Following is a letter I wrote to our Secretary of the New Guild with some ideas I had. There is one issue I'd like to address that affected me personally and I'm pretty sure I'm not the only one. The last meeting I was unable to attend due to RL obligations. At the meeting someone made a proposal. This proposal wasn't on the agenda and had not been discussed previously to the best of my knowledge. The proposal was seconded, which made it an official proposal. Than a vote was called on this brand new proposal that only the people in attendance knew about and the proposal was voted in. How can we allow a few individuals to decide for all of us by not allowing all of us the opportunity to vote on the matter? I request as a member of the New Guild that unless a proposal has had prior discussion and all members are aware of the proposal, than a vote is held until the next meeting to allow all concerned parties the opportunity to let thier voices be heard. I leave you now with a copy of the letter I sent to Ceasar and encourage all interested parties to contribute to the discussion. Thank you.
Ceasar,
I wasn’t sure if I’d catch you online where both of us would have enough time to sit down and talk so I figured a letter would work better. I’d like to go over some ideas I’ve had in regards to the New Guild.
Your election to the Chair of the New Guild seems to have sparked a renewed interest in the New Guild, a positive result indeed. One thing I have noticed though is we are unsure of who is exactly a member of the New Guild. Any citizen who chooses to attend a NG meeting has been automatically eligible to vote. There is an official NG group; it is CDS New Guild Resources which was founded by Rose Springvale and whose current members, all listed as a CDS Guild Officer, are Rosie Gray, Moon Adamant, Dnate, Rudeen Edo, and Jon Seattle. Let’s utilize this official group so all concerned are aware of who is involved in the NG.
I noticed in the last meetings transcript the issue of tier for the NG school. Currently it is my understanding that Sudane has been paying the tier and I am not sure if she is willing to continue to pay the tier. The tier for the school is US$ 6.40 which at the current conversion rate would be L$ 1,600. I suggest we deed the school to CDS New Guild Resources and ask for volunteers out of our membership to pitch in and pay the tier. If 10 members were to donate we’re only talking US$ 0.64 per person. Heck even if only 5 of us step up and volunteer it’s still only US$ 1.28 per person.
At the last NG meeting there seemed to be quite a bit of confusion in regards to the motion passed by the RA on September 25th 2011 “to direct the New Guild to set the rebuilding of Locus Amoenus as their first priority.” As a member of the New Guild what I feel the first question that needs to be addressed is what exactly we are rebuilding. Here are the current facts concerning Locus Amoenus.
• LA is a full, double prim sim with a total sqm of 65,536
• Public land is 36,352sqm with 1,647 prims
• 42 private parcels equaling 29,184sqm with 13,353 prims
• Monthly fee payable to Linden Labs is $295.00
• Full occupancy of 29,184sqm results in monthly tier collected at $370.50
• Of the 42 parcels 27 are 512sqm plots and 15 are 1,024sqm plots
As you are aware there are citizens who currently own land in LA. What the NG needs to find out before any planning of proposals can be made is whether or not these citizens wish to retain their landholdings or are willing to relocate. As Secretary of the New Guild I feel it would be best for you to personally speak with these citizens and find out what they would like to do.
Citizen Parcels SQM
Alexia Carnell P. 26, 28, 29, 30, 31 4,608
Anna Toussaint P. 14, 15 1,024
Danton Sideways P. 10, 24 1,024
Fern Leissa P. 03, 07 1,024
Mikelo Serevi P. 37, 40 2,048
Mizou Vavoom P. 34, 36 2,048
Pip Torok P. 33, 35 2,048
Tor Karlsvalt P. 23, 39 1,536
Alexi Navarathna P. 09 512
Bells Semyorka P. 18 512
Lef Leven P. 27 512
Sonja Strom P. 32 1,024
Once we know what each of these citizens intentions are than we can start to put together an official proposal for a contest to rebuild LA because we’ll know exactly which parcels we will be possibly remodeling.
