April 28 General Meeting Agenda

Tuesday, April 28, 2026
7:00 p.m.

• LOCATION: Picnic House, Prospect Park, 95 Prospect Park West, between 4th and 5th Street
• ATTENDING IN-PERSON:
  • Registration is required to attend in person due to high demand and limited seating at the Picnic House.
  • Registration to attend in person is through your Member Services account.
  • Registration will close once capacity is reached.
  •  Please present your membership card or a phone displaying your member ID barcode for entry.
• ATTENDING VIRTUALLY: 
  • Registration is required via Member Services by 5 p.m. on Tuesday, April 28.
  • Registered members will receive a unique Zoom link by email after 5 p.m. on April 28.
  • Your Member Services and Zoom email addresses must match for admission to the virtual GM.
  • How to Zoom at the GM

Times in parentheses are suggestions. The Chair may adjust the agenda order or timing as needed.

I. Meeting Warm-up and Chair Committee Introduction (7:00 – 7:10 p.m.)

II. Open Forum (7:10 – 7:25 p.m.)
Members are allotted time to bring one item per person to the attention of the membership for up to one minute. Written items will be recognized first. Items can be submitted anonymously and read by the Chair.

III. General Coordinators Reports (7:25 – 7:50 p.m.)
The General Coordinators provide brief reports on Coop operations, including but not limited to finance, purchasing, logistics, and special projects.

IV. Member Committee Reports (7:50 – 8:00 p.m.)
Committees authorized by the GM can deliver a short report. This time won’t be used for discussion of an agenda item. Depending on the number of committees prepared to report, each committee will have up to 5 minutes to make a report. Committees must notify the Chair in advance of the meeting to help the Chair plan time allocations.

V.  AGENDA (8:00 – 9:30 p.m.)

Item 1: Dispute Resolution Committee Annual Election (15 minutes)
Sponsor: Dispute Resolution Committee
Election: Christopher Cox, Michael Szeto, and Daniel Weiss will be presented for re-election

Item 2: Restore Simple Majority for Boycott Votes (35 minutes)
Sponsor: Abdi-Hakin Dirie and John Carmichael
Discussion: The existing supermajority rule for boycotts (requiring a 75% passage rate) is undemocratic. The Coop has made far more consequential decisions with just a simple majority, including (but not limited) to altering the markup rate. As it presently stands, enacting a boycott is far more difficult than even changing the Coop’s bylaws. No other Coop decision is held to such a stringent standard. The supermajority rule thus has the deleterious effect of diminishing the Coop’s historical ability to be a positive, dynamic, and effective political actor by engaging in boycotts that align with the Coop’s mission, and so we propose restoring a simple majority for boycotts.

Item 3: Revise the Threshold to Change the 75% Supermajority Rule (35 minutes)
Sponsor: Ramon Maislen
Discussion: Our official boycott policy of 75% supermajority was meant to foster cooperation and unity. In order to ensure the Coop’s boycott policies are consistent with the desires of the majority of its’ members, any reduction of the 75% Supermajority threshold (currently enshrined in the Guide to the General and Annual Meetings) should require a 75% Supermajority vote at the GM, rather than just a majority vote (the default standard for most votes taken at the GM, including votes to amend the Guide).