Historical October 1977 letter. Opinions and allegations remain attributed to the original writer; the archive does not independently establish those allegations.
In the September issue of The Paper, C. L. Smith, President of WHN, made some statements which I feel cannot be left unanswered. He charged that a few members of the WHN Board have attempted to block every project which has come before the Board. That charge is false and I believe that it is time for the community to learn what has happened during the past year. In order to explain, I will deal with the issues of the Community Center, the Redevelopment project, and my position as ex-publicity chairperson.
1. The Community center was not opposed by a “few members.” It was opposed by many members and also by many residents of the community. The proposal to develop a community center continued only after a motion that the proposed site not be considered failed by a vote of 6 to 7 (one vote is not an overwhelming majority). That motion was not an effort to block the center. It was to eliminate consideration of the site. The site selected is not in the center of the neighborhood and to gain the space for playing fields would require intrusion into the Redevelopment area. A further concern of those who wanted to consider the center more carefully is where the 30 to 40 thousand dollars per year needed to run the center will come from. As a Board member, I can assure you our treasury has no such funds.
2.
I have been Publicity Chairman during the past year and I agree with Mr. Smith that my neighbors have not received some information. It has been impossible for me to inform you since the “leadership” has chosen to operate in secret. I cannot tell you about meetings and events which are not disclosed to me until after they have already taken place. I would like to point out that ‘I volunteered for the post but it took Mr. Smith two months to notify me that he had decided to accept my offer to serve.
The “negative element” can be simply identified as those who have voted against any project proposed by Mr. Smith. Some of these projects have included special study committees appointed without discussion before the Board and without notifying Board members of the existence of these committees. It is difficult to serve the neighborhood when the “leader” seems to feel that he must oeprate in total secrecy.
3. The most important issue raised by Mr. Smith is one which he does not refer to. It is called the right of free speech. It appears from his letter that is is not permitted to disagree with his view or to vote against any project he proposes. I find that I am capable of thinking for myself and will not be told by anyone that I cannot disagree or vote against proposals which are not in the best interests of the Washington Heights Neighborhood and the larger community.
I have been replaced as Publicity Chairman but Mr. Smith has not had the courage to formally notify me of this decision. I wish the new chairman success but suggest that that person be aware that any opposition to Mr. Smith will be considered “negative” and may lead to his/ her replacement.
I do not seek an apology from Mr. Smith. He should instead apolize to the entire neighborhood for his failure to provide open, honest and effective leadership.
Richard Lake Former Publicity Chairman
Originally published in The Paper, October 1977.
Read this article in the original newspaper issue.
Archival transcription note: The printed spellings ‘oeprate,’ ‘is is’ and ‘apolize’ are retained.
Original source: SD_Times1977_10.pdf, printed page(s) 5; PDF page(s) 5.
