Democracy In Action? NO WAY!
None
of these block clubs have been elected by anyone. Many have very few
members, and even less voting membership. The most extreme abuse of
quasi-power: ASCO Yet, they vote on new business licenses and report
their results to the Alderman and others, thereby influencing decision
making by officials ELECTED by the community; they pursue issues that
may be of no interest, and indeed counter to the interests of many. ASCO meetings are not open to the general public and their meeting minutes are not public record.
THESE
BLOCK CLUBS OPERATE AS IF THEY SHOULD BE THE VOICE OF THE COMMUNITY
WHEN THEY HAVE ABSOLUTELY NO RIGHT TO DO SO. THEY PASS JUDGEMENT ON
POTENTIAL NEW BUSINESSES, AS IF ALL THAT BUSINESS WILL BE TRANSACTED
WITHIN THEIR BOUNDARIES. THE ARROGANCE AND SELF
IMPORTANCE OF THESE SELF APPOINTED "GUARDIANS" WOULD BE LAUGHABLE IF IT
WERE NOT SO POTENTIALLY DESTRUCTIVE TO THE POSITIVE PROGRESS WITHIN THE
COMMUNITY.
CASE STUDY IN UNREPRESENTATIVE GOVERNMENT: The North Edgewater Beach Association, NEBA (18 ON THE MAP)
A membership Yahoo! group e-mail list of 7 persons
No substantive update to their web site since 2006
A mere FOUR messages posted since 2007, none in 2009
YET
PURPORTING TO REPRESENT THE GRANVILLE BUSINESS DISTRICT AND OTHER
IMPORTANT EDGEWATER ISSUES. A COMPLETE JOKE, IF IT WEREN'T SO DANGEROUS
FOR THE COMMUNITY AS A WHOLE!