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Pre-Proposal: The Dash Expansion at Skatopia

As a Masternode, would you support this if proposed to the network?

  • Yes.

    Votes: 14 87.5%
  • No.

    Votes: 2 12.5%
  • Not as-is, but with changes I'll post I would support it.

    Votes: 0 0.0%

  • Total voters
    16
  • Poll closed .

Skatopia

Member
(Part 1)

Overview and Agreement Structure


We (Skatopia) wish to present the Dash community with a chance to sponsor an expansion of a world famous extreme sports and concert venue in exchange for a number of benefits, including naming and labeling the new edition (to the existing Lula Bowl) after Dash. We also have some future proposals in mind, which will be explored below.

We at Skatopia also have seen the sharp rise in Dash's market capitalization and price recently. Congratulations! However, as you all know, the rise in price leads to a dilemma for those with smaller proposals - and the higher the price goes, the more proposals this will effect, leading to only larger and larger proposals being submitted to the Masternodes for approval.

We know Dash's developers will likely come to some technical solution to this problem (if indeed they view it as a problem), but until then (or in place of it) we came up with our own quick fix. We thought this might make our proposal far more likely to be accepted, so we didn't lose our (extremely precious) dollar equivalent of 5 Dash. As a non-profit, we just can't risk that kind of money without some way to ensure we'll have our proposal accepted. We understand entirely the need for an anti-spam fee, so we thought the following technique might reduce risk for the Dash treasury, and also therefore increase our chance of having the proposal accepted (almost assuredly, is the hope):

If this pre-proposal is accepted by Dash's Masternodes, and then submitted and approved as a proposal on the network, no funds except the return of the proposal submission fee will be paid to Skatopia immediately. All funds asked for in this pre-proposal are paid NOT upfront, but instead paid on delivery of evidence that the specific funded activity has been actually completed. We will present pictures and video where practical to provide this evidence, including images of the areas of importance before, during and after construction. The duration of this arrangement with Dash's Masternodes is from the date of the first payout (the return of the submission fee) until the completion of the project. The completion date is set for April 2nd, 2017, but if weather doesn't cooperate, it will absolutely be completed by July 1st, 2017. The latter is the deadline date of construction for the sake of this agreement, but Skatopia will have, if needed, the entire month of July to submit evidence for payment on the August 2017 budget. Further explanation for the dates will be given below.

To sum up, if the proposal is passed by the Masternodes, the 5 Dash anti-spam submission fee will be returned immediately to Skatopia in the first payment. All other payments will be agreed to (but deferred) by the Masternodes, paid out only as evidence (the standard of which will be explained in detail below) of the completion of those tasks is presented to the Dash community. No further proposals or voting will be required for these payments based on evidence. Instead, evidence will be presented on the same locations as the pre-proposal any time within the duration of the agreement (the date of the first payment and until the July 1st, 2017 deadline). Once the evidence is presented, the next treasury payment period will be the time to release the funds to Skatopia (so the final payment to us may not come until August 2017).

We hope this inventive, risk mitigating method of pre-proposal, proposal and agreement lead to the Dash Masternodes giving us extra consideration and a higher than normal level of consensus (to ease our minds about the amount risked on the proposal fee).

Interesting detail:

The reason we don't need the funding from Dash ahead of the project's completion (but instead only need reimbursement payments after the fact) is that we are being extended a short term line of credit from a friend of the park who first introduced us to Dash back in October of 2016. This individual is confident enough in Dash's Masternodes and treasury system to loan us the total upfront for the project based on the proposal gaining sufficient support on the network. So, a Dash treasury agreement is being used as the basis for the creation of credit in the form of a loan in real life.


What is Skatopia?

Skatopia is an eighty-eight acre, nearly 22 year old non-profit skateboard park and extreme sports destination located in Rutland, Ohio. It's owned and operated by founder, Brewce Martin (a now retired professional skateboarder). It features a museum of skateboarding history with exhibits spanning nearly 100 years of skating culture, thousands of unique boards, many ramps for skating (seven unique bowls), two standalone stages for bands and one small stage for more intimate shows, 88 acres of land for visitors to explore and enjoy, and the Pabst House (the product of a former long term sponsorship with Pabst Beer Company). It has a dedicated annual turnout which is dependable and enthusiastic, and hails from all over the world.

