Rogers Park Talks

Congratulations on this new blog. It seems that finally someone has decided to put some sanity back into the Rogers Park community.

I found that the whole NOH blog about Gale Park Advisory Council very weird. They didn't even have a quorum (per their bylaws) to have an election. So why be so upset about Joe Moore showing up at their meeting? They probably wanted a quite little election of their own. Who would have known?

> perhaps there is something else that makes more sense. I am hoping so.

Ahh, so now the 'club' was trying to 'sneak' and election on the masses? Since you appear to be a 24/7 reader, how many times can you locate requests for participation?

The by-laws contain election info if you care to look, Joe has a copy. Had there been an election with a quorum it would have been in the minutes. We couldn't and didn't have a vote because of the quorum, end of speculation.

And had you concerned people been coming to meetings you would have known this. So would other people!
So who plays games? Where was the word 'election' and why was the flyer changed?

I wasn't there, but reading Toni's post did make this sound like a grudge or politial payback from Joe Moore. Did he call them and raise his objections? If he did not, then he was ambushing them and disrupting the hard work the group had done on a volunteer basis.

I myself believe Toni and Eva want good things for RP and since they are unpaid volunteers deserve the utmost respect from pubic officials such as Joe Moore. Even if they are "unfair" with him or he doesn't like them.

Many of the people I've spoken to that oppose JM say that he plays dirty politics and this kind of sounds like that to me. Maybe I'm mistaken. And some just call it plain politics-alls fair etc... With the reputation of Chicago politics, you can't possibly be saying JM is sqeaky clean can you?

BTW-A phrase keeps running through my head lately: olive branch.

But this can go on forever and around in circles arguing these points.

People can be very fickle about what they want to spend their time on. The parks north of Howard have had precious little to offer in terms of programing over the last couple of years. I for one would have been surprised if there was a large active group working on the park committee.

Now things are about to be very different. Not only does a new community center bring programs to that facility, one would hope it will also bring better and closer management of the other parks north of Howard. It wouldn't be fair to argue that the couple or three who have kept things alive should be excluded, because there should be a place for them. There should also be a place for those who see something for themselves, their kids or their neighborhood and want to be a part of things from the begining.

Setting the current leadership in place was a good political tactic for those in power to remain in power, whether they intended it to be or not. It was not good community partnership. The point I believe someone could make validly is that the election should come after the people are re-connected to a park system that has something to offer. There may have been invitations to join in the past from the present leadership, but no body came out. Joe Moore brought a big piece of the community to the table. He did that through classic grass-roots organizing not "bullying".

In the end, being at the table alone isn't enough though. The work lies ahead for the neighbors to make of it what they will. By involving everyone in the process the project will better service our community. I hope those who see it differently see that the process will still follow their rules and if they adjust their views to see a win as getting a good community center everyone will be winners.

I just don't get what you are saying. Are you implying that a group of a few would propose to control the parks over there?
That seems neither plausible nor possible to me. It really does seem more like a power play by Joe Moore. The man is no saint and plays polictics with the best of them.

Park councils advise - the park district's role is to listen to the input or do what they will. Again, had YOU been so concerned about these parks, then you should have come to the meetings.

So would you have us amend the by-laws to have the election when it's convenient for you? We've had plenty of requests that didn't get responses from the ward office. So are you saying that if officers are suitable to Moore, then he'll communicate?! Does that mean I can go to the next city hall meeting and interrupt, point my finger and insist that certain things be changed? I'd be escorted out.

Moore claims his email list has 4000+ names on it. So if X people had come to that little conference room, what was he not thinking? Did he ask if we had a bigger community meeting planned that would accomodate a large crowd? He found out that - Yes, we did and do. Why didn't his email contain the word election to begin with?

He had no answers last week, so perchance he'll respond to you who seems to know so much. The communication was between JM and another person who is not on the council.

You're right about being at the table not being enough. There were 75+ at the first meeting to hold elections. They came, they voted, they didn't return because it meant commitment and work - volunteer work - no paycheck.
I'm not an officer, so it doesn't matter where I sit at the table!

Put bluntly, which I had hoped to avoid, the people who are currently active generally have a similar vision of the community and the park. I am not going to put words in their collective mouth about what that vision is, but there are other opinions about the area, the uses for the park and the community center.

I would like to see all of the voices of the neighbors not only be heard, but also be a part of the decision-making process. That means some should at least have a chance to be elected to the advisory council.

I don't know if the current group on the council had plans to control the process or not. Since they, at least this time, couldn't make quorum it sounds like more people are needed. That being the case why have an election at that point? It doesn't speak well of any organization to not have enough members present to make quorum at one of the most important meetings they will have all year.

Without the new people Moore brought it sounds like there wouldn't have been enough people to fill the slate for offices. I don't understand the reason to be upset that people came to get involved honestly.

As I have said, I am happy that someone rallied up some neighbors and got them interested enough to come to the meeting. I don't see anything wrong with that. I think most would agree that the goal should be what is best for the community.

My friends in Edgewater have a very successful park advisory council. The council raises funds from donations and businesses. Every year they pay from their own fundraising for music, story telling, a big fall festival and many nicer things. The Park District is more than happy to help them out and I will say the people I've met at the Edgewater events are great.

Here's something I was told. The Park District wants these Advisory Councils not to play any politics. They told the Council to set up their own board separate and distinct from the block club even. I was told that the Park District does not want to get between any political wrangling between factions and when push comes to shove, they will walk away from a council if there is too much political infighting.

Here's what I've learned in my many years of community service... There will be times you will agree with people and there are times you will disagree with people. Good people know that you won't win every battle, but if you keep the lines of communication open, you will find you agree with people more often that you disagree.

Toni, get over the pink postcard. Move on. You may win some friends temporarily with your plight, but people for the most part have short memories and the only continual memory they will have of you is a disgruntled person who can't move on to the next phase in their life.

Some people chose to stay and one lady was very effective with the reading of the by-laws, procedure. Another couple has become very helpful with suggestions. Of those who chose to stay, they are more than welcome to present their ideas and commit their time. Once everyone finally grasped the concept of how far we have really come, read the by-laws, suggested amendments, they were part of a working group.

> there are other opinions about the area, the uses for the park and the community center.

And that's why we are planning a properly informed organized community meeting rather than a lot of people coming into a room and trying to talk at the same time. Your 'talk team' may either join or wait and hear about it.

If you don't live here, don't really know us, haven't attended, well, your blunt observation leans more to an obtuse one.