AlSo: AGM

I went by myself to the morning’s AGM by way of breakfast with Ton and Thiago. We talked about bike infrastructure in Latin America, the need for partnering with other NGOs and municipalities, etc. the sweet waiter gave us tea gratis which extended our discussion by a bit, and then we headed to the film center and the AGM meeting. Our first workshop was Strategic Planning and Decentralization (see notes). Next on my list was Communications. TCC08 needs to develop a blog and participation profile area so that other participants can contact others about possible presentation coordination, organizational synergies, and so on. In a perfect world, all participants would feel as though they know everyone there before the Conference’s beginning. One thing discussed pretty extensively was how to encourage more participation by Network member organizations both with the Network’s Prague office and with other member organizations to increase membership value and usefulness. The Carrfree Green Pages was discussed as a possibility. Eduardo agreed that he could help research capacity and possible augmentation scenarios. The larger meeting had a hilarious vote trying to change the consensus voting structure . . . by consensus. Has this ever actually happened? I have to say, though, Ben is a great resource on process and consensus, and I have never seen a facilitator be more effective than Jason was. I shudder to think how the meeting would have gone without him. What a guy! We continued the meeting on the boat, but I think most people were talked out, and we ended up tabling some of the discussions in favor of carousing and conspiring and enjoying the last threads of a warm and exciting conference. Oh yeah, and they voted on the WCN Steering Committee of which I’m now a member. A great excuse to talk to Sara and Steeries current and past. Talked to Sebel about WRI, Andras about sprawl costs, Ralph about distance and relationships and how sometimes these can be mutually beneficial concepts, Joerie and Joroen and Sylvia and Corey on a number of topics including Joerie’s upcoming nuptials, Tijo and Milan about EcoTopia next year, Ben about Consensus, Randy and Markus and Pippa about Steering Committee, and Jason about how much he fricking rocks! Other discussions: Eduardo about website possibilities, Maura about what she’ll do next, and Idil (the psychologist) about her interest in the carfree lifestyle. After the boat, we went to an overpriced dinner with a Turkish band and learned about Kristi’s life who hails from Portland. After, we went to a bar along the pedestrian area near Taksim Square. Ton and I talked about dogs (his) and relationships (long distance and international). We were turning into pumpkins, so we left with Meghan and her vivacious even when jet-lagged friend, Tamar in a dolmus bound for Kadikoy.