Skatopia also has strong long term business relationships with dozens of area businesses in several States, both as collaborators and sponsors, some of which are featured on the skatopia.org website. The park was featured in an episode of MTV's 'True Life', 'Viva La Bam', Fuel TV's countdown of 'Best Backyard Scenes', and more recently in an episode of the documentary series on Netflix, 'Unplanned America'. The park was also featured in the video game 'Tony Hawk's Underground 2', as the final level. Further, it's constant coverage by skateboarding media led to a profile in Rolling Stone. They also have a full length documentary filmed on location over a several year period, 'Skatopia: 88 Acres of Anarchy', which was an official selection of several film festivals, including Sundance. More than a thousand bands have played live at Skatopia, including names like Black Flag, GWAR, Lamb of God, Immortal Technique, Green Jelly, etc.

At the Work Party this proposal focuses on, we have no less than 10 bands booked (as of the time of this post).

There are two entities: Skatopia the museum and park, and Skatopia's print shop. The print shop has the capability of printing stickers, signs (up to billboard size), and t-shirt production. Skatopia also has its own line of wheels for skateboards, in collaboration with Bones Wheels, and had a shoe line with Draven (a company licensed to do work for bands like The Misfits and The Ramones). Skatopia also had its own clothing line through their deal with Volcom, and a skateboard line with Eastern Skateboard Supplies.

Skatopia is also a community, with several people living on the premises full time, contributing labor to the park and print shop to maintain them, fill print orders, and set up for expansions (in preparation for additional labor to realize the plans). In addition to in-house labor, Skatopia has a small but constant flow of volunteers. Work Parties are held to attract more labor for expansions, and are annual events.

Skatopia has one in-house vendor on location, a website, and an outsourced/contracted vendor that can all potentially offer Dash as a payment option. The park also never closes. It's open 24 hours a day, seven days a week (although the contracted vendor is only present for parties and possibly conferences, and the in-house vendor keeps regular business hours).

What Can Skatopia Offer The Dash Community?

What Skatopia can offer to the Dash community is a relatively large following of people who can be made aware of the technology, an in-house vendor that can adopt Dash as a payment option, a contracted vendor who can adopt Dash, a website that can adopt Dash, several daily quick presentations over the 3-day Work Party on what Dash is, how to download the wallet, receive and send payments, use instant and private features, and how to use Dash at point-of-sale in real life.

Skatopia can also offer a large banner displaying that Dash is sponsoring the Work Party. This also includes six medium size banners posted all over the park to the same effect, and a t-shirt for the presenter of the Dash how-to tutorials (identifying him instantly to all, inducing conversations). The presenter will also get an area (or "booth") near the vendors to set up for point-of-sale demonstrations and general help, highlighted with a medium size banner.

We can also offer to name the new expansion of the Lula Bowl we are constructing at the Work Party after Dash ("The Dash Expansion"). When sponsorship is in place the expansion is permanently (barring unforeseen considerations*) named after the sponsor. We have precedence for the market value of such an arrangement, given past sponsorship and past marketing agreements for specific areas of the park (the Pabst House, as part of the overall Pabst Beer Company sponsorship deal, as one example). We also have some very long term and loyal sponsors who have their brand featured all over the park (Independent Truck Company, for example, and Volcom Industries). We may market long term sponsors more than contractually obligated, as a show of appreciation.

If this proposal passes, Skatopia will receive reimbursement for the funding necessary for the Dash Expansion, and Dash will receive in return:

1. A new audience for Dash
2. An in-house vendor adoption
3. A website vendor adoption
4. A contracted vendor adoption
5. Several daily Dash how-to presentations (for the duration of the three day Work Party) on how to download the wallet, sending and receiving coins, using private and instant features, and using Dash for in-real-life point-of-sale scenarios, etc.
6. Printing and hanging one very large banner and 6 medium sized banners** signaling Dash's sponsorship of the event and project
7. Printing a t-shirt for the presenter of the Dash how-to tutorials and giveaways
8. A large outdoor skateboard bowl expansion (obstacle) named after Dash; this expansion will feature the Dash logo and website painted all over the decks around the bowl and on the back of the extension (logo includes the "digital cash" phrase along with the Dash logo itself)
9. The above mentioned presenter will also hand out $5 in Dash to anyone who sits through a presentation and/or downloads a Dash wallet, then will steer the recipients to the participating vendors; prices are structured in such a way as to promote people taking home a little Dash - which promotes their return to spend it, and keeps them thinking about Dash
10. Video and/or photo evidence of all of the above where possible and practical (obviously the identity of some participants may not be revealed due to their preference)***
11. Free entry into the park any time of the year for the duration of the sponsorship for the Core Team, active Developers, and any other Dash employee or person deemed a friend of the company (up to the mutual discretion of Skatopia and Dash communities)
12. A box of "goodies" from the project mailed to Dash (if someone provides us an address), possibly including some of the banners as keepsakes, and definitely 25 stickers of the type handed out to everyone at the party

