Future of LSLC Austin

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arcteryx

arcteryx

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I have spoken to Edwin about this and he and I are on the same page with the below. Between this thread and the LSLC email list, it should reach most folks. So....

LSLC ATX is on life support and has been for numerous years. I spoke to Heather (LSLC regional rep) a couple of months ago and she asked if LSLC-ATX still wanted to be a club. I did not have an answer but said I would present it to all. My understanding is that this issue is not limited to Austin - Houston has decided not to be and DFW is also on life support.

We had elections in Jan 2013(one of the last great turnouts with almost 50 people), where Edwin and I were elected Pres and VP respectively. The term was 3 years so our term is over. There have not been elections since and for various reasons, neither of us want to continue holding office.

This means that should there be a club, there needs to be new officer(s). I would suggest those interested in continuing with the club to set a date/time to address/vote on new officers, or at least make rules for elections. Once all has settled, Edwin and I can transfer the "keys" accordingly.

One of the biggest issues we see for the peeps involved is determining who is a member. Dues were abolished numerous years ago and we tried a "show 6 times/year" membership, but that didn't work out either. So the group may want to set these guidelines.

To be clear, Edwin and I will not be spearheading this endeavor so someone will need to step up and be the organizer. This is your chance to make it what you want, possibly without the limitations of the by-laws. Thanks for your time, best to you all and hope to see you around.
 
I don't feel we are on life support, we are active in many ways, here on ih8mud, coffee and cars, a people do show up to meetings. We are not the club we were 10+ years ago when it was started.

I feel it's like old friends, you might not come to a meetings in years, but when you do it like we talked yesterday.

I've been a part of this club for 10+ years, I just don't remember it being this "formal " to be a part of the LSLC regional big sister chapter.
Can you expand on this? If we decide not to be a part of them, do we change our name? Is there a formal agreement to be part of LSLC.

Iam willing to step up and help, and nominate AJ to help as well.
 
I nominate:

AJ-Prez
Mauricio-Global Ambassador/VP
Me-Troublemaker

upload_2016-10-26_15-0-13.webp
 
Let me clarify, what Heather was asking was for TLCA. She's the regional rep. I don't believe there is a dependency to LSLC in Dallas, so the name can persist. Membership is down overall though and they we're asking about members. in order to be a LSLC ATX member you also had to be a TLCA member. However this may have been relaxed in the last year, we should find out.

I partially agree with the above, but for the last few years I've gone and see basically the same 6-8 people, which dwindled to 5-6, with an occasionally new person show for a couple of months. Things may have changed in the last 6 months, I have not been. Hope they have.

But yes , I do fee like folks can pop in after x years and pick right off. Good core established years ago.

Kudos for you and hopefully AJ for leading this.
 
I seem to remember you did not have to be a TLCA member to be a LSLC member, when we decided to stop collecting dues. At this point, maybe we just start fresh?

- informal meeting once a month a Rudy's - same time and place as always
- informal meeting at Coffe and Cars - once a month at the oasis
- keep the name
- keep the clubhouse here on ih8mud
- keep the informal facebook page I created. This came out of a few discussion during our informal gatherings at Rudy's. Some of the new members expressed interest in facebook - they are on FB more then ih8mud, and would be reminded about meetings.
- Austin folks who attend roundup - keep doing what they are doing.

Just keep it simple.

I second Davegonz - as trouble maker!
 
I very rarely, if ever, attend meetings primarily due to the day of the week and location. I think keeping it simple as well as maybe consideration of a more central location. We don't all live in Cedar Park. I thought CnC was great when it first started and was held at the Central Market parking lot on Saturdays. I think I went to more of those just because it was central and a good day of the week (Saturdays) and not too early or late in the morning. Just my 2 cents, which ain't worth 2 cents...I nominate anyone but me to be in charge. ;-)
 
I was talking about this coffe and cars at the oasis. The big major car event, not just our cruiser club.

Are you thinking about the gathering that Tucker started? On Saturday mornings, to compliment the Rudy's meetings.
 
Maybe we need to meet 4 times a year with K2 possibly counting as one. If we could meet in different locations across town, make it a weekend date that appeals to the majority and at locations that offer other social interest to members and families, we'd get more traction. There's rigs all over town with mystery owners we don't know that are potential interested parties, we just need to to be seen (talking trucks) to grow our ranks

That's my 2c

Thanks to Edwin and Jason for your dedication and service. Cheers gents.
 
I've never been accused of not having an opinion, so here goes.

I'm all for shaking this up, and seeing what comes out the other side. To me, the group has become very stagnant, not open to new ideas, and let's be honest, having two groups in town, LSLC - Austin and WALCS, is pretty strange; it reminds me of high school cliques, or a scene from Grease.

