L.I.R.A. Meetings at Dowling

[DgenR8]

<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=9877881#post9877881 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by DgenR8

If Les is compensated for the studio, rather than giving it to the club for free, then the sales at the meeting become much more a moot point. If not moot, at least easier to negotiate.

I didn't mean to put words in anyone's mouth there. Looking at it, it appears that I feel selling at the meetings is a problem to be negotiated. I think just the opposite. My feeling is that if the club pays rent for a hall to have meetings in, that's a business relationship. The Landlord (who ever that is) can expect us to respect his property, and neighbors, but what is sold, and by whom (presuming "reefer" in this case means person who reefs), is not something for him to question.

 

[4winds]

I think I can clear this up for everyone, once and for all. First of all the problem wasn't that members were selling frags and merchandise but that the club was not benefiting from these sales. It was just a flea market with no or minimal monetary return to the club. Before this could be discussed reasonably the club decided to move the meeting elsewhere.
The inference was left to club members that I was trying to dictate how the club ran it's meetings, not so. Thanks to those of you who know me and know that this was not the case. On the contrary I always felt that it was a conflict of interest for me to bring any of my merchandise to LIRA meetings since we were providing the venue for those meetings.
So to make it easy for everyone involved, , the studio is no longer available to LIRA.

 

[Neurotech]

That about says it.

 

[Corpus Callosum]

Thanks for clearing that up Les

 

[cb747]

Thats interesting. Thank you Les for all you did!
My thoughts on rent are along the lines of Toms. If were paying rent somewhere then that takes away from other things. I guess the best bet would be a place for free for non profit organizations or something along those lines. Someone mentioned Farmingdale i think. Is it posible to maybe be able to use Farmingdale Universitys campus and hopefully not end up in the situation Dowling has left us in? Just my thoughts.

 

[DgenR8]

Looks like I don't have a dog in this fight anymore.
Carry on.

 

[Neurotech]

On a related topic, I do feel that "the club" benefits from a "flea market" approach to sales, without taking a commission, in that that is one of the biggest draws for membership, the opportunity to exchange and increase your livestock. So while the club does not directly benefit monetarily, it does in that the members (which really are the club) do. Adding a selling fee artificially raises the price, and brings it closer to what is obtained outside the club, like a LFS's overhead. I still think (here's an old idea) that the club should raise money by its members all raising a certain kind of coral and selling it. Like a LIRA Green Toadstool (LGT) or something. I would do that if I had but a frag of it. And when I upgrade my lights, I could dedicate a tank to LGT propagation. Would the donations be tax deductible?

 

[billsreef]

<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=9886726#post9886726 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by Neurotech
Adding a selling fee artificially raises the price

I've never seen the mere $10 fee as a reason to raise prices from what I would have sold anything at without it. I just look at like a donation to the club, just like donating frags to the auction

 

[Spracklcat]

WRT the "table fee", or whatever you'd like to call it, I think it is important, and I'm glad that Bill, as someone who often has a lot of good things to sell, agrees. NERAC is our only fundraising event during the year. Everyone likes to see top notch speakers come in, but that costs $$, sometimes a lot.

Some speakers will come, be willing to stay at someone's home, don't get paid anything, and just get their transportation reimbursed. Other speakers may need to stay at hotels, ask for an honorarium or some other form of payment, get meals etc paid for...it can get pricey, esp if the person is coming from a great distance. Think about what it would cost you to go away for a weekend, and that's what it could cost per speaker. That $$ has to come from somewhere...and in the face of airline tickets and hotels $10 doesn't seem like even a drop in the bucket.

For me, I'd be happy to pony up the $10 or more to get a decent speaker that we haven't had before.

 

[dnsheavy]

Well said, Christine.

I have sold items before, and it is my pleasure to give $10.00 to our club.


