[kwlug-disc] New locations brainstorming

[Paul Nijjar]

On Wed, Dec 09, 2009 at 03:52:38PM -0500, unsolicited wrote:
> Paul Nijjar wrote, On 12/09/2009 10:26 AM:

Update: I have booked 43 Queen (The Queen Street Commons Working
Centre building) for January, so that means we have at
least one guaranteed option for the meeting. However, I am looking
into other options. 

> (1) And we are back to the icky money issue.
>
> 	I expect that a nightly rental fee would require a meeting admission  
> fee to cover expenses, which I don't believe would fly with the group as 
> it currently exists.

I agree. I would be in favour of such a fee only if we could fundraise
the money for it (say a year's worth of fees) in advance. I would not
be in favour of admission fees (to a pretty strong degree). I could
blather on about why but I will spare you, except to say that I
strongly believe that anybody should be able to attend a KWLUG meeting
without feeling pressured to pay a user fee. 

> (3) Parking must be free and nearby. Which probably takes out places  
> like the Library, UofW, and WLU.

Since the parking lot went under construction, we could not manage
this for the old 43 Queen St location. 

> Could the details and demands of the Huether be posted please? I'm  
> gathering what we were told initially (months ago) was unexpectedly  
> altered with little forewarning and/or a different story from a  
> different liaison?

I do not have a clear picture, myself. I may be jumping the gun, but I
don't think I am. 

One aspect that bothers me is that (as far as I know) nobody knew what
was going on until the day of the event. I could be wrong about this. 

> If we are now talking about a vendor fee for an alternate location, is  
> it markedly different than what the Huether is looking for? A location  
> with which we are now largely familiar with and comfortable.

If the Heuther is willing to trade off a rental fee for a guaranteed
spot, then maybe we could work things out. That is not the same as
expecting everybody (or even most everybody) to spend some amount each
month. It is also not the same as charging admission. 

> And with thanks to John, who found the location, got us there, and made 
> it work. I, for one, am certainly grateful. If manageable, I would like 
> to continue there.

I agree. Regardless of this situation, I applaud John Kerr for giving
us this option in the first place. Thank you, John. 

- Paul