Some of the things I've mentioned in the past have come from my interests in what other car clubs I have seen do, but these ideas landed like a turd in the punch bowl. It's nice to see some guys show up at Cars and Coffee at the Oasis, but I mentioned some of us attending the monthly Leander car show a few years back, and was met with <crickets...>. The Statesman used to run articles on car clubs once a week in their automotive section, and the stories usually mentioned a charity or event sponsored by that particular group. We could certainly qualify for something like that, and get our name out there for other LC owners in Austin to see. I mentioned that at a Rudy's awhile back, and was met with dead silence. I mentioned here about starting up the C&C in front of Zinger's awhile back, and was told in a private message that C&C is a WALCS thing, not LSLC. F*** that... I remember laughing at that comment, and thinking, "these are grown ass men, and they want to fight over who thought of something first?".

Things I'd like to see:

- Start fresh. And this means burying the hatchet, and renouncing ownership of past ideas, complaints, and whines. This one is going to be a lot tougher for some of the WALCS members, but if they don't agree, they should at least back off from trying to control ideas from LSLC members, like ownership over a parking lot on a Saturday morning. Again, a scene from Grease comes to mind. Everyone doesn't have to like everyone, but we all share an interest in LCs, so can't we all just get along? Or at least act like it?
- Rotation of the monthly meeting. Some folks don't want to drive as far north as they think Rudy's is, and I personally think Rudy's sucks. But any attempt to move it has been ignored or denied, at least in the past few years. We should be able to come up with a half dozen places that would meet the requirements of parking, food, and quality adult beverages, and rotate these monthly. The locations and rotation would be a sticky, so that everyone knew, months in advance, where the meetings would be held. If the location didn't work for an individual, they would be welcome to skip it, and because the locations switch every month, they would also be welcome to not whine. Word of warning: There may be a place actually further north than Rudy's; a fair amount of the folks I know live north of downtown, and avoid the hipsters south of Town Lake like the plague. Again, choice is good.
- Realization that LSLC members are interested in more than the annual K2 event and a PINS run. Not a knock on those events, just that there are more things that some of us are interested in. Those that know me and my little pristine garage queen might say I don't know what LCs are all about, but we all have different interests, and if we are really interested in putting ourself out to other LC owners that don't know about us, that will take different approaches.
- Expand to other social media. MUD is great for some things, but it ain't no Facebook. Mark tried to create a FB page yesterday and was gunned down, which I suspect was the event that started this whole thread. Again, be open to new ideas...

I always tell people that they can choose to be part of the problem or part of the solution. I'm choosing to be part of the solution, IF things change. So count me in as willing to put some new ideas in place, if that is the direction that is chosen.
 
All great points. My idea behind the facebook page is to communicate to a wide audience, people that have no clue we exist and don't even know about Ih8mud. If we want to rotate locations, we can auto schedule information to post on our facebook feed. IMO consistency with the location has served us well. Except for ih8mud, and the outdated e-mail list, we had no way to communicate a change in location or event.

Most people can't even remember our Rudy's meetings unless someone remembers to post up a "meeting tonight" on ih8mud. ;)

The facebook page for LSCS-Austin is still active, Over the last 6 months we have had some new faces to the Rudy's meetings. And it was casually decided that facebook would be a good way to communicate. So, I took the ball and ran with it. And it did spark this discussion.

Iam interested in keeping the club going, and open to any ideas and locations.



jmdaniel said:
I've never been accused of not having an opinion, so here goes.

I'm all for shaking this up, and seeing what comes out the other side. To me, the group has become very stagnant, not open to new ideas, and let's be honest, having two groups in town, LSLC - Austin and WALCS, is pretty strange; it reminds me of high school cliques, or a scene from Grease.

Some of the things I've mentioned in the past have come from my interests in what other car clubs I have seen do, but these ideas landed like a turd in the punch bowl. It's nice to see some guys show up at Cars and Coffee at the Oasis, but I mentioned some of us attending the monthly Leander car show a few years back, and was met with <crickets...>. The Statesman used to run articles on car clubs once a week in their automotive section, and the stories usually mentioned a charity or event sponsored by that particular group. We could certainly qualify for something like that, and get our name out there for other LC owners in Austin to see. I mentioned that at a Rudy's awhile back, and was met with dead silence. I mentioned here about starting up the C&C in front of Zinger's awhile back, and was told in a private message that C&C is a WALCS thing, not LSLC. F*** that... I remember laughing at that comment, and thinking, "these are grown ass men, and they want to fight over who thought of something first?".

