SOSA’s Current Situation & the Next 3 Weeks

[UPDATE]: SOSA Meeting Date changed to the 8th of March at 5:30 in the Medford Library (Adams Room). We apologize for any inconvenience this may have caused you!
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The Southern Oregon Spring Awakening is still in full swing. On February 21^st an initial proposal was sent to the city requesting the use of Hawthorne Park over the weekends of either May 11-13 or May 18-20.

The next week a meeting was held in which the attending SOSA team discussed some logistical items as well as some theme items. When I speak of theme I am referring to the message this event should be sending to the community. What will people take from this? What will draw people to this event? What should we be teaching the community? Why is SOSA a necessary event?

It was decided to incorporate multiple messages including foreclosures, labor issues, healthcare, economic inequality, civil rights, homelessness, and some political components. All of these issues will be communicated through presentations, guest speakers, art, music, and booths. This all brings about a theme of “We have issues in our community so let’s work together in making our region a better place to live.”

Another great thing garnered from this meeting was a simple pair of questions. How do we get the youth to realize their future is slipping away with each day they live in apathy? How do we inspire the youth to become involved and active in their community? On the last day of SOSA there will be a General Assembly to generate and implement ideas for involving the youth in their community, their state, and their country. We live in times where we must be the vanguard to our freedom and the youth will be a massive portion of the demographic in coming years and they must be awakened to their potential. How appropriate that our event be named the Southern Oregon Spring Awakening!

The city’s response took a few days but on February 29^th it arrived. Parks Superintendent Charlie Elliot responded with a few key points of information. First he spoke about the sleeping situation. As Medford City Code doesn’t allow sleeping in the parks, SOSA would be required to go before City Council to gain approval for sleeping in the park.

Now, Bicycle Oregon has been allowed to sleep overnight in one of Medford’s parks. I was sure to mention this so the city would know I was aware of the precedence set by Bicycle Oregon. In his response, Mr. Elliot informed me the permit which Bicycle Oregon obtained was roughly $3,000.

The next key point was a request to present the SOSA proposal at the Parks and Rec Commission Meeting on March 20^th @ 5:30 PM. This will be a 1-2 person job in which the SOSA team has the opportunity to inspire the decision makers. If we can inspire them, rather than simply communicate our idea, it will be much easier to get this through the city.

I have responded to their invitation and confirmed SOSA’s presence at the meeting. I will prepare a power point or flip-pad presentation to visually assist our talking points. When in this meeting the fellow presenter and I must convey the proper necessity of this event. The community will benefit greatly both tangibly (healthcare and foreclosures) and intangibly (knowledge) from this event and the decision makers must understand this.

We will discuss the issues of sleeping, among other topics, at a meeting on the 8th of March at 5:30 in the Medford Library (Adams Room) to see if we can find a work around instead of being forced to appear before city council. We will need to contact a few big names in the community to get their backing. They will be endorsing the event on the condition we obtain permission from the city for use of the park for SOSA.  Specific organizations we will speak with this about will be persons from the Labor Council, La Clinica, Oregon Action, and others.