Re: [UC] History of neighborhood groups (Was: Re: Penn-gemony receives its next Mayor)
Kimm, You are correct about the Calvary and the Woodlands being spin-offs of the UCHS. I am right about the Friends of the Firehouse Market being a spin-off of Cedar Park Neighbors and how these groups formed to make sure their agendas were pushed thorough against the express wishes of the community, the by-laws of their own organizations, and those who actually sought to protect the interests of the community. CPN had a separate Board of Directors for The Firehouse Market. When this entity sought to protect the community's interest in the Market instead of one individual's personal desire to wholly own the entity and remove the community from the business, The Friends was born. The Market existed primarily because of funds garnered from the Commonwealth to provide farm fresh PA produce to a neighborhood of low-to-middle income residents. The building was sold to the community for the cost of $1 for the same purpose. Apparently, that was a specious scenario because almost immediately the Market had no farmers whatsoever and took on a distinct tone quite different from what the community believed they would get when they signed the petitions that led to gaining funding. In fact, when leadership of the Firehouse Market Board was changed abruptly because it was determined the leader was working contrary to community interests he was supposed to uphold, The Friends bullied their way into a meeting of the Shareholders', (The CPN Board and the Firehouse Market Board), held off-site on someone's private property. They proceeded to write scurrilous articles and letters in the UC Review excoriating the Firehouse Market Board and CPN leadership. This by far goes beyond social slights, as you put it. We all know how the story ended. The community lost the Market, the individual who wanted to have sole ownership gained said ownership and the Market ultimately failed. Dock Street Brewery is there now, which attracts a different clientele than those who live nearby or a bit further west. This scenario has been played out before and no doubt will again. Those who will be affected are the only thing that changes, not the M.O. of those who wish to guide the agenda. On 2/12/09 1:02 AM, Kimm Tynan kimm.ty...@verizon.net wrote: Tony, I want to make the record clear for UC-list's sake, that, after reflection, nobody on UC-list can recall a single instance in which a Friends of... group was spun off from a community association in University City, powerful or otherwise, to achieve any aim, nefarious or otherwise. That's not true. The Friends of Calvary is/was a spinoff or subgroup of the UCHS. I believe, but could be wrong, that the Friends of the Woodlands is/was as well. I don't believe Calvary . . . ever had a Friends of group attached to them. See above. Kimm On 2/11/09 10:32 PM, Anthony West anthony_w...@earthlink.net wrote: I'm sure you're right, Wilma. People can be unkind and unfair and cruel to each other in any volunteer association. Social slights like these are always saddening. One always hopes one's group can engage in it as little as possible, but human nature comes with limits. I want to make the record clear for UC-list's sake, that, after reflection, nobody on UC-list can recall a single instance in which a Friends of... group was spun off from a community association in University City, powerful or otherwise, to achieve any aim, nefarious or otherwise. Most Friends of... groups are created to provide single-interest community backing to public facilities that could benefit from additional input and assistance. Thus we have, in UC alone, Friends of Malcolm X Park and Friends of the Walnut Street West Library. They are, of course, widespread elsewhere and most public institutions welcome and foster them. I don't believe Calvary, the Firehouse Market or University City District ever had a Friends of group attached to them. They are really different community institutions, for several different reasons, and often aren't similar to each other either. Community associations are in a separate class of their own, with special features. Friends of 40th St. is kind of platypus, with features taken from many other classes. It too is not without precedents elsewhere, though. -- Tony West Still, there are community members who have joined the established UC community organizations over the years, who have pledged many hours/years and personal funds, and even slightly neglected their own families and relationships to support neighborhood issues their very credible community leaders charged them to do. The point is now many of those who have served faithfully are now without the powerful UC Community organizations backed Friends to advocate for them. The hurting thing is the opposing community members to this hotel project are desperately trying to uphold the original vision of the established UC leaders and community
RE: [UC] History of neighborhood groups (Was: Re: Penn-gemony receives its next Mayor)