Things I'd like to see:

- Start fresh. And this means burying the hatchet, and renouncing ownership of past ideas, complaints, and whines. This one is going to be a lot tougher for some of the WALCS members, but if they don't agree, they should at least back off from trying to control ideas from LSLC members, like ownership over a parking lot on a Saturday morning. Again, a scene from Grease comes to mind. Everyone doesn't have to like everyone, but we all share an interest in LCs, so can't we all just get along? Or at least act like it?
- Rotation of the monthly meeting. Some folks don't want to drive as far north as they think Rudy's is, and I personally think Rudy's sucks. But any attempt to move it has been ignored or denied, at least in the past few years. We should be able to come up with a half dozen places that would meet the requirements of parking, food, and quality adult beverages, and rotate these monthly. The locations and rotation would be a sticky, so that everyone knew, months in advance, where the meetings would be held. If the location didn't work for an individual, they would be welcome to skip it, and because the locations switch every month, they would also be welcome to not whine. Word of warning: There may be a place actually further north than Rudy's; a fair amount of the folks I know live north of downtown, and avoid the hipsters south of Town Lake like the plague. Again, choice is good.
- Realization that LSLC members are interested in more than the annual K2 event and a PINS run. Not a knock on those events, just that there are more things that some of us are interested in. Those that know me and my little pristine garage queen might say I don't know what LCs are all about, but we all have different interests, and if we are really interested in putting ourself out to other LC owners that don't know about us, that will take different approaches.
- Expand to other social media. MUD is great for some things, but it ain't no Facebook. Mark tried to create a FB page yesterday and was gunned down, which I suspect was the event that started this whole thread. Again, be open to new ideas...

I always tell people that they can choose to be part of the problem or part of the solution. I'm choosing to be part of the solution, IF things change. So count me in as willing to put some new ideas in place, if that is the direction that is chosen.
Click to expand...
 
@jmdaniel Controlling ideas? Ownership of a parking lot? Hipsters south of Town Lake? Simmer down pot roast, you seem to be drawing a pretty big and bitter line in the sand Jeff and are completely off base. Fact checker: the meetings at Zingers were open to anyone regardless of whatever PM you received. I went to several Saturday meet ups and saw many of the same faces that attended the monthly meetings at Rudys including yourself. Dig a little deeper and you'll find that those meetings and invites were announced openly in this very clubhouse section, not behind closed doors, not on a different forum.

This cycle seems to happen every couple of years. Attendance will be good and then fades. I don't personally attend the monthly meetings because Tuesday nights simply don't work for me. I've been to more Sunday Cars n' Coffee meetings at the Oasis this year than I have been to Rudys meetings in the past two years. There always seems to be a decent turnout and plenty of other things to check out while you are there. To that point, I like Kelly and Pat's suggestions regarding a weekend meet instead of weekday. Also agree with Jeff's opinion regarding Rudys. Tuesday night may have worked back when Austin was smaller and traffic wasn't as bad, but as we all know it takes an hour or more to get anywhere in this town during weekday peak travel times.

@mmw68 FB page is good. I don't personally use FB, but I check MUD probably more than I should :)
Are you suggesting collecting dues again? My definition of simple is not collecting dues. That adds another level complexity to this entire situation.
 
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I honestly didn't realize the CnC thing at Zinger's/Central Market was different than the one at the Oasis. I just presumed it moved for some reason. To Craig's point, Tucker started the one at Zingers/Central Market and it was all welcome/come as you are etc. I think there are some great ideas being thrown around. Like Kelly said, maybe once a month is too often? There might be some more build up and hype if it was every other month etc. I'm not on FB anymore, but agree that getting it out there on social media is crucial to moving it forward.
 
No dues, no officers, just informal group we call LSLC. As for FB, just want to get the word out about the local land cruiser community. Iam on Facebook a lot for business, so I don't mind posting and announcing and events, or people are welcome to post anything land cruiser related.
 
Bitter, Craig? You don't know me that well, or you'd know better. (But I am stealing the pot roast line, that's a good one...)

Good to see the discussion rolling, and I'll stand by my statement on Zinger's, but will clarify. I didn't mean that only WALCS members could attend, but I see where a reader may think that, from what I wrote. I was told it was a WALCS idea originally, and that comment was in response to me having the audacity to throw up a post here, seeing if folks wanted to get them rolling again. And upon hearing that, I did laugh.

Most groups of unrelated people have a lifecycle, in terms of interest and participation, and I don't think this one is any different. Evolution is good.
 
Great discussion and good points.

Couple of takeaways:

1- having a FB page with no leader(s) puts control with that sole person. Good, bad, who knows. And what's to stop Jeff, John, or Billybob from creating their own "official" FB page. Or if things are said that don't reflect the quorum? Is there a way to have 2-3 FB admins? I am guessing there is. A 'bus factor' of one is never good and seems like there needs to be a system of checks and balances. Even for this mud section, Jeff and I are admins so not one person has power. Of course, @woody trumps all:)

Edit- I will add, MMW excels at marketing IMO so if FB is decided then he should be one of the admins.

2- distinction needs to be made between an official TLCA chapter and an informal group. From what I am reading, it seems no one wants to be a TLCA chapter anymore which is what Heather was asking me, and all prefer an informal group.
 
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For benefit of the entire group, are you saying the only thing that keeps LSLC-ATX in good standing with the TLCA is electing officers and then sending their names? If so, what benefit is gained from being an official chapter? If the collective decides to be an informal group, will there still be a clubhouse section on MUD?
 
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