OCP Workshop 02/13/2013

• 2 current rules that we still need to dicuss – no animals in the building except Jazmine the cat and if there is a conflict and a staff requests a mediation, a person needs to come or not stay at OCP
• Health department said that no animals could be in the building and Sadie and Philip stood up for Jazmine but no others are allowed
• Ron:  if we thought it was super important to have animals in the building, we could discuss whether or not we want to make food in the building to sell
• Philip:  staying within the law is important to exec dir and OC Boxes is moving us in a direction that we have been working towards for a long time;  besides, animals running around here seems like it would be unsanitary;  sometimes there are smells and fleas;  also, other animals end up eating cat food that we buy for jasmine;  lets focus on people here – there are other places that focus on animals
• Teig:  animals are very therapeutic for the community;  animals are allowed in restaurants if they are approved service dogs;  how much money do we actually bring in from box lunches – if we weigh this against having animals here, some people have been very distressed about not being able to have animals around;  animals were allowed here before;  if a doctor gave teig a note about needing to have his dog with him, would it be allowed;  not sure why one animal is ok by the health department
• Sadie:  don’t know of any community center where animals are allowed, period;  the only reason health department made an exception;  no dogs, no other animals;  
• Ron:  in the old days, we would have regular community meetings, and sometimes we would discuss animals, and the reason people didn’t want animals was because people didn’t want animals begging for food/around while people were eating;  have a prejudice about people becoming homeless and then decide to get an animal;  animals seem to be left sometimes while people stay at HARTS;  teig has a good point about boxes and the revenue source;  imagine industries that create jobs for people and help people get money;  there was a time when we catered weddings and getting above board with the health department
• Teig:  animals not being in the building during meal time is a good idea;  tried to train smokey not to beg;  maybe we could do something along the lines of a case by case basis;  also about box lunches, what about those stands that are never used with rope to block off the area
• Daniel:  as far as therapeutic animals – this is an interesting idea, but it doesn’t seem like that has been the case here;  seems like the health department allowed us to keep the cat and Daniel wants to express his thankfulness for that
• Kris:  there are times when there are a lot of animals that don’t seem to be taken care of;  never had a problem with smokey;  maybe a case by case thing could be what we go with;  if a person is here and not following the rules, a person is asked to leave – seems like animals should be treated the same way;  people do have friendly animals that don’t attack people and don’t beg for food;  
• Ron:  for one, don’t like the idea of giving up the health inspection card that we have right now;  we haven’t really figured out how to deal with all the humans in this space yet – there is only 1500 sq feet in the front part of the building;  some people are afraid or allergic to animals;  there are no public stores, restaurants, etc that people regularly take animals;  seems like adding animals inside the building is a place we just don’t want to go right now;  
• Mark:  just had a very successful night out on Saturday Night – health department probably cut OCP a break by allowing a cat;  if we wish to keep operating as a kitchen for night out, we just need to keep animals away;  as far as service animals, service animals are a state law, so we cant actually tell someone that they cant bring their service animal here;  
• Kris:  anyone can get approval to get a service animal;  
• Ron:  if people can bring service animals, people should go through the steps to get a service animal
• Philip:  the way teig was talking about animals feels like an unhelpful way to be in community;  one could probably get a service animal,
• Kris:  we spent a long time talking about how to keep the police from bringing guns into the building, and if people feel strongly about having animals around, we should listen to that
• Gary:  know what rons original belief was and it was very impressionable on gary;  ron has had problems because of everything that has happened at ocp over the last few years;  ron is not perfect;  we all know how to take care of animals;  ron started a great thing;  
• Matt:  if we are a community that cares about people;  all animals should be welcome as long as they can get along with another pet (or people);  don’t think we should discredit someone for a dog;  all animals should be accepted;
• Ron:  gives a recap for some newcomers;  realistically we could be in violation of the law for night out if we let other animals in;  definition of clean and on a leash seems helpful;  asks Kris or Teig to consider the other side – who gets to have an animal here and who doesn’t – animals that are dirty;  just consider what it would mean to open the doors to having animals here
• Bill – couldn’t we have something like a kennel out back?;  animals could be out back
• Sadie:  ocp is not a kennel – the goal is for the kitchen is fully funded – for the kitchen to be licensed;  if the kitchen is licensed, how long would we keep are license;  if you are homeless and can very hardly take care of yourself,
• Teig:  are we trying to build a community or being a licensed certified business to pay our salaries – we sacrifice animals, which are an intricate part of our lives, we need to look at this
• Daniel:  seems like the real issue is – don’t believe animals make a great difference at ocp, but they seem to make a difference to people here;  we need to question – given this choice, do the people who care about animals being at ocp – are animals being here more important than some of the things that
• Matt: animals are just as important as people; it’s sad if people don’t think that; it’s a community center, and Jasmine’s here, so why can’t all other animals be here?  If people can’t control their animals, they shouldn’t be in the OCP.  Smokey is obedient to Teig, he has control.  Ellie also is fine.  This place won’t be the same without animals.  
