Basim was successfully able to get his supporters there. Council Member
Herron was visibly upset by the process shown at that meeting. I was at
the meeting for an hour. The meeting was publicized as a discussion, not
as a vote. So it's unclear whether this followed CNIA bylaws.
Many came and voted, then left the meeting.
I'd be curious to see the sign in sheets for the meeting.
People in the neighborhood have over 200 signatures on petitions opposing
this motel. I anticipate those signatures will be delivered to Brian
Herron.
I anticipate another grievance will be filed against CNIA for the process
followed at this meeting.
Kim Goodman's description of the meeting is much more accurate than Mr.
Sabri's.
This is going to be a campaign issue. I can guarentee that.
Roxanna Orrell wrote the following on cnia-chat:
"The vote was a foregone conclusion. I wouldn't be surprise that the
sign-in sheets show many of the participants are registered at 301 or
315 Lake Street, just like at the last Annual Meeting. Let's also not
forget how hard Zack fought to have the issue of the Artspace project
taken away from the Housing Committee, which had started the work and
which was waiting for the results of the marketing survey last year, and
have it brought instead to Zack's committee, Business Development, where
it was summarily killed while neighbors looked on wondering what on
earth was going on.
The community has lost its voice along with its neighborhood
organization. This and other proposals they want passed will be forced
through, unless someone decides he or she the oodles of spare time to
start organizing at the grass-roots level (something that CNIA is
supposed to be doing but hasn't been), and doorknocking the entire
neighborhood and getting them motivated to come to important meetings
like this one (which is a feat in itself, since a lot of people have
come to understand how pointless it is to even try to take part, thanks
to the current CNIA regime of "openness" and "participation" and
"equality"). In the meantime, all that Basim Sabri has to do is send
his van around to collect his workers and tenants from his buildings.
Which do YOU think is going to arrange more participants? The feeble
attempts of a crumbling neighborhood organization run by a man who calls
our City Councilman out of order for trying to facilitate the
opportunity for any small dialogue? Basim Sabri? Or someone in the
neighborhood with "oodles of spare time" to duplicate CNIA's 20+ years
of resources, skills, and organizing momentum in only a matter of days?
Oh, yeah - I forgot. The community DID accomplish that at the special
meeting last fall, and threw the rascals out, only to have all their
work blown to nothing because the rascals decided to call a "re-count"
(a re-vote, really) after some people had left. Then, when challenged
with a number of grievances about how the meeting was conducted, they
decided not to even answer them, ostensibly because "they weren't really
grievances, they were just complaints."
By the way, Sabri deserves no credit for offering a less formal
community meeting. An "informal community meeting" a nice way of saying
"you've just been thrown a bone." The important meeting just happened.
It had a vote. The only other important meeting is the next CNIA board
meeting. Any subsequent meeting is a load of nonsense because it will
not change anything. It has no weight with CNIA or with City Hall.
Nobody is under any obligation to accept any proposals or act on any
concerns. The great complaing for years with CNIA process was that
there are too many meetings that result in nothing. Well, here's one
that's being set up for the express purpose of resulting in nothing.
Basim Sabri can do his half an hour there, happy as a clam because
anything that's said means exactly jack and squat. He can afford the
half an hour to put some whitewash on his & Zack's actions, that they
were such "good guys" after this travesty of a meeting. Many Central
residents, however, don't have that kind of time to just waste on empty air.
It's sad. While there's a lot of folks who say "the neighborhood has to
heal its differences," the ugly truth is that there there are certain
people who are at the root of the problem, and no amount of "can't we
all just get along" is going to solve the problem. When someone commits
a crime, the justice system doesn't say "let's all heal" - it
prosecutes. "Let's all heal" isn't going to help Corinne Zala and David
Coral and other residents on the block who may find their homes a
vanishing memory. It won't help neighbors disturbed by delivery trucks,
commercial garbage pickup, excess traffic (and light) at all times of
the night, and very likely criminal activity that the hotel will bring.
So, folks, what's the answer? Flood Brian Herron's email with the real
community voice? How many of you think it would do any good? What
else? Write copiously to the entire city council? Testify? Picket?
Spread the good word to the media?
The question is simply this - do enough people believe that this
neighborhood is really worth fighting for, and do they have the energy
and time and will to do what it would take to solve the problems?
-Roxanna"
I'd like to see the sign in sheets. CNIA chat posts are available at:
http://groups.yahoo.com/messages/cnia-chat/
Eva Young
Central
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