Dear Friends- Does anyone besides Michael see a reason to expand the basic "team" at this point? It sees to me that 10-15 people is quite a large group for the purposes of planning the basic structure. Although I gave Michael a couple of names of people who are representative of different groups in the community, I don't see why this determination of the process and of the topic need the input of so many people. In fact, I think that it will make it more difficult to get to the next stage.

The actual work of the retreat will need more input, including leading the sessions. However, it seems to me that there is some disagreement about what we are all doing now.

My view is that we should be 1)agreeing on what is important in a retreat 2) agreeing on outcomes 3)agreeing on the structure to get to #1 and #2 4) setting up the larger committee--at which point, we expand the group.

Warmly- Judy

-- Judy Gelman (gelman@erols.com), April 18, 2001

Answers

Myself and Don take responsibility for putting together the core team of 15 to begin the planning. We received input from Carol, Stan, Fred, and Judy as to who should be involved in the planning. The 15 people we included were all suggested with reasoned justifications. (Faces not at the first meeting are Sid, Eva Sarelle, and Lori Levin/Matt N. /Madeleine Levin as "outgoing/potentially incoming" Comm. Life Chairs.)

Please, let's stay committed to having the 4/2 conference call at 5pm. We can discuss our disagreements and clarify some of the confusion by conference call better than we are apparently doing by e-mail.

No one is looking to grow the core team. For example, 'when to start lunch on Saturday' is not a decision that will be made by 15+ people. However, the topic this year bespeaks of a democratic decision-making process MORE THAN EVER and we want to respect and honor that from the beginning. I am comfortable with some of the team of 15 splitting off to form an Advisory Team to review and provide feedback on what a smaller groups comes up with.

If anyone would like to opt out of the planning team now, please let me know.

-- Stefan Taske (abba@zzapp.org), April 18, 2001.