March 16, 1997Minutes of the eighth meeting of the Tri-State chapter held on March 16, 1997 at Sam Liebowitz's apartment
In Attendance: The following is a meeting summary written by Nexus, one of our invited guests This past weekend I payed a vist to a meeting of the Tri-State Chapter of the First Millennial Foundation in Manhattan. I found them to be a neat collection of people who despite having lofty goals, had their feet solidly on the ground and were very pragmatic. They were not wackos. I was also pleased to see once again that it's not a cult; critical thinking is encouraged, and the original plan is constantly being reworked and elaborated by the members of this organization. For instance, one chapter member I talked with expressed doubts that the floating city Aquarius would be as profitable as Marshall Savage profitable as projected in the book, and suggested better ways to calculate the figure. Other sources of revenue than outlined in The Millennial Project may be necessary to keep the island afloat financially. The meeting was held in the living room of Sam Liebowitz's apartment in Manhattan. Many scrumtious snacks were served. The meeting began at 1. By the time all the latecomers arrived, there were nine people there besides myself: Sam Liebowitz, Gale (William Gale), Dmitri Donskoy, Nick Gauthier, Ed Nash, Carrol Sennal, John Kavanagh, Dan Hall (from Ganas Community on Staten Island), and Seth, a guest who's involved with the National Space Society. We did a go-round of introductions. ( In my introduction, I tactlessly made a disparaging comment about Gerrard K. O'Neil; I should have realized there were many O'Neil fans in the room.) The chapter's financial report was passed out, detailing dues collected and expenses from the past month. Sam told about the latest news from the Foundation he got from a conversation with Marshall the night before: the island of St. Croix is again a possible site for the Aquarius Rising Facilty at a new piece of property. It has more shore frontage than the original property and more flat useable land as well. But this new site means drawing up a whole new business prospectus again. And it could mean that the hotel and casino are back on the drawing board (these parts of the plan were scrapped when Grand Cayman Island looked like the most likely location.) Nick distributed copies of the latest issue of the Tri-State Chapter's Newsletter he put together, Cosmic Dreamweaver. Gale spoke about the newest developments in the formation of SEE (Space Environments Ecovillage), the intentional communtiy being formed by the First Millennial Foundation (and spearheaded by the Tri-State Chapter.) There are now 10 people signed up to be colonists, and there is new category of membership in the community called "pioneer" which means they only have to pay $1,000 to join, rather than the standard $5,000, provided they build they're own house rather than have the community provide one for them. There also was unanimous agreement at the meeting for narrowing the search for land for the time being to the Austin, Texas area, because according to Gale's research, several counties there have no building code. Gale had payed my way to New York so the Tri-State Chapter could pick my brains about intentional communities. I presented various bits of advice on starting a community which I gleaned from Twin Oakers Matthew Arnsberger, Ed Gottlieb, and Kat Kinkade, as well as the attendees of the last Virginia Chapter meeting: Marione Cobb, Aaron Feldman, Larry Reader, Liz Stearns, Jerry Schiller, and Piper Martin. Matthey Arnsberger, Director of the Eastern Permaculture Teachers Association, supplied me with several books on Permaculture-- a method of sustainable organic agiculture where the bulk of the energy input is in careful planning rather than in fuel and expensive machinery or in interminable back-breaking labor. Different kinds plants are arranged together like they way they would be in nature, creating perennial "edible landscapes." Matthew also supplied me with some very useful checklists designed to help people starting a community. We watched a half-hour episode of Bill Mollison's "Global Gardener" video; we chose the episode on drylands because Space Environments Ecovillage is likely to end up being built in Texas. Dan Hall spoke about the progress he's making in his plan to be interviewed about the Millennnial Project on WBAI, the Pacifica Network radio station in New York City (99.5 FM). He also spoke about his idea for P.O.D.s (points of departure), small group houses where First Millennial Foundation members could live together, and save money for their eventual move to Aquarius without having to move away from the current job they may be locked into. Some people at this meeting suggested that Dan's idea for a First Millennial Foundation Bank might be premature for an organization so small and relatively new. All in all, I was quite impressed with the Tri-State Chapter. They're a dynamic bunch of people persuing several promising projects, and working together to launch their own intentional community in their spare time! If local chapters like this continue to do dedicated work like this, I have no doubt that the First Millennial Foundation can achieve its goals. The Tri-State Chapter is giving a presentation and having its next meeting at the Loeb Student Center at NYU at noon on April 13th as part of the EmpireCon convention. Contact: samwyz@juno.com (Samuel E Liebowitz) (212) 245-9559 for more information.
Onward and upward, contact the author of this home page: Dmitri Donskoy  Last modified: Thursday, March 16, 1997  Home |