and after research done by two lawyers on the CPN Board, it was decided that the two presidential candidates would serve as co-presidents. The Firehouse Market continued to be a bone of contention right up to when CPN ended up selling its interest to the private owner in 1998. Date: Thu, 12 Feb 2009 07:38:54 -0500Subject: Re: [UC] History of neighborhood groups (Was: Re: Penn-gemony receives its next Mayor)From: wil.p...@verizon.netto: kimm.ty...@verizon.net; anthony_w...@earthlink.net; univc...@list.purple.comkimm,You are correct about the Calvary and the Woodlands being spin-offs of the UCHS.I am right about the Friends of the Firehouse Market being a spin-off of Cedar Park Neighbors and how these groups formed to make sure their agendas were pushed thorough against the express wishes of the community, the by-laws of their own organizations, and those who actually sought to protect the interests of the community.CPN had a separate Board of Directors for The Firehouse Market. When this entity sought to protect the community's interest in the Market instead of one individual's personal desire to wholly own the entity and remove the community from the business, The Friends was born.The Market existed primarily because of funds garnered from the Commonwealth to provide farm fresh PA produce to a neighborhood of low-to-middle income residents. The building was sold to the community for the cost of $1 for the same purpose.Apparently, that was a specious scenario because almost immediately the Market had no farmers whatsoever and took on a distinct tone quite different from what the community believed they would get when they signed the petitions that led to gaining funding.In fact, when leadership of the Firehouse Market Board was changed abruptly because it was determined the leader was working contrary to community interests he was supposed to uphold, The Friends bullied their way into a meeting of the Shareholders', (The CPN Board and the Firehouse Market Board), held off-site on someone's private property. They proceeded to write scurrilous articles and letters in the UC Review excoriating the Firehouse Market Board and CPN leadership.This by far goes beyond social slights, as you put it.We all know how the story ended. The community lost the Market, the individual who wanted to have sole ownership gained said ownership and the Market ultimately failed.Dock Street Brewery is there now, which attracts a different clientele than those who live nearby or a bit further west.This scenario has been played out before and no doubt will again. Those who will be affected are the only thing that changes, not the M.O. of those who wish to guide the agenda.On 2/12/09 1:02 AM, Kimm Tynan kimm.ty...@verizon.net wrote: Tony, I want to make the record clear for UC-list's sake, that, after reflection, nobody on UC-list can recall a single instance in which a Friends of... group was spun off from a community association in University City, powerful or otherwise, to achieve any aim, nefarious or otherwise. That's not true. The Friends of Calvary is/was a spinoff or subgroup of the UCHS. I believe, but could be wrong, that the Friends of the Woodlands is/was as well. I don't believe Calvary . . . ever had a Friends of group attached to them. See above. KimmOn 2/11/09 10:32 PM, Anthony West anthony_w...@earthlink.net wrote: I'm sure you're right, Wilma. People can be unkind and unfair and cruel to each other in any volunteer association. Social slights like these are always saddening. One always hopes one's group can engage in it as little as possible, but human nature comes with limits. I want to make the record clear for UC-list's sake, that, after reflection, nobody on UC-list can recall a single instance in which a Friends of... group was spun off from a community association in University City, powerful or otherwise, to achieve any aim, nefarious or otherwise. Most Friends of... groups are created to provide single-interest community backing to public facilities that could benefit from additional input and assistance. Thus we have, in UC alone, Friends of Malcolm X Park and Friends of the Walnut Street West Library. They are, of course, widespread elsewhere and most public institutions welcome and foster them. I don't believe Calvary, the Firehouse Market or University City District ever had a Friends of group attached to them. They are really different community institutions, for several different reasons, and often aren't similar to each other either. Community associations are in a separate class of their own, with special features. Friends of 40th St. is kind of platypus, with features taken from many other classes. It too is not without precedents elsewhere, though. -- Tony West Still, there are community members who have joined the established UC community organizations over the years, who have pledged many hours/years
RE: [UC] History of neighborhood groups (Was: Re: Penn-gemony receives its next Mayor)
