This summary of the last meeting and the draft for a bill has been made by Callipigian. I thank her very much for her work. It will be the basis for the discussion of a next meeting of the Commission that I will call soon.
Transcript: http://forums.slcds.info/viewtopic.php?f=5&t=3088
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DRAFT - intended to capture discussions of the commission regarding methods of attaining citizenship in CDS.
These points came up in discussion:
It is desirable to encourage full citizenship and provide a variety of methods to do so.
The perception of 'selling citizenship' is to be avoided;however, just as in RL , where taxes on property pay for infrastructure and services , CDS's tier cost is paid for by its citizens, so citizenship *does* have a monetary aspect.
In addition to owning land individually, citizenship can currently be claimed by being a member of a group with land holdings in CDS, as long as the land has at least 128sq metres per person claiming citizenship by this method, and by paying a nominal monthly contribution of 100L towards the tier on the land.
While it has not occurred, there is the possibility of a group claiming citizenship for (as an example) 32 avatars on a 4096 parcel. In discussion it became apparent that the majorityof those present felt that the amount of land required and the nominal contribution to tier were both too low.
Not all avatars may be financially able or willing to pay a lump sum to purchase a parcel in CDS, where prices for land are high. For example a parcel for private sale in CN for $L12.5 per sq m, private parcels for sale in AM ranging from $L5.9 to $L20 per sq m and from the CDS treasurer for $L23.2, a private sale in Monastery at $l15.6 per sq m ,and in LA a similar price range.
Providing methods to attain citizenship that are affordable and do not require individual land purchase are desirable, since they expose avatars to CDS and its principles, and they may then decide to purchase their own parcel and take up full residence.
As a result, the following ideas came forth as methods of attaining citizenship:
Land ownership:
The current method of attaining citizenship through purchase of a parcel of any size and maintaining tier payment as required by law remains unchanged. (This ensures that all fachwerks, the original 'small parcel citizenship' provision, are compliant.)
Sponsorship:
Certain landmarks, parks or common lands will be designated as 'sponsored locations' for the purpose of citizenship, such as the duck pond near the clock tower in NFS, the lake or waterfall on AM,the Thermae on CN. Sponsorship of these locations by payment of a monthly tier contribution, that should be no less than 250 lindens, will provide full citizenship rights to the sponsoring avatar. They will not own the land sponsored, nor be able to make any changes to the builds or terrain. All laws regarding payment of tier apply to sponsored locations. A rental box should be provided for these locations to ensure the avatar sponsoring the land is included in the census.
Group: (this would replace current group related law for citizenship*)
An avatar may attain full citizenship by being a member of a group that owns land in CDS under the following circumstances:
The group owns at least 256 sq m ** for each avatar claiming citizenship by this method
AND
the avatar claiming citizenship by this method pays a monthly tier contribution towards the tier on this group land , that should be no less than 250 lindens, directly to the treasurer through a rental box (ensuring the avatar is included in the census)
AND
both the owner of the group and the avatar requesting citizenship notify the CDS Treasurer of the desire for a group citizenship, and request a rental box be assigned.
Partners, whether in RL or SL or both, wishing to share a parcel and both attain citizenship can do so through the group method. They would require a parcel of at least 512 sq m, would need to create a group and set the land to the group, and would need to notify the Treasurer and request individual rental boxes.
All existing laws regarding payment of tier apply to group-attained citizenship.
* In the past an avatar had to own land individually and establish citizenship that way, before qualifying for a group-attained citizenship, allowing avatars who might not be able to pay full tier on their original land a way to stay an active citizen of CDS. The previous form of group membership also led to chopping up of larger group parcels into small areas assigned to an avatar's group citizenship? The new method does not require the group land to be divided, leaving larger shared parcels that can support more interesting and robust builds and landscaping features.
** A 256 sq m requirement would still allow a 4096 sq m group parcel to provide citizenship to 16 avatars. This may still be a higher number than is desired, and the land-per-citizenship could be increased: however, if the land requirement increased it would be a barrier to partners both attaining citizenship if their home is only a 512 parcel.
These options provide 3 ways for an avatar to attain full citizenship in the CDS.
Excellent work!!