Last night Park Slope Food Coop held its monthly members meeting. At 7:26 p.m., senior Reuters Opinion editor Chadwick Matlin began live-tweeting the proceedings; two hours and 14 minutes later, “meeting is adjourned.” It’s difficult to pick a favorite here but “In europe I have been using the biodegradable, and they degrade so fast by the time you’re at checkout you don’t know where the bag is,” “’but my collards won’t fit!’ — one of the actresses in the silent film PSA,” and “”My name is Robert Dow. No relation to Dow Chemical.” have to be contenders.

@ChadwickMatlin

Chadwick Matlin I wasn’t going to, but it’s too good not to tweet. The park slope food coop meeting has begun.

Feb 29 via Echofon Favorite Retweet Reply

@ChadwickMatlin

Chadwick Matlin Despite not being on the agenda until next month, was canvassed with Israel food boycott materials before even entering meeting.

Feb 29 via Echofon Favorite Retweet Reply

@ChadwickMatlin

Chadwick Matlin The room is tense with passive aggression. Israeli food referendum dominates. Free Oreos given out, but not free hummus.

Feb 29 via Echofon Favorite Retweet Reply

@ChadwickMatlin

Chadwick Matlin 7:31 pm: First mention of “fascist food.”

Feb 29 via Echofon Favorite Retweet Reply

@ChadwickMatlin

Chadwick Matlin Man gets up, says coop should ban Israeli food only if it bans american food because of native American occupation. He’s wearing yarmulke.

Feb 29 via Echofon Favorite Retweet Reply

@ChadwickMatlin

Chadwick Matlin Coop spending $4,000 to rent high school for Israeli vote. And ppl say Israeli boycott would be bad for economy.

Feb 29 via Echofon Favorite Retweet Reply

@ChadwickMatlin

Chadwick Matlin Coordinator reports that since inception, coop has sold more than 400 mil in goods.

Feb 29 via Echofon Favorite Retweet Reply

@ChadwickMatlin

Chadwick Matlin Food coordinator admits that even though clemntines are coming from Morocco, they’re really delicious.

Feb 29 via Echofon Favorite Retweet Reply

@ChadwickMatlin

Chadwick Matlin Goes on to say “everything is coconut these days.” in related news, she went birding in Sri Lanka and had some great coconut water there.

Feb 29 via Echofon Favorite Retweet Reply

@ChadwickMatlin

Chadwick Matlin Discussion about whether coop should post directions to next months meeting. Woman: “there’s a huge antennae in the sky, just look for that”

Feb 29 via Echofon Favorite Retweet Reply

@ChadwickMatlin

Chadwick Matlin Member! These are my people. I am them. They are me. RT @irincarmon: @ChadwickMatlin are you a member or are you just lurking?

Feb 29 via Echofon Favorite Retweet Reply

@ChadwickMatlin

Chadwick Matlin Have now moved on to tonight’s business: whether to eliminate plastic produce bags at coop. No vote tonight. Just discussion.

Feb 29 via Echofon Favorite Retweet Reply

moorehn Heidi N. Moore

Chad is live-tweeting the Park Slope food co-op hummus controversy. RT @ChadwickMatlin: 7:31 pm: First mention of “fascist food.”

Feb 29 Favorite Retweet Reply

in reply to @moorehn↑

@ChadwickMatlin

Chadwick Matlin @moorehn technically no hummus vote tonight. That’s next month. Whether to eliminate plastic bags is tonight.

Feb 29 via Echofon Favorite Retweet Reply

@ChadwickMatlin

Chadwick Matlin Plastic produce bag rollout would take 3 months. Follow in footsteps of plastic shopping bag ban already in place.

Feb 29 via Echofon Favorite Retweet Reply

irincarmon Irin Carmon

@ChadwickMatlin are you a member or are you just lurking?

Feb 29 Favorite Retweet Reply

marcatracy marc tracy

@irincarmon @ChadwickMatlin non-members aren’t allowed in, or so I was told. I’ll be relying on your reporting tomorrow (seriously!)

Feb 29 Favorite Retweet Reply

in reply to @marcatracy↑

@ChadwickMatlin

Chadwick Matlin @marcatracy no Israel stuff tonight! No vote at least. Not on agenda til next month.

