Hi All,
At the Operations Committee meeting of July 27, 2010 one of our guests rose, unrecognized by the chair, and loudly proclaimed the UCO President and Chair of the Committee to be a Communist, and running a Communist meeting and further stated that his actions made Joe Stalin look like a pussycat! Arguably actionable speech in a public forum; and fully captured in Minutes of the meeting!
I am also advised that this same individual threatened the editor of the UCO
Reporter with unspecified consequences if the Reporter failed to publish her submitted articles! Also, fortunately documented and witnessed!
This outburst, because I attempted to reduce the incessant interruptions by a small group of disruptive persons, by limiting participation to one speaker in support and one speaker opposed to any motion prior to a vote being taken. This is provided for in our Bylaws.
I would suggest that the behaviour noted above be stopped and that the "Loyal Opposition" come with ideas rather than disruption; in which case, the Operations Committee can return to less restrictive guest participation rules
Dave Israel
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Hi Dave. I assume this is the group of "usual suspects" doing the kvetching.
ReplyDeleteIt is too bad that these people spend so much negative dark energy to get themselves heard when with a bit of effort they could do some good in the village. There is enough dark and evil energy in this world, we don't need it in the village. Yes, dark, negative energy is evil. I prefer to see the light than these miserable malcontents.
ReplyDeleteHi Peter,
ReplyDeleteJuly 28, 2010 1:09 PM,
Yes, you are correct. I would prefer not to mention names, as I would like them to be included rather than excluded.
I suspect that there is some acrimony hanging over from the election; yet I believe these folks can be co-opted into trying to help enable the business of the Village and it's Unit Owners.
Let's hope for cooperative improvement.
Dave Israel
These disruptors are consistent.
ReplyDeleteThey demand the rights of free speech to:
To go public with their nastiness and damage sales of CV condos.
To bash volunteers and workers.
To make volunteers want to quit.
To practice negative name calling.
To ignore answers already given in meetings.
And never, never have constructive criticsm.
Dave you said a bit of humor never hurts so I ask ---do we have a pillory available?
ReplyDeleteI wonder where Dave has stashed more than 12 million bodies?
ReplyDeleteHi Mag,
ReplyDeleteJuly 28, 2010 3:28 PM,
Perhaps we could put one at the Clubhouse.
Dave Israel
What you have said in your last two paragraphs, Dave, would seem to put the situation in a nutshell.
ReplyDeleteThere is a “loyal opposition,” just as in British politics from where the term is taken. This is to be expected. The more civil—not fawning or even necessarily compromising (although there is much to be said for compromise)—the opposition is in meetings, the more voice they can be given and the more give and take there can be.
When participants become unruly and try to take over, the chairperson has to put restrictions on their participation in order to maintain order. No element must take over and drown out all else.
Leaving out the opposition for the moment, if you have seven urgent items on the agenda, discussion on one item even by those “in power” cannot be allowed to take up all the time. We see this in meetings all the time. The chairman or president must limit the time spent on one item for the sake of other items needing to be discussed.
You cannot have democracy without first having order.
marilyn said...
ReplyDeleteDear David,
The guest (non member) did rise and proclaim you a communist but did so only after you began the Operations Meeting by stating that guests will no longer be allowed to speak at the beginning of the meeting but to speak only when a vote was to be taken. The UCO Bylaws clearly state THAT GUESTS (NON MEMBERS) ARE PERMITTED TO SPEAK AT THE BEGINNING OF THE MEETING, OR IN THE ALTERNATIVE PRIOR TO THE DELIBERATION OF EACH ITEM OF BUSINESS. The UCO bylaws gives residents the opportunity to speak prior to deliberation of an item on the agenda not when a vote is to be taken. The item of business was the gate locks on the pools. What you refused to discover by not allowing this guest to speak was that this persons friend who was unable to attend the meeting for medical reasons was in touch with Senator Mark Paffords office who informed them that the ADA (American Disabilities Act) superseded the Florida statutes under which the new locks were installed. At the previous operation meeting George Franklin and Dan Cruz empathically stated the Florida codes superseeded the ADA. Because you so blatantly zipped this persons mouth the committee wasted 45 minutes discussing the gate locks without any resolution. After the 45 minutes Dan Cruz finally admitted the ADA did in fact supersede the Florida code. He must have known it all along yet went ahead and installed the locks without looking into the matter further to see if Century Village could be excluded from this code change.
Now the question remains. Are you a Communist? You and your puppets control the Blog, control the UCO Reporter and control channel 63. Now you are attempting to shut the mouths of all residents who oppose your view and want to help the village. Are these the actions of a Democrat, a Republican or a Communist?
The resident who called you a Communist.
A group of people have spent months being 500% negative, destructive, wrecking meetings, spewing anger, defamation, threats, and name calling. They have hurt sales in the village, and spread disinformation and hostility in the paper. Now … NOW, they are surprised that UCO and the Reporter say ENUF! and have to put restrictions in place.
ReplyDeleteI guess they never heard all those requests for positive help, volunteers, ideas.