TIME TO PARTY!

Our neighborhood seems to be in its own little financial bubble. Here, it is 2005, or maybe 1985. Memorial Park Civic Association President Glenn Cartledge noted in his last newsletter that while unfortunate events were "swirling around us," life is good here and everyone is doing fine.

I'll leave it to each of us to define his own personal situation as to job security, income, asset performance, property values, debt-to-income ratio and general outlook on the future. I can say with certainty that municipal services have been cut back while taxes and fees are up. Several homes have sold recently at prices that might be considered somewhat disappointing compared to prices of a few years ago.

The MPCA, however, seems to be the recipient of TARP funding, or at least our Board is in a Wall Street state of mind.

I'm referring to the MPCA financial report for the year ending 5/31/09. More than 50% of dues income was spent on parties.

Summary: $4,715 was collected in voluntary membership dues, plus $650 in (non tax-deductible) extra donations from some very generous neighbors for a total of $5,678.00.

Partying expenses totaled a net of about $3000 for four events -- three of which were designed for the entertainment of young children. Although more than half of Memorial Park members list children in their households, only a third have kids in the age group that would be caught dead at a kiddie party. The rest are hanging out with their friends, playing video games or are off at college.

I humbly suggest that these funds could more appropriately be used in ways that would enhance the safety, cleanliness, appearance and quality of life of the Memorial Park neighborhood for a larger number of residents. Instead, most of the budget is squandered on junk food and junk distractions with little or no remaining value besides adding to the waste stream and arguably contributing to animal abuse.

The MPCA Social Committee, which seems to have carte blanche, chose to have the annual picnic catered by the Varsity rather than doing a covered dish event, with an artificial ticket price cap of $10 per family. That single event had a staggering deficit of more than $1,100 -- 20% of annual dues revenue! Surely, there is a better use for our common funds.

The Halloween party came in at a little under $400, complete with unnecessary hired security. It was followed by an evening of trick-or-treating, which itself is a children's Halloween party. The party was a $400 redundancy, and the expenditure even more ridiculous because everyone in the neighborhood purchased a ton of candy for that specific evening to give to those same children. If we are going to spend $400 on candy and a party for the kids, then why not do it on Valentine's Day or Easter! Spread the potential tooth decay out a little more year-round. (The Christmas "sleigh ride" is only about 6 weeks after Halloween. The tab for that was $800.)

Maybe throwing parties is the MPCA's stimulus policy, sort of a WPA for the 21st century. I guess it gives the party planners a job.

It might be a good idea for the Board to open each meeting by reading the purpose of the MPCA as it is written into the by-laws, just to keep the association on track.

Someone will have to be to bring a copy to the meetings, if anyone has one.

Neighborhood Meeting Set for 4/28

The Bi-annual meeting of the Memorial Park Civic Association has been scheduled for Tuesday April 28, at the Northside United Methodist Church, 2799 Northside Drive.

We have been promised a special board meeting in March to create an agenda. Keep watching for the date, time and location.

Four vacancies are up for election to the seven-member MPCA board of directors at the April meeting. The board should have appointed a nominating committee in January, composed of three people from the general community. The by-laws specifically require the creation of this committee in the month of January.

The reason for a nominating committee is to insert some outside influence into the process and keep the board from being insular and self-perpetuating. As it is, when there is a vacancy during the term, the board can appoint someone to fill it, but even that small power has been overridden repeatedly by President Glenn Cartledge, due to the rest of the board's extreme acquiescence to his bidding.

There has been no announcement of a nominating committee and no announcement of a slate, just like last year, when democracy and inclusiveness were discarded in favor of a hand-picked board.

I keep my ear close to the ground, and have not heard of anyone being asked to serve on a committee, nor have I heard of any slate. The board certainly has not communicated on this or any subject. There has been no call for volunteers to serve. There has been no report from their meeting Thursday night or any other meeting since the October meeting, which wasn't actually reported either for those who didn't attend. In fact, there has been no newsletter in many months. One has been promised soon, though.

