but not film yet).
  
• We even finished before the rain started and one Occupier offered their home for a Celebration party!
  

Again, it should be noted that as soon as we get a full list of all the demands and The Peoples Plan, we will let you all know!

Proposals:
Proposal: “County Tax Collectors are not following FL statutes (197.344) or Administrative code (12D-13.021). I propose that everyone request a copy of ‘written’ requests for original tax statements by financial institutions.”
Concerns:Apparently most if not all county tax collectors are not in compliance with the Florida Statues of the FAC. None of the requests for “original tax statements” are “in writing”. None have an affirmative statement that they ARE the mortgagee. Neither will the tax collector permit anyone to receive the “original tax statements” when a request is made by a “financial institution,” whereas the law states that if receiving multiple requests, the “original tax statement” goes to the home owner and the financial institutions are notified why.

• Why is this important? It is the wholesale deliberate lawbreaking by government agencies to facilitate smooth processes for the ‘ban ks.’ The ‘bank’ collects the money from you over a year in advance and does not pay interest on the ‘escrow account.’ There is a provision for homeowners to pay taxes over year due, but this ‘right’ is denied when ‘banks’ pay the taxes.
  
• Prior to initiating any legal action what could be done is for anyone who has a financial institution paying escrow to write the tax collector and ask for a copy of the written request from the institution. NOTICE- They must be a “lienholder” a “mortgagee” no mention of just being a servicer.
  
• You can ask: “Who requested my original tax statement and can I get a copy.” This will let them know that we know what they are doing and we are making others aware of it so we can remind the Tax Collector of their jobs and the Statutes which govern them.
  
• Think the reason they can’t answer who made the request is because they don’t know. It’s not that they’re lying but that they don’t have a clue. It’s probably been torn up because thousands of people have bought an interest on that note.
  
• Back to the proposal specifically, “ask the tax collector for the original written request from the financial institution to get the original tax bill on my property.”
  

Consensus: PASSED: It’s suggested you send this request via certified mail (occupymelbournefl.proboards.com/index.cgi?action=display&board=issues&thread=153 We will be linking it to the foreclosure page on the website as an example of an actionable item as soon as we can.)



Proposal: “This is a proposal that we should have a donation fund for those who would like to go to events outside of OMF but who cannot necessarily afford to.”
Concerns: Create a treasury work group (can we use the Materials group?) yes.

• Can the funds be used for other than getting people to events outside of OMF? Like printing or permits or materials? (yes)
  
• Materials could make a box to collect donations, we could give it to a trusted person to keep (So far this is Mandy?) and then offer the donations “books” to whoever requests them from the group and use the funds for the groups needs.
  

Consensus: PASSED: Donations collected and currently listed in Materials forum thread here: occupymelbournefl.proboards.com/index.cgi?action=display&board=mats&thread=22&page=1



Proposal: “We’d like to have better PR and video documentation; to have a peoples video camera.”
Concerns:Remmy is willing to donate a video camera, we’d need volunteers at events to be trained and operate said camera to documents our events and then display them on our website or youtube. This will give us more exposure in a way we are controlling. Gary is willing and able to help with editing.
Consensus: PASSED: We love this idea and starting with Peace Corner this Friday will try to Document some of the conversations we have and the story our Occupation is telling through our actions.



Proposal: “We should have a raffle where it’s a $1.00 a ticket and the winner gets all the money to spread our wealth.”
Concerns:Friendly amendment: More winners? (How about half to Occupy and half to the winner?) Yes.

• Evanne was a part of a not for profit and this might violate gambling laws so we might change our wording to be donations and we ‘give’ a ticket.
  
• Or buy an Occupy post card (Mandy has been working on this) and we give you a raffle ticket.
  
• We could write on toilet paper a “ticket” number and offer that for donations to raffle every GA the half of.
  
• So ask for donations every GA and raffle half the donations to a winner and half to the Occupation in order to support our Occupation and its members? (yes)
  

Consensus: PASSED:At every GA starting next week.



Proposal: “To get Occupy Melbourne FL on meetup.com to encourage more people to join.”
Concerns:$20 a month or $45 for 3 months…

• www.occupytogether.org has a setup that uses meetup.com for their page and though we have been posting the events, they are not showing up on the search.
  
• This would be pending funds right? (Yes, the raffle was one idea to help fund this)
  

Consensus: PASSED: Pending funding.


Recess [20 min]

New Business cont. [8:41pm-9:20]


Open Forum

• “Inside Job” DVD hand out from Jeff which explains what irked Wall Street people so much that they started the Occupation. If anyone wants a copy to watch and then give back so it can be offered to others, please e-mail [e-mail]
  
• Don’t watch this at night, it wont let you sleep it’s so disturbing! –partial joke-
  
• Has anyone heard about the Florida Family Association (www.floridafamily.org) and how they are trying to limit what we watch on television and how we raise our children? (Example news letter from Florida Family Association: www.floridafamily.org/images/FFA_0109_Newsletter.pdf)
  
• They’re trying to push biblical things on people. (We haven’t heard)
  
• On the learning channel there is a show about a Muslim family and they are trying to block it via FAA by having companies pull their ads so the show gets cancelled. They want us to hate and fear the Muslims and that’s why they are doing this. We should look into it! Mylissa is willing to make a sign to advise of this information. The FFA is a corporation and is listed as such on their website. They take donations and by law they don’t have to list where they get info. They are a 501C3.
  