--Dave--

 

[diverrad]

<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=9877828#post9877828 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by acropora
Initially our club did all of the above at the Dance studio. As time went by trades and sales became more popular with the members. There did come a time where Les , and I can understand, was dissatisfied with how the table sales and trades effected his business. A larger venue at Dowling became available with no outside guidelines, and the move was made. The split was amicable and we are thankful for the time we had spent there.
Tony

So The statment made by Les is quite bit differente from the above official position. I guess we will never realy know why we moved in the first place. Good going guys.

 

[pyro383]

.

 

[dickenscd]

<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=9882515#post9882515 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by DgenR8
I didn't mean to put words in anyone's mouth there. Looking at it, it appears that I feel selling at the meetings is a problem to be negotiated. I think just the opposite. My feeling is that if the club pays rent for a hall to have meetings in, that's a business relationship. The Landlord (who ever that is) can expect us to respect his property, and neighbors, but what is sold, and by whom (presuming "reefer" in this case means person who reefs), is not something for him to question.

I agree.

The club and board need to have the freedom to do what the best is to their members. Every member has the right to express his or her opinion, but it will become a problem if the club and board start to worry whether they will lose the meeting place if the landlord does not like their format or ideas.

This is an expensive hobby, and sometimes you don’t know what you need even if you have the money. In addition to the speech or seminar from those "experts", I personally like to see more trades, sales, exchanges, auctions, even a "flea market" from our club. I believe the above activities will be a main draw to our membership and attendance of the meeting, consequently, make this hobby more affordable to our members.

It's great if our club can raise revenue from the above activities, however, if the club can not effectively manage and monitor the fee collection, some honest sellers pay the fee and some don't, I would suggest eliminating the entire fee at time being so that no one has to work at the parking lot.

I believe there will be more donations from some generous sellers and suppliers to the club if we allow more of above activities without a fee, in turn; the incresed revenue generated from the club auction will possibly far more compensate the loss of the fee.

 

[bobbbm]

I have never been to a meeting because Saturday is my busiest day of the week. But I can honestly say I am surprised how much tension there is here.... I mean this is a hobby that we are all supposed to enjoy and have fun with, I had no idea there were politics involved but I guess I was wrong.

 

[eboonaman]

<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=9889090#post9889090 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by bobbbm
I I had no idea there were politics involved but I guess I was wrong.

:lol: as I'm learning late in my life there are politics hidden in every little thing you encounter....:smokin: :smokin: :lol:

 

[Neurotech]

Seems like we have two big issues arising.

1) The issue of location of meeting is what all this. I don't think anyone will argue with any location that is reasonably in the middle of us all, and I think all would agree that club activities should not depend on the landlord as long as they are reasonably safe and legal. .

2) The second issue is whether there should be a seller's fee of some sort imposed at transactions that occur during a meeting.
Sounds like something that merits a comment period separate thread?)followed by a vote? I don't know what the by-laws say for this sort of thing, but there must be a procedure to determine procedures.

 

[cb747]

Well the board basically are politicians that we elected to serve our interests. We have entrusted them to do whats best for the club. There is also a bunch of new members to the board from the last elections that i feel will better serve the memberships interests. The old board created this situation and now its up to the new board to fix the mess. We as members/former members will never know the day to day decisions of the club. That is why we elected board members. The boards transparancy is important but lacks on getting info out to the members. Our PR guy posts a (.) thats really getting info out to us. Good job Eric!

 

[DgenR8]

I'm not in the argument any more, like I said, my dog's out. However, I'm subscribed, so I'm still in it as a Mod.
Let's not go too far here, and create animosity where it need not be. Take a deep breath, and realize that while you are typing at a screen name, there is an actual person getting blasted with your words.
I don't think a line has been crossed here, but it's come close, and I'm attempting to keep it from going further.

 

[Neurotech]

<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=9889310#post9889310 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by cb747
Our PR guy posts a (.) thats really getting info out to us.

What is that?

 

[Neurotech]

I for one would like the board members to start a thread that delineates what our options are and asks for member comment relevant to those options.