Challenges and Project for the Incoming RA

Three months is not a lot of time, but there are 17 active members in the Neualtenburg project so I think we can get a lot done. The key is to find things that people are interested in working on and to delegate authority to commision the project.

Feel free to add to this list, things I have forgotten, or to pull out any of these points into a seperate thread and let the real discussion begin.

Election System: The election system needs some modifications, but it doesn't need drastic changes.

I still favor the The Sainte-Laguë method. It enourages multiple parties and for people to run on platforms (not popularity). It's was a little hokey for this last election because we only had two parties, but if we do our job as RA this term, we'll have more citizens and more parties next time around.

The code that runs the elections should be made available to Neualtenburg citizens. This way we can audit, bug hunt, and add suggestions to the actual code that runs the voting process. I know that just opening code doesn't solve anything, but Digi and I will volunteer (well I'm volunteering her) to help audit, bug hunt and feature fix. Furthermore we should get the code in a state that we are proud of, so we can release it to the SL community under the GPL. This will allow others to audit the code, and contribute back features they thought were useful.

I think we need a bi-partisan Election Commission before each election. They will decide who is eligible to vote, and what names and parties go on the ballot. Perhaps the Costume Party wouldn't have made it on the ballot this time if it was a bi-partisan deicsion, and if it did everyone would feel more comfortable with it.

We need to set a hard term limit. I favor 3 terms

We need to set rules about electioneering and release of information while an election is in progress.

Builds: For each of the builds required we need to determine a method for funding them. Privatization or Private/Public partnerships should be explored.

MOMA/MOCA - This one has been plagueing the city and we really should get it done this term. I suggest cutting back on the design, and providing a nice park with eisels featuring 3 or 4 original artists. This would provide a nice open space in an urban area for residents to hang out in, and stroll through. There doesn't seem to be a great deal of interest in SL Art Museums, but 3 original artists per term seems reasonable. Dual use public spaces, such as a park/garden - art museum are smart.

Castle - I don't know where this is on the priority list but I'd love to see a Caste in Neualtenburg. It would be a symbol of our growth.

Senate - We had a meeting before the elections and we all had to bring out own chairs We need a proper meeting place to conduct government.

Transportation - Some sort of transportation would be great. We've tossed around ideas before. I support something more like a Segway than a full blown Subway. I think the Subway would be overkill for such a small city and isn't really worth the prim trade off. What about a mini one sim ROAM?

Neualtenburg University - This is a good idea. How would we fund such a thing? Would it be a private venture? What kind of space would need to be provided? Can we teach classes in a lovely MOCA garden?

Recruitment:

We are getting close to balancing the budget. It is important that we welcome in new residents this term, and start breaking even. I'd even support letting new residents pay the purchase cost of land over 3-5 months and concentrate on collecting enough revenue to pay off the tier.

Website - Eugene had some great ideas for the Neualtenburg website. We could expand this to an inworld newspaper that highlights fun things in Neualtenburg. We would need a team to edit a city newspaper.

Events - Event big (Oktoberfest) and small (friday night blockparty with german techno) should be encouraged by the city. Afterall, the more people who see the city, the more people to fall in love with it.

Events: There are a few key events coming up this term.

The Expo- The Expo should be held shortly, and we should finalize those plans

Oktoberfest - Oktoberfest really is the flagship event for a Bavarian City. It was great in the past and lets plan to put on a really good show this year again.

Winter - Winter is on its way, and Nuealtenburg gets very busy during the holiday season. Shopkeepers should start thinking about the Holidays now, so that we can make sure our city is a worthwhile place to come visit in December.

As Gildemeister of the Artisinal Branch, I can at least comment on this facet.

MOMA/MOCA -- if you check out Die Gilde's monthly projekt report, you will see that Commisioned by Die Gilde, MOCA is currently being built on spec at an offshore location. Upon completion of design Die Gilde will invite the SC and RA to the location for approval/disapproval of the build. Die Gilde retains creative control of these builds and will only affect changes to structure at it's own discretion.

If it is approved, Die Gilde will graciously donate it to Neualtenburg. Expected completion: September 1st.

