Attempts to join with LGNA rebuffed - again

One of the Lower Greenville Neighborhood Association's mantras has been

If you want our help, then join our association and get involved in our neighborhood association.

Everyone should be familiar with the long-standing claim by the LGNA that they represent our area. Even when representatives of BelmontNA are invited to represent the association at official City functions, like City Council Member Angela Hunt's neighborhood association president events, LGNA finds a context in which to proclaim their dominion over our area (Belmont to Ross, Greenville to Skillman), the area that we have been representing since 2003.

LGNA's former board member Maxine Aaronson was quoted in a Dallas Morning News article in February 2003,

Parking and crime are issues all over the city, let alone Lower Greenville Avenue," she said. "I would hope if anyone feels they're not being represented, they would come to the organization and participate."

Avi Adelman and I were contributing members of LGNA for several years, delivering many a newsletter, before it became obvious they had no intention of helping us address the problems that arose in the late '90s specific to our Lowest Greenville area.

After all, most of LGNA’s members live on the "M Streets”, which were benefiting from an increase in property values generated by the sudden rise in popularity of the Lower Greenville restaurant and club area; they weren't impacted by the noise, parking in front of houses, trespassing, and similar invasion problems we were suffering from, here on the edge Greenville Avenue. LGNA had no motivation to "help" us with these problems. For them, it wasn't an increase in "problems," it was a profitable change in their favor.

So we split off from LGNA and founded the Belmont Neighborhood Association in 2003. Instead of seeing this as a sensible advantage, a relinquishment of the burdens from dealing with the avalanche of issues that had descended upon our neighborhood, LGNA became a consistent antagonist against our efforts to return some civility to our lives here on Lowest Greenville.

That's the short version of the war between the neighborhood associations.

Here in BelmontNA, we believe in working toward solutions to problems. For example, we asked for – and received – the Arcadia Theatre marquee sign just before the building was torn down after the devastating fire in 2006.By early 2007, we sold the sign for $10,000 and used that money to bring Resident Parking Only to nearly a dozen streets in our neighborhood in less than 18 months. Our on-the-street crime rate dropped 50% in less than two years.

Avi and I, as individual residents NOT association officers, decided to take LGNA at their word and get involved with their organization. Like anyone else in the neighborhood would do, we sent in our checks for membership and showed up at their meeting on Tuesday night at the World Piece Café on Lowest Greenville. But within moments of LGNA President Patricia Carr's arrival at 645pm, we were told to leave the restaurant before the meeting started or the police would be called to remove us.

A reporter from the Dallas Observer was able to attend the meeting. In his story, posted the next evening, he quoted LGNA President Patricia Carr as saying...

I will say this. They were already there when I arrived, and I said they were certainly welcome to stay and observe, but I told them that we were having a vote and that they were not members so they couldn't vote. I invited them to stay as residents of the area, and that was not acceptable to Avi and Diana.

This is absolutely not true. Her comments to us were:

Pat Carr - This is a private function...

Avi Adelman - We're members. We've sent you our checks, and we live in the neighborhood. We have your bylaws.

PC - You have our bylaws?

AA - Yes, we live in your neighborhood, we are in your boundaries, we joined the association and we got the [Certified Mail] postcard.

PC - No, you haven't joined the Association. You sent checks. However, our Board of Directors voted to put the matter under advisement because of your continued attacks on LGNA.

AA - Your bylaws don't let you do that...

PC - Yes, they do...

AA - Do you something newer than the 1985 version I have?

PC - Oh sure.

AA - Okay, can I get a copy of them?

PC - Not tonight.

AA - No, but I would like to get a copy of them.

PC - I would like to ask you to leave and not make a scene.

AA - No. We are in a neighborhood association meeting. We are in the neighborhood even if we didn't join it ....

Rene (restaurant owner)- Avi, she booked the restaurant, the restaurant is sold to her. It's a private party, she paid for it. If she doesn't wish for you to be here, I'd prefer you left. And if you don't, I will call the police and ask them to remove you. It's not open to the public. It's a private party.

AA - We were invited ...

Diana Souza - We both received invitations [newsletters]. And we're members.

PC - No, you are not voting members of the Association. This meeting is for voting members. If you do want to be unpleasant..

AA - We were just going to sit here...

PC - You are being unpleasant by your presence, Avi. And you can do what you want but you are not part of this organization.

DS- I did not see on this invitation that it was just for voting members...

PC - Diana, don't push.

You can listen to the entire conversation at this link (yes, we recorded it).

Anyone familiar with managing a non-profit organization learns very early that an association's bylaws are only as good as the officers enforcing them. After last night’s incident, it is obvious LGNA missed that class!

Friends, for years we have documented this issue and thankfully, many of you have expressed your support of our collective efforts to protect the quality of life for our residents. We believe LGNA's goals are not the same as ours.

If you have a vision for Lowest Greenville, our city leaders need to hear about it. Please use the link below to send a message to Dallas City Council Member Angela Hunt (who represents our neighborhood) and Dallas City Council Member Pauline Medrano (who represents the portion of Lowest Greenville across the avenue and south of Belmont), with copies to our office –citycouncil@belmontna.org.

And if you feel like a neighborhood association should actually represent its neighbors, drop a line to LGNA president Pat Carr, with copies to our office – lgna@belmontna.org

Respectfully,

Diana Souza

President, Belmont Neighborhood Association

May 19, 2010