[Foundation-l] Wikimedia Pennsylvania

[Andrew Whitworth]

>Hmm, I'd tend to agree with the sentiment that regional / metro-based
>chapters make more sense than state chapters, especially if the idea is
>to organize local activity. We already have US legal infrastructure in
>WMF, and there'll be more benefit in local organizing by keeping groups,
>well, local.
>
>Miami and Tallahassee, or Los Angeles and San Francisco, or Philly and
>Pittsburgh, don't seem like super-convenient pairings to me.
>
>What's the argument in favor of state-level blocks?

Consider the case of Pennsylvania where residents tend to describe it as 
"Philadelphia, Pittsburg, and everything in between". And let me ask you if 
we had a philly and a pittsburgh chapter, what would all the people "in 
between" do? We don't want to tell people that they can't be in a chapter, 
or that they can't start a chapter because they live in a rural area. SB 
Johnny, Cbrown, and myself, who are working hardest to get this chapter 
moving, don't really live near enough to philadelphia to participate in the 
chapter that we are trying to start!

Half the population of pennsylvania does not live in one of these cities, 
and i can't see a reason to tell half the available people that they can't 
participate just because they live in rural areas. And if we focus on a 
metropolitan area only, we are missing out on outreach opportunities outside 
these cites.  There are plenty of opportunities for us: Lancaster, 
Allentown, Erie, Harrisburg and State College, etc and these are only 
available if we look outside a small city-based area.

--Andrew Whitworth

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