Karen, thank you, Wilma, and Kimm for sharing this important history! It is remarkable how many of these same despicable tactics that I also experienced at the hands of FOCP/SHCA!It's a well rehearsed bag of tricksused against new victims continually. While fair-minded peopletry totreat the neighborhood bullieslike mature adults, theyknow no bounds in what Melani calls, "the good fight." I had a survey selectively distributed by FOCP to destroy my Clark Park Music and Arts Community and the Woodland Ave Reunion. Everything about the survey was bogus. (I was told that here; it is common to distribute these things only to the homeowners.) Additionaly,FOCP attempted to pit ourtwo groups against each other in 1999,using their role as calendar keepers for the Dept of Recreation. Keeping the secret that both groups had accidentally chosen the same date, they made a last minute crusade to demand that one event had to be cancelled because more of their secret rules. When they lied about the Woodland Ave Reunion breaking the FOCP's specialized rules for porto-potties, I had to inform the Reunion of the FOCP plotting, and we began working together. Attack against the Woodlan Reunion: They inflated the size of the Reunion 5 fold, or 5000 attendees, then demanded that the Reunion not receive any more permits because it broke the rules. (The FOCP substituted their own absurd restrictive rule for the city's actual rule for special events.) A few years ago, Mr. West was caught adding secret votes at the dog park vote. Two years earlier when I challenged him for President, and it was clear that my supporters had the majority; I was told that Mr. West won by three votes! I could go on and on about the similaritiesin the tactics used to bully people in this community! These lifers like Haligan,West, and the SHCA zoning committteeknow no bounds when their power to bully is theatened. Most decent people come to these civic associations and end up leaving with terrible feelings about the ruling elite. I have heard these types of stories over and over. I honestly believe our community needss to come together to finally rid our neighborhood of these power gangs! We can now go back decades and see the exact same tactics that we each, in turn, suffer under. Then, let me add, that they always attack our characters, as being a bunch of loud mouth sore losers, when we tell the truth about these outrages. Like I found solidarity with the Woodland Ave Reunion against the FOCP/SHCA, we need to do this each time. We must all stand together and stop each of these gangs instead of allowing them to always attack us a few at a time! Thanks again for sharing this history. I want to recognize that it takes courage to tell these stories, because we have all seen the lengths that these creepoids will go to attack those who tell the truth Best, Glenn -Original Message- From: KAREN ALLEN <kallena...@msn.com>Sent: Feb 12, 2009 12:15 PM To: UnivCity Listserv <UNIVCITY@LIST.PURPLE.COM>Subject: RE: [UC] History of neighborhood groups (Was: Re: Penn-gemony receives its next Mayor) Wilma is correct. I was not on the Firehouse Board, but I was on the CPN board in 1988-1990 when this all took place. I don't have as intricate knowledge as Wilma does of the Firehouse Board (known officially as the West Philadelphia Firehouse Project, Inc or WPFHPI), but I knowa lot of the CPN part of it. Idistinctly remember that the late Annie Canty, who was then President of CPN, got the City, throughCouncilman Lucien Blackwell's office,to deed the abandoned firehouse to CPN for one dollar after the engine company moved to a new firehouse at 52nd and Willows. The plan was to make fresh fruits and vegs available to the neighborhood becasue of the lack of grocery stores or markets in the surrounding community. It was supposed to be a farmers market, hence the name "Firehouse Farmers Market". The market got a grant from the state because of the farmers market aspect of the project. There was a requirement that the market structure be a public/private partnership, with CPN being the steward of the public interest. But what ended up happining was that the private partner was friends with a numberof people in the neighborhood, and those people became members of theCPN and Firehouse boards and they tried tomanipulate those boards into givingthe privatepartner free reign.Two factions emerged which broke down asthose who wanted to preserve the vision of the market as being for the community, and those who wanted to give the private owner free reign. The "community" factionfor the most part lived"west of 49th Street" [racial code]andwas black, whilethe "private owner" faction lived "east of 49th Street" [more racial code]and was pretty much white, so the stage was set for a lot of hostility and tension. There were constant accusations of undisclosed conflicts of interest and that the Fi
Re: [UC] History of neighborhood groups (Was: Re: Penn-gemony receives its next Mayor)