Feb 29 via Echofon Favorite Retweet Reply

@ChadwickMatlin

Chadwick Matlin Slide: “plastic bags + fracking?”

Feb 29 via Echofon Favorite Retweet Reply

@ChadwickMatlin

Chadwick Matlin Coop plastic produce bag stats: 383 bags used per hour. $22k per year spent on providing bags.

Feb 29 via Echofon Favorite Retweet Reply

@ChadwickMatlin

Chadwick Matlin Proponent saying one reason to ban plastic bags because they go into trash that goes through low income community in South Bronx.

Feb 29 via Echofon Favorite Retweet Reply

@ChadwickMatlin

Chadwick Matlin Proponent says one option to replace plastic bags is that members can make their own cloth replacements.

Feb 29 via Echofon Favorite Retweet Reply

@ChadwickMatlin

Chadwick Matlin Anti plastic bag PSA being played. Called “The Shopper”. Spoof of “The Artist”

Feb 29 via Echofon Favorite Retweet Reply

@ChadwickMatlin

Chadwick Matlin “but my collards won’t fit!” — one of the actresses in the silent film PSA.

Feb 29 via Echofon Favorite Retweet Reply

@ChadwickMatlin

Chadwick Matlin Point of order for non members out there: every speaking member must introduce selves and what shift they work. Receiving, Shopping, etc.

Feb 29 via Echofon Favorite Retweet Reply

@ChadwickMatlin

Chadwick Matlin Also, coop newspaper is called “linewaiter’s gazette”

Feb 29 via Echofon Favorite Retweet Reply

@ChadwickMatlin

Chadwick Matlin Lengthy speech abt cost of cloth bags compred to plastic bags on scale. Half cent on a scale, not factoring in cost of water to clean them.

Feb 29 via Echofon Favorite Retweet Reply

@ChadwickMatlin

Chadwick Matlin Board member tried to cut speech off. “it’s going somewhere!” man protests.

Feb 29 via Echofon Favorite Retweet Reply

@ChadwickMatlin

Chadwick Matlin “The true objective here is to get international media attention for booting out roll bags.” Success!

Feb 29 via Echofon Favorite Retweet Reply

@ChadwickMatlin

Chadwick Matlin Woman next to me has finished her squeeze pack of Almond Milk/Butter/Thingie.

Feb 29 via Echofon Favorite Retweet Reply

@ChadwickMatlin

Chadwick Matlin Woman proposing that coop could have muslin (sp?) bag donation drive.

Feb 29 via Echofon Favorite Retweet Reply

@smalera

Paul Smalera Actually, every speaker so far RT @ChadwickMatlin: Board member tried to cut speech off. “it’s going somewhere!” man protests.

Feb 29 via Twitter for iPhone Favorite Retweet Reply

@ChadwickMatlin

Chadwick Matlin Counterpoint! “Bio bags have their own sustainability issues. A lot of them are made from corn.” Proposes group bag share w mutual cleaning.

Feb 29 via Echofon Favorite Retweet Reply

@ChadwickMatlin

Chadwick Matlin “Most ppl have a bag of bags. I used to have a bag of bags that took up half the closet.”

Feb 29 via Echofon Favorite Retweet Reply

@ChadwickMatlin

Chadwick Matlin “I do checkout, you know, so that’s why I’m speaking. I’m right on the firing line, you know?”

Feb 29 via Echofon Favorite Retweet Reply

@ChadwickMatlin

Chadwick Matlin Potential corruption scandal: Woman on checkout committee proposes taring scale purposefully high to account for bag weight.

Feb 29 via Echofon Favorite Retweet Reply

ChadwickMatlin Chadwick Matlin

Counterpoint! “Bio bags have their own sustainability issues. A lot of them are made from corn.” Proposes group bag share w mutual cleaning.

Feb 29 Favorite Retweet Reply

jgperras Justin Perras

@ChadwickMatlin I need you to swear on your life that these are all real. Because right now you’re Santa Claus delivering me these gifts.

