TRADITION!!!! TRADITION. TRADITION?

     Tradition is nice, comfortable, reassuring, even heartwarming at times. It can be found in the areas of faith, of government, in any facet of life, and CVWPB is no exception.
     For years there has been a tradition, reinforced by by-laws, that there are term limits for UCO officers as far as same office is concerned and there has been a tradition that the responsibilities of administration be divided amongst the many, so much the better to gain the benefits of more life experiences, more brain power, and to continuously build up a new cadre of people ready to take over when the term limits cut in or when the voters decided they needed a change.
     Unfortunately, there also developed a tradition of self interest with contractors "donating" certain gifts to officers, in particular presidents of both the UCO and of associations as the rot seeped downward, or perhaps upwards. Not everyone was involved, but there were enough, so much so that the presidency of some associations was regarded as a profitable fiefdom, what with gifts from returning residents, comped repairs and upgrades, etc. Thankfully, much of this has stopped as newer, younger residents entered the Village and began to resist.
     However, this tradition remains in place in spirit, especially within UCO proper. Offices are to be held ad infinitum ad nauseum. Positions of Village wide import are to be held concurrently, such as VP and editor of The Rag, chairmanships of committees are divided amongst a few, as are volunteer positions.
     The newspaper has lost a proud heritage of informing the Village of knowledge they need, and instead has reverted to literally, a rag, shutting down veins of information, restricts writing to several people only - and why not take a look at the latest issue and count who wrote what. It is shameful, to say the least. Even when we had other slanted papers or editors, there was always the opportunity, even if limited, to opposing factions to get their information in. Not now. I guess we are too busy worrying about metadata and the NSA!
     These traditions are shameful, but how lucky we are to be developing new ones. We now have a new newspaper, for the newsletter, The CV Messenger, has grown and put on weight. Its circulation has grown enormously, with mailings to the north and wider distribution in the Village despite all attempts to shut it down, people are calling for help, writing letters, and reading the truthful and informative articles.
     Another new tradition, quite funny when you think of it, is that of The Rag turning into a response paper, responding to issues that the other blogs and The CV Messenger  have raised and even answered. Just look at the latest issue of The Rag. Joy Vestal pathetically defends her dual held offices. Barbara Cornish tries to use semantics to defend against the reinstatement of term limits with the fallacious reasoning of now inserting annual elections. That is not the question nor the answer. Is resigning again the answer? If so, Barbara, please take along with you the lord and master of all he surveys - or so he thinks - and let the sunshine in. Howie O'Brien continues to be the good boy he was told to be with his ridiculous budgets and statements. If we are doing so well, then why fire Edie? Who is going to do her work now? Ed Black? Might as well, as he sticks his finger and nose in everywhere else, much to our detriment. If we are doing so well, why the huge fee growth next year of at least $10 for the reserve alone!!! What will the final figure be  including associations? Heavens!!
     And what is the content of this purported newspaper? Responses to all that the opposition has brought up, desperate now to protect themselves, but folks, they are not "the firstest with the mostest, but are instead the lastest with the leasetest." Information, forms, cautions, that have already been in place for weeks and in cases for months, suddenly appear to be important to them. Too little too late.
     The other new tradition that has been developing is the neglect of the infrastructure of the Village or the incompetent and very temporary fixing of problems and money just going down the tubes. Take a walk along the perimeter and see the red markings in areas of great and/or many cracks. More temporary and costly repairs, piecemeal, AGAIN!!! Take a look at the benches at the bus stops. The one near us has not been safe for years and now it looks as if an elephant took a sledgehammer to it. But it is near the "infamous home of an infamous person" so it does not get fixed.
     We need new traditions. Ones of honesty, faith to and for our residents, loyalty towards them and the Village, a promise to do the best one can and always make room for and welcome in new blood, new thinking, new officers and volunteers, new writers. Never again would we allow a situation like Sheffield O to develop. The sudden outpouring of advice from UCO should have been there years ago and what I have always said - WHERE WAS UCO??
     I have long pondered the whys of this situation and wondered if there was evil afoot. I believe there are venomous people involved to a certain extent, but I came across this, and perhaps it might explain it better. It is Hanlon's Razor. "Never ascribe to malice that which is adequately explained by incompetence."
     Put that together with the following and I believe we have the impetus for the current UCO. "But evil is wrought by want of thought as well as want of heart." Thomas Hood.
   
     Finally, a change to announce. Due to the fact that there are certain people who have no other way to think and respond other than to curse, threaten, use foul language, make remarks of racial, religious, gender, etc., to threaten physical harm and to involve families in their threats and engage in schoolyard bully tactics, I have no recourse other than to cut them out.
     From now on, if one wishes to post on my blog, you will have to sign in with your name and email address, just as one does on David's blog, but I will allow all except these particular animals to post. You will be listed as an author and thus have the right to post directly to the blog. Enough time has been wasted on these particular nits.
     Thank you all for your readership, responses and understanding of the situation. If you are already an author there is no change to you.