on the ballot helped count the votes with the current Board President, who was a private owner supporter. While that contorversy raged, then came a bombshell. Just before the election, I aked my then-next door neighbor, who was white, if she was going to come vote in the CPN election, and she made an offhand reference that she already knew because she had gotten the flier at her door from someone in the neighborhood. I thought it was odd, because I didn't know anything about a flier and because my neighbor got a visit and a flier and I didn't. I asked if she still had it, but by then she had thrown it out. Once the vote controversy emerged, I started asking around, and finally someone I was allied with spoke to a white neighbor of hers, who did not want to be involved, but did direct her to look in the bags of trash set out on the curb. The flier supported the private owner candidate, and contained coded racial language. All of the people who would admit to receiving one were white. No one who was black knew anything about it. This led to a big contentious meeting where everyone was in an uproar. The people behind the fliers were identified, and our complaint was that the flier was racist because of the language and because it was circulated in secret to only white community members. One of the defenders of the flier pointed out that a black person who published his own community newspaper was openly advocating for the community candidate, and that the defender had the same First Amendment right to distribute the flier. I responded to her that while she had a right to distribute a flier, why would she have it distrtibuted selectively? Why would my neighbor get one and not me? Why did it seem like only white people got it? I pointed out that the publisher made his views known to all who wished to read them, and that he didn't excercise his First Amendment rights in secret to a select audience. Tensions were so high that it was decided to throw out the election results and after research done by two lawyers on the CPN Board, it was decided that the two presidential candidates would serve as co-presidents. The Firehouse Market continued to be a bone of contention right up to when CPN ended up selling its interest to the private owner in 1998. Date: Thu, 12 Feb 2009 07:38:54 -0500 Subject: Re: [UC] History of neighborhood groups (Was: Re: Penn-gemony receives its next Mayor) From: wil.p...@verizon.net To: kimm.ty...@verizon.net; anthony_w...@earthlink.net; univcity@list.purple.com Kimm, You are correct about the Calvary and the Woodlands being spin-offs of the UCHS. I am right about the Friends of the Firehouse Market being a spin-off of Cedar Park Neighbors and how these groups formed to make sure their agendas were pushed thorough against the express wishes of the community, the by-laws of their own organizations, and those who actually sought to protect the interests of the community. CPN had a separate Board of Directors for The Firehouse Market. When this entity sought to protect the community's interest in the Market instead of one individual's personal desire to wholly own the entity and remove the community from the business, The Friends was born. The Market existed primarily because of funds garnered from the Commonwealth to provide farm fresh PA produce to a neighborhood of low-to-middle income residents. The building was sold to the community for the cost of $1 for the same purpose. Apparently, that was a specious scenario because almost immediately the Market had no farmers whatsoever and took on a distinct tone quite different from what the community believed they would get when they signed the petitions that led to gaining funding. In fact, when leadership of the Firehouse Market Board was changed abruptly because it was determined the leader was working contrary to community interests he was supposed to uphold, The Friends bullied their way into a meeting of the Shareholders', (The CPN Board and the Firehouse Market Board), held off-site on someone's private property. They proceeded to write scurrilous articles and letters in the UC Review excoriating the Firehouse Market Board and CPN leadership. This by far goes beyond social slights, as you put it. We all know how the story ended. The community lost the Market, the individual who wanted to have sole ownership gained said ownership and the Market ultimately failed. Dock Street Brewery is there now, which attracts a different clientele than those who live nearby or a bit further west. This scenario has been played out before and no doubt will again. Those who will be affected are the only thing that changes, not the M.O. of those who wish to guide the agenda. On 2/12/09 1:02 AM, Kimm Tynan kimm.ty...@verizon.net wrote: Tony, I want to make the record clear for UC-list's sake, that, after reflection, nobody on UC
[UC] History of neighborhood groups (Was: Re: Penn-gemony receives its next Mayor)
