Proposed: Commerce Clarification Bill

[Brian Livingston]

Des:

It's always interesting to get some insight from someone that is distanced a bit from our process. Seriously, it is!

I have had a similar idea, except with non-profits instead of new commercial vendors. After talking with some fellow citizens, I noticed some of the plots in NFS (CN to a lesser extent) seem to be empty except for a structure and some furnishings. A thought that was kicked around was to create a group of people who would allow a non-profit to use the space of their house to create an in-world or CDS presence while maintaining the host's citizenship by virtue of land ownership. It was an idea that never really took flight, but sounds similar to your idea.

I think that it would benefit the CDS to a large extent to reach out and support new artists and creators to the point of subsidizing land for a period of time. I'm not necessarily suggesting the CDS government do such a thing, but I'm sure one of our existing NGOs or a new group could create and manage such an artist enclave effectively.

--Brian

[Leon]

Great idea Desmond!

L

[Jon Seattle]

I am very pleased with Justice / Desmond / Brian's ideas here. Good ways of recruiting creative people is a much better option that the punitive approach advocated by the Commerce Bill. My preference would be:

1. Repeal the bill. The only substantive part of the Commerce Bill is a means for assessing and applying enormous fines, and effectively banishing people even if it does not say so explicitly.

2. If we must have the punitive fines, and these are controlled by a private organization, we absolutely must make sure that that organization is properly regulated. If it is not regulated, those powers can be misused.

If the Chancellor is serious about improving the CDS economy, the much better approach would be to invest in projects that will interest creative people and make the CDS a good place to live and do business. As I have argued elsewhere a good place to start is with a volunteer registry (helping our citizens to develop their own skills), and also I would love to see a system of business loans (in land) to CDS citizens who want to start a new business in the CDS.