Thanks for the explanation of the Civility Project. Maybe someone from Merrick House could spend five minutes at the annual meeting to explain the project and let members know how they can get involved. Call Stephen Bloom at TWDC (575-0920) if you want to be added to the agenda.
Sandy

Urbanite #31 January 07
By: P.M. Forni

P. M. Forni was born in Italy in 1951 and graduated with a Ph.D. from UCLA in 1981. He has taught Italian literature at Johns Hopkins University for the last twenty years. A student and advocate of manners, civility, and politeness, he heads The Civility Initiative at Johns Hopkins. His work has been instrumental in the launching of civility projects in Minnesota, Ohio, and elsewhere. His 2002 book, Choosing Civility: The Twenty-five Rules of Considerate Conduct, has been reprinted several times and continues to be adopted by schools, corporations, and organizations across the United States. Dr. Forni has been an expert source for The New York Times, The Washington Post, the Los Angeles Times, The Times of London, and ABC’s World News, among others. His commentary “The Civility Challenge” airs every week as part of the Satellite Sisters nationally syndicated radio show. He often lectures on the benefits of fostering a culture of civility in the workplace. Dr. Forni lives in Towson with his wife, Virginia.

A humanities professor by trade, I happily taught and wrote on medieval Italian literature for a couple of decades before asking myself: “What if kindness is as important as art? What if it is more important?”

I am not sure what brought this about. Maybe it was a sign of my middle-age crisis. All I know is that such questions lingered, eventually turning my life in a new direction—an extraordinarily exciting one. After a loyal militancy in the ranks of esthetics, I was developing a strong interest in ethics. Maybe there was a kernel of truth in that odd thought that came visiting one day and stayed: In the first part of our lives we look for beauty; in the second part we look for goodness. Also, having lived and breathed the works of wonderful writers from an almost forgotten past for such a long time, I eagerly cast my glance on the present. I was ready to fall in love with something relevant to everybody’s everyday life. Civility presented itself as the obvious choice.

I began to look at this form of gracious goodness, to study it and reflect on it, finding unexpected and fascinating facets to my subject, but also discovering myself in the process. Making the Johns Hopkins Civility Project a reality in 1997 was part of that process and so was writing Choosing Civility and publishing it in 2002. Years have gone by, but my fascination has not flagged. The Civility Project has become The Civility Initiative at Johns Hopkins, but the goals we pursue are still to research and promote civility—or if you prefer, relational competence or social intelligence.

Civility is a benevolent awareness of others that shows itself in restraint, respect, and consideration. In it, altruism and self-interest find an enlightened way of coexisting. Do stop and think about it for a moment; this is quite remarkable. Civility is good and it is good for you. When you are civil, you tend to the well-being of another, but you are also liked and as a result the quality of your relationships increases and with it the quality of your life. Social intelligence is a much more accurate predictor of success in life than the kind of intelligence we measure with IQ tests. The world is the oyster of the likeable.

A compelling argument for the fostering of civility in society at large is the connection between incivility and violence. Many of the billion acts of physical violence taking place in the world every year have their origin in an exchange of uncivil words or actions. See for instance the typical spiraling from rude gesturing to a fisticuffs or a shooting in road-rage incidents. By raising the levels of civility, we can lower those of physical violence. Putting civility on the national agenda of public discourse for the new year is a very smart way to promote everyday safety.

I love telling youngsters who are afraid to be perceived as weak if they are kind that nice guys need not finish last—not if they are also smart. In fact, smart and nice is as powerful a combination for success as we can imagine. I love showing executives how employee quality of life can benefit from the fostering of a culture of civility in the workplace, and the ways that that is beneficial to the lives of organizations. I never tire of repeating to all willing to listen: Take civility seriously because social skills strengthen social bonds, and we need strong social bonds to survive and to thrive.

Abstract of article published in Educational Theory Journal Spring 2002, Volume 52, Number 2

The Binds that Tie: Civility and Social Difference

Cris Mayo

This article examines civility from a variety of perspectives and analyzes each of the more troubling aspects of civility. Cris Mayo first examines "discriminating civility" in order to show civility's necessary relationship to distance and discrimination. She then turns to "obligating civility" to examine the burdens of civility, in their positive and more pernicious senses. Next, she turns to "personal civility" to examine the call for personalized relationships to cement social and political relationships. The article ends by suggesting that as much as civility may help us to encourage the cultivation of civil society, there are forms of civility, and indeed, aspects to all civility, that disable interactions and stall the creation of civil society. The article suggests that "sly civility" and even some tempered forms of incivility too have their uses in reconsideration of problematic practices.

Ok that's a bit academic. The paper is interesting, if written in academic-ese, but ya gotta go to Libary to get it or buy it online. See next post for a less civil (couldn't resist) statement of more or less the same view.

From Lessthencommon.blogsplot.com

Saturday, February 11, 2006

Civility vs. Integrity
I've been feeling uninspired lately. There has been so little news locally lately, I have pondered taking on less than local topics. I am sure with more digging, I could do more justice to local issues. Anyway, bear with me and I'll begin more frequent updates. Thanks for reading and here are my latest ramblings...

