Hello dear readers.
Ogre asks me what I'm looking for when I'm talking about things related to District Assembly. I think that's a legitimate question and one that should be it's own post instead of a comment on the last post.
Ok....here's what I'm asking for. If you'll read my post "Sleeping Arrangements", you'll see that I'm asking that there be a lower cost alternative to the ritzy hotels that we use for the annual meeting. That is the fixed cost. And I know that it might just be the way I was raised, but when the "special" room rate is $105+tax, then we're talking about the only people who can afford that are in a different tax bracket (or have expense accounts). Unless there are 4 people in a room, that is a high cost for a church meeting.
What I'm asking for is the acknowledgement that there are people in our churches who want to be involved who are in fixed incomes, and try to make some accomodations for that. All the great religions ask us to remember the least of these. Doesn't seem to be much rememberance of that in UU circles.
As for the students, it still goes back to the fixed costs of the hotel room and transportation, as you can always bring your own food and food costs are mutable. But that is still $105+tax for 2 nights. If there were a lower cost alternative, then maybe there would be greater participation by people of all socio-economic classes in the work of our districts and association.
That's what I'm asking for.
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7 comments:
Maybe the powers that be aren`t all that interested in greater participation by people of all socio-economic classes in the work of U*U districts and the UUA. Maybe that is precisely why costs are so high. . .
RA,
This is a bottom-up organization (of people who customarily grudgingly part with very modest amounts to fund any part of it). I've been working on our congregation to fund registration for delegates. All of it. Personally, I think that congregations ought to pay for more than that, but these things need to be done incrementally. This is--to me--a bigger issue. When our delegates all HAVE to be people hwo can bear the costs on their own, it means that many who would be interested can't go--and the congregations suffer when it's a class issue to even be a delegate.
Um... you don't HAVE to use the district's or UUA's sleeping arrangements. I didn't this last year. Nor the year before. I think I didn't at Ft. Worth. I did at Long Beach.
Meetings for large groups require space. You pay for that--either in a hotel or convention center--in the registration fees (and/or in a part of the room count that you guarantee that your members will use... or the organization will cover the rest of them).
But I distinctly recall some limited/fixed income women from our congregation going to Long Beach--they'd found a place not too far away and shared the cost.
The problem is that these are usually small motels and the like. They don't have the kinds of reservations set-ups and such that big hotels do. But they're not hard to find. The internet and a search engine makes this relatively easy.
Having done it repeatedly, I can assure you that it's not that hard to find. It won't be right next to the convention center, or wherever... but that's reality. Cheaper ends up meaning that there's something else that's given up.
The CSO has attended lots of conventions, mostly Sci Fi and Anime conventions (this very moment, he's here) that tend to attract a bunch of high school and college kids who don't have a lot of money. The usual solution there is to cram as many people as possible into a hotel room.
These days, when I go with, I'm a prissy brat who is willing to pay for us having our own room. But I did my dues paying time in a sleeping bag and I can assure you that if you are sleeping on the floor with seven of your friends, you really, really would prefer to be in a fancier hotel room that is
a. Bigger
b. cleaned to the standards of snobbier people
c. likely to have nicer carpet
d. More likely to have conference rooms. If you stay at the HoJo, you're driving to your workshops.
CC
What I usually do for district conferences that I drive to - is find a Motel 6 nearby (usually there's one with 10-15 miles) then just drive in for the conference. The minor inconveience is worth saving $40-75 per night.
There are these things called "youth hostels" too yanno and I can assure you that aging U*Us would be most welcome in most "youth hostels".
There are these things called "youth hostels" too yanno and I can assure you that aging U*Us would be most welcome in most "youth hostels".
Oh well. . .
I guess U*Us can say that again. ;-)
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