(* 'unforeseen considerations' such as events that might damage the reputation of Dash so severely as to negatively effect Skatopia's bottom line; however, no such considerations have ever come to pass for any of our sponsors, and Dash is also free to ask us to remove any sign of sponsorship of the expansion at their discretion, as we are free to remove it at any time, or remove Dash as a payment option, due to the above mentioned reputation damage)

(**The large sign (banner) is 44 inches by 8 feet ; The six medium signs (banners) are 2x2 feet; six flip-board signs for the how-to presentations are 25x36 inches; one 2x2 feet sign for the Dash giveaway and how-to area)

(***Photos and/or video will be presented of the area of construction before major work begins, during the process of construction, and after the completion of construction. Further evidence will be presented, where practical, of the purchase of the concrete and other supplies. Evidence will also be presented of any of the other aspects of the project where practical, especially if requested.)

Schedule

The Work Party is on Friday Mar. 31st – April 2nd. The work will be complete no later than (barring unforeseeable weather delay related to the concrete pour) April 2nd. Weather could delay completion until the next scheduled large Skatopia gathering, due to labor needs for completion, which would put the alternative completion date at July 1st, 2017. This possible delay would not effect any other aspect of this proposal (only the concrete pour and subsequent sponsorship art). Skatopia is incentivized to get the work done while we have all the extra labor at the Work Party, so proscrastination on the project is not an option.

(To be continued in Part 2)
 
(Part 2)

Budget


Itemized requirements and costs for this project:

Concrete Supplies
Concrete: 20 yards at $114 per yard = $2280
Shot-Crete Operator: $30 per hour for 8 hours = $240
Boom/pump truck: $150 per hour for 8 hours + $3 per yard for 20 yards + $100 for 100 additional feet of boom at $1 per foot = $1360

Total = $3880

Tools
1 5x30 Fresno Curve = $59
1 5x30 Fresno Flex = $55
1 24x2-1/2 Radius Bender = $30
4 Trowel Pool White 3x6 grip = $66
2 Trowel Pool White 3x8 grip = $74
2 Trowel Pool White 3x10 grip = $82
1 6' radius trowel = $72
1 8' radius trowel = $80

Total = $518

Miscellaneous Construction Costs
Coping bending: $190 for 2-7/8 = $190
Rebar: 15 3/8" 20 foot lengths at $4.77 per stick and 50 1/2" 20 foot lengths at $7.53 per stick = $448

Total = $638

Print Materials
1 Large Size Sign (Banner at the Entrance): 44 inches by 8 foot at $1 per square foot = $29
6 Medium Size Signs (Sponsor Awareness Park-wide): 2x2 feet at $24 for all six = $24
1 Medium Size Sign (Dash How-To Area): 2x2 feet = $4
Stickers/Small Signs for Vendors (QR Code, Vendor Acceptance, and Promotional Stickers): 100 stickers 4x4 inch promotional = $32 (2 vendor stickers with QR codes are free and 25 extra promotional stickers are free, sent to the Dash team)

Total = $89

How-To Presentation Materials
Shirt for the Dash Presenter/Free Dash Distributor (labor included) = $25
6 25x36 inch flip-board signs (canvas banners) for how-to presentations (labor included) = $52

Total = $77

Promotional $5 in Dash Giveaway
Free Dash Fund: $5 in Dash for 25 minimum unique people per day for 3 days (we are expecting 200 people for the weekend, but we gave our lowest past turnout numbers in case of uninviting weather for our April 2nd pour) = $375

Total = $375 in Dash

Paint Materials
3 colors of paint at $7 per color and $8 in brushes = $29

Total = $29

Labor Costs****
Presenter's Time (Tony): 8 hours = $80
Printer's Time (Brandon and Shawn): 10 hours for design, printing, etc. (Brandon), 3 hours for cutting and clean-up (Shawn) = $130
Shirt Maker's Time (Brandon): hours for design, template, production = included in the cost of the shirt
Promoter's Time (Brewce): 6 hours handing out stickers that include Dash references) = $60
Video and Photo Technician's Time: 2 hours (Tim, Brandon, and Shawn) = $60
Laborer's Time (Tim and Shawn): 6 hours for help with above mentioned jobs (Tim and Shawn) = $120
Painter's Time (Brandon): 6 hours = $60

Total = $510

Proposal Fee
Proposal Fee Reimbursement = 5 Dash

Total = 5 Dash

Grand Total (all prices will be translated into Dash values and locked in at the price on the date of the proposal's submission to the network...this price will be specified at the time of the proposal submission) = $6,116 and 5 Dash