I am guessing that all the current board whose terms are expiring, Loulie Reese, Lesley Wainwright, Lynda Houser and Bill Warren, will be reaffirmed for another term and the current situation of absolute unity will be perpetuated. (If I'm wrong, I'll be more than happy to say so.)

I'm not saying that anything is wrong with those four, or that they ought not have another term. They have all done stellar work for the community. It's just that, as former association treasurer Bill Hope famously said, "the process ought to be followed."

Also, it wouldn't hurt for every single board member to open their mouths once in a while and have something come out that didn't originate from Mr. Cartledge's brain.

Update on the MPCA

It seems our Esteemed Board changed a bit from the planned budget that was sent out with the plea for our membership renewals last summer. At that time they projected $2000 for those children's parties I wrote about at the time and in my last post. I assumed that since the budget had officially passed and nothing was said about any change at the October 14th, 2008 meeting (did I miss it?) the parties had gone on as planned.

We have recently received a report showing actual and much more modest expenditure for the Halloween Party, and a somewhat less extravagant Christmas party (About $800). The original budgeted amount for the Halloween parties (2) was indeed $1000 and not $500 as now stated, but according to the report, only $370 was spent!

I don't know whether the expense of obtaining legal Police permits for street closings --when the parties were confined to private yards during daylight--- and the hiring of off-duty Atlanta Police officers for several hours to close only Wellesley and Woodley, while I suppose the charmingly costumed children traipsing down Riada and Wesley were vulnerable to terrible risk is included in the total, or is tucked away in some other area, such as "neighborhood care," or "security."

I applaud the Board for spending more wisely. These are different times. Now I suggest that the Board continue to communicate with the neighborhood. (I would also like to thank Mrs. Loulie Reese for her informative e-mails. Hopefully, everyone is getting them, and not just the people who have signed up for the Security Patrol. In any event, this is a very important service that has been neglected and should be increased.)


The next announcement from the MPCA hopefully will be the time, place and proposed agenda of the next board meeting. One never knows if someone might care enough to volunteer their time and services. People may want to have input when there is an issue that affects their home. Someone might even have a good idea or two.

But at the very minimum after the Board has met, the membership deserves a report on action that has been taken. That is not too much to ask.

What's Going on Around Here, Redux

My very first post back in February suggested that this blog would provide a missing source of neighborhood information. At the time there was a "sort of" MPCA website, and a once in a while MPCA newsletter. The website had not been updated in a couple of years, but it did give the Association a slight presence in the community.

Communications lately have consisted of frequent Zone 2 crime reports for those who care to read a lot of tedium. We're most often assured that no crime has occurred within our specific geographical boundaries, i.e. our 4 streets. Officially, that's true, but some incidents have taken place in the MPCA that have not been reported to the APD, and therefore aren't on those dutifully forwarded crime reports. There actually have been a few car break-ins.

While much positive change has taken place in the neighborhood, especially in the area of community involvement, MPCA leadership has deteriorated. The moribund MPCA Board is only interested in promoting social events at this point, and not in exerting even minimal efforts to maintain and protect declining property values in Memorial Park, which is happening due to economic forces in general. But this is the time for our neighborhood to become vigilant about any laxity. For one thing, the City is soon going to reduce its schedule of curbside trash, recycling and yard waste pickup. Everyone needs to be informed so that our neighborhood doesn't start looking like a dump. That's a for instance.

It has not escaped notice that some builders are quite unconcerned with the living conditions of surrounding residents and the damage they are inflicting on the people who are already here.

Rather than force the people directly on either side or behind the construction site to confront the newcomer, the MPCA Board ought to go to bat for people whose property is being damaged or whose lives are being made miserable.

We have an architect and a land developer on our board. They know about building, permitting and such. Between them, they ought to monitor construction sites for regulatory compliance, and perhaps ask for something above and beyond the letter of the law out of consideration for those who are being inconvenienced. Even though they represent the homeowners, it seems that by virtue of their professions, their sympathies seem to lie squarely with builders. Too bad for the owner whose basement will be flooded, or the neighbor who is going to lose a beloved tree.

