©2006 The Chestnut Hill Local

Opinion

Join walkers on the Avenue, May 24, 31 and June 7.

Now it’s your turn, Chestnut Hill
by Ed Feldman

I lost five bucks — again!

I thought the Action Alliance was too organized, too well financed, and motivated by so strong a sense of financial self-interest that it was the horse to back in the recent exercise in simulated democracy in our little Potemkin village on the hill. And so, sensing a narrow margin of victory for my foe, and observing firsthand, for months, its members’ monolithic will and smooth implementation of same, I confidently placed my five spot on the line, wagering with an unnamed local pol to whom I had I lost a similar bet the last time I ran for the board. I was as sure of my defeat then as now.

And I was wrong both times.

My hope was for the entire Second Opinion Caucus to be elected except for me, so I wouldn’t actually have to do any work and could remain an outside agitator, bothering newly entranced interests as they consolidated their newly won power, and as the circle of arrogance would, inevitably, begin once again. Those of you who doubt this dialectic should probably read the history of any era, any culture and any government. And learn from it this time. I thought I could engineer my defeat by just acting naturally. But I screwed up. I didn’t alienate enough people and got elected.

So as I contemplate whether to accept the responsibility of an actual board membership, which rivals my Super Fresh Club Membership in my pantheon of personal achievement, I have but one suggestion. There is but one defense against the inevitable consolidation of power by the few. Let’s say it together kids. Don’t be scared, besides, the NSA is already listening. It’s the power of the many. I didn’t say power of the people because that would have frightened many of you and I’m still deciding whether to be a coalition builder. Forget it - I’ve decided to stay honest instead.

There have been outrageous acts of arrogance, threats of police to enforce these acts, egregious violations of the bylaws, secret meetings, kangaroo courts, alliances for financial gain, and a pattern of lies that can reasonably be described by a layman as pathological, all perpetrated by certain members of the CHCA board. But as many as have directly participated in these premeditated actions, a much greater number stood by and did nothing. Many of these individuals have been defeated in the recent election, but many remain. Some were elected as well. But the people have spoken. And it’s ... a mandate! And not the show on UPN, but the old-fashioned political kind, where the winner of 50.1 percent of the vote gets to suspend the first amendment and impose curfews. (What? I forgot, those two conditions are already in effect in Chestnut Hill.) So, let’s reverse them instead. Besides, they were our campaign promises! If you’ve already forgotten, I haven’t.

An independent newspaper, financial transparency, fight evil, blah-blah-blah. None of this means anything without your participation. And I don’t mean the “spirit of volunteerism” mantra that gets peonies interred in front of faux colonial, multinational chain stores. I mean watching the board! What I have seen at meetings since last September curled my already prominent Jew-Fro into a do of Billy Preston-like dimension. Don’t let it happen again!

The victorious Second Opinion Caucus, winner of 19 of 24 board seats, could only get 22 to run. And that took arm-twisting and much alcohol to persuade those now happy to do their civic duty. The SOC is an improvement, but it is not the answer. The answer is real public involvement. Participatory Democracy, not representative. This town is 12 blocks long and 10 blocks wide, and everyone has the Internet. There are no excuses for not trying to affect the outcome of meetings.

I did!

One the first orders of business at the board meeting on May 25 at the Hiram Lodge , 8425 Germantown Ave., will be to ensure that all subsequent board and executive board meetings will be held at large public halls, such as the library or the Water Tower gym. We will ask the Local for large ads donated - we all must volunteer - with detailed agendas, and the issues to be discussed. The next move is yours. Unless you come to these meetings and ask questions, express discontent or raise hell, depending on your personal style (guess which is mine), something bad will happen again. It is the nature of the dynamic; it is the nature of the beast. Ambition is the problem, and power is its drug.

The real answer is to do away with the board. Public meetings at which votes of 300 to 200 carry the day make board votes of 25 to 12 comical and irrelevant. It is in the best, perhaps the only, tradition of pure democracy extant. We can all be part of this. Because if we don’t all fight Commerce Bank, developers, prigs and pigs, they will win. Why? Because they’re motivated by greed and a sense of entitlement, a powerful and dangerous combination, as anyone who reads newspapers that do contain editorials can readily attest. So pack these meetings!

As the Lord High Executioner so succinctly intoned, “I have a little list.” Come hear my list at the Hiram Lodge on the 25th. You asked for this. You got it. Come see me keep my promises. And attack me if I don’t. I swear upon the Altar of any Imaginary Creature you prefer, it will be entertaining because that’s my business!

Ed Feldman was on the Second Opinion Caucus slate in the Chestnut Hill Community Association board election last month. He won a one-year term with 664 votes.