Feb 29 Favorite Retweet Reply

in reply to @jgperras↑

@ChadwickMatlin

Chadwick Matlin @jgperras I am a sworn journalist. Ethics apply! All true.

Feb 29 via Echofon Favorite Retweet Reply

@ChadwickMatlin

Chadwick Matlin “I’ve been a member for 37 years, and I’ve never taken a plastic bag from the coop. I use bags until they disintegrate in my house.”

Feb 29 via Echofon Favorite Retweet Reply

@ChadwickMatlin

Chadwick Matlin Man comes up to speak and say that he heard on the news that somebody may have discovered a plastic-eating bacteria.

Feb 29 via Echofon Favorite Retweet Reply

@ChadwickMatlin

Chadwick Matlin “My name is Robert Dow. No relation to Dow Chemical.”

Feb 29 via Echofon Favorite Retweet Reply

@ChadwickMatlin

Chadwick Matlin “corn production contributes to dead zone on ocean, so that’s one thing to consider if we use corn bags”

Feb 29 via Echofon Favorite Retweet Reply

@ChadwickMatlin

Chadwick Matlin Clarification! Woman says this isn’t a ban on plastic bags. Just plastic bags the coop provides for free. We are all free to use our own.

Feb 29 via Echofon Favorite Retweet Reply

@ChadwickMatlin

Chadwick Matlin But she wants us to know that “plastic doesn’t really have a role to play in frugal living”

Feb 29 via Echofon Favorite Retweet Reply

@ChadwickMatlin

Chadwick Matlin “In europe I have been using the biodegradable, and they degrade do fast by the time you’re at checkout you don’t know where the bag is”

Feb 29 via Echofon Favorite Retweet Reply

@ChadwickMatlin

Chadwick Matlin “poop and pee and trash juice”

Feb 29 via Echofon Favorite Retweet Reply

@ChadwickMatlin

Chadwick Matlin Bag washing instructions: “you dump them in water with white vinegar. A week later it’s still smiling!”

Feb 29 via Echofon Favorite Retweet Reply

@ChadwickMatlin

Chadwick Matlin European woman on a role. Woman gets out camera, points it at her. “No picture. My face belongs to me, sweetheart.

Feb 29 via Echofon Favorite Retweet Reply

@ChadwickMatlin

Chadwick Matlin “I understand the applause. But please, no applause” — board member in response to our response to the European messiah.

Feb 29 via Echofon Favorite Retweet Reply

@ChadwickMatlin

Chadwick Matlin “the responsible thing for the coop to do is to remove the temptation”

Feb 29 via Echofon Favorite Retweet Reply

@ChadwickMatlin

Chadwick Matlin Advice from somebody for no bag advocates: “come armed with a flier…or a reusable flier”

Feb 29 via Echofon Favorite Retweet Reply

@ChadwickMatlin

Chadwick Matlin Man raises hand (and bag) to speak on issue. Wonder what he thinks. http://t.co/OrNOEWKO

Feb 29 via Camera on iOS Favorite Retweet Reply

@ChadwickMatlin

Chadwick Matlin Opposition beginning to organize. Arguing ban would punish ppl doing right thing. “you’re not ordering takeout. You’re going home to cook!”

Feb 29 via Echofon Favorite Retweet Reply

@ChadwickMatlin

Chadwick Matlin Opposition beginning to organize. Arguing ban would punish ppl doing right thing. “you’re not ordering takeout. You’re going home to cook!”

Feb 29 via Echofon Favorite Retweet Reply

@ChadwickMatlin

Chadwick Matlin @kimseverson tonight your former compatriots are out in force, the linchpins for the plastic bag ban. On the self-described “firing line”

Feb 29 via Echofon Favorite Retweet Reply

@ChadwickMatlin

Chadwick Matlin Suggestion that the plastic bag PSA be played on endless loop on monitors at checkout line, TSA security check-style.

Feb 29 via Echofon Favorite Retweet Reply

@ChadwickMatlin

Chadwick Matlin Clear sentiment emerging to pass the ban. But it’ll have to wait until enviro committee hones proposal, brings back another month for vote.

