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To all those who participate, and those who will.
(Yes, I borrowed pic from CV Entertainment - nice)
I have mixed feelings about the “Are you on the List?” report in the UCO Reporter, which lists the associations that had no representation at the past month’s Delegate Assembly Meeting. Part of me thinks it’s an intrusion into each association’s own business and an uncalled for shaming of them; and part of me thinks it’s a good idea to hopefully get more participation.
My main complaint about the report, though, is that it is just plain wrong too much of the time. The January 2010 UCO Reporter says that Sheffield N had no representation at the December 4 meeting. Well, I’m sorry, I was there, and registered and got my packet of papers before going into the meeting. This is the second time Sheffield N has been marked down as not having attended when we did. But it is the third time in the past year the “Are You on the List?” report has been wrong about us. There was one Delegate Assembly Meeting that we missed, but we weren’t shown as having missed it!
I suppose we should be glad for the time we came up “respectable” when we weren’t, in that it undid some of the damage of the other two wrong calls; but what it really does is make me wonder: If the report is this wrong about our one association, how wrong has it been overall? If we’re going to have such a report—and there are differences of opinion on this—then let’s for goodness’ sake have them be accurate!
While I am at it, there is another point about this I would like to make. No delegate, not no representation, is what the report should say. I’m sure the report comes from the delegate sign-ins. Just because no delegate from an association has signed in and attended does not mean the association didn’t have representation on the part of others. Two or three others could well have attended. They could have heard everything that was said; they could have spoken up and asked questions; they could have done everything except vote.
Am I alone in finding a certain amount of validity in Peter Amato’s suggestion that UCO should have an ethics committee?
(Peter Amato’s paid political advertisement, published in the latest issue of the Advocate.)
Whilst most of us realize that we are fortunate indeed to have such a dedicated group of hard working UCO volunteers, there does appear to be an ill-conceived assumption that UCO has the right, or more importantly the power, to dictate association policy.
In fact, although a minority would continue to have us believe otherwise, the reverse is true.
It is the delegates – representatives of the 309 associations that direct UCO’s budget and actions.
As UCO’s constitution recognizes, it is an advisory body staffed by volunteers.
Unfortunately, this advice is sometimes ill founded and in some cases downright unethical.
Last month, in direct conflict to its own bylaw: UCO shall not interfere with the internal affairs of any condominium association, three of its’ members chose to hold an unofficial meeting to report and instruct Southampton B residents on the now notorious recent ‘Century Village Insurance Mold Rush’.
Without the benefit of law school - and the required degree, one, I was told, instructed the meeting on specific specialized area of law.
Another, authoritarian of insurance matters - whilst pontificating over a particular case, managed to terrorize some of our more vulnerable residents with the toxicity of mold, leaving them to ponder immediate hospitalization and imminent death.
Meanwhile, the instigator of this unofficial meeting, whose motive remains unclear, rallied the residents as a direct result of an unofficial email regarding Southampton B’s Insurance. I am reliably informed she nodded approvingly of her equally unethical colleagues as each moot point was raised.
UCO President Lowenstein has chosen to ignore this transgression and perhaps he and his three associates should be reminded that illegal is not a sick bird!
Maybe now is the time remind them that being part of the UCO hierarchy does not exonerate them from accountability as their counterparts in the Insurance Scandal of Century Village Deerfield Beach have discovered to their cost.
Perhaps too, as the UCO delegates consider their vote for the March election they should reflect that the best people for the job are seldom the ones who shriek and scream the loudest. They are the ones who consider their advice carefully, recognize its implications as well as their own limitations and do not abuse the trust that residents have placed with them.
Along with the many other ‘interesting’ points raised by Mr. Amato the suggestion of an ethics committee sounds like a valid one.
In earlier life, around the age of 20, he served in the Navy during the Second World War, as a radioman with the Naval gun crews that were on the cargo ships. The Navy recognized his value and sent him to school. When he finished, they made him the paymaster on board an aircraft carrier. He was proud to say that he never had to use his guns. When the aircraft carrier would land at ports, even if they were foreign, they could exchange checks for money, Irv would be instructed to go to the bank and give them a check and take home the cash. They also supplied him with a jeep and a bodyguard and a sidearm, which he was always proud to say he never put a bullet in the gun.
He was married to Miriam in 1945. She was the love of his life. They had two sons and raised their family in
I met him when I dropped my son John off at the UCO Reporter when John was volunteering to use the computer to print the paper. One day, Irv and I started to talk, and he asked me what kind of work I did during my working years, and I replied, I was a Linotype operator/proofreader for a number of the
We went out to eat lunch practically every Saturday. My wife and I were very close to him and Mimi. Irv was loved by all that he ran across. From then till now, we will miss him deeply.
Joe, June and John Saponaro
President:
Dave Israel
Vice-Presidents:
Stewart Richland
vicepresident1@unitedcivic.org
Dom Guarnagia
Fausto Fabbro
vicepresident3@unitedcivic.org
Patricia Caputo
vicepresident4@unitedcivic.org
Treasurer Ed Grossman
Recording Secretary
J. Robinson
Corresponding Secretary
Bob Rivera
UCO Exec Assistant
Community Association Manager:
Donald Foster
Executive Board
Marilyn Curtis
Maureen Debigare
Ruth Dreiss
George Franklin
Richard Handelsman
Roger Hotaling
Jackie Karlan
Patricia Keane
Bobbi Levin
Mike Rayber
Joyce Reiss
Alice Schrass
Esther Sutofsky
David Torres
Lori Torres