Placement Newsletter #9 for 2015

Placement Newsletter # 9 2015 

In this issue:

1. Bars on Playa
2. Trenching
3. Announcing DJ Lineups in BRC


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Hello Fine People of Black Rock City!

Is it just me or has time suddenly sped up?
Here at Burning Man headquarters we no longer talk about how many days until the man burns, but in the back of our minds we know that great day is coming fast.

Before we gather in the dust, we have to talk about a few dos and don'ts.

So this newsletter is about trenching, bars and announcing your DJ line-ups. Thanks to all of our friends in other departments for their contributions to this newsletter.

Also, some of you are writing in asking about Vehicle Passes. Our friends with Ticketing say "For those who have not purchased a vehicle pass from us yet, there will be an option to register to purchase just a vehicle pass in our OMG sale later this summer— so if you got tickets but didn't get a vehicle pass in the Individual Sale, or Directed Group Sale you'll be able to register for your chance to purchase one in the OMG Sale."

What good news.

As we enter the final push of prepping and planning, I wish you all good list making and great collaborations!

- Answergirl

PS - Want to write to us - email placement@burningman.org & please put your sector and camp name into the subject line for a faster response.

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1. BARS ON THE PLAYA

Local law enforcement would like to see us continue to address the potential issue of underage drinking at our event.  Though we, the organization, are not offering alcohol to anyone and are not responsible for bars at Burning Man, there are possible consequences for camps with bars and us if we do not address this concern. Please read the following to make sure you are fully informed.

We do not believe that there are any rampant problems with underage drinking at our event that would merit investigation.  Unfortunately local law enforcement does not agree with us.  Therefore, you should be aware of Nevada laws on underage drinking.  Here are some useful facts:

- It is a misdemeanor to serve alcoholic beverages to anyone under 21 years old in Nevada.  The law still applies if the alcohol is gifted as opposed to sold. Theme camps are considered public space and subject to enforcement of this law. (NRS 202.055)  In 2001 the Nevada State Supreme Court limited the application of NRS 202.055 to only servers who had actual or constructive knowledge that the person seeking the alcohol was under 21. This means that you must card someone who looks underage. Conversely, if someone looks of age you are not required to card him or her.

- It is a misdemeanor for a minor to consume or possess an alcoholic beverage in a public space (e.g., theme camps, open playa, center camp, etc). (NRS 202.020)

- It is a misdemeanor for a minor to pass him or herself off as being of age. (NRS 202.040)

- Misdemeanors carry the following penalties: Up to 6 months in county jail, and/or a fine up to $1,000.  Alternatively, community service may be sentenced in lieu of, or in conjunction with jail time and fines.  (NRS 176.087)

- If a minor loiters in a place where alcoholic beverages are consumed (besides a food establishment) then the minor could receive a fine up to $500.  (NRS 202.030) Also, if the person in charge of the "tavern" allows the minor to loiter then he or she could be fined up to $500 also.  (NRS 202.060)

Historically, enforcement of the laws is either done by carding the person outright, or through undercover sting operations. None of this is new and not terribly different from most other state laws.

But what can you do to #1 Avoid illegally serving minors?, #2 Avoid being cited, or #3 If cited, demonstrate the due diligence against serving minors you used when operating a bar on the playa?

1 Don't serve anyone without ID, who appears underage.
2 Ask for ID for anyone who appears underage. Learn to read it properly and determine by the date of birth if the person is old enough to drink.
3 Post "No Minors Allowed - No Minors Served" signs to discourage minors from committing a misdemeanor by loitering, requesting, or consuming alcohol at your bar.
4 Do not allow minors to loiter at your bar: ask them to leave.
5 Confer with a co-server -- get a second opinion -- when a patron appears "youthfully" over 21.
6 Work together - if you have refused to serve a patron because they do not appear to be of legal age, notify all your bar servers of your decision. There may be undercover operatives working with local law enforcement that attempt to be served more than once.

(NOTE: Federal and local law enforcement priorities differ on one or more of these issue. If you find yourself in an unfortunate encounter please get a badge number and/or name and note what agency you are dealing with. It might come in handy.)

Bottom line: NEVER, NEVER knowingly serve alcohol to a minor! It's illegal and it's not cool.

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2. IN THE TRENCHES

As Black Rock City grows, and more camps rely on power and fuel distribution, the issue of trenching becomes more common place.

Trenching within camps is one thing - Please follow the guidelines listed below.
However Trenching across roads is NOT OKAY.  Okay?  Seriously.

Our temporary roads never seem to recover very well during the event, when trenching across them is followed by a week's worth of foot, bicycle, and mutant vehicle traffic.
Similarly, large Mutant Vehicles with draggable mutations could disrupt trenching, leading to all manner of dangerous conditions.
Please plan accordingly.

If you are an Esplanade Camp and need to trench across this no vehicle traffic road, you must gain the approval of the DPW Heavy Equipment Manager via your Placer on playa. We need to hear ChAos say OK before you can trench anything across the Esplanade.