Feb 29 via Echofon Favorite Retweet Reply

@ChadwickMatlin

Chadwick Matlin “If we were to frame this issue as ‘we’re giving away toxic sludge in the produce aisle’ there really would be no discussion”

Feb 29 via Echofon Favorite Retweet Reply

@ChadwickMatlin

Chadwick Matlin Nuanced point of civil liberty implications of ban raised (by my roommate.)

Feb 29 via Echofon Favorite Retweet Reply

@ChadwickMatlin

Chadwick Matlin Nuanced point of civil liberty implications of ban raised (by my roommate.)

Feb 29 via Echofon Favorite Retweet Reply

@ChadwickMatlin

Chadwick Matlin “If you go to trader Joe’s, that’s how they do it.” Boos from the crowd. “Terrible!”

Feb 29 via Echofon Favorite Retweet Reply

@ChadwickMatlin

Chadwick Matlin Plastic bag discussion now closed. Moving on now to whether all coop members should be required to shop with carts. (to prevent theft)

Feb 29 via Echofon Favorite Retweet Reply

@ChadwickMatlin

Chadwick Matlin In January, the coop had 14 shoplifters.

Feb 29 via Echofon Favorite Retweet Reply

@ChadwickMatlin

Chadwick Matlin Getting history lesson on coop theft history. At one point in 80s, someone installed in high chair to watch over cashiers. (no longer)

Feb 29 via Echofon Favorite Retweet Reply

@ChadwickMatlin

Chadwick Matlin “We had something called the no food zone.” In a grocery store.

Feb 29 via Echofon Favorite Retweet Reply

@ChadwickMatlin

Chadwick Matlin 2 hours after beginning of meeting, sign in book still making the round. Yes, it’s in a composition notebook.

Feb 29 via Echofon Favorite Retweet Reply

@ChadwickMatlin

Chadwick Matlin “150 linear feet of vegetables. Most of which, organic. Just thrills me.”

Feb 29 via Echofon Favorite Retweet Reply

@ChadwickMatlin

Chadwick Matlin “what if we need two personal carts? What if I shop at union market before? Will my shopping be monitored In a corner?”

Feb 29 via Echofon Favorite Retweet Reply

@ChadwickMatlin

Chadwick Matlin “I come from a country where thieves are rewarded for creativity”

Feb 29 via Echofon Favorite Retweet Reply

@ChadwickMatlin

Chadwick Matlin “I come from a country where thieves are rewarded for creativity”

Feb 29 via Echofon Favorite Retweet Reply

@ChadwickMatlin

Chadwick Matlin “My name is Steven FTOP.” Everyone laughs. Inside jokes!

Feb 29 via Echofon Favorite Retweet Reply

@ChadwickMatlin

Chadwick Matlin Mandatory shopping cart usage far more controversial than plastic bag ban. Only at the coop.

Feb 29 via Echofon Favorite Retweet Reply

@ChadwickMatlin

Chadwick Matlin By the end, even the most hearty coop member goes supine. 15 mins left. http://t.co/WAiO885o

Feb 29 via Echofon Favorite Retweet Reply

@ChadwickMatlin

Chadwick Matlin New concerns about racial profiling being raised if we create a culture of “criminalization.”

Feb 29 via Echofon Favorite Retweet Reply

@ChadwickMatlin

Chadwick Matlin Point of order for non members: reason why everyone still here because you have to sign in at beginning AND end of meeting. To prevent abuse

Feb 29 via Echofon Favorite Retweet Reply

@ChadwickMatlin

Chadwick Matlin Board of directors meeting now happening, inside of the general meeting. Escher in the house!

Feb 29 via Echofon Favorite Retweet Reply

@ChadwickMatlin

Chadwick Matlin Final segment of meeting is time for questions about meeting. Man asks question about whthr discussion should be for comments…or questions

Feb 29 via Echofon Favorite Retweet Reply

@ChadwickMatlin

Chadwick Matlin Now, finally, time for ride share announcement.

Feb 29 via Echofon Favorite Retweet Reply

@ChadwickMatlin

Chadwick Matlin “Meeting is adjourned.” See you all next month for the Israel vote. (Or, rather the vote on whether to allow a vote)

Feb 29 via Echofon Favorite Retweet Reply