[Summit] politics and self-governance

[Jonathan Howard]

I've gotten offline calls and emails regarding the use of our list to 
solicit nominating petition signatures. Let me clarify a couple of points.

This list is maintained by SNA, but it is self-governing, meaning that 
your comments are unfiltered and the only rule-makers or list police are 
all of us jointly. One reason for this is that we are a democratic 
organization, but another is that it's a lot less work and stressful 
decision-making for the SNA board which has enough to do and fight about 
as it is.

As a practical matter, John Bazik is the administrator, and we could 
involuntarily eject a participant, but they could re-join under a new 
email without much fuss. After that, we could shut the whole list down. 
I have occasionally called for removing particularly belligerent 
posters, but the SNA board has stuck to the self-governing policy and I 
guess at this point I agree that the alternatives are all worse. This 
group has done a great job of setting norms, calming passions and making 
decisions.  I don't think any individual could have done better.

If you want out, you can remove yourself at the link below. (You can get 
a password reminder sent to your email if you've forgotten it.) We can't 
process individual requests, but if you try and utterly fail, let us 
know and we'll do what we can.But, I hope you will agree with me that 
the value of this discussion is worth the occasional offensive remark, 
and maybe worth the effort of letting a deeply felt response sit a day 
or two before you hit "send."

http://mail.sna.providence.ri.us/mailman/listinfo/summit_sna.providence.ri.us

As for the issue at hand. Kelly Taylor is our neighbor and is welcome on 
this list. I suggested that Kelly take this to the group and I think we 
have a large majority of commenters in favor as long as we open this 
door to all. I would ask that requests be made once and that you direct 
responders to contact you off the list by email or phone.

SNA is 100% non-partisan in its policies and actions, but our interests 
are inherently political, since much of our work involves the 
performance and machinery of government. Our current governing troika 
includes a Republican (Jim), a Green (Greg) and a Democrat (me). We will 
be also be hosting a candidate's forum closer to Election Day, which is 
another example of being political and non-partisan.

And yes, we have received legislative grants in recent years, which we 
have invested in our North Main Street project. Our financial report 
will be available at our Annual Meeting on Feb. 25.

Jon Howard, SNA President

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