Aaahh, SunshineMINIs........%$#@!

Okay, I wanted to get this puppy on the road, but apparently some people out there wants to be a little more democratic (and consequently slower) in making SunshineMINIs happen. I took it upon myself to autocratically form a club, then had every intention to democratically structuralize it once it was established.

In addition, What is wrong with me forming my own club and inviting members to come along? I am really confused as to why there are people out there that wish to complain about what I am doing, but have not spoken up saying that they want to help when I originally tried to get things going. I have gotten a few people that say they want to help out in forming SunshineMINIs here recently, but haven't said what they are able to do. Since this is a message forum over the internet, I don't know what kind of skills you have, how much free time you have, how organized you are, how smart you are, whether or not you really own a MINI, shoot, I don't even know if you're older than twelve!

So please, if you have something you want to say, and want to get involved, do what I did. ASSERT YOURSELF! Apathy will be the demise of democracy I GUARANTEE YOU!

Abe Kowitz, Wannabe Prez.
Electrc109@lycos.com
abe4109 (AIM)
(904)704-5039

P.S. this is all said with good intentions, I don't mean to frustrate anyone, and I am sure that nobody meant to frustrate me, but it happened! =)

P.P.S. My contact information is up there for a reason. I am a rational person, honest.

P.P.S. Have a nice day! :smile:

 

Okay, for those that aren't sure what Abe is talking about let me explain what has happened.

For the last several months a bunch of MINI folks have been talking about forming a official club and while everyone offered to help, no one was actually doing anything. Myself along with Abe, Holly and Andy decided we would pick up this undirected task and put some fire under it. We started to contact dealers, create logos, create websites, talk to MINICCA, draw up by laws and all the other stuff that this effort will take to get it off the ground. In that process we gave ourselves titles so people (sponsors, potential memebers, etc) would know that we were serious and that the club had a direction. Well this action ticked some folks off. They didn't belive it was right for us to assign titles even though they were temporary and basically said we won't be apart of the club because of that. While this might seem silly every one has a right to their opinion and we really didn't do this to step on anyones' toes.

In light of this problem we decided to drop our titles and create a Club Formation Committee. This committe will carry out the duties of forming our club but will not be officers of this club at this time. Once we have a membership base we will then throw open the floor for nominations for club officers (President, VP, Secretary, TechOfficer, Treasurer and Seargent of Arms) and every member will get to nominate and vote for who they want.

Remember, we are creating this club to further the fun of MINIs not upset folks. So take things easy and please step forward and be a part of a great buch of folks who love their cars. If you have any questions or comments please contact myself (minimotorin), Abe (electrc109), or Holly (HollyRN76) and let us know what you are thinking. We are trying to make this club happen for you!

Thanks
David

PS: watch the forms for an upcomming meet on April 5th for a club formation get together in Central Florida.

_________________

Member #47

2002 Dark Silver Mini S white roof and mirrors with Premium and Sport pkgs.
He has come and his name is MINI ME

 

Guys,

Read this post about club formation That basically outlines what we did here in Denver, which is very similar to what your plans are. If you ever have any questions on this subject, feel free to get ahold of me either by PM or by e-mail: dave@MINI5280.org

Best of luck. I think you're on the right track.

Dave

 

Thanks DiD. Politics are poopy, but you have to deal with them. I've been in several clubs over the years and you always have to be able to swim the sea of politics and look out for sharks.

 

