Content Warning: Suicide
Minutes of the Atlanta Organizing Commission – November 1st, 2107 session
Attendance: Juan Castilla, Ash Cline, Ekene Elzinga, Divina Hosseini, Emma Jackson, Hal Ng, Kira Roselli, Bernardo Viteri. 8 out of 21 present; no quorum (11 of 21).
Emma Jackson was acknowledged as chair. Ash Cline was acknowledged as secretary.
Opening words from Chair Jackson:
I first want to express my gratitude to the commissioners who are present. But it is with frustration that I must change the agenda for today, since without a quorum we can only vote on emergency items. Even if we are only so limited for a single meeting — and by God, do I hope that we are — then we have tied our hands from doing the job us commissioners have been elected to do.
Take, for instance, our petition from a week ago we received a request for extended sick leave from our chief structures inspector, Maretta Lee. She is hoping that her cancer diagnosis will not cost her job, and therefore her floor permit. And who can blame her? But a core city of 8,258 skyscrapers, at an average of one hundred and twenty six floors each, is in need of its structures inspector.
We cannot accept Maretta’s petition without a quorum. But we cannot demote her without a quorum; and since she still holds the position we cannot hire a new inspector without a quorum, either. So until our commissioners return, Atlanta is without its chief inspector.
Maretta also informs us that part of the problem is the shrinking in size of her office. What was once a score of inspectors has fallen to a mere three over the past two decades. No one wants to spend their days working at ground level — or lower! — unless they get to go home to a room up in the sunlight.
I have always argued that we have been too liberal with the professions we give higher rooms to. When only the top few dozen floors of our scrapers have any sunlight, allocating a citizen a higher room is the same as forcing another citizen to move down into darkness. We knew this would be a consequence when we built the core cities. But if we did not rewild the planet, if we let the death of the atmosphere render the planet uninhabitable, then it wouldn’t matter how much red sky we could see as we choked to death. This is still true today, and that is what we need to remember.
[List of emergency actions, debates, and votes omitted from this excerpt]
Minutes of the Atlanta Organizing Commission – December 1st, 2107 session
Attendance: Denise Brown, Juan Castilla, Ash Cline, Ekene Elzinga, Divina Hosseini, Emma Jackson, Hal Ng, Kira Roselli, Bernardo Viteri. 9 out of 21 present; no quorum (11 of 21).
Emma Jackson was acknowledged as chair. Ash Cline was acknowledged as secretary.
Opening words from Chair Jackson:
We are once again without a quorum today. This is no longer a problem — this is a crisis.
The fault is not with those of you who are present, of course. But as the ones present, we are the ones who must act. I propose that before we vote on the emergency actions, we discuss what we can do to either restore our quorum or — if necessary — function without it.
Kira Roselli: This is an open discussion?
Chair Jackson: Yes, please.
Kira Roselli: Well, I suppose that if we publicly rebuke missing commissioners for their absences, then surely they either have to come back or they’ll be voted out at the next election.
Chair Jackson: That would help us come next September, yes. But we cannot afford eight months without a quorum. Besides, I fear the threat of losing an election holds less sway over a commissioner after they’ve voted on floor placements.
Hal Ng: Can we even be sure that they would lose their elections after a rebuke? The citizens pay far more attention to the Interparl seat elections than they do to ours.
Ekene Elzinga: See, that’s what I don’t understand. People will argue with their next door neighbors about the dewilding and rewilding around São Paulo and Jakarta and other cities thousands of miles away, then not even vote in our elections. And then they have the audacity to complain when they get moved from a hundredth floor room to a ninetieth! No wonder our commissioners don’t come to meetings; it’s not like the citizens care, either.
Hal Ng: Maybe more commissioners would come if there was a guarantee we could hold meaningful votes rather than just complain about our lack of quorum.
Ash Cline: Parliamentary rebuke: unproductive discussion.
Hal Ng: No, this is productive. I bet you that if we removed the quorum rules, we might actually get our representatives more often. And even if we didn’t, we would get things done.
Kira Roselli: But we can’t change the quorum rules without already having a quorum.
Hal Ng: So what, we just vote on the emergency actions to replace all the workers found dead at ground level, and to repair the windows they jumped from?
Ash Cline: Parliamentary rebuke: exaggeration —
Hal Ng: Exaggeration? We’ll see. Chair, would you like to read the emergency items for today?
Chair Jackson: We haven’t yet decided what we’re going to do about quorum.
Hal Ng: And we won’t decide, at least at this table.
Ekene Elzinga: Then what, you’re suggesting we do nothing about this mess?