SCHLOSS(Castle) --Commisioned by the SC, SCHLOSS is expected to similarly be built offshore on spec. Upon completion of design Die Gilde will invite the SC and RA to the location for approval/disapproval of the build. Die Gilde retains creative control of these builds and will only affect changes to structure at it's own discretion. If it is approved, Die Gilde will graciously donate it to Neualtenburg. Expected Completion: October 1st

Senate building: This would be up to the RA to commision. Die Gilde awaits it's request.

It is hoped that these 3 major builds will represent the HQ of the 3 branches of Government.

All Buildings by Die Gilde are currently being built as public works as donations to Neualtenburg. Die Gilde, however, reserves the rights for future public works to be paid for by Neualtenburg once it reaches true solvency.

On the Oktoberfest, as was last year -- this event is being sponsored and paid for by Die Gilde. Die Gilde awaits permission to clear the Marktplatz to set up the Hippodrome. Expected date of Oktoberfest to be October 15 thru 30th.

Excellent Kendra!

These are exciting ideas, Satchmo; I really feel inspired. The community has plenty of things to co-operate on here, which, apart from anything else, should go some way to making us all feel a bit better

Satchmo, this is a great agenda! Thank you. Let's get working on it right away.

I would point out to all that the location of the Schloss (castle) is technically land owned privately by Ulrika, unlike the museum location, which remains at this time city-owned.

I participated in the decisions which led to her ownership of that land, and I remain committed to those decisions. In fact, I would be in favor of the museum land as well being held by a "museum interest group"; a group which would contribute its monthly fee to the city, as Ulrika does for the Schloss parcel.

If an interest group owned the museum land, it should be up to them to make judgement on the build itself.

That said, it would be entirely appropriate for the City to issue a deed to the "Museum Interest Group" containing specially tailored covenants/restrictions/guidelines for what the city feels is in its best interest for what the museum group builds and how it is operated.

Ulrika already has a deed conveying ownership of the Schloss land to her group. While it is conceivable that she might agree to a modification of that deed to contain special covenants with regard to a castle, she's certainly under no obligation to conform to any restrictions other than those laid out in the existing "restricted covenant" which has applied to every deed issued by the city so far.


Sudane

Noted.

I'll stop building anything then until The City can afford to pay Guild members for their work. Shall I remove the working towerclock paid for by the Altenburg Gruppe out of it's own pocket? Or the many textures I've designed that are used all over Neualtenburg for free?

As Gildemeister, I'm calling on all Guild members to join me in a work stoppage until such time as The City can actually afford to employ artists and artisans.

The gift horse has closed it's mouth.

I have no idea what brought that on, but at least my end is easy enough; I do jack diddly other than on my own land and am more than happy to keep it that way.

Thank you for laying out an agenda Satchmo. There are items I agree with and those I don't. Either way, we in the RA have *a lot* of discussing, rehashing, and actions to do. This is going to make for an exciting term I think.

I'm a little confused by your post Sudane, so bear with me. As it is my understanding, it is the Guild that decides what structures look like and how/where they are built. And it is only the RA's ability to commision and pay (or disprove) any of the builds that the Guild do for the city. Am I missing something here? (sorry, my rusty and fried brain is trying to pull all my thoughts and memories together).

Also when you state "under no obligation to conform to any restrictions other than those laid out in the existing "restricted covenant"". This does not mean there is no obligation to conform to our laws and constitution does it? If it does, that would not seem right at all. But again, I could be misunderstanding!

Pendari, sorry for abbreviating. It really is important that we be as clear as we can be, and I'll try to be.

After we lost our priviledge to use the land in Anzere, it became clear that in order to carry on the vision of Neualtenburg, we would have to bear the burden of a private sim. That meant a $1000 purchase price and a $200/month on-going obligation. As you know, the financial performance of Neualtenburg up to that point was not stellar, so those of us who confronted this situation were somewhat at a loss for a plan that had any hope of succeeding.