This is just my .02, Living in South Florida and a MINI owner I heard about this club forming and was very excited. It was started by a lady who had so much energy that her ideas and vision was exciting. Then it all fell apart because someone said something to someone else and everyone got mad. The group (IMHO) never recovered and fell apart. So now another one has started to form. People were giving ideas and thoughts. Some good and some funny and some both. As things started to fall in place I was dissed on a few threads about the logo and the name of the club. No big deal. Being that I have a good sence of humor I tend to not let the little things bother me. I can give a crap what people do as long as it dosen't effect my life. But to start off posting like that, it will not get you much support.
If anyone gets upset by people taking the "Bull by the Horns" then to me those people need to either step up or sit and watch, not undermine someone's vision. Reading threads that some people already appointed themselves officers is no big deal to me. Hey I thought it was good that you all did because nobody else was coming forward. I was asked to join in but I cannot commit the proper amount of time it would take to assist. Being married, a father of two daughters and work, my free time is limited. Also something that is a problem for us down here is the communication issue. We are 350 miles apart give or take. Meetings need to done face to face, not in a chat room or P.M.ing. Don't get me wrong, I will join both clubs even if the one down here is formed but you have to admit it will be hard to get together for meetings. Truely I feel that a state club, with local chapters is the way to go. Local chapters meet monthly and then everyone meets all together in a different region of the state either annually, twice a year or every quarter. Local chapters run rallys,auto-x's, entertainment, setup hotel accomidations, etc. Just like HOG (Harley Owners Group), which I have been a member for many years. They are a worldwide, national, state and local chapter organization thats been around for ever. Just a thought.
I have heard that there might be a few people down here wanting to form a South Florida MINI Club. I am not aware of it but I will be looking at this as an option. So bottom line is, if you all up there in the north of the Orlando area to J-ville want to start a club, GREAT. Then we all can form local chapters, we can ALL (local chapters) get together in Orlando because it is central and work this state organization out and make it happen. Elect officers write the charter and get it formed right. This way nobody feels left out and nobody can say they were not included. Otherwise we are going to have little clubs that will start gung-ho and then slowly fade away. I believe this is the direction to go. Hopefully it will become a reality and the Florida MINI Club of America will be as strong as the MINI is!!!! feel free to pm me with your thoughts if you do not want to post them on this thread. Or feel free to add your opinion's to this idea. If your for it or against it, something needs to be done for it to work.

 

>>>Aaahh, SunshineMINIs........%$#@!

Okay, I wanted to get this puppy on the road, but apparently some people out there wants to be a little more democratic (and consequently slower) in making SunshineMINIs happen. I took it upon myself to autocratically form a club, then had every intention to democratically structuralize it once it was established.<<<


Aha! There's your problem! Everyone knows Florida doesn't believe in democracy!

 

I agree with NoBull on this issue. The club down here in Miami/Ft. L was started off so great and with alot of enthusiasm and the first few meetings were HUGE successes, and then something happened were some people didn't think other people were appreciative of their efforts and riffs formed (or so I've heard from both sides). I for one wasn't really too involved in the club at the time because of my accident and not having a MINI and having too much on my plate at the time and truthfully I probably would have backed away anyways as I have other things in my life to worry about such trivial things and really I like to get together with people who I can enjoy myself with and don't want to be involved in politics within a CAR club because it comes down to the fact that its still just a car club, and we are just getting together to share common interests... I've stayed on good terms with everyone involved down here at least (to my knowledge! they may hate me and I may not know about it...lol). When problems start to form over such small things we all need to realize that we're ultimately just getting together to have a good time and if that goal is attained everyone deserves praise.

Further, let me say that I think its a great idea of Abe and Holly and everyone else involved in the current "Sunshine MINI" formation group. I have no problem with you guys calling yourselfs president, dictator or whatever else you want to be... That is what it takes for something like this to get off the ground and I appreciate the effort you all are putting forth to get this going and everyone needs to sort of understand that you guys are just doing this to get the ball rolling and we'll eventually be holding elections or what not for club officials for those interested in that stuff.

I also agree with the statement by NoBull about have a State club with local chapters as it will be the easiest way to keep interest high...its easier to relay ideas to people face to face than through a message board and obviously easier to have local meets often, and then statewide meets once every couple of months. I think we can get these meetings to be successful again, we just need to start spreading the word around about them. It seems that not many people visit the floridamini.net site. I have actually thought of trying to contact people and get them involved again through the yahoo email group which seemed to get the most response since it was email based I guess.

Sorry for the long post...and I hope its not too confusing....