Civility vs. Integrity

Individuals within many communities and forums are promoting "civility". Civility projects are all the rage among various groups, parties, politicos and intellectuals. It seems dissention is being viewed more and more as uncivil. The interesting thing to explore is whether the dissention is, in-fact, uncivil or is the dissention, within a given forum merely percieved as uncivil. We see civility "projects" popping up around the country and of course we have our own right here in Duluth. Drawing upon my experiences in Duluth, but perhaps more importantly, decades away from Duluth and then returning, it appears obvious to all but the most disconnected that dissention is the only pre-requisite to being labelled as uncivil.

Dissention is generally based in a differing interpretation of fact, emotion, pre-disposition and social disposition. The current dominating party in Northeastern Minnesota has sensibilities so easily upset, you'd think the apple cart had one very wobbly wheel. Expressing the most insignificant dissention, coupled with a little spirit is viewed as disrespectful and uncivil. Criticizing the promoters of inane, impractical or downright foolish policies is met with vehement indignation by those promoters. One need only call a fool a fool to be attacked for being an uncivil extremist.

What the promoters of this phony civility are asking us to do is part with our convictions and diminish our own integrity. If you or I are angered by the actions of a public official, do we owe it to them to simply stuff it? The reason many people don't attend City Council meetings is because they see it as futile. If you are a dissenter and speak your mind, you are labelled uncivil. If you are frustrated and correspond with the Council to express your frustration, you are dismissed as uncivil. The bottom line is, the way to diminish and marginalize you and dismiss your message these days is to label you uncivil. Labelling somebody uncivil is such a clever way to destroy your message. If they are successful painting you as uncivil, the public sees you as a mindless savage not worthy of consideration.

What people have forgotten with all this phony civility is the integrity of human emotion and conviction is being crushed out. The passion of the messenger is destroyed and lost in the intellectual soup of labels. Civility "projects" are nothing more than organized attempts to quell dissent. Did our forefathers stuff their emotion and convictions? Our leaders take us into war to defend or establish freedom. Those who prefer isolationism and pacifism demand those of us who support the effort to remain silent. How dare we support such a draconian solution as war? In some minds, as long as we are free all others be damned. There is no justification for war in their minds short of defending against homeland attack. Why do we go to war? We go to war to defend and protect our right and the rights of others to express dissent. Those going into battle on America's behalf, engage in the ultimate form of dissent, against those who chose to crush or stifle dissent.

How do we get from here to there? How do we get from being the defender of freedom to becoming the ones who must fight for our own? The answer is, the Civility Project. The Civility Project as we so fondly refer to it, is nothing more than another weapon in the arsenal against free speech. If we as citizens, through threat of intimidation, public humiliation or simply being labelled as ne'r do well, uncivil savages, are not allowed to express spirited dissent, we have taken the first step toward tyranny, if only on a local level.

Don't be fooled by "civility projects", they are nothing more than the first step down the road to quelling freedom of speech. Civility "projects" must be attacked for what they are, nothing more than certain groups whittling away at your freedom. Any attempt to silence the human voice must be attacked for what it is, the first eroding of your freedom. All attempts at stealing freedom, crushing the human spirit or silencing the individual, have ultimately lead to tyranny. Tyranny leads to war. The human spirit is a power far too great to be silenced, stuffed or even rebuffed. If you believe it, speak it. Never allow your elected leaders to silence you. Never allow your elected leaders to marginalize you with speech policing. The inevitable end of this stifling of the human spirit is tyranny. The most uncivil act of the human race is war and the slippery slope of speech police leads to tyranny which has always been resolved through war. The unquenchable human desire to be free simply cannot be suppressed. The freedom to speak one's mind is the most fundamental freedom. When times require it, uncivil discourse is the best way to avoid tyranny.

# posted by Political Hack & Commentator @ 5:38 PM 0 comments links to this

Dude – Back away from the paranoia button. As I read it, the goal of the Tremont civility project is to bring together Southsiders, Tremonters, and Valley Viewers. Even a relatively recent transplant to the city and neighborhood can see the significant potential value in that. If you feel that engaging in such risky behaviour as communal meals or greeting your fellow residents at their car window with a cup of hot coffee are going to suppress your individual ideals or your freedom of speech, then by all means sit this one out.

Best regards,

Reasonable people

TCJ:

It's all well and good to self-censor your right tp free speech by cutting-and-pasting the opinions of other people from blogs, Web sites, etc. I'm sure you found a number of citations for the Civility Project on Google. But what do you think?

As for me, I'll take the free coffee, meet neighbors old and new and enjoy the experience.

Additional Reasonable People

"Resonable People" = White short sighted, white middle-class, white suburban values. Oh yes, whitey-white.

Civility Project = Trying to get everyone to act like good middle-class, white people from the suburbs.

Correction: "Resonable People" should read "Reasonable People"

Correction: "Reasonable People" should read "Self-Deluding White People"

Correction: "Civiltiy Project" should read "Everyboby Think and Act White Now Project"

Sandy's Little Voice: So you're saying that all non-white folks are rude and unreasonable. That's pretty racist. Sounds like you could benefit from a little civility [rest of comment redacted].