Ulrika came up with an idea. We would "deed" the land (i.e. sell it) to future citizens of the City. The deed would convey full rights of ownership to the holder of that deed, WITH CERTAIN RESTRICTIONS. Those restrictions were what are called in RL "restrictive covenants", commonly found in mortgages and other loan documents. By agreeing to accept the deed document conveying ownership of the land to you, you also agree to abide by the restrictions on its use as defined in the "Covenants". As with a bank mortgage, you risk losing your land if you do not comply.

In many ways, we have applied this concept in much the same way that zoning regulations are applied in the US, although perhaps more severely, in that you risk losing your land for non-compliance.

As we refined the concept and wrote the words of these covenants, I came up with a further modifying concept to help us structure ourselves. In New York City, and probably in many other areas around the world, there is a housing ownership concept called the "cooperative". It is a non-profit corporation operated specifically for managing apartment buildings of homes which are owned by their residents. The residents elect a Board of Directors which has direct responsibility for managing the building. The Board collects the monthly fees from the resident shareholders and uses those fees to pay the expenses of the building. The resident owners technically own shares in the corporation, and with those shares comes attached a "proprietary lease", meaning a lease to which you have the right by virtue of your ownership of the shares. That proprietary lease gives you "ownership" rights to the apartment, subject to the "House Rules".

The result of all these concepts and the documents which came from them is the system we have now in Neualtenburg. Owners have "ownership" of their land in the SL meaning of that word, subject only to the restrictions spelled out in the covenants, the Neualtenburg ToS, and the Constitution.

As for buildings, when owners build, they must comply with the restrictions imposed by the covenants. In the case of builds outside the city walls, those restrictions are minimal, but important. In the case of builds inside the city walls, the restrictions regarding compliance with the theme are more substantial.

But that said, subject to those restrictions, the owner of any parcel can build whatever she or he wishes.

It would be my opinion, for what its worth, that the system by which the RA commissions and the Guild builds applies only to those builds which occupy city owned land; which the city at large, in its wisdom, has decided shall remain city-owned. The streets and roads of the city obviously fall into this catagory, as does the Rathhaus where the RA meets, and the building where the SC meets. Currently, all unsold land in the sim also belongs in this catagory.

One of the very most important issues facing the RA in its new session is determining exactly how much, and which, of that unsold property should be sold. It is this topic that the major part of the MPP platform addresses. Some would say that major components of the Neualtenburg landscape should remain city owned; its upkeep therefore subsized by the citizens. My position, and the position expressed in the MPP statement, is rather extremely at the other end of the scale, in favor of divesting (WITH RESTRICTIONS!) most of the parcels now held by the city. I suspect that a middle ground will be reached.

My intent in the post was simply to point out that Ulrika is the "owner" of the Schloss property, whereas, at the moment, the museum remains unsold city land. It can either stay that way, or it can, in my opinion, be sold to a "Museum Advocacy/Interest Group" who would pay the monthly fee on the land and operate a museum there.

I do hope that clarifies not only what I was trying to say, but also the actual land ownership arrangement in "Neualtenburg Phase Two".


Sudane

I agree!

Let me make it past my big date and then I'll release the complete source code to you during baby-sleep time. It's a single program that's written in a hybrid Perl/HTML language called Mason. It's just like PHP only it doesn't suck.

Yes yes yes!

This will be really tough. The problem is that we have such a small population that assuming there are 20 people in our city, there will be only four total unique RAs, meaning that the maximum number of terms would be 12 lasting 36 months. No sense in building an expiration date into the city. Granted, if we get rid of the one-person one-vote rule, there won't be a problem as my dozens of alts will be swarming over the city.

The import thing to remember with builds, is that the RA must work through the Guild, not order it around. That means running designs by Kendra and the rest of the guild or as I call her, Texture-san.


Dang! The rest of your ideas are wonderful as well! Are you sure you're not a member of the SDF, because you're doing a great job of representing what I'm interested in.

~Ulrika~

Kendra is reminding folks that the Guild is autonomous and can exercise power by initiating work stoppages or by refusing to build structures which don't conform to the building codes. It's defined in the constitution itself to prevent the RA from treating content creators as servants.

~Ulrika~

I think I can explain this in an alternative way.

