New Leadership Is Needed On The TAMPOA Board

We've been accused of being disparaging in our call for a change in the leadership of the TAMPOA Board. Our accuser thinks we were too hard on the Board members because they are only volunteers. Apparently our accuser also dislikes the fact that we have referred to the Board members by name. He calls us "cowardly."

We hardly think calling for a change in the TAMPOA Board leadership qualifies as character assassination. Calling us names will not change our view about the need for new leadership. We don't think we are cowardly. We didn't notice anyone else from within the Annex bloging about the failed policies of the current TAMPOA Board at the time we started this blog. And judging by the comments we receive, we've been called a lot of things, but hardly cowardly.

We readily acknowledge that the Board is composed of volunteers and that volunteering is a good thing. But if you volunteer and you screw up, the fact that you are a volunteer doesn't inoculate you from criticism of your behavior. It's not the people we disagree with, it's their policies. If the Board reversed course tomorrow, we'd be the first to applaud that action. In fact, there are many policies of the Board with which we agree.

We were not the first Annex residents to call for a change in Board leadership. In fact, there have been calls for the entire Board to resign, as well as talk of a recall, a sentiment we did not support. We think we've been more than patient in trying to give the Board reasons to change -- hoping and hoping they would do so. But most of them (not all) were stuck in fast forward.

The messages that Board members were wrong in their policies about Southard street have been legion. They received a large amount of e-mail and letters from TAMPOA members -- their constituents -- and we published a number of those emails or letters. The Board, as near as we can tell, continued on its set course.

Now there is an opportunity as well as a need for new leadership. The most recent Southard Street settlement proposal has not received a positive response from the City. Two new Board members will arrive following the Annual Meeting. If there is to be a change in leadership on the TAMPOA Board, this seems to be the right time. The new Board members-to-be offer new hope for change. They should have a chance, along with Jim Hall, the current Vice President, to effect some change in policies and direction. That's why we said the current officers left should step down and new officers should take their leadership positions.