I'm sure you're right, Wilma. People can be unkind and unfair and cruel to each other in any volunteer association. Social slights like these are always saddening. One always hopes one's group can engage in it as little as possible, but human nature comes with limits. I want to make the record clear for UC-list's sake, that, after reflection, nobody on UC-list can recall a single instance in which a Friends of... group was spun off from a community association in University City, powerful or otherwise, to achieve any aim, nefarious or otherwise. Most Friends of... groups are created to provide single-interest community backing to public facilities that could benefit from additional input and assistance. Thus we have, in UC alone, Friends of Malcolm X Park and Friends of the Walnut Street West Library. They are, of course, widespread elsewhere and most public institutions welcome and foster them. I don't believe Calvary, the Firehouse Market or University City District ever had a Friends of group attached to them. They are really different community institutions, for several different reasons, and often aren't similar to each other either. Community associations are in a separate class of their own, with special features. Friends of 40th St. is kind of platypus, with features taken from many other classes. It too is not without precedents elsewhere, though. -- Tony West Still, there are community members who have joined the established UC community organizations over the years, who have pledged many hours/years and personal funds, and even slightly neglected their own families and relationships to support neighborhood issues their very credible community leaders charged them to do. The point is now many of those who have served faithfully are now without the powerful UC Community organizations backed Friends to advocate for them. The hurting thing is the opposing community members to this hotel project are desperately trying to uphold the original vision of the established UC leaders and community organizations they represent. Now they find themselves at cross purposes. Any human, even if they do not agree, should understand their sense of betrayal. - W. You are receiving this because you are subscribed to the list named UnivCity. To unsubscribe or for archive information, see http://www.purple.com/list.html.
Re: [UC] History of neighborhood groups (Was: Re: Penn-gemony receives its next Mayor)
Tony, I want to make the record clear for UC-list's sake, that, after reflection, nobody on UC-list can recall a single instance in which a Friends of... group was spun off from a community association in University City, powerful or otherwise, to achieve any aim, nefarious or otherwise. That's not true. The Friends of Calvary is/was a spinoff or subgroup of the UCHS. I believe, but could be wrong, that the Friends of the Woodlands is/was as well. I don't believe Calvary . . . ever had a Friends of group attached to them. See above. Kimm On 2/11/09 10:32 PM, Anthony West anthony_w...@earthlink.net wrote: I'm sure you're right, Wilma. People can be unkind and unfair and cruel to each other in any volunteer association. Social slights like these are always saddening. One always hopes one's group can engage in it as little as possible, but human nature comes with limits. I want to make the record clear for UC-list's sake, that, after reflection, nobody on UC-list can recall a single instance in which a Friends of... group was spun off from a community association in University City, powerful or otherwise, to achieve any aim, nefarious or otherwise. Most Friends of... groups are created to provide single-interest community backing to public facilities that could benefit from additional input and assistance. Thus we have, in UC alone, Friends of Malcolm X Park and Friends of the Walnut Street West Library. They are, of course, widespread elsewhere and most public institutions welcome and foster them. I don't believe Calvary, the Firehouse Market or University City District ever had a Friends of group attached to them. They are really different community institutions, for several different reasons, and often aren't similar to each other either. Community associations are in a separate class of their own, with special features. Friends of 40th St. is kind of platypus, with features taken from many other classes. It too is not without precedents elsewhere, though. -- Tony West Still, there are community members who have joined the established UC community organizations over the years, who have pledged many hours/years and personal funds, and even slightly neglected their own families and relationships to support neighborhood issues their very credible community leaders charged them to do. The point is now many of those who have served faithfully are now without the powerful UC Community organizations backed Friends to advocate for them. The hurting thing is the opposing community members to this hotel project are desperately trying to uphold the original vision of the established UC leaders and community organizations they represent. Now they find themselves at cross purposes. Any human, even if they do not agree, should understand their sense of betrayal. - W. You are receiving this because you are subscribed to the list named UnivCity. To unsubscribe or for archive information, see http://www.purple.com/list.html. You are receiving this because you are subscribed to the list named UnivCity. To unsubscribe or for archive information, see http://www.purple.com/list.html.