There are two philosophies for how we should we should support group-owned structures (Casino, MoCA, Schloss, Platz, Bridge, Bank, Kaufhaus, Senate). The original idea was that these structures would be built and supported by all members of the city. That is, we would all pay a little extra to support this shared infrastructure.
Benefits:

1. We have permanent structures that are truly owned by the city (church and restaurant).
   
2. The Guild is in charge of building the structures and making sure they fit within the theme of the city.
   
3. The structures are for the use and benefit of all citizens.

Drawbacks:

1. Too much group-owned land could cut into our budget for other things.

Since then, an alternative idea has emerged that suggests that we sell the land to individuals or groups who own the land but are required to maintain that land in a certain way. For instance, I purchased the castle land with the requirement that I build a castle there and nothing else.
Benefits:

1. It reduces the city overhead by having individuals pay for the land.
   
2. It could promote faster development.

Drawbacks:

1. It seems like maintaining structures according to a covenant for the city while paying for it is something that folks would not pay for under normal circumstances.
   
2. The Guild loses control over the architecture and use, opening the door for ugly builds in the heart of the city that citizens can't undo.
   
3. It could compromise prominent city features and locations. If we sell off land around the Platz, it eliminates our ability to use it for ourselves in the future.

In my case, I chose the to purchase the Schloss as it benefits the city by helping us to make ends meet and provides me with free reign to exercise my vision of the castle without interference. The bad news is that you can count on 20-m tall SDF banners draped over the front of the structure.

Kendra has done something similar with Altenburg.

How do I feel about the issue? In the case of Kendra and me, I think it's a great choice because we're the principal architects of the city. As for selling off the restaurant, church, MoCA, Bank, Kaufhaus, and platz, it depends. The MoCA seems like a natural to be sold to an external group, whereas selling the Rathaus or Court House do not.

~Ulrika~

Thank you for the clarifications Sudane and Ulrika! I understand exactly what you are saying now. I think finally sleeping for a little while helped my brain too.

Perfect.. I get it... it's like PHP but it sucks!



No end run implied here. I was just laying out all the builds that should be on this terms agenda. Of course we need to work with the Guild and plan out how all these builds are going to get done.






Partylines aside we're all here for the same reason. If we can close on most of the issues outlined in the above agenda think of what fun the Next RA will have

I'm well aware of that, Ulrika.

Just ironically pointing out that, so far as I know, Kenda is the only one doing any work for the city to have a stoppage.

Gwyneth does event work.
Sudane does landcaping work.
Those are just 2 examples.

I have not insisted on a work stoppage --just invited other guild members to join me in one. I am trying to straighten out a very complex problem with the current status quo of artisan affairs for the public commons. If the artisans of this city (half our current population) ever expect to be treated as other than free labor, then a work stoppage is currently necessary in order to rectify the situation and restore the Artisinal Collective to it's proper role under the Neualtenburg Constitution.

Did I just not run an entire election for the city?

I think you might have just made Kendra's point for her.

~Ulrika~

Yes, but by the time Kendra brought up the point, said election had been run.

See, I'm sneaky like that!

As a symbolic gesture, I'll join the strike as well, not holding any event in Neualtenburg until the issue of the comissioning of the public works is settled.

Actually, I should also say that we have already discussed this in-world - members of the Guild informally meeting with members of the RA - and there are a few proposals for the upcoming RA meeting by the weekend, so I guess that the strike will end soon

Well, personally I've been feeling quite underappreciated for the work I've done not just lately but as a whole for the city. It's as if folks expect a perfect and free infrastructure and then complain when this free work isn't up to their unspoken preconcieved expectations. It's quite demotivating!

On top of it, those who shoulder the majority of the work are currently having their branch in the government "analyzed" with what I suspect is the unspoken goal of changing its fundamental structure, seizing its control over the treasury, and eliminating its veto.

So, I'll join the strike too, stopping further work until we can decide on how to commission future work and support existing infrastructure costs and until this call to deconstruct the constitution to consolidate power in the Representative branch ends.

