MPCA SPRING MEETING: A NEW START?

The MPCA had its bi-annual spring meeting last night. Things were a bit rocky, but might be looking up. I say this with very cautious optimism and just a touch of personal pride.

Turnout was the highest in several years, since the MPCA broke off from the much larger Springlake Civic Association. Attendance has been extremely small in the past few years. I am going to take a little bit of credit for building interest in the meeting, if no one minds. At the very least, I announced the date three weeks ago so people could make plans to attend, instead of waiting until the very last possible moment, as the MPCA board did. The e-mail announcement was poorly written, confusing, and was barely sent out within the technicality of the 5-day requirement.

The newsletter's first edition had the wrong location, so a second printing had to be hastily run off and distributed on Saturday afternoon. Even so, most people got there, among them many who have never come to a neighborhood meeting. Some of those spoke up, too.

Whoever came up with the idea to have sign-up sheets for committees on a table at the back of the room deserves credit, too. That was good thinking. (This was quite an improvement over the usual fruitless begging for volunteers which always leads to complaining about how "all the work is done by so few," and how little participation we get.) It was a little like a silent auction. People could peruse the choices and find something to their liking right after the meeting when their interest level was still high. It looked like a great success.

There were no surprises in the election. The Cartledge-Quillian slate was affirmed. Glenn Cartledge had firmly rejected the nomination in the preceeding weeks by a number of residents to put a very qualified, experienced Wesley Drive volunteer on the board while he sought others who met whatever unknown, unspecified standards he required, until almost the last minute.

But ultimately, there were no nominations from the floor for the sake of avoiding an unpleasant win-lose election fight.

The new board members, Hardman Knox, Leanne French and Linda Houser certainly had done nothing to deserve being drawn into a Cartledge-Quillian engineered political conflict by virtue of their willingness to serve the neighborhood. If any spot deserved a challenge, it was only that of president. Mr. Cartledge was the beneficiary the spirit of good will towards the others, in spite of his stubborn refusal to cooperate.

Mr. Cartledge needs to show not only that he is now his own man, and no longer an extension of Mr. Quillian, but that he is also willing to listen and carefully take into account the voices of prudence, temperance, historical perspective and reason.

Next: Paving

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.

It's the Wounded Dog that Yelps Loudest

There's a possibility that the Gadfly is having the slightest positive impact on MPCA leadership. It appears that after more than two years the MPCA Website is going to be updated, with current committees, working email links, recent newsletters and even upcoming events! Don't expect that the site will become interactive like those of some other neighborhoods. It now has "useful" information, such as driving directions. We can use it to find our way home. Maybe the web page will get a title.

In related news, we all may also be receiving a rather perplexing, rambling (but heavily emphasized) "Note from the Board" with the next newsletter. I can't help but wonder if it's not an (over)reaction to the Gadfly. The missive never quite gets to the point of saying that you should ignore this site -- or any discernible point, really.*

What it seems to be saying in its convoluted, very oddly worded way, is that if members have a disagreement with the workings of the MPCA, they need only volunteer for committee work or gratefully attend the occasional board-sponsored social function once or twice a year.

It doesn't say how to know whether you have a disagreement with policy or actions, since there is still very little communication.

You might attend each board meeting and learn for yourself, but that leaves the problem of knowing when and where they meet. You could read the minutes long afterwards, if you make a big effort to find them. They're not on the website, or sent in email, or in the MPCA newsletter. The current president of the MPCA said recently that board meetings are private. Apparently, his personal copy of the by-laws is missing this paragraph:

"Section 11. Reports/Open Meetings. The Board of Directors shall report regularly to the membership its formal actions through the Association newsletter or similar media and all Board of Directors meetings shall be open to the membership."

Instead of foolish bragging about what a good job it is doing in listening/responding, or telling people to do committee work to sublimate their legitimate differences, maybe the board ought to start doing its job -- communicating with membership. It might be worth a small effort to inform and engage people in the process, instead of taking an elitist, noblesse oblige attitude.

What happened at the April 7 meeting?

*Now that I've spoiled the surprise, they'll undoubtedly withdraw the editorial, or at least improve its mind-numbing syntax. This is win-win. You won't have to read it and the association will be saved the printing costs.

Upcoming Election of Officers and Board

There was indeed a board meeting last Monday night, in which a slate of nominees was selected and the date was set for the bi-annual neighborhood April meeting. Those nominees will be presented for routine affirmation (unless anyone is nominated from the floor).

The MPCA by-laws require a minimum 5-day notice to the membership before a meeting, but that doesn't mean they must wait until five days. This habit has always assured the lowest possible turnout.

I'm taking it upon myself to announce that the bi-annual meeting of the MPCA will be Tuesday, April 29th (probably at 7 p.m. at Northside United Methodist Church, as usual). Mark your calendars.

It is my opinion that the membership deserves to know who the nominees are as early as possible. Perhaps people would like to assess the qualities of the chosen ones and, as Ms. Quillian suggested on this blog recently, offer to serve themselves if they find the slate not to their liking.

Not everyone reads this site, but certain Board members do, so I hope they will take the hint and inform the membership right away.

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.

PATH Visit to Memorial Park

I promised to write about the PATH Foundation visit to Memorial Park. Here is what I have learned about the event:

Executive Director Ed McBrayer did make a courtesy visit Thursday evening, March 20, at the invitation of the current MPCA president to meet with him and the path study committee which was created last fall "purely for... "information gathering" and (to identify) "options (if any)" according to the October 2007 Newsletter.

