I tried to sometime back to Greg Luce's question as what I thought about this, but my message bounced (apparently I'd included all of an issue in my reply & of course it was too long). Thanksgiving intervened & it seemed out of date to try again. However, the discussion seems to be continuing, so I'll send my answer again. As Michael Atherton notes, some years ago I supported and voted for adoption of the current Prospect ParK East River Road Improvement Association bylaws. Those bylaws contain a membership eligibility requirement of "permanent and primary residence" within the neighborhood boundaries. Last Monday night 30 members of the PPERRIA board voted on a proposed amendment to delete the "permanent and primary" language (btw, in the interest of disclosure, the proposed amendment was authored by my wife Betts). The vote, as Steve Cross has posted, was 18 in favor of the amendment, 10 against, and 2 abstaining. However it takes a supermajority of 75% of the board to amend the bylaws so the amendment failed. Although I had resigned from the board and usually abstain from general membership votes to avoid any real or perceived conflict between my roles as neighbor and city councilmember, I supported and spoke in favor of the proposed amendment because I, like a lot of the neighbors have become convinced it's the right thing to do. Some neighbors expressed fears of a student "takeover" based on a Marcy Holmes Neighborhood Association meeting where there was a sharp contest arising largely out of one issue (historic designation of the Greek houses). I pointed out that MHNA prevailed in resisting changes to its bylaws (even though some of the neighbors had worked with students on the proposed changes) and, in any event, it's called democracy. Jerry Stein, who supported and voted for the PPERRIA amendment, suggested that, however the vote came out, PPERRIA should do more to reach out to students, as the Southeast Como Improvement Association has done with such success. I also spoke in favor of that. Paul Zerby Prospect Park REMINDERS: 1. Think a member has violated the rules? Email the list manager at [EMAIL PROTECTED] before continuing it on the list. 2. Don't feed the troll! Ignore obvious flame-bait.
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