It's About the Leadership...

Our most frequent poster, Anonymous, sent a comment on Jim Foster's piece, Damage Control, in which the entire story is discarded with a two-word response.

Anonymous writes:

Twisted nonsense. Chestnut Hill should be grateful to Mr. Jain and Ms. Dornemann for encouraging healthy businesses to replace empty storefronts on Germantown Avenue.

Why is the blog so anti-business?

Dear Anonymous:

All we can say is, "'splain that one to me, Lucy."

The issue is transparency and honesty within the management of the Chestnut Hill Community Association. It has nothing to do with the who and/or what of business. Your anti-business talking point? It's merely a diversion from the real issue - poor leadership.

This is a road we've been on too long. The group in power uses code phrases like "terrorist," left-winger," and "anti-business" to disguise the rather obvious ineptitude and incompetency of the current crop of directors. It hurts them - deeply, one imagines - that people aren't buying their excuses. From the failure of the Black & White Gala through the Holiday House Tour debacle and now the non-response to the annual Community Fund appeal, a common thread is found. That thread tells us the leadership and board of directors has failed. How? They fail to follow the by-laws, have interfered with the operation of the Local and and cannot be trusted to keep the interests of the community uppermost in their behavior, which only further underscores their lack of competence.

The only answer is to "fire" the people responsible for this mess in the next election. It is time to elect people who understand what a community association should be. The dissidents are placing a slate of candidates up this spring. They are the people deserving of support. They are the people who can turn the CHCA around. Otherwise, we are in for another year of broken rules and threats, of mismanaged programs and excuses that "those people" are preventing the management from getting the work done. And that kind of management is something this community can no longer afford.