There were several members of the MPCA path study committee, and about a half dozen other people, who may have been there to check on what the committee was up to. However, it didn't become clear, because the minute one of them opened his mouth to ask something, the current president of the MPCA immediately that anyone who was not a member of the study committee should please "defer"--his word-- "to those who have done all the hard work." Too bad, as he later reflected; perhaps their input would have been helpful. There wasn't even the nicety of having people introduce themselves. It might have been revealed that several in attendance were members of the MPCA's Park Committee, who also have done a lot of hard work in Memorial Park, and for many years longer than the path study committee's brief existence.

McBrayer seemed thoroughly confused as to what he was doing there. He admitted he had been told over and over, going back to the early days of PATH, by both the MPCA and its predecessor, Springlake Civic Association, that PATH is not welcome in Memorial Park, and will never be accepted by the neighborhood. Anyone who has lived in these parts a while -- and been paying attention -- might be aware of this history.

McBrayer did mention that no sooner did he receive an inquiry from the current MPCA president about the possibility of putting a PATH trail in Memorial Park, that the letters started pouring in once again from vociferous, outraged opponents of such a project.

McBrayer was assured, however, by the current MPCA president that the neighborhood is overwhelmingly in favor of paving around the park, as evidenced by a comprehensive (sic) survey, in which the majority had indicated they were very concerned about the issues of safety and erosion.

There was a tour of the the trail. McBrayer addressed each area, suggesting what PATH would do to Memorial Park. It was incredible! One attendee actually thought he was having fun with them, coming up with the craziest, most outrageous ideas he could possibly think of, just to see if anyone would burst out laughing and say, "I get it, Ed! You're messing with us, right?"

First he said he'd get rid of the on-street parking from Northside to Woodley, have the concrete 10' or 12' PATH trail put partly in the street, narrowing Wesley Drive (thus slowing automobile traffic to a crawl). Getting City approval wouldn't be a problem. He would then pave a 20-car parking lot inside the park at the curve of Wesley near Woodley. (Losing maybe 1/3 acre of park and the trees there). The paved trail would continue to take over the street until it gets to the dip in the ground past Wellesley, where all the beautiful flowering willows now stand. Then the trail would go off-road from about Wellesley (with a granite wall next to it) until it eventually went behind the houses). He suggested homeowners could mark their favorite trees in that area so the trail could meander, and perhaps avoid losing some of the better ones. The paving must be at least 25' from the vegetation that grows within the stream bank.

Now for the best part. The ditch separating the open meadow from the woods needs a bridge two feet wider than the trail (who knows how high and long). Imagine it to be 14' wide! Right now there's a low spot next to a backyard fence, which is easy for most people under age 90 to hop across, especially when it hasn't rained for a couple of days and there's no water in it. Building an enormous bridge would require clearing out many trees and ground cover, bringing in lots of heavy equipment, and I imagine solving some engineering problems due to flooding and what McBrayer referred to as "mucky ground". (I wonder how many trees would have to be mowed down just to get the equipment to that area?)

On the other side of the bridge is wetlands. There is always standing water over much of the area, until the land rises steeply going up to the sidewalk on Howell Mill. McBrayer's solution? A raised wooden boardwalk spanning the field, twelve-feet wide, until it would join more concrete trail on the hillside, passing within inches of a private property line.

Maybe he was just pulling their legs, and maybe he wasn't. Maybe PATH would really want to spend a million or two to wreak havoc on a nice little natural green space for no reason than it's there. Or maybe they're looking to eventually join Memorial Park to the Beltline, and it would have to be a wide, concrete, multiuse trail. Memorial Park and the neighborhood would look nothing like it does now.

From all reports, even the members of the study committee were horrified. Hopefully, they realized the neighborhood won't accept this kind of devastation of Memorial Park. They seem to be back to beating the bushes for funding for some other type of pavement.

Word of warning when begging for money. There are going to be strings attached. There is no free lunch.

Correction re Rite Aid

Rite Aid has not discontinued King's delivery service, and doesn't have any plans to do so. If you want your prescriptions delivered, they still provide that service.

I apologize for the error.

Howell Mill Pharmacy (404 355-5650) also delivers. Our neighborhood is very lucky to have all this gas and time-saving convenience.

Cutting Down Trees on City Property

Let's clear something up.

The City is NOT subject to the "same tree replacement rules as everybody else." If trees are cut down on City property, the City of Atlanta has, by law, only to "try" to replace them in the same area, but they are not required to. All the City has to do is replace them within the same NPU. That could be miles away.

And they only have to follow up on the new tree for one season. If the replacement doesn't survive, that's it. Their job is done.

If they cut 100 trees in Memorial Park for a paving project, it's not assured at all that we'll get hundreds of new trees. It's possible that the replacement trees will go to some favored Beltline project that they're trying to pretty up and help out some big taypayers.

And if the trees aren't actually cut down, but are only damaged, and die a year-- or two -- or three later -- they don't come under the replacement ordinance at all. They just fall over like that one by the rubber path did a few weeks ago. It won't be replaced.

P.S. Sick, injured, dying or dead trees don't have to be replaced by the City at all. And since the Parks Department has no extra funds, I doubt if they are going to allocate money to upgrade parks when they are struggling to provide bare maintenance.

There are now about 25 such trees of various species marked for removal on the PATH trail at Sagamore-Peachtree-Battle, ranging from small magnolias to giant pines and oaks. You won't see PATH Foundation, after all this time, coming in with new trees.