I’ve been having lots of trouble posting this card to the bulletin boards. For over a week, somebody was removing them as quickly as I could put them back up, I assume because they wanted to prevent more people from subscribing to my newsletter and reading the content on this website.
The thing is, if someone doesn’t like the contents of this site, they should instead simply reply to it here (or anywhere else where it can be seen and replied to by all), stating their reasons for disagreeing with it and making a case for their own viewpoint. Or even post an entirely new opinion piece of their own. Then, I might respond, and they might respond to me, and so forth and so on.
In other words, we could talk.
A pretty wild idea, huh?
I reported the removals to the office and asked them to ask the board if it was them doing the removing. (Because I heard from one owner who saw one board member removing a card on one occasion.) If they were removing it officially, which they have the power to do according to the Rules, then they only needed to let me know, and I would stop reposting it.
This is what happened with this card with info about ICE that I was posting in January. The office informed me that they were removing them on orders from the board, and I was happy to comply by no longer posting them.
It was that simple.
Since I reported the removals of my newsletter card, it’s largely stopped happening, except for individual cards occasionally being removed from single locations. I assume this means it was in fact the board, or an individual board member, removing them regularly from every bulletin board, either officially but without informing me, or unofficially as a rogue act. And now, it’s just some random owner or owners, taking them down opportunistically as they go about their day.
So it’s an improvement.
But it’s pretty wild that this is even an issue. I almost hesitated to write about it, except for the possibility that it was a member of the current board majority doing most of the removing. I don’t actually criticize them on this site for every possible thing (as I’m sure some of them feel) but only (so far) for actions and attitudes I feel are anti-democratic. We can disagree about decisions concerning the building (and I don’t actually disagree with any of their major ones so far) and people should be able to make mistakes and learn from them, but suppression of speech and other tactics that interfere with or evade or otherwise damage the principles of transparency, accountability, and democracy are in another category entirely. We shouldn’t have to compromise about them, especially when they aren’t that onerous to follow.
So, to whoever was and/or still is removing these cards from the bulletin boards:
- If you’re not a member of the board, I assume you feel you’re supporting them, but you should ask them if what you’re doing is okay. I’m pretty sure that a majority of them, including board president Ray Aguirre, will tell you No. Instead, whenever you discover something on the boards that offends you, report it to the board and let them judge whether it ought to be officially removed. They have the power to do that. You do not.
- If you’re the board officially removing the cards as you’re allowed to do by the Rules, please just let me know, and as with the ICE cards, I’ll stop posting them. But be ready to own that decision and the reasons you give or don’t give for it. (i.e. transparency and accountability.)
- If you’re a board member who was removing the cards on your own initiative: first off all, thanks for stopping that. (Wasn’t the constant posting and removing of cards tedious?) Second: I hope you now realize how wrong you were to be doing it.
The good news is that there is absolutely no reason why we need to spend any more time arguing about things as trivial as bulletin boards when there are more pressing issues to be discussed. We just have to hold to a few easy, self-evident, democratic principles.
Update 2/18: Last night and then again this morning, I found all the cards removed from every parking ramp lobby again. So either the person or people who were removing them systematically before, who stopped after I reported it to the office and asked them to ask the board about it, started doing it again, or one of the random individuals removing them opportunistically upped their efforts.
My friends outside the building can’t believe what goes on in this place!
I think the board should make an official statement to all owners that we shouldn’t be removing items from the bulletin boards. Particularly because I suspect that it’s people who think they’re supporting the board who are doing this.
______________________
This post expresses the author’s personal opinion and not necessarily that of any of the City Walk Talk staff members. If you would like to reply to this post, you can do so in the comment section below. If you would like to post your own piece, please contact the City Walk Talk staff here. Our mission is for this site to be a center for information and discussion for the whole community.