****Hourly pay is calculated at what we thought, given local economic conditions, was a fair (but not high) wage of $10 an hour. The labor seeking compensation is ONLY the labor used to do the presentations, distribute the free Dash, print the materials needed for both, make the shirt for the person doing both, producing video proof of our activities, handing out Dash promotional material (stickers), and help place, erect, paint, etc. any of the larger signs, especially the largest one. No other labor is asking for compensation. The Dash Expansion will be built by the collaborative labor of dozens of volunteers who came to the Work Party. The vast majority of labor for this project will be volunteer labor. We only asked for compensation for tasks that require labor before all the volunteers show up (when labor is in short supply and therefore at a premium) or that is done exclusively to educate the public about using Dash, either as a vendor or consumer. All Labor Costs are total for the entire 3 day Work Party event.

Payment Schedule

The 5 Dash anti-spam proposal submission fee is refunded upon this agreement's passage, as Payment A, on April 5th 2017, and all subsequent payments have to be made by August 5th 2017, after evidence is submitted by Skatopia as to completion of tasks to justify those payments. Construction, at the latest, will be complete on July 1st 2017, so evidence can be submitted throughout the July funding period for payment on July 5th and/or August 5th of 2017. Obviously evidence can be submitted for payment any time between April 5th and August 5th of 2017. No payments can be expected from Dash to Skatopia regarding this particular agreement after August 5th 2017.

Payment A (on April 5th 2017) = 5 Dash
Other Payments
(up to August 5nd 2017) = up to $6116 in Dash (as evidence justifies)

Payment Address:

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Standards of Evidence

Evidence will be presented in the form of pictures and video of the work site before, during and after construction, of concrete trucks, the shot-crete operator, his equipment, actual concrete, paid labor, etc. Receipts will be presented where possible for any of the above and for tools, etc. The printing process will be filmed and/or photographed. In every practical and possible way where reasonable, we will provide evidence of our expenses and met obligations for this agreement.

We are known widely to use re-purposed materials, scrap and otherwise used or salvaged materials where possible to reduce costs, so it is possible some reimbursements may end up less than the prices listed in the Budget section of this agreement.

Future Projects

If successful with this proposal, we have many exciting ideas for future proposals on how to expand the acceptance of Dash among vendors/merchants in our area and with whom we have strong business relationships.

We've already begun discussing adoption with some of our larger sponsors, and we're pleased to report they are receptive to the idea. We also noticed previous projects aimed at adoption were paid upfront, or despite lack of results (but not because of lack of effort, necessarily). We again can use the reimbursement model here by offering to get adoptions based on commission. We won't ask for payment for a single adoption that doesn't occur first. Again, this idea is reliant on the same pay-after-proof model of the current proposal, which is why future proposals are somewhat dependent on this one succeeding.

We also saw talk of a contest, perhaps, in which per capita area adoption would be the criteria by which victory is judged. We'd like to mention Skatopia is located in a town of less than 400 people and we know most of the vendors. We want to see a world where decentralized digital cash is all that's necessary to use if one chooses, so we could set out to get every vendor we use ourselves to adopt Dash. The first targets for adoption would be merchants with which we are already well associated through Skatopia. The second targets will be businesses we ourselves use (to attempt to create a local/small Dash-only-option ecosystem). The third targets would be "cold sales" to vendors in our larger area (nearby towns, etc.). The targets would be done in that order in hopes that some of the third targets have connections to the first and second. Some targets may require an incentive to adopt, the structure of which we'll propose at a later date.

We also have toured all over the North America, Europe and South America. We have contacts in the concert and extreme sports business, and may go on tour again in the near future. If so, we have a pink limousine that would look great with Dash plastered all over it with advertisement signs...so a possible sponsorship and mobile info/adoption tour could take place parallel to our own tour.

Skatopia also is hired to build community skate parks and other such projects from time to time, so there is a possibility of us accepting Dash for more than just park-related activities.

We have several annual parties/concerts and a conference, several of which we are already advertising on social media and our mailing list.

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16508973_1888897631382075_272414199973310538_n.jpg
17265258_1320528747986445_4747798320191495744_n.jpg


We have a few other ideas, including partnering with us to give away food at local food banks and community centers to those in need, but I think we've given the Masternodes a general idea for now of our level of interest and willingness to labor for the advancement of Dash.

Closing Statement

Skatopia hopes the Dash Masternodes will see the value in this project proposal, in terms of more vendor adoption, more in-real-life use cases and ecosystem development, long term advertising to a receptive demographic, and the possibility of not only a permanent structure providing long term marketing to a location with thousands of annual visitors, but also a possible long term, mutually beneficial business relationship.

