Asked and answered

Originally posted on 'The Great Mahatma Speaks"

Here is what Olga asks:

Olga WolkensteinOctober 26, 2013 at 3:15 PM

"Dear Lanny,

I have some questions for you:

1, How do you feel about having a Wi-Fi meeting and not having the room to allow interested parties to attend?

2. Do you believe David Israel is a good president?

3. Are you in agreement with everything he does?

4. Is there anything that he has done that you disagree with?

5. Has he saved the village any money during his administration

6. What has he done to benefit the village?

7. Has he done any damage to the village? "

Here is Lanny's response

Here is my response to Olga's blog comment asking me seven questions. I would appreciate it if you would put this on the blog in its entirety and not split it up or leave out any portions. If for some reason you cannot do this, then please do not put it on the blog at all. 

Thank you. With my best wishes, 

Lanny Howe 

RESPONSE:

Hi Olga, 

Your questions were in the Comment section of a post, so I almost missed them. Here are my responses. No one, except a non-political friend who happened to drop in, knows I saw your questions or what I have written in response. 

1. As I understand it, this was a requirement by those giving the presentation, not UCO. Regardless, I can understand the necessity for this. If you have too many people taking part in such a meeting, nothing gets accomplished. Even 25 is a lot. Too many cooks spoil the broth.  

2. Yes, I think Dave has been an excellent president. 

3. I don’t KNOW everything he does. I am not in on the inner workings of UCO. I have agreed with his mainline projects, however, and think he has done an amazing job of making the Village run more efficiently. To cite only one example, we have “transponders on demand.” For a newcomer to the Village who works 9-5, instead of taking time off from work to go to UCO, only to be told he must make an appointment to come in 3-4 weeks later for the actual transponder installation (requiring he take more time off from work), it’s all done in one quick visit. As for personal relationships, it is not my place to gainsay another person’s experience. 

4. At first I didn’t agree with spending the money for Wi-Fi, and I spoke of my misgivings about this on Dave’s blog. (I don’t think your blog was in existence at the time.) First, let me tell you what DIDN’T happen: No one came around with a big stick and said to me, “You’d better not say that kind of thing.” I had reasons for feeling this way, which have been well voiced by others, and to this day I respect their opinions on this issue. What changed my mind was a dispassioned, cogent piece on this that Anita Buchanan put on the blog. This, like many things, has been a judgment call. We shouldn’t be hating each other over things like this. 

5.  Has Dave saved us money? Good heavens, I should say so, at least from what I’ve seen and heard! Due to his influence the frivolous, expensive lawsuits by UCO have been stopped. It may not seem like a big thing, but he saved us money by stopping the idling of the buses. Perhaps the biggest savings has been in the building insurance premiums, which went down by SEVERAL THOUSAND DOLLARS a year per association, thanks to Dave’s insisting insurance agencies compete for our business and to Toni Salometos’s diligent efforts. And whether you believe it or not, I believe Dave and his administrations saved us much money in the Comcast agreement of a few years ago, and in having the second half of the road repaving work done right away. Have there been some aspects of these last two projects that we are unhappy with? Yes, of course, and there always are such. But to me they are minor compared to the advantages, which were major. I have a gripe about the paving right in front of our association building, but I say let’s keep these things in perspective. Major on the major and minor on the minor, and credit those who are working hard and making decisions for the Village for their intentions. Criticism is cheap. 

6. In addition to those things mentioned above, the following six things: 

            (A) Investigations does a much better, more thorough job now, thanks to Dave’s efforts, thanks to the efforts of Ed Black (whom along with Dave I believe you dreadfully malign), and thanks to Claudette LaBonte. Claudette suffered a terrible fall recently, by the way, and many of us are wishing her well. 

            (B) They’ve not been heralded, but the Q @A sessions Dave has had with association presidents have been much appreciated, informative, and productive. 

            (C) Dave pushed for and has had many more open meetings than we ever had before. 

            (D) Communications: We’ve never had the kind of communications we have now—the newspaper and channel 63, yes, but now also the blogs and e-mails on meeting agendas and results, very quickly, to ANY RESIDENT WHO WANTS THEM.. 

            (E) Behind the scenes, the incredible cataloging of nearly all our records on computer. What a mammoth project when you think of the hours and effort put into this. Let’s not nitpick and say, “There’s a glitch. The years X, Y and Z are currently missing.” 

            (F) A steady effort taking steps to upgrade our property values and beautify the Village.  

7. No one can say “I have done no damage.” It is like saying “I have never sinned.” The main thing I would take issue with is how things are EXPLAINED. Technical people, with perhaps some very rare exceptions, simply don’t know how to get us simpletons to understand what they’re trying to tell us! They try. They will explain something in three different ways, but we still don’t “get it.” To begin with, we non-techies need TIME—and usually a lot more of it than the techie thinks—or that we will ADMIT! Time to understand a matter (if we ever can); but time, also, especially for a large group of people, to just mull it over. I think it requires a teaching gift. All across the board, and not just in CV, this is a sorely needed commodity. 

That’s it. I feel as if have run the gauntlet!

Posted by Lanny