I know...many of you we're thinking that I'm going to lay down the law on posting rules and why some people just don't belong in my house. No such luck.
We got through the initial blur of activity yesterday in good style. We'll be attaching the complete media packetsometime today if able and also have the press conference available in its entirety online with Commando Dave at wethefanz.com. I have to be blunt and say that I did not feel any of us did a particularly good job speaking. We were all tired. Still it came off well and I think you can read the mayors comments and tell that our activity has made a difference. It has forced him to take a stand that will be hard to back off from. In a perfect world he takes it a step further and issues a guarantee that he won't offer a buyout, possibly letting us off the hook.
We'll take a break for a day but need people to continue contacting us to offer volunteer services.
At this point I am fairly certain that there is a large behind the scenes campaign being mounted to convince media circles that our initiative is not valid and therefore "not a story". I expect outlets like KJR to be more active on an semi-official basis when this thing gets confirmed by the City Attorney. Until then it is up to the individual personalities to get behind it or take a "wait and see" attitude.
Oddly enough Fox Sports news crew advised that "they never recieved the press release" yesterday. Odd that they did not becuase it went out to 4 people on their payroll...It happens and it's part of the game. Don't believe it. The initiative has been looked over by a lot of people otherwise it would have been out months ago. We were featured on every major TV News broadcast last night and this week all the papers and a lot of radio. The word is out.
To the best of my understanding the process is this: The City Attorney, Tom Carr has 20 days to review the filed initiative and determine if it's invalid in any way. If it is then it has to be adjusted and re-submitted. Providing it is not we begin gathering signatures upon his completion.
This could take 20 days, could take 3. We're not sure so we're planning on it taking close to the 20.
We have campaign signs and will begin planning the kickoff party in Queen Anne. Also we're looking for volunteers both to show up at games and to be much more active in organizing an actual ground campaign. There will be donations to be collected and signatures to be gathered. We want to get large groups at mid to late August Storm and Mariners games.
Signature gathering will depend on how easy it is, how much help and money we can get, and how organized we can get ourselves. Logistically it is a lot of work. If we want to have 20 people at a Mariners game we have to account for scheduling about 35(the volunteer showup rate is that low). Someone has to train all those people, schedule them, create a rally point, and figure out how we will carpool them to the site. Someone else needs to coordinate, wait for people to show up, etc.
People who think they can make an impact in that type of thing need to contact Denise at volunteer@saveoursonics.org. If it goes easy we'll get aggressive and push it. if not we sit back, gather signatures, and try to gain volume. We have an ace in the hole with basketball season and think that we can get everything we need and much much more in the first few home games. If resources become an issue we'll wait until then.
I can't break my back on this. I'm missing out on too much of life and don't believe that organizing people in this way is my strong point. I stick to strategy.