• The reason they get away with it is because they (corportations)are considered people
  
• Yes, the reason I said that is because I think this should be one of our target issues.
  
• Who would we talk to? There is a person (chairman) who runs it. “Florida Family Association”
  
• Lowes is one of their contributors and one who pulled their ads. Only two companies didn’t (and we should thank them!)
  
• Pulled their ads:
  
• Did not pull their ads: Amway (couldn’t find reference to the other)
  
• Their site was hacked and they now site that it was because of their fight against terrorists though there are over 100 definitions of terrorists.
  
• Interjection from Facilitator: Open Forum isn’t strictly facilitated and will only be facilitated if needed. Sign-up on the table as people are speaking and everyone will be heard.
  
• Dr B- The thought I’ve been having for a long time is that when 9-11 happened and everyone said Islam needs to be taken back from the fundamentalists and now we need to do it here. Maybe we’re afraid but we need to take our country back from Christianity spoken but not lived because this is supposed to be a country with freedom of religion and Christianity is supposed to be about giving and helping.
  
• In the early 90’s I remember the abortion clinic that had the Christian pro-lifers outside opposite the pro-choicers. It can be done, but it’s going to have to be planned. We need to know where and when and with structure.
  
• I remember that well. Like Oklahoma City bombing, some Pro-Lifers rented a ryder truck and parked it in front of the abortion clinic in silent threat.
  
• Don’t get caught up in the back and forth issues, remember why we’re here in the big picture and make sure everything we’re doing is to that effect.
  
• Evanne is starting a pet project related to this called “Occupy The Bible” which will buy or donate bibles and highlight all the passages that support Occupy (i.e. passages about feeding the homeless, helping the poor, and so on) and send them to local occupies to pass out to their communities and or to send to specific politicians or public figures. If you’re interested, we’re going to need a lot of volunteers and highlighters. If you want to help, check us out on Facebook; the group page (www.facebook.com/groups/322412391103798/) not the fan page (www.facebook.com/pages/Occupy-The-Bible/124401494334336).
  
• Thomas Jefferson took all the miracles out of the bible once and asked the Christians to re-read it and see how much they liked it then…
  
• Corruption: The biggest scam besides 9-11(which we won’t get into) is the Federal Reserve. Islam isn’t bringing down the country, the Federal Reserve is. Ron Paul wrote a book called “End the Fed”
  
• When they got together on jekyll island to form the federal reserve they wanted to get rid of the small banks and become the only bank or at least the bank that controlled all the other banks. Prior to that, all the companies were financing their own groups and expansions. The fed wanted to have all the business dependent on them, not their selves and that is what lead to the crash of this economy.
  
• (minute taker note; I was distracted during this conversation by passing out a pamphlet about the feral reserve that we put together as a tickler of information and so missed part of the conversation.)
  
• Jeff- The prisons are private companies that get public funding (except in FL just now though they are building prisons, and the Immigration bill that’s going around now was written by an AZ prison institution). When you think about 2 and a ¼ million prisoners being incarcerated instead of educated it’s a lot of wasted money. They say that the amount of black males in prison is more than those on the outside.
  
• In reference to the prison and the money going in, I read an article (from a School Administrator in Wisconsin) that it’s gotten to the point where they asked to be made into a prison because prisons get more funding.( thecampusfirst.wordpress.com/2011/05/25/make-our-school-a-prison/)
  
• It makes sense that they want to privatize prisons both for the public funding and for the free labor from the prisoners and the documentation of citizens.
  
• It’s a felony for people to make false statements on their unemployment forms as to why they stopped working but it’s perfectly fine for the employer to say whatever they want without repercussion. (in note to the new unemployment sign) We should look into this more and make more statements and signs to bring this awareness to the public.
  
• There is a lawyer who has been working on these types of cases specifically where the company is giving false statements to the unemployment. You can find him at BEATTHEBOSS.TV (His name is Spencer)
  
• Democrats and Republicans are the same because they’re controlled by the banks and corporations so be aware of this and stop trying to fight one or the other.
  
• We need immediate campaign finance reform.
  
• The packaging is different and so are the labels and outlines but the end results are the same.
  
• The best I heard was Jesse Ventura : It’s like pro wrestling. They trash each other hard core in public and then have dinner at a nice restaurant.
  
• Maybe our media team could find a wrestling video and dub a political debate over it.
  
• I think our House Representatives should be writing or coming up with more ideas about campaign finance reform instead of the bills like the one giving them the ability to detain without due process. A bill that makes US a battle field.
  
• FEMA camps are real and we’ve heard (looking for sources) that FEMA has been put on 72 hour notice to man these camps.
  
• We ended up breaking into different conversations at this point and the minute taker needed to go so we are ending the meeting.
  
• Melbourne, FL is pronounced by locals as Mel-burn rather than the Aussie version of Mel-born.
  

Conclusion [9:20]

• Thank the Host!
  
• Clean-up after ourselves.
  

[Mireille]

Great detail, as usual. Thanks!

I am assuming someone will tell me the details about this foreclosure list that is supposed to be going up on the website, unless someone is planning to do it themselves. ??

[Solus Hospes]

I was, but I keep running out of time! I will e-mail you since you're back now.