BTW, NoBull are you going to Tower Shops tonight? There is a group of classics and a couple new MINI's heading up tonight, they were talking about it last night at our Thursday night get together. I think Marcos (is that Sharon's husbands name?) is heading up with 3 or 4 classics leaving kendall at around 6, and another new MINI is heading up later on (check out the wheels and the system on his car!). I can't go this month as I can't drive my MINI yet with my cast still on...maybe I'll drive by but I'm ashamed of the 4runner I'm driving...lol

 

Minimotorin,
I sent my info to Holly a month or more ago and, other than posts on MCO, I've heard nothing. I suggest building an email list of all those interested SSM and use it to get the word out about meets. As I stated in another thread, as of now there are over 2000 MINIs in FL, but unfortunately most of the owners are not regular MCO users. If the club is to be a success I suggest you/me, or whoever start building an email list of those interested in SSM.
I've got my hands pretty full with this Greyhound rescue and racing protest stuff, but I don't think it'll kill me to devote a 1/2 hour or so per week to SSM. Let me know what I can do.

 

Vince I agree that this email seems to be the best way to at least intially get people going to a website. The yahoo group email system may still work, I can give it a try later on tonight when I get home....I can just forward it to Abe or Holly or anyone with more information than I have about the goings on...

 

Yes I will be there. And I will try to save some spots.Come up we won't laugh to hard at your 4runner.

 

>>Vince I agree that this email seems to be the best way to at least intially get people going to a website. The yahoo group email system may still work, I can give it a try later on tonight when I get home....I can just forward it to Abe or Holly or anyone with more information than I have about the goings on...

Well, Andy has been working on an official SunshineMINIS web site which will have everything about the club. We decided to hold off on releasing the address until membership has been established. If you want to be on the committee that gets things rolling, email Holly, David, Andy (gleep), or myself and will give you some work to do!

 

Another thing, I think if we just alternate regional meets and statewide meets every month and alternate the region the statewide meet is held, there would be enough local happenings and occasionally a drive to a statewide one.

I figure that if the statewide meets were in different places constantly, you would only have a longer drive every four months or so. Additionally, you could have a weekly thing locally just to get with friends and go out to 'play with our cars.'

 

>>Well, Andy has been working on an official SunshineMINIS web site which will have everything about the club. We decided to hold off on releasing the address until membership has been established. If you want to be on the committee that gets things rolling, email Holly, David, Andy (gleep), or myself and will give you some work to do!<<

Hey Abe, I totally agree with you on having a website with all the information, however, I think what vince and I are saying is that we should use an email list to spread the word on the website. Posting it here will get those of us who are already on here, and mini2. But how about all of those people who were on the yahoo list who never check floridamini?? They won't know about the new site unless we tell them about it and I think the most convenient way of getting the word out to as many people would be thru that original list which had almost everyone who was involved in the first few very successful meets....

_________________
2003 Black/Black MCS in Miami, FL

 

sounds good to me. Holly has a contact list that she put together. I don't know how comprehensive it is, but maybe if someone put together the yahoo list and her list it would get the word out more.

 

Sounds like a plan...

 

Greetings,

Thanks to everyone who is involved in organizing SM. SSM or what ever you want to call it. :smile: :smile: :smile:

Kind Regards,
Ron

 

Ok, here are my $.02...

I've been reading all of the Florida message boards for the past few months and the one thing that has always bugged me was the inconsistency in communication. As someone who spends most of his time on MCO (as compared to MINI2 or Floridamini.net) I've found that bits and pieces of information are posted on each site - but never the same info on all. The e-mailing list is a great way to resolve this issue, IMHO.

I agree that there needs to be a core group of people who are working to get the group organized, but to chastize everyone for not stepping up to the plate and being more specific about their qualifications, well, that's just poor leadership. As leaders, if help is truly needed (or even wanted) it should be your responsibility to communicate your needs to the group (ie. we need someone who is proficient in web design to help with the creation of a web page).

I personally have offered my assistance (albeit apparently not specifically enough) in various threads and I have never been contacted. It seems like you guys are trying to go at this alone, and it's "your way or the highway."

Case in point, there was a very poorly communicated vote for the name of the club... When the name was finally picked ("Sunshine State MINI's&quot after a very haphazard and limited voting process, it was quickly changed - without a vote -to "Sunshine MINI's." Who came up with that idea? :smile:


_________________
<IMG SRC="http://members.aol.com/tonymaguire/m...name.jpg" ></br>
'03 MC PW/B with black bonnet stripes, w/ S&P packages, Chrome, 16" 5-Star Silver Rims, Leather, Nav, and Xenon, Graduate of Club Feb 2003!

