Notes on monthly meeting August 20th, 2008

Minutes of Transition Point Chevalier (TPC) Meeting no. 3

20 August 2008

7.30pm. Point Chevalier School

 

Attendees:       Julie Miles, Margaret Wilson, Heather MacBrick, John Nicol, Marina Bachmann, Kate Harris, Stuart Frew, Priscilla Cameron, Ally Palmer, Jo, Ruth, Niki, Bridget, Keren, Heidi, Yolanda, Keith, Anne N, Deryn, Finn, Adrienne. (We may have missed one or two people – apologies. If you know who you are, let us know and we’ll amend).

 

Apologies:       Cathy, Pearl, Jenny, Sarah, Geoff.    

 

Minutes:  Deryn.

 

Permission given for Ally Palmer, film student at Elam School of Arts, University of Auckland, to video meeting for her doc on environmentalism. Niki to look at any footage to be used in final product to check it is acceptable.

 

Steering group proposal read through and discussed. Minor alternations suggested and final version now posted on Website – see “TPC House Rules”. It was agreed these would be revisited in 3 mths at the Nov meeting.

 

Communication systems for TPC - Decided that people can have a choice EITHER  to receive all TT emails OR  just those relating to TPC (UPDATE – when the steering group met at the weekend, we decided that it would be an opt out system – emails would be grouped into ‘List A – all TT emails’ or ‘List B – just TPC emails’ and  have a line at the bottom indicating people could unsubscribe. If they did so this would take them off the List that this email applied to, but not the other list)

 

In-coming communication report – Ruth.

 

In coming emails :

• Ally re possibilities for a Unitec organic veg co-op;

• Chris Olsen of Sandringham TT re David Bowden from Auck City Council re. planting fruit trees in public places;

• Electric bicycle proposals – 15% of cost to go to TT – see TT website, or for a direct link, email Ruth (excerpt from email “James Samuels looking for people interested in dialoguing re a proposal to sell electric bikes via the transition network. How about we start a forum discussion on the web site? We can invite people to come to that via an email to the nztt google group and other announcements on the web pages if necessary. Then we can engage in a dialogue that will be easier to follow and will represent a record of people's thoughts if this issue should arise again in the future. Would anyone like to initiate this by starting a new forum topic in the appropriate place at www.transitiontowns.org.nz/forum ?")

• Gladstone Eco Festival (Gladstone School, Carrington Rd.) Saturday 30th Aug. Suggestions for a TPC stand. Anyone interested in being there please contact Finn kaitiaki@orcon.net.nz. (Can anyone make a banner?)

• Sustainable video creation.

• Organising a bus to Ecoshow in Taupo – anybody wanting to be involved contact Ruth. ruth@polyphony.co.nz

 

Sub-group reports

 

Gardening – Keith

• Had 1st meeting, read Vision Statement [to be posted later] and had it endorsed – hooray! Next meeting of gardening group, 14th Sept 2pm Ruth’s house, 32 Kiwi Rd.

Library – Niki

• To have a display at Point Chevalier library – Transition Handbook, classic books on peak oil/climate change/permaculture. Group comprises Niki, Ruth, Finn, Yolanda, Deryn, Catherine, Jo. Email Niki nikiharre@xtra.co.nz to join or with book or DVD ideas. Ally also offered to recommend DVDs.

Waterways – Adrienne (who had left by the time this came on to the agenda, made note to make sure items of relevance to someone who needs to leave are dealt with early!).

• Not yet met, no subgroup set up. On to next meeting.

Awareness raising

• Raised by Jo. Not yet formed, watch this space!

Adventure cycling – [from Sarah]

• Have found a Wanganui contact re recreational adventure parks. Proposed to do this at Pasadena Intermediate – adventure playground for bikes. To be mentioned at EcoFest?
• UPDATE – see email circulated with the statement of purpose for the Adventure Cycling group.

Advocacy – Jo.

• Suggested the Transition movement is about thinking widely as well as acting locally and that leads to  policy advocacy. Niki happy to be involved in groups doing submissions etc. Link to Library group as first step.

Visioning

• Finn for next meeting. Suggested process:
• Warm up – start with 20min piece from Joanna Macy – Deep Ecology.
• Things that matter to us. (Post-it notes – do this individually then identify what is common to us all)

What we want the future of Pointt Chevalier to be?

What really matters to you?

Where do you want us to be heading?

What are the key qualities of Point Chevalier ?

 

Key themes: Where we want to get and How we’re going to get there.

 

You may want to think about this questions for next meeting –

• If you could create Point Chevalier however you want it, what would it look like?
• How much time and energy do you have to take on a piece of that?

 

Financial assistance proposal - Niki

National TT website  is essentially James Samuels connecting with inter/national groups and he has been doing this fulltime since Oct 07 without pay. He now has to return to paid work or, it’s proposed that each TT group puts in an amount (e.g. 4 people put in $5/ week) to be credited to an account in order for James to continue his national networking role. Niki to send out email detailing this. [This has been done - see Financial support for Transition Aotearoa. 26/8/08]

Questions were raised about whether there is a cap to how much money James would receive and how the financial decisions would be transparent to the people who contribute.

 

Transition training - Finn

Finn is presenting Transition Training in Taupo before the EcoShow Oct 7 & 8. This is a 6 day training in 2 parts, TT Leadership, and Sustainability. Anyone who is interested, contact Finn. [See Ruth’s forwarding email from Finn - Sustainability Education and Leadership Training opportunity. 24/8/08].

 

NEXT MEETING – Sept 17th, 7.30pm  Point Chevalier Primary – Te Ra Rd.

 

 

Meeting ended 9.30pm.

 

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