Hal Ng: I’m suggesting we turn to the emergency actions for today’s meeting and return to the quorum discussion at the next meeting. Perhaps we’ll have the votes then.
Chair Jackson: I don’t think — ah, I see. Motion to close open discussion.
Hal Ng: Motion seconded.
[List of emergency actions, debates, and votes omitted from this excerpt]
Minutes of the Atlanta Organizing Commission – January 1st, 2108 session
Attendance: Juan Castilla, Ash Cline, Ekene Elzinga, Emma Jackson, Hal Ng, Kira Roselli. 6 out of 21 present; no quorum (11 of 21).
Emma Jackson was initially acknowledged as chair. Ash Cline was acknowledged as secretary.
Emma Jackson: I am proposing we override the rules of quorum and change the agenda for next month to include an emergency floor reshuffle vote.
Ekene Elzinga: But we can’t introduce a floor vote without a quorum?
Emma Jackson: This is an emergency action.
Kira Roselli: For what emergency? Our last floor vote was just in October; what justification could you possibly offer for one now?
Emma Jackson: We’ve all agreed that our repeated lack of quorum constitutes a crisis. Holding a floor reshuffle vote is the best way to bring back our absentee commissioners. Then we can have enough votes to change the quorum rules.
Kira Roselli: You don’t just get to declare an emergency because you want a rump commission to hold more power than it should.
Hal Ng: Would you rather we declare an emergency and change the quorum votes here and now?
Kira Roselli: “We”? You planned this?
Emma Jackson: Motion to vote to add the reshuffle vote to February’s agenda.
Hal Ng: Motion seconded.
Vote proceedings: Two in favor (Emma Jackson, Hal Ng); four against (Juan Castilla, Ash Cline, Ekene Elzinga, Kira Roselli); zero abstensions. Vote fails.
Juan Castilla: Motion to remove Jackson from the chair position.
Emma Jackson: Protest —
Kira Roselli: Motion seconded.
Vote proceedings: Four in favor (Juan Castilla, Ash Cline, Ekene Elzinga, Kira Roselli); two against (Emma Jackson, Hal Ng); zero abstensions. Vote passes.
Kira Roselli: I nominate Ekene Elzinga as the new chair.
Ash Cline: Motion seconded.
Vote proceedings: Four in favor (Juan Castilla, Ash Cline, Ekene Elzinga, Kira Roselli); two against (Emma Jackson, Hal Ng); zero abstensions. Vote passes.
Chair Elzinga: Well, I suppose the only thing we can do is vote on the emergency items — the real emergency items. Motion to close open discussion?
Juan Castilla: Motion seconded.
[List of emergency actions, debates, and votes omitted from this excerpt]
Minutes of the Atlanta Organizing Commission – February 1st, 2108 session
Attendance: Juan Castilla, Ash Cline, Ekene Elzinga, Divina Hosseini, Emma Jackson, Hal Ng, Kira Roselli. 7 out of 21 present; no quorum.
Ekene Elzinga was acknowledged as chair. The acknowledgement for secretary was contested, as it was decided that the minutes for the January 1st session contained several inaccuracies. Juan Castilla was acknowledged as secretary.
Emma Jackson proposed a resolution that the March meeting consider adding a floor reshuffling vote to the agenda. Discussion of the legality of the action followed. Emma Jackson argued that consideration, as a non-binding resolution, could be voted on without a quorum, but that such an action could motivate higher attendance at the March meeting. Jackson motioned for the vote and Chair Elzinga seconded the proposal.
Vote proceedings: Four in favor (Juan Castilla, Ekene Elzinga, Emma Jackson, Hal Ng, Kira Roselli), one against (Ash Cline), one abstention (Divina Hosseini). Vote passes.
Discussion of and action on the emergency items followed.
[List of emergency actions and votes omitted from this excerpt]
Minutes of the Atlanta Organizing Commission – March 1st, 2108 session
Attendance: Denise Brown, Juan Castilla, Ash Cline, Ekene Elzinga, Divina Hosseini, Emma Jackson, Hal Ng, James Price, Kira Roselli, Bernardo Viteri. 10 out of 21 present; no quorum.
Ekene Elzinga was acknowledged as chair. Juan Castilla was acknowledged as secretary.
Kira Roselli was sent to find Luisa Moreno and see if she could be brought so that a quorum could be achieved.
The Commission reviewed the minutes as taken by Juan Castilla at the previous meeting. They then processed the emergency items.
[List of emergency actions and votes omitted from this excerpt]
Roselli had not returned by the time these actions were finished. Divina Hosseini motioned for a vote to adjourn. Emma Jackson motioned to open a discussion on whether or not to rebuke Ash Cline for misrepresenting the minutes of the January session. Hal Ng seconded this motion.
