Well, I'll be hornswoggled. Glenn's statement is still false, but it's
not his fault. A friend directed me to UCD's website and there, in
bright lights, are two committees I do sit on: the Clark Park
Partnership Committee and the Clark Park Party Planning Fundraising
Committee. They are on a webpage entitled University City District
Committees.
I wouldn't have described them that way, because both committees are
partnerships. That is, they are working groups among organizational
equals, in which UCD is one participant. The Clark Park Partnership
Committee is chaired by Paul Bonfanti of the Pennsylvania Horticultural
Society. It consists of representatives of the Recreation Dept., the
Water Dept., USP, UCD, UCGreen, as the list indicates. Councilwoman
Blackwell's office is omitted from the list, although her representative
also sits on that committee.
As for the Party Planning Committee, the person who usually chairs that
is Mark Byerley, the professional party planner who organizes the affair
for us. Oddly, his name and organization are also omitted from the list!
(Of course, I can't recall his company's name either at this Senior Moment.)
To me, a committee implies an internal, hierarchical structure. In
other words, the House Ways Means Committee is part of the House of
Representatives, is composed of members of the House, reports to the
House and serves the House. Ditto in Friends of Clark Park, where the
Outreach Committee is an arm of the Board of Directors, the President
and the Membership.
At first glance, none of these UCD committees are like that. Very few
committee members report to or obey UCD. I suspect many participants
don't view them as UCD committees. But it's UCD's website. Its
participation is appreciated and it can describe these committees any
way it wants on its own page -- that's my view.
PHS is equally entitled to portray its participation in the CPPC as its
own baby. If you scoot over to its website, you'll find Clark Park among
the 70-odd beneficiaries of the Philadelphia Green Parks Revitalization
Project, which actually launched the Clark Park Partnership. I know, I
was there.
The Rec Dept.'s internet presence absolutely sucks, so researchers with
poor people skills will never be able to figure out its true role in
policy planning for Clark Park. It is, of course, decisive because it
actually owns and manages the real estate. This year it did put out a
brochure in which it presented many of the wondrous events in Clark
Park. All those events, without exception, were conceived and organized
by other agents.
So who cares, really? The first lesson I'd extract is that anybody who
thinks he can grasp complex public policy solely by googling stuff is a
fool. Excuse my French: a fool. That's how I'd put it to anyone who
writes for me. I google for a living and it's an amazing tool. But to
understand anything really, you can't just surf around a search-engine
potpourri. Because anything can be put on a webpage, anything.
To arrive at sound judgements, you really have to talk to people who are
involved. And pay attention.
-- Tony West
Glenn's statement I false. I sit on no UCD committees and never have.
-- Tony West
. The fact that West is trying to spin the SHCA trickery as a great
public meeting is to be expected. He is on two UCD committees.
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