Ed-
We are not in a small boat. Yes, the chair may have left the meeting. I am sure he would admit that didn't follow the letter of the Robert's Rules of Order. However, I am also sure the situation was so volatile in that room with Basim and Zach screaming and hollering and the Somali people just trying to understand what was going on that he felt that was his only option. Generally, we hope volunteers of neighborhood associations don't have to put up with this sort of raucous behavior at meetings so we don't train people regarding how they should behave when Basim and Zach show up with the sole purpose of disrupting the meeting.
However, the Somali people were absolutely not prevented from participating by Robert's Rules of order. The chair of Ventura Village takes names of people in the order that they raise their hands and they are called on to speak to the issue. I happened to be there when the PPL issue was being discussed. The Somali people were passionate about their feelings toward PPL and had no difficulty being called on to speak and participated heartily in that discussion. As I said, some really positive things have risen from this meeting. The biggest thing being a real willingness on the part of many of the Somali people to learn more about the process. Believe me, Ventura Village folks are excited about stepping up to the plate to help educate.
I wish more organizations and meetings were run as well as Ventura Village. I can assure you that every i is dotted and every t is crossed in their paperwork and their efforts to increase participation in the neighborhood meetings. The chair Ray Peterson runs a tight meeting and has kept order in some of the most difficult situations. I have recommended people from other neighborhoods to attend VV meetings to watch how well orchestrated they are. They have one of the most open voting processes in the city. Anyone who is a member of Ventura Village can vote at the monthly meetings. There are no votes that are restricted to only board members. To be a member of VV you must live in the neighborhood or own property. I think that is pretty broad and pretty reasonable.
I think what was really going on that night is that Omar Sabri wanted to change the by-laws to allow anyone who has a business in Ventura Village to vote. Currently, you must own the property. In addition, there is only one representative per business that is allowed to vote. Personally, I find that very fair. MCDA citizen participation requires 60% of the board members to be residents. The remaining percentage can be comprised from businesses, organizations, institutions or whatever. I am comfortable with that.
By changing the by-laws to allow any business owner to vote regardless of ownership would mean that all 90 business owners in Omar's sook could vote at VV meetings. That would mean that Omar could potentially stack any meeting he wanted to where there was an issue affecting him and control the vote. This are the very tactics Basim Sabri allegedly used in Central when he orchestrated the take-over of that neighborhood association. He has also used those tactics in Whittier to attempt to control votes. Obviously, Centrals by-laws allowed not only any business owner to participate, but, their employees also. The same is true in Whittier. There has been a long standing battle ground in Whittier between residents and businesses over this issue. In Whittier, any business is allowed to vote as are their employees. I have been at more than one meeting where businesses stacked the place with their employee
s to
ensure passage of a particular issue. Many residents in Whittier resent the heavy handed business control of the board and there has been great contention over it in past years. Currently, the Whittier Alliance is being accused of being very heavily developer driven. Many board members have interests in developments occurring in the neighborhood. This has seemingly taken attention away from resident driven issues like youth issues, crime and safety etc. However, without a change in the by-laws this will be allowed to continue.
I am just glad that Ventura Village used the disaster in Central to help them ensure their neighborhood association would continue to be resident driven and not controlled by any particular business.
If there was any foul afoot at the now infamous VV meeting, it was not on the part of the VV regulars. My personal opinion is that all the fluster and bluster that occurred at the meeting was planned and intentional and is now become a definitive modus operandi of some community members.
Barb Lickness
Whittier
NRP Staff to Ventura Village
"Never doubt that a small group of thoughtful, committed citizens can change the world. Indeed,
it's the only thing that ever has." -- Margaret Mead
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