Food Lobby Meeting Minutes for March 8, 2009
Present: Lois, Jocelyn, Joanne, Hillary (facilitator?), Jessica, Sarah,
Meredith
Minutes: Meredith
Issues: Membership fees
Jessica and Hillary: Why a membership fee? We discussed this last year and
unanimously voted no… keep it local, small and all working members.
Lois: What is the decision-making process for the group?
Jocelyn: Let me give you some background on the membership issue…(never
got a copy of that proposal, can we attach it to the notes?)
Hillary: We brought this up last January and we all said no, no, no.
Jocelyn: We need membership money to raise money for the merging of the
veggie box program and bulk room, gaining a legal entity for a consumer
co-op or buying club.
Lois: Why have a legal structure?
Jocelyn: We need more money to deal with the growing number of
people/members.
Lois: We wanted to stay small, no more than 50 people.
Hillary: January 2008 we said keep it local, in neighborhood and build a
model for others to replicate. Why do you need more money?
Jessica: Need to have a retreat meeting for this subject…to big for an
hour meeting, not appropriate forum.
Lois: I have 30+ years of co-op experience… but use of consensus in
membership is very important and core group should be making the decision.
People need training in this process. (“momma co-op”?) When there are
different people each meeting you can not come to a consensus… it should
not be whoever makes it to the meeting. Joe and Yuki can do the training.
You need continuity @ meetings for this to work.
Hillary: We should go on retreat to discuss the philosophical issues first.
Jessica: Roles have not been defined and need to clearly be decided upon.
Jocelyn: We have been discussing co-op models with a consultant. We need
membership money to get more info…
Hillary: A store front would bring gentrification and I can not support that
change.
Lois: Need community organizing in the neighborhood to bring them into veg
co-op. Organize events to engage neighbors.
Laura: More expansion is more work. Membership should pay for workers and
security (?). Sheila Bernard organized wholesale warehouse- 3 storefronts
pooped up… Santa Monica, Venice, dozens all over Los Angeles. There were
successes and problems.
I was involved in the co-op movement since the 60’s.
Lois: Check out Moving Food magazine and Coop Grocer (google) plus Dave
Gutchneck (sp?).
Jocelyn: Lets start collecting a tab, or investment, from members so we can
buy bulk from farmers and then the worker in the room won’t have to handle
money. People are offering money up front. Too many things moving forward
but held back back by the decision-making process.
Jessica: Can we have a retreat to discuss the decision-making process? I can
not respond or vote on this proposal.
Sarah: Why is this so controversial?
Laura: The people who like the minimal structure don’t come to the meetings
and the people who attend the meetings want this to move forward…
Jocelyn: Surveys are partially done…
Jessica: I am unable to close this meeting…hard to wrap-up with such big
issues.
Lois: I think the whole issue of having a legal entity for a bank account
is…why not use our umbrella? You can have your own bank account under CRSP
umbrella with autonomy. It is easier to use established umbrella then
reinventing the wheel.
Laura: Have a trial period…propose to have a pilot program for the bulk
room pay forward…run it on credit, no money.
All: Have a four month trial period for bulk room investment.
Reach out in newsletter to find interest in retreat?
Positive to have these conflicts!
(Rebecca has a database on farms)
Next meeting Sunday April 12, 2009 4-5pm