 

Tony Maguire -

I have never done this before, and am basically feeling my way through as I go. I really enjoy being chastised while being criticized for chastising in the same paragraph.

Please reread my first post...I am ambitious, not Miss Cleo or Houdini -
I am not chastising here, merely validating my statements....

Consider the fact that I am trying to delegate responsibilities to people but I do not know anything about them. A little analogy, I want to date your daughter and you haven't met me yet. I have been spending lots of time with her, and she hasn't told you anything about me. After awhile, you want to know whats going on, right? Well, I would be doing a lot of things with someone you have put a lot of love into, and I could very well be subjecting your daughter to things you would condemn. In relation to the matter at hand, I am trying to get things moving and have tried to distribute responsibilites to people when I learn about them and know what they are capable of and willing to do. If you want to help (or me to date your daughter), the candidate would have to inform the organizer (or the parents) something about themself in order to secure their position in the situation. Is that too hard to ask?

I have not recieved a single email from someone willing to help who isn't already.

People have been calling our sunny mini club (uh oh, another name!) all kinds of things. Since voting wasn't very effective in actually determining the name, I spoke with those who have communicated with me in making things happen, and we had a committee vote on what the name would be. The names we have heard from others was Sunshine State MINIs, Sunshine State MINI Club, Sunshine MINI Club, and Sunshine MINIs. Sunshine MINIs was Andy's (gleep) idea that won.

The committee liked Sunshine MINIs because it rings kind of how Hell's Angels, we could call ourselves The Sunshine MINIs and play it off like a '70s band, and I thought that Sunshine MINIs is easier to play with when making graphics and logos.

Oh, and we don't represent anyone but those who are actively taking a part in making things happen. There are no members yet.

Okay, you want to help. Good. Could you get a consensus of what people would like for a name and logo? I figure if we use the logos that have already been submitted, and either go with Sunshine MINIs or Sunshine State MINIs (I figure SM is more stylistic, and thats fun! ) Thanks! =)

-Abe Kowitz
(look above for the same information I've been displaying about myself)

 

i dont know if anybody's still discussing the name thing, but for my two cents i think sunshine state minis is better.

that said: i would love to help out in any way i can with the club. i bounce between daytona beach and naples regularly, so i see myself being a member of both north and south clubs.
i'm gonna read DiD's thread about his clubs politics, cause i've never been in a distanced club. i have however been a leader of a couple high school clubs. i can make websites too, and i have a friend who could probably do a better job of it than me if you guys wanted to.

i'll shut up now, but here's my contact info:
adam fields
admar_moondog@hotmail.com
AIM: zherocharisma
MSN: admar_moondog
celly: 386-235-1631

-adam

 

>>Okay, you want to help. Good. Could you get a consensus of what people would like for a name and logo? I figure if we use the logos that have already been submitted, and either go with Sunshine MINIs or Sunshine State MINIs (I figure SM is more stylistic, and thats fun! ) Thanks! =)
>>
>>-Abe Kowitz
>>(look above for the same information I've been displaying about myself)

Are you sure I'm qualified to do that? You don't know anything about me.

 

>>Okay, you want to help. Good. Could you get a consensus of what people would like for a name and logo? I figure if we use the logos that have already been submitted, and either go with Sunshine MINIs or Sunshine State MINIs (I figure SM is more stylistic, and thats fun!

Tony Maguire
E-mail: TonyMaguire@aol.com
Cell: (954) 465-4574
AIM: TonyMaguire
YIM: TonyFTL
MSN: TonyFTL@hotmail.com

 

Dang Tony, you are always a trouble maker Don't worry we want opinions! That being said, if you are interested in the club come out to our April 5th meet, if you look at that post (and I posted on all 3 sites) you will see that the name is still up for choices.

Tony, there is also a South Florida club getting started too, they don't seem to be posting info on these boards but I'm sure someone can pass that information on. With that happening some people will want to be in both, some in just one, etc. Just wanted to pass along the info.

 

I'm not a trouble maker!

Tony

 

I've been waiting for the opportunity to slap around those out of line for months now! Finally!!

 

>>I've been waiting for the opportunity to slap around those out of line for months now! Finally!!