I fully agree that UCD has the right to protect their privacy and John Fenton's
while they conduct their own internal investigation.
The person whose role in all of this really concerns me is Jannie Blackwell's.
I know she has her strong supporters on this list, but I can't help feeling
that she is being more than a bit disingenuous here (and I'm trying to be
careful not to say "hypocritical"). There doesn't seem to be any question that
it was at her request that UCD/John Fenton provided help with an "event" in
Malcolm X Park.
She is an experienced politician who was pretty heavily involved in the Knox
campaign -- and she was not aware that the event was a political rally? Or is
it that she was unaware that a non-profit organization cannot be involved in a
political campaign?
I would be far more impressed by her diatribe on John Fenton's behalf if she
prefaced it with a few "mea culpa's".
If a community forum is suggested to question the internal decisions of UCD --
and I do agree that they've made a TERRIBLE mistake here -- I would like to see
some accountability from Coucilwoman Blackwell.
Kathleen
________________________________
From: [EMAIL PROTECTED] on behalf of [EMAIL PROTECTED]
Sent: Thu 6/7/2007 6:39 PM
To: [EMAIL PROTECTED]
Cc: UnivCity@list.purple.com
Subject: [UC] Liz asks great questions: where do we go from here?
In a message dated 6/7/2007 5:46:56 P.M. Eastern Daylight Time, [EMAIL
PROTECTED] writes:
My questions include:
How do we thank John Fenton?
Can his job and reputation be saved?
Should we
save his job?
lose UCD?
settle for what we get (and thus deserve)?
How do we prevent the further co opting of UC by Politics, Penn
and powerful lurkers?
Do we support any person or initiative at UCD?
?, ?, ?
I totally agree with everything Liz asks here. We don't know the details - only
John Fenton knows EVERYTHING - so we can't judge what happened. But, where do
we go NEXT?
Didn't this problem come about because the Councilwoman asked John Fenton to
help out with SOMETHING, and he did? She doesn't dispute that that's what
happened - the only question is what did she ask him to help out with. And
then, didn't some student tell the Daily News that John did something which was
inconsistent with the tax status of his employer and the law? Isn't that how
the story came out? From that start, how did anyone jump to the conclusion
that "UCD" is to blame? It seems to me that the parties who participated were
Jannie Blackwell, John Fenton, the student, the Daily News, and perhaps Tom
Knox.
Faced with this accusation from the student, wouldn't any responsible employer
have no choice but to launch a thorough investigation? And wouldn't they have
to keep things private till they got to the bottom of it? Don't those of you
calling for immediate answers understand that an employer has to protect his
employees' rights? Would any of you want your employers updating the public
about what you might or might not have done wrong, before your company had all
of the facts? Do you think John Fenton wants that? The daily gossip sheet
sent out by his coworkers? Are you considering the liability issues here,
while you are demanding that the UCD give updates to the public?
Al Krigman has already told the list how delighted he is to be able to use this
incident - caused by Councilwoman Blackwell, John Fenton, the student, the
Daily News and perhaps Tom Knox - to rally people against the UCD so he can try
once again to kill the proposal where landlords would pay a small share of the
cost of UCD's work. Well, a good portion of the money the landlords would pay
under the Business Improvement District initiative would be to EXPAND THE CLEAN
AND SAFE EFFORTS John Fenton has been heading. So list members, help Al out
here, and if John has a job, it will be limited - in scope, and perhaps in
time, too. How long do you think the institutions will continue to pay the
wages of John and his coworkers, if the community wants the services, but
bedevils the institutions for funding it?
Glenn Moyer, who has made it clear on the list that he doesn't have any respect
for any of our community institutions, is also enjoying the current mess. Does
anyone on this list doubt that Glenn would like to be rid of Friends of Clark
Park, the UCD, Penn, and every other organized entity involved in our
neighborhood? Well, if Glenn helps Al rid UC of the UCD, then clearly John
Fenton won't have a job, right? And there will be no organization to help out
Karen and Wendy when the street person strikes, no one to get the Water Dept.
to replace the disappeared manhole covers pronto, no one......
So please, re-read Liz's questions and think about ways to get to a positive
outcome appropriate for the current situation - NOT based on the libertarian
politics of a frugal landlord, or the exaggerations of an anti-establishment
rabble-rouser, NOT based on behind-the-scenes "payback" for old grudges, but
based on "what happens next?"
It's hard to think of a way to turn this to a win/win situation, but perhaps we
can at least avoid having it be lose/lose.
Melani Lamond
Melani Lamond, Associate Broker
Urban & Bye, Realtor
3529 Lancaster Ave.
Philadelphia, PA 19104
cell phone 215-356-7266
office phone 215-222-4800, ext. 113
office fax 215-222-1101
________________________________
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