~Ulrika~

Far more eloquently than I could ever have hoped to put it myself, Both Ulrika and Gwyn have stated the very reasons I have asked all Guild members to join me in a work stoppage on anything made for the public commons.

Hopefully this will be a short labor strike, But as Gildemeister I find it a needed one.


I'd like to point out that the work Ulrika has done for this City far surpasses even the amount of work I've done.

There are a number of reasons why I wouldn't align myself with any strike this week. Let me outline them.

1) I login to SL to create things... it's quite fun, and why I inhabit the metaverse.

2) A strike at this early stage in the project could be detrimental... it certainly does nothing to encourage new citizens and balance the budget (this is the guild's job correct)...

3) This is hardly an issue to strike on. Please Kendra, are you going to call for a strike everytime someone says something you don't like? I think this is riduculous. We're having civic forum discussions, exposing our various views. No laws have been passed... no one has acted to stifle creativity.

By even mentioning the words "work stopage" over conversation and not action, I think the Guild is being negligent. 2 major functions of the guild are Finance and Tourism, and this strike talk is hurting both...

I was excited about the new term and a new RA so I started this thread to outline some common goals we all have. I was hoping we would all work together as a team, rather then have petty fights over forum wording...

Are we all committed to making Neualtenburg a better place or are we going to have a full term of power grabbing, and people screaming "Appreciate Me, Love Me, Fet Me"? It's a serious question, because I was hoping to use some of my project management skills in the RA, but if we're not all on the same team, I just assume resign and join a project where people are excited about doing new work, not stopping it from happening.

1) You may create anything you wish. You may even go against the work-stoppage and create for the public City property. You can also elect to build things for your own personal interest or for sale.

2) One of the Guild functions is as treasurer. The Guild does not function as a PR firm to attract new citizens --that is a function of the RA.

3) This is THE reason to strike on. The City cannot expect The Guild to engage in public building for free. Implying that I am issuing a knee-jerk labor strike is insulting. This is a very carefully considered and transparent action that I am sticking my neck out over, in order to get the RA to realize it's responsability to the workers of this community, and not simply to landowners.

4) The Guild is not responsable for tourism The RA is), and the finances that the Guild is responsable for are currently being withheld from the Guild by an anti-constitutional control of the City budget.

5) I am not doing this on a whim, I am doing this as Gildemeister, in what I consider a necessary move to protect the workers of this city.

Finally, You have several avenues to pursue if you do not like my actions.

1) Have the RA seek my impeachment.

2) Call for the Meisters of the Guild to vote me out.

Currently there are 5 Meisters (including myself). A 2/3 majorityof the meisters is needed to remove me as Gildemeister. Find 4 Meisters who oppose my leadership enough to vote me from my position as Gildemeister as I'll gladly step down to Meister status.

It's the job of the RA to create a budget (right now we're not breaking even so it's easy) and for the Guild to veto it if there's something glaringly wrong. I imagine normally the members of the Guild wouldn't really care what the budget was as long as funds were being allocated to support city work. (I personally favor creating stipends for folks like Aliasi and Gwn who teach so many classes.)

It's actually a wonderful way to demonstrate how the Guild exercises power in the city. I was personally thrilled to see it while there were so many people having discussions in the forum. It's like we're all getting a crash course on learning how to interact through our governmental system. Ultimately, this is all just good clean political fun.

Here's a question for you. Have you ever had someone help you move or fix your automobile for free? Imagine if afterwards you yelled at them for doing a poor job and told them they didn't have the right to seek appreciation and instead should get back to work. What do you think your friend would hit you with first?

It is your job as a member of the RA to solve the strike (or at least the feelings behind it). You can do this in many ways. My first suggestion is to throw the Guild an appreciation party for the redesign of Altenburg, the completion of the city, and the fact that we have many events being given every week. (At this moment right now Neualtenburg is the best it has ever been!) The second possible solution is to assign a value to this work (how much do you think the work on the city and website are worth) and then award members that value as bonds in the city, on which they'll receive a return once we're solvent.

Personally, I'd like both. Make the cake big, please. I'll be there for my last shindig before I pop.

~Ulrika~