SoCal NAXJA Chapter?

So whats going on? Are we going to meet up & plan this out? Is anyone working on this? Or has it got a little lackluster?

Robert

actually we are in the process of getting the people that are interested nominated and then we will vote on them, and then the final step of submitting the request to be officially recognized as chapter voting/nominating info

Kejtar

Oh ok, well keep us all posted. Im ready when you all are.

Robert

Robert for all intents and purposes we kind of already exist. The only difference is that we will become official.

What I mean by this is that we have been given this forum on a temporary basis (upon approval it would be permanent) so that we can start using it... so.... lets use it

This can be used to plan runs, work days and so on, with the request to limit the tech discussion to the approrpiate mod tech and oem and other tech forums.

Kejtar

Do you think we can still do some planning of what we want to offer as a SoCal Chapter (I do)?

Roberts inquiry raises a question of what we want to get out of the SoCal Chapter? With a diverse group, and a spread out group, we have many opportunities.


Any suggestions?

Training Day(s)?

One run per month (or every other month)?

Maybe a run calendar?
Spring/Fall JV trips, Winter Anza Borrego, Summer Big Bear, Summer Rubicon?

One campout style trip per year (or a multiday trip)?

A Baja trip?

Field trips (vendor shop visits, or regional gatherings)?

Manage an Adopt-A Trail agreement?

Maybe the nominees can offer some insight on what they think we should offer (help us, help them, when the names are released)? Maybe they can help priortize?

I think that there is no limits as to what the chapter can do. The actuall tasks events are up to the people. I don't see us being able to force 1 run a month or every other month, but I can see us trying to work our way to it. I do hope/expect for us to hold one big event per year (each chapter does so) and additionally I sure hope we can get a trail adopted (I have even suggested it on SoCalXJ maaany moons ago, but that got lost someplace in all the traffic).

As this is a member driven club, I don't think we should have the candidates give statements as to how they view each topic, because it will be again up to the people to want to do it and then it will be done (not all work will be/should be done by officers ). I think that officers should be elected based on their reliability and such to get things done when they need to be done and not on their political agenda but again that's just my opinion.....

Kejtar

To counter your counter....

I would think that you would want 3 types of presidents, all with a purpose, and a way to get things done...

I'd think you would want someone like Ed that is VERY political and DEEPLY engaged with the issues at hand, this would be a great way to get the socal chapter involved quickly, and build the relationships that it needs VERY fast...

Once all that is setup and moving along, I think you would want someone a bit more driven by emotions to add some fire and energy, someone that is a ground based, fun loving kind of president, someone to stir things up, bring some energy, someone like Robert!?

And once the chapter has its political and rah-rah, structure on cruise control, you would want someone that is the STABLE, well thought out, and able to be the Rock on which the chapter piviots, someone like Mike... (we all know mike has the best rock rails to piviot with)

But that would be in a perfect world, and in the real world you only get one... I think you would benefit from hearing the "why me" from the candidates, and not just voting on emotion and "well he's a cool guy".

Of course thats just my opinion, I may be wrong. Well that and I'm not a member, so it doesnt matter at all

Jason

Actually maybe I din't phrase it wrong.. my bad... I don't mean that we should vote on a basis of a cool/uncool guy, but a how reliable we think the person is with responsibility.

One thing to keep in mind, that even though there isn't a lot to being a BOD for a chapter, there is some work involved. If nothing more, then coordination. I don't think it's fair to have the BOD person burdened with all the extra duties: those should be handled by interested parties. So it really doesn't matter if the BOD person for example supports the idea of adopt a trail or not: if there are enough interested people they say that they want to do it, they do it, with the blessing of a BOD person

Same thing goes for training days: the person that gets elected might be all for the idea, but if he/she doesn't get support from the club (members) in organizing one, well..... they are SOL and look bad because it never happens, even though it's not their fault

In any case... everyone's opinion counts... and Jason.. time to pay the piper and join up

Remi aka Kejtar

My piper fund is quite dry right now... I've thought about joining quite a few times, just never really was sold on the club deal, yet...

Thats why I'm watching this chapter formation, I might join knowing that there is a Local presence, and we can impact the things in southern california that affect us the most.

If I am going to go through the "club thing" and have to worry about votes, motions, and the baggage that goes with it, I want a VERY active and political presence in the area. I want to attend council meetings as a group and say our peice, I want to see the signs on trails saying "Adopt-A-Trail Sponsored by ", I want to be the GOTO place for people getting into the sport. Otherwise all the other baggage that goes along with being a "member" doesnt really seem worth it...

I'm willing to do my part, attend, pay up, work, show up etc, but only as a part of the whole, and not one of the few. I've been involved with quite a few clubs(not 4wd) in the past that I paid my dues, showed up to the meetings, all to never see the group do anything to help its sport/idea or the community.

As an example... Down on the coast where our family has a Condo, there is a path to the beach. People take their dogs for walks out there like crazy, and its a pretty well beaten path. Right in the middle of the path there is a wooden post with a box on it. In that box are plastic baggies, with a sign saying, please pick up after your dog. Its signed by one of the local kennel clubs. Now that is something I remembered, I dont own a dog, I dont belong to any kennel clubs, I dont even pay attention to them. But I remembered seeing that and thinking, Damn, thats nice, a group that built this, put bags in it (and refils them, its always full of em) all for me, the person who is walking on this trail. They didnt do it for the guy walking the dog on the trail, I'm sure they would tell him he needs to bring his own bags to pick up his own dogs mess if they had a chance, but knowing people Dont, and knowing that if they didnt bring it, they will leave it, they made the extra effort to keep that area clean. That is community (not just the dog community) good will, and I'd hope that this chapter is ENGROSSED in it.

