The proposed TWDC bylaws specify that the TWDC Board will appoint all voting
members of its committees, along with their chairpersons. At the TWDC Bylaws
Committee meeting last week, one of the reasons mentioned for this was to help
enable the TWDC to sacrifice of the welfare of selected neighborhoods for what
it perceives to be the greater good of Tremont. By appointing all committee
members and their leadership, the TWDC Board can prevent neighborhoods from
packing committees to prevent such actions.
For obvious reasons, commercial interests would like to have the section of
Professor between Starkweather and Jefferson become as commercial as the
business district north of Jefferson. This was illustrated by the recent
attempted hard sell of installing a Turkish drive-through restaurant between
Thurman and Professor within the aforementioned residential area. Other
neighborhoods may be similarly at risk.
When Sammy Catania told Thurman Street residents, during a meeting on this
proposal, that the whole neighborhood is going to change anyway, many long time
residents became active enough in the South of Jefferson Block Club for long
enough to become voting members, to prevent block club support for the proposal,
and to help vote in new block club leadership.
Last Thursday, the TWDC Economic Development and Long Range Planning Committee
decided to focus on the TWDC Strategic Investment Initiative at its next
meeting, Thursday, January 7, 2010 (as whatever it may be known as, if proposed
changes to the TWDC bylaws pass). IMHO, residents should have the right to
become full voting members of TWDC committees to protect their homes and quality
of life -- especially when TWDC plans may adversely affect them. The proposed
bylaws, among other things, block the right of residents to resist efforts to
commercialize and gentrify their neighborhoods.
Please join me in actively fighting the proposed TWDC bylaws.
Sincerely,
Larry Cornett