Trenching/Digging Conditions (instructions to outside service providers) 

Provider shall strive to minimize its impact on the playa and shall restore the playa to its original condition at the conclusion of its operations.  Provider shall use good judgment to minimize playa disturbance by limiting digging and trenching to main power distribution lines running from the power source to key power distribution points, and situations where a safety hazard will be created by leaving wires exposed.

The primary intention for trenching is the burial of electrical cables.  No trenching for other purposes may be completed without prior approval from the DPW Heavy Equipment Manager.
1 Maximum depth for trenches is not to exceed six inches without prior approval from the DPW Heavy Equipment Manager.
2 No trenching may be done across city streets without prior approval from the DPW Heavy Equipment Manager.
3 Power lines must be placed immediately upon completion of trenching operations, and trenches must be appropriately backfilled and compacted.  No trench may remain open overnight or for an extended duration regardless of circumstance.
4 Special care should be taken to avoid the introduction of foreign matter into open trenches during both installation and removal of cables.
5 Once cables have been removed, Provider shall follow all Leave No Trace practices which include the restoration of disturbed surfaces to their original state.  Provider shall fill and compact all trenches to a surface level with the surrounding area.

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3. Announcing DJ Lineups in BRC

Dear artists, organizers and leaders who make Black Rock City what it is,

We're writing to you with a request. We want you to refrain from pre-announcing and promoting your on-playa DJ lineups, a practice that many sound camps already employ. If you absolutely must announce your lineups ahead of time, we ask that you wait until the week before the event. Here's why:

As you may be aware, the beloved Mayan Warrior Mutant Vehicle crew recently announced their DJ lineup, much like it was the lineup for an Electronic Dance Music (EDM) festival all its own. (They have since taken the lineup down from their website, which we appreciate.) We want to share with you this comment a Burner posted in response to the announcement at Resident Advisor:

"Hey, I really love Burning Man, and I really love music at Burning Man, and as a long-time Burner, I love the artistry behind your car, the sound system, and as always, the people you bring on your car to play.

But releasing a lineup like this, over a month in advance, flies right in the face of the rules and is pretty disrespectful in general. We want to avoid turning Burning Man into an EDM festival, with people hunting for lineups and timeslots. Burning Man is not an EDM festival, or even a music festival. It's something else, undefineable."

Even to someone who loves EDM enough to comment on an EDM news site, the practice of posting on-playa DJ lineups causes an upsetting sensation that there's un-Burning Man-like activity going on. We couldn't agree more — in fact, for many years, we've discretely requested that camps keep their line-ups a surprise. So yes, we feel that sensation, and we bet some of you do, too.

These kinds of promotions create notoriety in a community that doesn't necessarily share our principles, and specifically commodifies and commercializes artistic experiences. Promotion beyond Black Rock City gets especially uncomfortable when on-playa camps, Mutant Vehicles and events are connected to off-playa commercial enterprises.

Promoting lineups to a worldwide audience is not the same thing as listing an act or an event within the confines of Black Rock City, in resources like the online Playa Events Calendar or the printed WhatWhereWhen guide distributed to participants when they arrive. Those are for reaching people who are already going to be on the playa to let them know what's going on. They are not intended to build a brand on the merits of an appearance at Burning Man. It's simply unnecessary to promote beyond ticketed Burners for an experience you're giving to Black Rock City.

Burning Man is an experiment in temporary community, not a traditional festival like the others. So when our participants post splashy DJ lineups, EDM sites and forums talk about us as though we are, spreading that message far and wide. It can also add to an already painful ticket scarcity issue — we don't want to artificially drive up demand for tickets that aren't available, and the attraction of big-name DJs can also drive up the price of after-market tickets.

Burning Man doesn't have "headliners". We pride ourselves on that. Burners don't follow anyone else to Black Rock City, they go for themselves. Please understand, we don't have anything against EDM, an art form whose vibrant community has made great contributions to Burning Man for many years. But we welcome members of the EDM community to come to Burning Man for a different experience than they're used to: to fully participate in an experiment in a temporary community.

So, while we used to ask this on the downlow, we've seen enough instances in the last couple years that we feel the need to formally ask you not to announce your lineups. If you are dead-set on it, OK, but please wait until a week prior to the event before you do so. However, as surprise is great fun, and playa rumors help make things more exciting, we'd suggest that not announcing your lineup at all would be ideal. We're asking you to listen to this request, think about it, and do what's right for Burning Man culture. Thank you.

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Thank you and stayed tuned!!

The 2015 Placement Team

Abdullah, Answergirl, Baulknaub, Bravo, the Flaggers, GetRich, Happy, HepKitten, KGB, Level, Machine, Muppet, Papa Bear, Pono, Retro, Shadow, SwAmPy, Sweetthang, The Governess and WhatsIt.