I have waited some time for someone to speak up about the piles of trash and garbage strewn all over one site which has never had a dumpster, among the many questions about the project, past and present. There is an unfinished house that appears to be abandoned. One house, thankfully finished, had a Port-O-Potty right on the street that was rarely serviced. The stench was worse than anything that ever emanated from the sewer, and could be smelled a block away.

If the MPCA Board does not start taking an interest in building codes and variances in the neighborhood, others will step into the breach. Some people went through quite a bit of effort to start the MPCA, get signatures, write by-laws, get it incorporated and get approval from City Hall.

They did not have in mind at the time that they only wanted an organization to collect money to spend mostly for the entertainment of small children -- which most people do on their own anyway.

Should You Join the MPCA?

About half of us got a second notice yesterday to pay our dues renewal for the coming year. Is there value in joining this organization?

The MPCA was founded in 2001 with such high hopes. It began with an amazing 80%+ participation, way over what we had when we were part of Springlake. On June 27, however, our president, Glenn Cartledge, sent a blanket email, prodding everyone who hadn't yet, to send a check right away. He made some excuse about budget projections that needed to be met. At that time, only about 40% of households had joined.

Two weeks later, we're only at about 55% paid up.

Unfortunately, there is no way to get the benefit of the Security Patrol, which we share with the neighboring Wildwood and Springlake Civic Associations, without paying the $40 dues and supporting the MPCA Board, which has been quite a bit off the rails for the past couple of years.

(Well, the Security Patrol still patrols the entire neighborhood, so non-members still get the benefit of extra police with arrest capabilities. But those who pay have their homes checked daily when they are out of town.}

For your $40 dues, you get the following benefits, among others:

MPCA directory - easily worth every penny. Well organized, easy to use and very useful.
MPCA website - Hasn't been updated in 3 years. Useless. Embarrassing. The Wayne's World of Neighborhood sites. Delete and start over.
MPCA newsletter - WordPerfect for DOS or 5.2?
MPCA meetings - Please budget for extra copies of Robert's Rules of Order. Make the President and Board read it and take a test. (Perhaps we should amend the by-laws to add Sargent-At-Arms to our list of officers.)

Other budget items:

Christmas sleigh ride for kids (with hot chocolate!) -$1,000

Halloween Party for kids - $1,000 (plus $50 worth of candy each household must buy for trick-or-treat, especially Woodley & Wellesley residents.)

Adult Party - $500

What's wrong with this budget?

Loss to the Neighborhood

The Memorial Park neighborhood will suffer a loss soon. David "Cooler" Inglis has resigned his position from the Board. He has accepted a job in another city and will not be able to continue his volunteer work for the MPCA. David and Faith have made many lasting and important contributions to Memorial Park and they will be missed terribly.

The MPCA Board has a responsibility to make a serious and thoughtful selection in choosing a replacement for Mr. Inglis. They must select someone with a history of service to the neighborhood, a strong resume and independence of thought.

April 29 Meeting: NEW LOCATION, No Slate

"Never attribute to malice that which can be adequately explained by stupidity." -Grey's Law

"Any sufficiently advanced incompetence is indistinguishable from malice."-Hanlon's Razor

I leave it to you to determine what is behind the failure of a certain leader to make a simple phone call months ago to reserve our usual meeting place at Northside United Methodist Church. Maybe this small task slipped his mind in the urgent press of neighborhood business, but it has created a situation that has the effect of fostering the feel of an exclusive organization run by insiders, and careless ones at that. (Yet, the favorite new word has lately been "inclusiveness," seemingly used without a trace of irony.)

NUMC is a very busy, active church with dozens of scheduled daily activities. When the call from MPCA finally came just days ago, all meeting space was booked.