We have enclosed a quick video introduction (don't mind the lens smudge; we've been known to get muddy) and slideshow of the park, some of the pro athletes who visit here, and the location relevant to this specific proposal. The area of construction is shown from several angles at the end of the video/slideshow. Please enjoy, and thank you all for your very valuable time.

Video/Slideshow:


Other Links:

Skatopia's Landmark Facebook page

Skatopia's Organization Facebook page

Brewce Martin's Facebook page

Skatopia's website

Skatopia's Work Party 2017 Facebook page

Skatopia's 2nd Annual S.E.E.D. Conference Facebook page

Skatopia's Bowl Bash 2017 Facebook page
 
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skatopia rules ! :D
6k is a bit much in my opinion - not sure if renovating the whole park is nessacery and makes sense ;)
 
Thanks for the positive statement :)

But honestly, this isn't expensive for concrete work like this. We've done FAR larger expansions for FAR more. If you can point to any particular budget items you want removed, you can list them though, and we can discuss their necessity for the project. I can also discuss the benefits Dash might reap, how many people per year come through Skatopia, etc. We just had a guy from Paris here for like a week...people come from as far as Russia. We get the word out, and we seek to get adoptions by vendors/merchants, not just consumers (the whole virtuous cycle thing :) ).

Besides, with 5 Dash being the cost it is in fiat, the proposals have to be a certain size just to make any economic sense...
 
If anyone wants an explanation why a smaller pour makes no sense economically or logistically, I can explain that. Also, if anyone wants the places we got our bids from, we can do that too. This is all on the up and up, and we are making a real effort to show that. Not to mention we are willing to receive nothing until we prove we did the tasks. I'm not sure how we can offer any more, but we're open to suggestions. And remember, this is a permanent piece of marketing...and just a way to open a door to future projects we mentioned above. This proposal carries the future opportunity value of future projects too. We wouldn't propose this if we didn't see a fair market value on both sides.
 
Will await more reviews of this proposal before jumping to conclusion, too busy with others at the moment to focus on this one.

I'll be watching and considering!
 
Thanks for watching and considering! We're hoping to get more talk in here and more total votes as well.
 
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I would vote for this. (I haven't yet put my masternode badge on my profile to prove I'm a voter -- I'll do that soon).

My only strong recommendation would be to include the words "Digital Cash" underneath the Dash logo in all printed materials. And if there's room for it and it's aesthetically pleasing, also the website dash.org.

Reason being, people will likely have no idea what Dash is, much less want to look into it, unless we make clear what it is -- the idea is just too new. So if printed materials/sponsorship spaces all clearly say "Digital Cash" right underneath "Dash", at least we've gotten the basic message across.
 
I'm all for sponsoring a team, but not to built a whole house. Maybe when DASH is at a 1000 usd.
 
I would vote for this. (I haven't yet put my masternode badge on my profile to prove I'm a voter -- I'll do that soon).

My only strong recommendation would be to include the words "Digital Cash" underneath the Dash logo in all printed materials. And if there's room for it and it's aesthetically pleasing, also the website dash.org.

Reason being, people will likely have no idea what Dash is, much less want to look into it, unless we make clear what it is -- the idea is just too new. So if printed materials/sponsorship spaces all clearly say "Digital Cash" right underneath "Dash", at least we've gotten the basic message across.

Already the plan. Dash will go on a painting of a large skateboard, with the website and digital cash written below the logo, which is the center of the board. We can do it without the board too. :)

It's #8 under what we can do for Dash...

"8. A large outdoor skateboard bowl expansion (obstacle) named after Dash; this expansion will feature the Dash logo and website painted all over the decks around the bowl and on the back of the extension (logo includes the "digital cash" phrase along with the Dash logo itself)"
 
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I'm all for sponsoring a team, but not to built a whole house. Maybe when DASH is at a 1000 usd.

I'm not trying to dismiss your concerns, but this is a super cheap concrete pour. This park has hundreds of thousands of dollars of concrete in it from almost 22 years of annual pours like this one. There is no way to pour any smaller than this, as the trucks cost a flat amount, they hold 10 yards, so you might as well get all 10 yards, and the site is going to be rebar skeleton build before the pour, and is a bottom corner of the larger Lula Bowl complex of ramps...to pour 1 truck and not 2 would mean exposed rebar, a cold seem in the concrete (structurally not sound), and thereby not worth doing at all. This is the smallest possible pour. Because we do this in sections, annually, we plan it out years ahead of time. We try to keep it to small pours, usually, due to past experiences with the clusterf*** of a larger one and all that can go wrong being multiplied.
 
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