Greater Los Angeles Region - Forming a Group

[miggl]

Please disregard my previous version of this post; I was getting a little ahead of myself.

As many of you know, and as I have come to learn over the past few weeks, the California LoCo team is in a state of flux. We currently aren't a coherent group that acts as a whole, rather there are some local formations that have been active in their own right. This is all great, but we are part of the California LoCo team, not of a local county team.
There are benefits and drawbacks. I think we all agree that we are at a day and age where face-to-face meetings are great, but not essential for a group like this to function well.

I would like to call a meeting of all group members, so that we can devise a go-forward strategy. Right now different people have different ideas on the direction this group should take, and they are all valid. We need to come together and develop a common goal, common objectives, and get on the same page. If we find that that just isn't possible, we may need to discuss other options.

California is a big state, and that makes meeting each other pretty difficult, if not impossible. However, while we may have local meets, it is imperative that the group focus on common goals and projects. And we can meet locally, if we wish to, to work on these items together.

Before going ahead and drafting people, forming a local group, and what-not, I would like to get some cohesiveness into our group.

Thoughts?

Thanks,
Mike

[ricardisimo]

Hey Mike,

I'd like to differ very slightly with you: I think face-to-face meetings are absolutely essential. There's just something about contact in the real world, with music, food, coffee, etc. that makes a huge difference in peoples expectations of - and commitments to - one another. If we could get people together just once it would be enormous. Coffee anyone? How about finding something near Union Station? All rail leads there, so why not use it as a sort of center point?

- Ricardo

P.S. - My assumption is that we are discussing greater L.A., as opposed to SoCal, but I'm hoping the bulk of us don't live in Riverside, etc.... not to dump on our desert cousins, but logistically it would make matters more difficult (which was, I imagine, Mike's main point).

[miggl]

Hi Ricardisimo,

In general, I do agree with you. However, and please excuse the mis-labeled title of this post, I was referring to the California Team as a whole. We are currently without a coherent strategy. There's no way we can meet in person as a state group, I think we all recognize that. What we do need to do before we can set up local meetings, is come up with a team strategy. Some advocate splitting the group up into sub-teams, others advocate keeping it a state-wide team. Nothing has been finalized yet.

Thus I am trying to make a call for a "meeting of the minds", if you will, where we can discuss all this, and emerge with a coherent strategy that we all, or most of us, can agree on.

Doing anything before that would just splinter our team into sub-groups, and we'd each be doing our own thing. That's not really what anyone wants here, I hope.

Anyway, I would again like to urge for a meeting. I hope that the team leadership will step forward (looking at team leadership here) and schedule one in the near future.

Thanks for you thoughts on the matter, Ricardisimo.

[ricardisimo]

That's cool. Any objections to also working towards face-to-face meetings at the LA level? Mainly I'm just looking for an excuse to imbibe large quantities of coffee at some local establishment.

[miggl]

Not at all! In fact, count me in. The only problem is that we can't start planning things in our fac-to-face meetings regarding future efforts. It would be a meet-and-greet, basically.

[ricardisimo]

Fine by me. You start at one and keep counting. Shall I go by my previous suggestion: find a cozy little corner near Union Station?

[actualandrew]

There is a Denny's near Union station. I've never been there, but I've seen it when I walk through. So ya, count me in .

[Yasumoto]

I'd be down for showing up.

[Vidor]

I love the suggestions except for meeting at Denny's. I'm no coffee snob but I've never been to a Denny's in the SoCal area that made anything close to a decent Cup o' Joe. Anywhere within a couple of blocks from Union Station is a good idea.

[Adaminla]

I just got on board, but would like to meet other Ubunteros. Live in Long Beach near the Blue line so Union Station is cool with me.