THE WEIGHT OF HISTORY

     "History has many cunning passages, contrived corridors."  T.S. Eliot
     Let us take a stroll down some of the history of the current UCO and see what its weight, its passageways tell us.
     I must confess that when David first became President of UCO I thought, as did the majority of the residents, that all would be well and UCO continue in its oath of responsibility towards the Village and that is where my interest was. It was over the year, as I paid more and more attention towards the happenings over there that I began to worry and began to write on the once upon a time CV blog until the blog was gone and then I was banned from the fake Village blog because I was too outspoken in my opposition towards what was going on in UCO.
     So, partial history lesson and concerns.
     We, of course, could track down the old comments, and we have done that before, but term limits - with David Israel FOR them was an issue, his horrendous treatment of Dan Gladstone and his mandated APOLOGY or  real legal issues to fall upon him, and then the roads, the infamous road issue that is still plaguing us.
     You know, everyone is to be allowed to make mistakes, errors in judgment, but when those "mistakes" continue and those "errors" turn out to be deliberate missteps, then something is rotten, deeply so. The manipulations of funds, the transferring of funds without delegate knowledge and approval, the sleight of hand pushing thru of contracts, without giving the delegates proper information or time to absorb it, the poor, almost criminally so, perusal and signing of contracts that were a joke in the legal sense with no protection for us here in the Village and which cost us over $5 million dollars with  nothing to show for it other than a newer set of crumbling roads, fading lane markers from day one, floods, and poorly integrated drains and swales which led to those floods as well as poorly presented sloping of roads.
     We then had another debacle almost laid upon us with the same tactics of hit and run presentation and illegal presentation of contracts without approval and we, the opposition, barely saved us, by the width of a hair, from having a truly crappy WI Fi system pushed upon us, one that just recently had to be thrown out of Boca as it was so poor.
     But the lesson was not learned and almost immediately upon those events, David Israel resurrects a committee called the Broadband committee with the same old members and the same old plan of forcing a contract down our throats. In fact, he already was talking of signing a contract! THIS IS A CASE OF THE MAN NOT LEARNING FROM HIS PAST AND WE ALL KNOW THE OLD BUT TRUE SAYING THAT IF WE DO NOT, THEN WE WILL REPEAT THE SAME ERRORS, MANY TIMES WITH CATASTROPHIC RESULTS AND HERE WE ARE!
     As UCO failed in its responsibilities, David Israel and Ed Black became even more desperate to hang onto power and they consolidated as much as they could by instituting an open policy of abuse of opposition and the removal of such from committees and positions in the Village. The Reporter, now known as The Rag, became the purview of Vestal who now could not do either of her jobs well and who is totally under David's thumb. Committees survived the Night of the Long Knives and were kept alive, though basically only as yesmen, as David Israel put in Ed Black on numerous committees, the Officers voted multiple times on the same vote, Exec. Bd. members flagrantly displayed absenteeism and needed to be replaced but he neglected to do so for the next few candidates were of the opposition.
     And so now, today, we have another mess of roads awaiting for us, no plan in place to raise the money for their sooner rather than later replacement, the striping contract was approved without DA approval as it was deemed to be an emergency! Truly? Do we all appear to be that stupid?
      In the meanwhile, despite repeated offerings and stretched out hands, to work together for the benefit of the Village, we were ignored even as they adopted some of our very ideas and presented them as theirs. Fine, for the Village benefitted, but where is the cooperation? Nowhere to be found. But worse was to come.
     David Israel began to exhibit some strange behaviorisms at the assemblies and even in committee meetings. He would bang his gavel, would screech for 911 to be called and for PBSO to "rescue" him. He paid for armed deputies to stand there and intimidate delegates - sorry, no go there - and used our money to pay for it , adding insult to injury.
     When PBSO said this had to stop, he now screeches for Al, the Captain, to shut the mic, thinking to silence us but we will not be silenced. We will be heard. We will make our concerns known. He even has sicced the law on Olga, he or one of his alter egos, by claiming that she is unbalanced and has an arsenal in her unit. I mean really?!!! He appointed more and more of the same people to committees even as some of his own people could not take it anymore and resigned.
     Now we are hearing rumors of a desire to perhaps talk with the opposition, those he deems malcontents. Well, if one saw the movie Selma, then one remembers the scene where George Wallace, the governor, calls the protesters and marchers malcontents! Hmmm - glad to be deemed as seminal to the history books as they were and still are, only ours is to be connected to the history of CV, our home.
     David Israel, I, personally, have long called for cooperation, for sharing, for working together. As one who has had numerous times in her professional life to mediate, or to negotiate contracts, to work with others - and do it well - I stand ready if you are. I have always stood ready as all I, and my friends, wish for is a better, more solidly based Village where our rights are respected, where our finances are not engaged in a murky process of hide the truth and where the money we spend will eventually bring us our OWN Clubhouse, our own benefit. Think about it, will you, sir? And keep your buddy away whilst you think, for if not, don't even bother. Why would he want to work with others who want him and his poisonous ways out, away from the six or so positions he now holds - as a non elected person!
     We are here, waiting. I am here, waiting. The Village is here, waiting. Where are you?