Logistics national conf call notes 1-31-10

From USSF 2010 Wiki

<< Return to Logistics Working Group page

Logistics national conference call

1/31/10

NEXT CALL – Valentines Day – Sunday Feb 14 5pm EST

TOPIC: Transportation & Housing options to be posted on the website

Present--Jules Dykes, Sylvia Orduno, Tapeka Dixon, Rita Valenti, Steph Guilloud, Ari Clemenzi, Cara Page, Kate Shapiro, Maureen Taylor

Proposed Agenda

• Welcome and introductions
• Purpose of this call
• Update on Detroit logistics
• Preliminary feedback & advice from national organizers
• Identifying possible areas of local-national work and solidarity suggestions
• Follow up conversations, next meeting?

Welcome/ Intros

- Ari - hoping to help and plug in to Childrens Social Forum (and works with Catalyst)

- Tapeka - MWRO, logistics coordinator in Detroit

- Steph, connecting Detroit and Atlanta folks on logistics and how effectively support, what would be helpful and supportive

- Cara - health healing and justice in ATL, moving nat'l collab on healing and health justice in detroit

- Rita - (Atl) was on health, healing and envir justice in ATL - first aid stations, water access

- Kate - (Atl) Childrens Social Forum & HHEJ working group

- Jules - logistics on the last social forum, printed program, sites, & eager to help

- Maureen - at home and sick- working it out

- Sylvia – with USSF national staff, interested in helping link up local and national organizers; and water issues

Great to meet in Atlanta in October - but always great to keep the conversation going 5 months out - How can we learn from Atlanta & support the folks in Detroit

Update from Detroit - Highlights & Challenges

HOUSING

- 2000 hotel rooms, but not enough

- groups are requesting 400 rooms at a time

- might have to venture out to hotels near airport (approx 20 miles away)

- Harry Jones - 30-40 houses for Solidarity Housing (sizes unknown, process needed) - maybe a flat rate for folks / minimally resourced - none are accessible

- Also looking at spaces for up to 500 army cots

- team of lawyers with Logistics Committee

- Solidarity Housing is being coordinated through Faith &Spirituality Committee to find churches and other large spaces - working on the details of a huge spreadsheet for availability & details

- Alternatives to Hotels: Renting houses as a possibility? - folks wanting to give money to sustain Detroit instead of the hotel industry / affordable property to purchase, stay there, and then give it to the anchors / that's a whole new level of involvement & organizing

VENUES

- Hart Plaza & COBO Hall have been secured

- Fireworks / 1million people at Hart Plaza - Police dept meeting - 21st of June will be the fireworks show presents issue / if it rains the rain date is the 22nd

- Opening March would be on Tuesday - will write to OC with proposal about 1st day of activities, Tues tours, and opening march (5pm . . ) - down Woodward Ave, need a start place

- This could affect the set up day/time; also a challenge on how to share USSF info with all spectators

- First Aid Sites - will connect to Opening march (Health & Healing committee is taking this on)

- COBO Hall has space for 14,000 on the first day and the last day

MEETING ROOMS / SPACES

- Public space is Cobo, Hart, and hotel mtg rooms - how can we create a process for outside of workshops where people have space options? Last minute mtg rooms were cancelled in ATL and had to make other arrangements.

- DLOC logistics committee is re-reviewing mtg rooms to verify spaces, accessibility - need at least 300 mtg rooms, trying to get within next 10 days.

- For every 40 hotel rooms booked USSF gets a suite free (we need a process for how to have these rooms available to folks/groups)

CHILDREN'S SOCIAL FORUM

- Finding and securing a space for the Childrens Social Forum was difficult in Atlanta (because of the liabilities, etc.) - Seems like COBO hall would make sense as a central heart of the Forum

- Also thinking about transportation & program timing question for folks to get their kids there

- We have someone that has stepped up in Detroit - Angie Smith

- Ari and Kate can make contact with Angie and move that forward once Angie meets with Detroit folks on Wed.

TRANSPORTATION

- How manage national coordination of people coming in and when, including airline discount coordination. Figuring out airport shuttles.

- This is tied in with opening march and ceremony. With the entry we want to diminish people feeling confused - that they get out of the USSF what they need. Included is naming the diff tours, PMAs and CSF.

- Maybe outsource parts of it: charter buses, car rentals, and get people to help. We're not a travel agency but we can provide info for people on what's available.

- In ATL made sure they had room blocks available, including workshop spaces but felt one of the main jobs was to make clear people had to make their own arrangements although logistics coordinators tried to make sure info was available.

- Amtrak willing to make group rates available, also Southwest Airlines but they want to know how to identify who's booking as a USSF participant - maybe 3-5k people across the country for $200 flight roundtrip.

- Give a code, press a phone menu button? "USSF2010"?

- Also needs to be kept simple. –

- Jules suggested having the Registration form send a kick back message to folks about transportation possibilities including the Southwest option

OPENING MARCH

- Opening March: In Atlanta - Having direct contact with the Fire Marshal was helpful - we had Street medics and volunteer paramedics on bikes helping - made contacts with the hospitals beforehand (we were able to deal with the heat, older folks - we needed vans & vehicles, and more water stations throughout the march

- Oya has 400 Marching Bands calling her for the opening march - Detroit should determine the route of the march - to determine key points of struggle

- Start and end space is a question -

- First nations will lead this march - and then disability community - and then on from there

OPENING CEREMONY

- What is the plan for the Opening Ceremonies? - where should it be and where?

- Mayor will welcome us, president of City Council will welcome us, maybe special other

- In Atlanta, March ended in Renaissance Park where the Opening Ceremony would be, but there was a time lag – Recommendation that with the later march time, the Opening Ceremonies be the place where there is a convergence of all participants, marchers, folks registering etc. Introduction to Detroit & to the Forum – a way to

PUBLIC SPACE

- Environment that we created in Atlanta was that the Social Forum took over the city and it can be a powerful thing for Detroit to do something similar

- How to be intentional about public space - fireworks issue can be a part of this play to use it for other education and USSF promotion - maybe we literally need 1 million slips of paper - maybe a paper cup? Outsource specific details, esp requests to NPC orgs

- Word is getting around that this is happening and there is major numbers - maybe we can push on the fireworks (National Baptist Convention got them moved)

GENERAL LOGISTICS PROCESS

- 10-12 Detroit Committees set up to deal with these issues:

- Several are not committees yet - Transportation, Housing

MORE on SPACES

- Where can we get a sense of the layout, the mapping?

- there will be streets and areas for tents, so folks can see how to get to where they’re going

- Use the printed program as a way to orient people to space

-How can we see who all is working on the different committees so we can call and support? Tapeka and Maureen will send out a spreadsheet of contacts and leads sometime this week.

Next Steps

- Everyone willing to participate on these calls and open and available to support committees and individuals.

- Steph will send Tapeka the Vendor documentation this week – and we will add Dianne Valentin to the list (as the lead on that in Atlanta)

- Steph will send out brainstorm of outsource support ideas – to get feedback from folks in Atlanta.