The next issue than is the stipulations for the remodeling. Financially speaking we need to keep the total sqm’s of public and private land exactly as they are now. We can’t afford to take away income producing private land and increase our public land holdings. This isn’t as difficult as it may seem, allow me to explain.
I believe there is a general agreement amongst the citizens that LA would benefit from smaller parcels. Let’s assume all current owners are keeping their parcels. That leaves us (3) 1,024sqm plots and (16) 512sqm plots for a total of 11,264sqm. The simplest way I see to deal with this is to make it a requirement with the contest that the parcels are either 256sqm or 512sqm. This makes the process of dividing up parcels a simple process. The results will be as many as (44) 256sqm parcels, as few as (22) 512sqm parcels and any combination between the two and still have the same ratio of public to private land so the amount of tier able to be collected will be unchanged from our current set-up.
I’m using the proposal you presented at the last NG meeting as the basis for the next part of my letter. Personally I would use this as a template and have the NG draft its own official proposal.
Basically this proposal consists of two contests, the first being a redevelopment plan and the second being a contest for the definition of the buildings. The opening paragraph addresses what we are trying to accomplish, maintain the Roman/Greek feel of the sim keeping in mind the need for an increase in low cost residential units, commercial development and leisure activities.
One problem I have with this proposal is “the contest will be open only to skilled builders.” The contest is for the development of a plan to remodel LA, not the actual construction of the plan once approved. Many of us may have the ability to come up with ideas for this contest but not necessarily be a builder. Why would we want to restrict the creativity of an individual? My suggestion is to open the contest to anyone interested and if the approved plan happens to be from a non-builder than the New Guild can locate builders to bring the plan into existence. Also the requirement of using and modifying the attached scale model also limits who may participate in the contest.
Criteria of participation – I agree that the widest participation is needed and should not be limited to just CDS citizens. Keep in mind those builders who submit a proposal may also be the builder who works on the project in-world but that is a separate issue. The contest is for the redevelopment plan only and all rights to that plan must be given to the New Guild whether or not the contestant turns out to be the builder or not.
Promotion of the contest – Have the New Guild make contact with various building groups in Second Life and give them a notecard to use as a group notice announcing our contest. Also try to make it a “Featured Event” in Second Life. I’m sure other NG members may have suggestions also.
Approval of the plan – This issue can be quite complicated and messy and needs to be handled with kids gloves. A lot depends on how many proposals are submitted. Proposals that don’t meet the criteria set by the New Guild can be immediately eliminated. My suggestion would be we leave the decision to all citizens of the CDS including NG members and RA members, no one is left out. Give them a top 3 option, for example let’s say we have 8 proposals, have all citizens vote for their top 3 and the winner of the top 3 is the winning proposal.
Prize for the winner – This is also a tricky situation. If the winner of the contest is also going to be the builder than it would be easier to work out a deal with them in regards to payment for the prize and payment for services. Obviously the larger the prize along with successful promotion of the contest should bring a lot of good people out of the SL woodwork. Other estates have ran similar contests such as New Toulhouse so maybe communicate with some of these people and find out what they offered as a prize. My suggestions would be between L$ 12,500 to L$ 25,000.
Budget – Obviously there is not money in the coffers of the New Guild of the CDS. That’s not a problem. The New Guild is going to have to prepare a few budgets to complete this project and then bring these budgets to the RA to secure funding from the CDS Treasurer.
First budget – This budget is for the promotion and awarding of the plan contest for the redevelopment of Locus Amoenus. Expenses such as advertising in some magazines, advertising on Radio Riel, advertising on the Second Life marketplace, and the prize money are all items to be considered.
Something else to be considered is the possibility that the second contest may be completed with the winning of the first contest. If the winning proposal is from a builder there will probably be a good chance the builder has builds either available or in mind to be used with their plan.
At this point the first budget is the only one that can be reasonably estimated. All other activity hinges on the winning proposal and who the New Guild will be negotiating with to put the winning proposal into action. Thank you for allowing me the opportunity to present you my ideas, I am always happy to contribute to the thought process in the mission to making the CDS an even bigger success it has enjoyed in the past.