• Tom: OCP is a great service to all of us; it is a great service to humans, not animals.  I love animals, have had many; they will fight with other animals; I think it’s fine to have them outside, but not inside; having animals inside is detrimental to the center and to the animals themselves.
• Teig: Daniel’s point; is it more important to have animals or to make money at special events, except we need money; I would be happy to have Smokey outside, but in the winter he had to stay outside in Anna’s care all day; is our mission to make money or help the homeless in this community?  Why don’t we just make this think a big commercial business?  How much money do we really need?  What are our priorities, and what are our goals?
• Ron:  never seen an event we do that people enjoy to help up with as much as night out;  we do use money for staff, but it seems like
• Kris:  if the topic is animals and pets, even if we say no animals and pets inside, maybe we need to talk about people’s responsibilities for animals outside;
• Matt:  this is a community center, and if people with pets cant be accepted, that is a big problem;  if pets aren’t allowed, jasmine shouldn’t be allowed in either
• Teig:  like Kris’ point about establishing rules for outside the building;  got smokey when had a good job and a place – through no fault of own, lost job and became homeless
• Daniel:  motion to vote on two points – 1.  If in keeping with health dept rules, is it more important to keep doing night out, etc;  2. Should jasmine be allowed in the building;  if we value animals more than events with food, we could vote on that and move there
• Ron:  very interesting points have been brought up – need for people to bring animals into the building more important than night out, etc;  there are lots of non-profits that provide kitchen related experience that don’t allow animals;  in the case of smokey, he is currently getting things he might not be getting;  the cat does keep rodents out of the building;  
• Matt:  don’t agree with a lot of what Ron said;  if someone cant bring animals in the building, jasmine shouldn’t be allowed;  obviously we want to keep night out – do people want a cat around while they are eating dinner;  
• Philip:  seems like we need to take better care if jasmine
• Teig: I do like to be with Smokey all the time, and it’s not all winter, it’s really just an hour or two when I like to be at OCP; I like Night Out a lot and think good things come out of it; I’ve learned a lot, and feel like I’ve been swayed by your arguments. I appreciate all the services OCP offers, and I think it is best, after all this that the animals stay outside.
• George: I have seen dead mice in here that I’ve thrown away, and the one outside too.  Jasmine couldn’t survive outside.  Just put Jasmine in the back room during Night Out.
• Ron:  next time maybe we’ll put some clear language about this.  Lots of good has come out of this discussion.  Let’s be honest with each other and work out things that people may have had emotions about.
• Daniel:  I think we should vote and affirm that Night Out and Boxed Lunches are important to this community.  
• Kris: We haven’t been voting on this these yet, we’ll wait until the end to vote on them, just getting them down for now.
• Ron: Daniel wants to know if we value Jasmine being here and Night Out and boxed lunches being appreciated.  
• Lots of consensus that we should continue this conversation.