I'm sorry Karen. One other question.
You mentioned the discussion about "better to have a seat at the table" I
find it odd but understandable. Was there any suggestion that UCD would
deny you a seat at the table if you just gave them one CPN choice?
If you can recall, why did CPN board members have that suspicion?
Back around the time that I was on the board at FOCP, 2001, and just after,
I clearly recall a couple of people suggesting that UCD be allowed to do
what it wanted or they might "pull out." I was then objecting to the
negative image they were creating about Clark park.
I clearly got the message that some were in some way intimidated that UCD
might "pull out" and that they were explicitly told this. I remember that
I was supposed to feel guilty about risking the "master plan" with my
insistance of inclusion of park stakeholders.
I heard some nasty stuff about a local attorney who introduced a motion to
rescind the Clark Park master plan. Essentially, that was at the heart of
the ad hominems I heard. That he was jeopardizing everyone's hard work.
It's helpful to compare our thoughts and experiences.
Glenn
----- Original Message -----
From: "KAREN ALLEN" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
To: <[email protected]>; <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
Sent: Friday, June 08, 2007 12:47 PM
Subject: RE: [UC] The UCD Board and community reps
>From: "Glenn" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
Reply-To: "Glenn" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
To: <[email protected]>
Subject: [UC] The UCD Board and community reps
Date: Fri, 8 Jun 2007 07:44:12 -0400
Has anyone anything else to add about the civic associations'
representative choosing process?
YES!
As you all probably know, I'm Treasurer of Cedar Park Neighbors, and have
been so since 1996. I cannot speak as to the procedure by which our
current UCD representative, Dorothy Berlind, was seated, or when her term
is due to expire, because I honestly have no recollection or knowledge. I
can, however, speak to historical events that occurred back in 2000 and
2001. I am not saying that the process is still being used because,
again, I honestly do not know.
In 2000-2001, the University City Community Council was very active. UCCC
is a coalition of community associations and special interest groups. I
along with Mike Hardy and Melani worked on writing the bylaws when the
group formed around 1997. By 2000, the members were Powelton Village,
Cedar Park, Garden Court, Walnut Hill, Squirrell Hill, and Spruce Hill,
along with groups like UC Historical Society, UC Pride, and Friends of
Clark Park. Spruce Hill resigned from the group because of the
controversy over what was to become the Penn-Alexander School catchment
area.
During 2000-2001, there was a major controversey between UCCC and UCD
because UCD insisted that each community association send the names of
three people as "nominees" to the UCD Board, and UCD would then "select"
which of the three would represent that association. The then-President
of Squirrell Hill was one of the vocal members of the UCCC, and he was
adamant, as was I and others, that UCD was not going to select who was
going to represent the community associations.
When it came time for CPN to decide, I and another CPN Board member who
was active in UCCC insisted to the CPN Board that we should not send
three, and have UCD select our representative, but instead send only the
representative that we wanted. I was out-voted because the opinion was
put forth that it was "better to have a seat at the table" and three
nominees was then requested. I and my co-militant nominated each other as
two of the nominees, but were out-voted.
Again, this is what I know about the original UCD community rep selection
process. Whether that is still the case today I don't know. But I will go
on record as saying that that was what was done in 2000-2001.
Karen Allen
From: "Glenn" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
Reply-To: "Glenn" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
To: <[email protected]>
Subject: [UC] The UCD Board and community reps
Date: Fri, 8 Jun 2007 07:44:12 -0400
Folks, something else came out yesterday that is very indicative of the
underlying problem with UCD. The Councilwoman told everyone that her staff
member, Marty, was removed from the UCD Board. Later, Glenn Bryan, with
whom she has worked, was also either removed or not permitted on the
Board.
We don't know anything about how Penn real estate and its corporate
partners choose this body and they can change it at will.
Mr. Lewis Wendell, at one point yesterday, asserted that all the civic
associations have Board members on the UCD Board. A civic association
leader leaned over to me and gave me a little hearsay.
She suggested that the UCD picked or suggested the civic association
representatives and not some internal voting process after some discussion
by the members.
Has anyone anything else to add about the civic associations'
representative choosing process? Are their people in the associations that
have UCD Board representatives that can confirm or deny if there were
appropriate discussions to choose your representatives? Did you find out
that you had a Board representative but had not heard of any process for
choosing? Can anyone describe an internal choosing process?
I know that with all of the UCD initiatives, it is a very strict UCD
policy that UCD handpicks the "community" representatives and may close
out all stakeholders suspected of not rubber stamping the planned agenda.
So although I haven't been on the Board of any of the civic associations
except FOCP, the brief story from the civic association leader sounds
believable to me.
In one of their first initiatives, the revitalization of Clark Park, I
experienced this closing out of stakeholders as I was repeatedly barred
from the steering committee. At the time, I was leader of one of the
largest organized stakeholder groups in the park. Park groups were
generally uninvited or barred from the steering committee.
If anyone can add to the understanding of choosing UCD "community reps,"
thank you.
Cedar Park, Spruce Hill Civic Association, Powelton Village, Garden Court
and Walnut Hill have a representative listed on the UCD web site. Can
anyone from SHCA, for example, talk about the discussions to send Barry.
Did anyone run against him? What was the vote count? When was the vote?
Sincerely,
Glenn
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