Discussion followed. Ash Cline protested that since there were no records of the meeting other than theirs, there was no way to prove distortion had occurred. They further protested that rebuking the secretary would allow for the Commission to deceive the public by manipulating the minutes themselves. Instead, they proposed the Commission nominate two secretaries with every session. Hal Ng noted that such a procedural change would likely require quorum.
Emma Jackson motioned to vote to rebuke Ash Cline. Hal Ng seconded the motion.
Vote proceedings: three in favor (Ekene Elzinga, Emma Jackson, Hal Ng), three against (Denise Brown, Ash Cline, Divina Hosseini), four abstensions (Juan Castilla, James Price, Kira Roselli, Bernardo Viteri). Vote fails.
Denise Brown motioned to vote to change procedural rules to require two secretaries. Divina Hosseini seconded the motion.
Vote proceedings: four in favor (Denise Brown, Emma Jackson, Divina Hosseini, James Price), four against (Juan Castilla, Ash Cline, Ekene Elzinga, Hal Ng), two abstensions (Bernardo Viteri, Kira Roselli). Vote fails.
Ash Cline motioned that the Commission consider adding the reshuffling vote to the agenda. They then argued that such a vote could not be added without quorum, but that their own argument counted as consideration and thus fulfilled the vote made at the February session. They then suggested that the session be adjourned. Ekene Elzinga protested adjournment. Denise Brown motioned to adjourn. Ash Cline seconded.
Vote proceedings: six in favor (Denise Brown, Juan Castilla, Ash Cline, Divina Hosseini, James Price, Bernardo Viteri), three against (Ekene Elzinga, Emma Jackson, Hal Ng), one abstention (Kira Roselli). Vote passes.
Session adjourned.
Minutes of the Atlanta Organizing Commission – April 1st, 2108 session
Attendance: Ash Cline, Ekene Elzinga, Emma Jackson, Hal Ng, Kira Roselli. 5 out of 21 present; no quorum.
Ekene Elzinga was acknowledged as chair. Kira Roselli was acknowledged as secretary.
Opening words from Chair Elzinga:
I would like to thank everyone who sat through the last meeting and decided that they were still willing to come back. It was a lot to ask, I know. And Kira, I’m sorry that we adjourned before you had returned; did you ever find Luisa?
Kira Roselli: I eventually found her boss, who told me that she’d killed herself at some point in December.
Chair Elzinga: Oh. I’m sorry.
Kira Roselli: I ended up not coming back to the meeting room. I’m sorry if that meant you were waiting on me.
Chair Elzinga: We ended up adjourning early—
Hal Ng: Early is a strong word.
Ash Cline: Rebuke, interruption of the opening statement.
Hal Ng: Rebuke yourself.
Chair Elzinga: But in the end we fulfilled our emergency duties and then adjourned. I suppose we will be doing this until September.
The Chair continued with a summary of emergency
I see why Juan didn’t come back. Secretary is a hellish job.
I guess I’ve decided I won’t be coming back either. Consider this my explanation why, in case you’re as frustrated as you seemed to be about Juan. I’m sorry for not keeping a record of the session, in case you were relying on it, but it’s just too much. And it’s not like you reviewed them before that whole fiasco with Ash. Are you going to make them secretary again? I think you should.
And I’m sorry for not coming back. But I don’t think I would make a difference for quorum, would I? I ran for the Commission because I thought that farm assistants like me were positioned too low to the ground. But after a year of negotiating the vicious compromises that core cities demand, I voted down every change proposed at my second floor reshuffle vote. How is it that every step makes sense but the end never does?
I’m so tired of living in darkness. Maybe we could get our commissioners to actually come to meetings if we put the meeting room up on a sunny floor. That’s all I can offer you now, I suppose. I’ll be back in September if I don’t lose my election. Or maybe I won’t.
Minutes of the Atlanta Organizing Commission – May 1st, 2108 session
Attendance: Ash Cline, Ekene Elzinga, Emma Jackson. 3 out of 21 present; no quorum.
Ekene Elzinga was acknowledged as chair. Ash Cline was acknowledged as secretary.
Opening words from Chair Elzinga:
You two terrify me. Motion to proceed to emergency items.
Ash Cline: Motion seconded.
[List of emergency actions and votes omitted from this excerpt]
Decree from the International Parliament (Interparl) – May 17th, 2108
After the catastrophic May 16th Atlanta fire and collapse at Building 197, the Atlanta Organizing Commission has been suspended. Its powers are now bestowed upon Interim Mayor Emma Jackson.