As the date drew near, there must have been a bit of panic to find a location. Fortunately, something was available at Trinity Presbyterian Church, 3003 Howell Mill Road. The rules of the MPCA require that the meeting be held in April (not that the rules have been closely followed by this board). The meeting should have been put on the MPCA calendar months ago.

Our bi-annual meeting will be held in a new location. (NUMC has generously never charged MPCA for the use of the chapel, but they do serve other community needs.)

Two days ago, in a stunning display of either (a) stupidity or (b)stupidity -- you pick one -- two small street signs appeared, one under the stop sign at Wesley and Howell Mill, and another on the left side of Wesley Drive at Northside, announcing the meeting. In tiny letters, too small to be seen from a car or even to be noticed by someone on foot, is the cryptic phrase "TRINITY PRES."

This was, to put the best possible spin on it, unclear.

If I had a suspicious nature, I might wonder if the Board is actively working for a miniscule turnout. I'm sure many residents already have plans for Tuesday night. Some will probably go to the old location out of habit, find another group meeting in the chapel and simply go home. Is it too much to ask that a sign might be posted there, or even a person?

An e-mail announcing this meeting and the directions to the new site (which should have been sent out two weeks ago) came yesterday. Possibly the longest subject line in the history of email lacked the salient points: the DATE and fact of a NEW LOCATION!

Aren't lawyers, investment advisors, architects, contractors, accountants and other busy professional people accustomed to jammed email accounts full of spam, advertisements, dumb jokes and other low priority nonsense? Some of us delete when the subject line doesn't indicate anything useful, or we just ignore it until we have time to peruse it. Mine showed this: "announcement of the April S..." (Full title: Announcement of the April Semi-Annual General Meeting of the Memorial Park Civic Association.)

Note: It's easy to tell when something has been written by a law school graduate.

Instead of an apology for how late it was in informing us of a meeting that had been scheduled for weeks, and for omitting the minutes of the board meeting, the agenda of the upcoming meeting and the slate for the election, there was this unnecessary and easily verified extra fact, the kind of thing your kid throws into a story so you know right away that he's guilty. Ex: "The dog ate my homework." (The family has no dog.)

"The location of our meeting has been moved from Northside Methodist to Trinity Presbyterian due to construction at Northside."

Yes, NUMC is building an addition. But the church isn't closed, and in fact has a very full calendar of pre-school, adult classes, countless other activities and worship services going on day and evening. It has even opened a brand new parking deck with a covered walk that leads right up to the main building. Everyone has closed ranks on the official stories, though.

An election slate hasn't been announced because there isn't a complete one. The MPCA Board neglected its duty to appoint a nominating committee in January as required in the simple by-laws. The nonexistent committee didn't appoint a slate of candidates. Instead, outgoing president David Quillian and designated incoming president Glenn Cartledge have been struggling, only days before the election, to find candidates to fill increasing numbers of open positions. It's not easy, considering the chaos and division they will be facing.

President-nominee Glenn Cartledge has been informing select people about the date and correct location of the meeting for as long as it has been known, but not telling "the peasants," as one of my correspondents ascerbically described the non-chosen.

I hope the peasants will show up, with or without pitchforks.

See y'all Friday night.

ANNOUNCEMENT: MPCA Board Meeting Tonight!

The MPCA Board will meet tonight, April 7 at 7 p.m. at Fellini's Pizza, corner of Howell Mill and Collier Road.

All Board meetings, according to the by-laws of the MPCA, must be open to the membership of the MPCA. This meeting was not scheduled until about a week ago, and the membership wasn't notified, but if you want to see the Board in action, you might try to squeeze in, even though a busy, noisy pizza restaurant might not be the ideal spot for a business meeting and observers.

(In my humble opinion, a meeting cannot truly be considered "open," unless interested parties have some way of learning in advance of the time, date and place.)

The Board did not fulfill its duty to select a nominating committee at its January meeting to nominate a slate of officers for the April election, so I suppose it will do so tonight.