I sat through a whole APC meeting. Wasn't able to comment because I was there as a translator. I can now though.
In his classic book "How to win friends & influence people", published in 1937, Dale Carnegie said "nobody wins an arguement". The meeting was going well & was very informative RIGHT UP TO THE POINT when the arguements started. I'm not going to point fingers at anybody, but it is the responsibility of the organisers to ensure this doesn't happen. Diffuse the situation by asking the protagonists to continue at a later time, in private. Then move on.
From what I can gather from reports on earlier meetings, this problem is endemic at all meetings organised by the present board & previous administrations. Until this problem is solved the community will stay divided, with all the problems endemic to this situation.
Having seen the current administration in action, I believe they are genuinely trying to improve Costambar. They have made progress on collecting fees - more people are paying & revenues are up despite fees for individual properties being reduced. They need to control the meetings more tightly, not necessarily by having a guard with a shotgun present, then maybe we can move Costambar into the 21st. century.
Sat Mar 20, 2010 11:09 am