Combustion Chamber Meeting
Monday, June 8, 2015
Facilitator: Decibel
Stack: Breezy
Scribe: Chim-Chim
Attendees (26): Problem, Jeff, Izzi, Gyseka, Dahling, Henry, Beth, Breezy, T-Rey, Kate, Prost, Princess, Adam, Decibel, Chim-Chim, Thomas, Wrinn, St. Tiki, Ghost, Notfunny, Psyche, Bonobo, Clovis, Pixie, Turtle, Casey
8:00pm MEETING BEGINS
8:02pm LLC UPDATE (Adam)
(See FULL REPORT)
Local newspaper reported (4) agencies used for rescue; Stated (4) people were trapped due to rising waters; Evacuated (40) people at Flipside
Discussion of paper tickets
Review of Flipside 2015 discussed
Some feel event should have been cancelled; Some have issues with ticket prices going up; Some feel they didn’t get their money’s worth; Things important for the community to understand will be discussed at the next Town Hall
$14,000 spent last year with site prep, And another $10,000 spent this year on building out the roads in site prep
Augmentation of roads requires at least a dry day to put in tons of rock; Due to the rains leading up to Flipside, delivery and road construction were ongoing right up to Thursday of Flipside. Trucks are heavy, and they sink, too
Issues discussed: Fireworks, Insurance, Pyrotechnics, Risk Management
Many participants unsure how they could be helpful
Discussion over how to encourage theme camps to take on less party and have infrastructure in mind; Discussion over taking care of self
Discussion over experiences with divisions: Alpha, Bravo, Charlie, Delta
Discussion over Thursday night line wait
Discussion over Volunteer Toll: Guardians understaffed; Missed shifts; More people on Wednesday (Early Entry); (5) different Gate-crashing incidents (4 handled, 1 alleged)—Liability with unsigned waivers; Grave Ranger shifts/All Perimeter shifts understaffed; LEO caught (6) people, with (3) that came across foot bridge—Escorted off land; Need to push how serious Gate-crashing is, and push VOLUNTEERING
Discussion of Flood: Weak points No official word from Incident Commander (IC) of where people should be going; Participants didn’t respond to emergencies regarding personal items; Discussion over flood preparedness
“Tuesday Quarterback”—Cancelling the event on Saturday would have been a nightmare; Exodus volunteers were FANTASTIC, especially in directing traffic; They put themselves and their stuff in danger
Evaluate participants on the “late” list
8:57pm MOTION MADE AND SECONDED TO CLOSE STACK; MOTION PASSES
Spooks were found to help fill in empty Guardian shifts
At least one theme camp was not taking the flooding seriously; Some theme camps were interested in coming up with their own safety plan
Counter-point with Gate crashers: There is a social dimension; Discussion about ‘tourists’ at Burns; Those people are not part of the social construct and the community should take seriously at their intrusion
Props to DAFT for the trenching and work
Post-Op recap:
Earth Guardians did more education; Would like to see more on website or at the next Flipside
Volunteers: Started strong, then dropped off
Recycling: Took in less than last year (fewer showed up)
Exodus: Overall was FUBR; Lead left a week before event; Lots of early Sunday departures; Monday’s roads caused issues; Light work on Tuesday
The following Saturday was delayed due to events; 124 showed up last Saturday, and it was pretty clean; On June 6th, it took longer than expected; 126 volunteers showed up
Cleanup: Initially a disaster; There is no MOOP map—No way of determining who’s where
Discussion over idea of leaving stuff behind during flooding event
ICS handled excellently
Overall AFs in good spirits
Gate crashing: By ending the event, it’s all about precedent; Further discussion of the seriousness and repercussions related to courts ruling against LLC and the costs
Thanks to Ghost and bride for making ICS happen
Dealing with sustainability = smaller Flipside; If you don’t want a smaller Flipside, there should be Leads
What did well: Weather reporting; Flood communication good
What could have been better: Conflicting flood information could have been better
Things to do better: Parking; Earth Guardians; Foot paths; Event publication; Better skills for getting heavy equipment out of the mud; Have K-flip disseminate over radio
People did a good job reporting incidents; Keep spreading the news; There was a decrease in occurrences; Occurrences go down and reporting goes up
Theme camp participants: Add mini safety education to Theme Camp socials, with an additional post with LNT
How to communicate to the entire property—Bullhorns; Let people know there is a volunteer gap; These are operational things to address
9:43pm REGIONAL UPDATE (Clovis)
6-7 Regional Contacts showed up
Danger Ranger appeared at the Moose Lodge last week
Money was raised for the Flipside fund
People are beginning to ping about Burning Man
9:48pm AF UPDATE (Wrinn)
AFs had vacation; Currently working on upcoming meeting
Beth was the most impressive sight handling Clovis’ business; EMBRACE THE SUCK!
(Please review Mark’s notes as Safety AF)
Overall Monday-Thursday—tranquil; Blisters, twisted ankles
(2) people ejected from event due to consent issues
Meteorology was busy
Guardians were understaffed
More volunteer absenteeism this year; Worse than volunteer recruitment; All volunteers were heroes
9:54pm WAREHOUSE UPDATE (Thomas)
We have to get out before the end of September; By October 1st, it’s already too late
Currently looking to find a place to rent to replicate everything we do
Currently looking at it into pieces
Worst case scenario, we’re gonna be ‘floatella’
We are always looking for a warehouse; We are always looking for new land
Budgets, planning, and questions, leads, please send to burningflipside@llc.com
Debris on land: Hard to determine what is good stuff versus abandoned stuff; We must find some way to do things easier; 360 AF and Warehouse Managers are on that; If you want to take stuff out, contact the warehouse managers
10:00pm BETH’S TOPIC
– AAR asked Ava to form a board to help Flipizens and Milam county recover their losses
o The board met Tuesday, and discussed how to take care of fiscal responsibility
o Board worked on wording
o The board is Ava, Toby, Doryan and Delia Davila
o Hope is to raise a larger sum of money than past fundraisers in the Flipside community, with the intent of helping both Flipizens and folks in Milam county
o Nothing is finalized; Still working on how it’s gonna happen
o Delia will be setting up a loss intake for Flipizens
o Toby is reaching out to charities in Milam county
o Flood relief info on the Milam county website is only a notice that FEMA aid is available
o In contrast, Hayes county has a plethora of options
10:11pm CALENDARING (Kate)
6/22:
Town Hall date and Producer Selector (All)
Volunteer Burnout
7/6:
COMM Pre-Event (George)
Shrinking the Event (Clovis)
CC All Business (All)
New Members (Doug)
Retreat
Mentorship
7/20:
Photography (Kate)
Edjumicate (Doug); Safety, Enculturation, Community S’mores & Mores
8/3:
Safety Comm (Casey)
Effigy (Bonobo)
8/17:
Town Hall (All)
Early Dropoff/Vendor Interaction (Adam)
9/14:
Town Hall (All)
Calendaring (Kate)
Exodus (Kate)