BTW, dont take any of this as critisism of , or how anything is running, has run, or will be run, its only my views of what _I_ want from a club, and what _I_ expect if I'm going to "pay the piper"

Jason

LOL..... I was joking on paying the piper: I didn't want to come off so strong.....

I hear what you mean about doing the cleanups and working together towards doing something that's good for the sport. I hope that with the chapter we will be able to work on that and get someplace

Anyone is free to join whenever they decide they are ready or that the club is ready for them. Also participation is by no means limited to members only

Kejtar

I just realized something about the council meetings that you mentioned..... Quite often Ed (thanks Ed) posts info about what's happening in the area as in who is going to talk about closing/opening what. Without even having an official person going to all of those events (they are all over SoCal) we can have a local member show up (if he/she has time) and say that we as a group either support this or don't support this. Person represeting a group carries more weight then a single person.

Another idea that I have (something I posted about after the tragic death of someone in one of the parks month or two ago but that also got buried in the avalanche of emails on SoCalXJ) is that we can have a safety class/talk geared towards peopel that are maybe not even wheelers, but sunday drivers out to the dirt roads in middle of nowhere. THis is something that would benefit all and give us more exposure as well as give us more hmmmm "polical prestige". Well maybe that's not the right phrase, but it would show us for the good people/group that we are and our opinions would also be looked upon in a different light.

Kejtar

Well this is a lot to consider. I think all this is a little quick though. It will take time to build up and I do not just mean starting a chapter but all the other stuff Ed is getting at. Like Remi said some of this stuff isn't the kind that you can just mandate like one run a month. This is going to take the BOD that will be elected and all of the So Cal members to evolve. The BOD shouldn't try to tackle too much at once and get bogged down.

Jason as Richard said part of the dues go to support United Four Wheel Drive Associations ( http://www.ufwda.org/ ) which fight to keep trails open.

Here is a good post from Woody the current international President on what is about and supports.
http://www.naxja.org/forum/showthread.php?s=&threadid=2137

Kejtar said:

we can have a local member show up (if he/she has time) and say that we as a group either support this or don't support this. Person represeting a group carries more weight then a single person.

Click to expand...

Thats kind of missing my point. ONE person doesnt have the impact that a group does. Even if that person is representing a group. What I was saying is it would be nice to have a large group that was doing the circuit of these meetings... Think about it. At one of the local Bakersfield meetings where they were discussing one of wilderness acts I think, I remember reading there were a few offroaders there, and something like 20+ from the sierra club or another organization. What do you think impacted the people there that didnt care one way or the other (the voting council) the handfull of offroaders, or the group speaking in one voice? I know I would be swayed by a large group, even if it was only due to dedication. They are dedicated to take the sport away from us, we need to be dedicated to keeping it. If I knew that Naxja was represented at these meetings, I'd show up, if not to speak, just to be there in force.

Jason (more mindless typing, its late)

very good point. The way I was thinking though is that at least one is good. More then one is GREAT!

Personally I would love to be able to attend every single one of those, but... lack time is stopping me for most part.

So.. look at it this way: if we have a member in the area, we'd kindly ask him to show up if he has time and have him make known who is. If more can show up... even better (have them bring their kids if you can bribe them as it's about their future as well!). Also as (and the prospective SoCal Chapter) become more widely known through their deeds of trail adopting, free (or next to free ) trainng classes available to all that are interested they would be able to show up with a smaller presence and still be recognized for who they are (although I agree... bigger group is better).

Remi aka Kejtar

Ed A. Stevens said:

Training Day(s)?

One run per month (or every other month)?

Maybe a run calendar?
Spring/Fall JV trips, Winter Anza Borrego, Summer Big Bear, Summer Rubicon?

One campout style trip per year (or a multiday trip)?

A Baja trip?

Field trips (vendor shop visits, or regional gatherings)?

Manage an Adopt-A Trail agreement?

Maybe the nominees can offer some insight on what they think we should offer (help us, help them, when the names are released)? Maybe they can help priortize?

Click to expand...

There are a couple of things that I'd like to see the chapter do. Monthly planned runs might be a little much, plus there will always be unofficial runs, but I think quarterly runs should be scheduled and put on some kind of chapter event calendar.

I think we should have one or more adopt-a-trails. This is a neccessary function of organized off road clubs and really helps with keeping our trails maintained and open. My local club, the Bakersfield Trailblazers, has six adopt-a-trails, partly because there's no other group in our area to do it. I think we have plenty of willing people to easily handle a couple of adopt-a-trails in the SoCal area.

I also think we should do one main event per year that is a weekend fundraising event. Our annual budget can be funded by this run, we can get exposure for the chapter, and it would be a fun weekend.

The main event and possibly the quarterly ones will help get the name out there for everyone to see which through what we do will help the local So Cal Chapter and National club grow.

I like the idea of adopt a trails and organized trash cleanups.