Adam, I'm sorry if you read that meaning in my posts, but I think you need to work on your reading comprehension skills. My posts neither state, suggest, imply, nor allude to your interpretation. They are in response to previous posts. If you want to disregard my comments go ahead, but don't fabricate hollow charges of racism. There's no racism here. But more importantly you should read TCJ's posts. There is some useful information there. I find it interesting the two previous posters (annonymous and sandysmith) don't dispute the content of TCJ's posts, but rather attack TCJ on a personal level. Thanks TCJ for the info.

Merrick House was once a wonderful asset in this community. I guess all things must change.

As for my "civility" --- there are times for civility and there are times for incivility.

Lol. Two of TCJ's posts paint the project in a rather positive light and the third was posted with his consistent and welcome contrariness and is verbatim from some dude who calls himself a political hack. And its a bit hypocritical to accuse folks of attacking him on a person level when that's the only thing you do on this site. Also a bit hypocritical is accusing me of poor reading comprehension when you think the Civility Project is just an effort to turn everyone into Whitey. Please try again.

Adam, I suggested you have poor reading comprehension skills, because you have poor reading comprehension skills, atleast with regard to my earlier posts.
I've had first hand experience with Dr. Forni's Civility Project in other communities. I believe Dr. Forni and most of the people promoting his project have good intentions, but that is not the outcome. Who's idea of civility do we use? Yours? Mine? Or, as has been the case in the past, a white middle-class, middle-american version of civility. So, the "effort to turn everyone into whitey" is not a conscious effort, but sure the unrecognized or acknowledged goal becomes getting everyone to behave in a way acceptable to "Whitey".
Having talked with you at the Lit and over coffee a couple times, and having observed your way of thinking, --- you are Whitey. I don't expect you to see anything wrong with the civilty project, because it's only trying to get people to relate and behave as you do. I sure you don't see anything wrong with your way of thinking or behaving.

Ah the plot thickens. I wasn't aware I'd been interacting with cowards lately. At least your spelling and diction has improved. Woops, that's not very civil is it?

Sandy... Everyone self censors... it's only civil. Besides you should know me well enough by now to know I am not shy about voicing my thoughts. Or is that your frustration?

Reasonable people... I assure you I am not paranoid. I suggest you spend less time inferring motivations, how to respond to those assumed motivations and more time listening (reading) what is actually said.

Unfortunately I've not the inclination at this moment to spend the time crafting the essay both of you implicitly request. *shrug*

Sandy's little voice... Considering your chosen moniker (mildly amusing in direct context with the Henry thing, now... not so much) I am in a quandry as to what to think and feel with regards to your defense of me against what you percieved as "personal attacks". I not sure they quite crossed that line. Sandy I think not, that was more of a challange or taunt if you prefer. She's entitled we know who each other are and I've taunted her. :)- (love ya babe)... As for "reasonable people" *shrug* I guess he runs up to the line. So I suppose a tip of the hat is in order. You seem to have something to say "little voice", back up a tad, not every taunt is an attack and most it is unwise to respond to anyway. P.S. Noting you've talked to Adam r/t and he can't put that face to a name on here... had me rolling... it would seem he hates that.

Adam.... chill. As of late it appears to me you've been havin a bit of difficulty deciding what your role is. Fellow commentator or moderator. If commentator... a tip of the hat for your comments above, some of them at least. If moderator... can someone help the ref he seems to have slipped and fallen in the mud, again.

TCJ

I'm cool as ice TCJ, I figured you knew me better than that; sometimes it is fun to poke the troll back. And I only wear my moderator hat when I have to.

Adam and TCJ
Adam, you're correct. You are unaware and in more ways than you know.

TCJ, the moniker perhaps is problematic. It was kept to maintain consistancy in posts, but perhaps I'll consider a new name for future posts, though it will only confuse Adam more. I think your right about Adam's name-to-face problem, -- he does have control issues. Also, I used the moniker again because I knew Adam would respond and he did (it's very easy to pull his strings). TCJ don't be in a quandry. I appreciate your posts (Adam you should fully read the second article before saying it supports the civility project) and found the responses silly at best. I do question whether Sandy actually posted that remark, since she signs her posts differantly, but if it wasn't her it sure captures her personality well. At any rate, don't make more of my defense then it was, there was a little messing with Adam going on, but also I am very familiar with Dr. Forni's work and find the Civility Project very unfortunate. I think your third article addresses well the nauseating attitudes expressed with regards to the Civility Project and other neighborhood issues in Tremont. A with-us-or-against-us-attitude (the Bush doctrane). --- The walking in lock-step going on around here is becoming deafening. If you come across more info about the civility project, pro or con, I hope you will post it. I'd be happy to read it.

Adam, as you like to say "please try again" (dance puppet dance)

From what I know of the civility project (having read two short books, neither by Dr. Forni), there is no set formula, meaning the project takes a different form in every community. TCJ has recycled comments of someone (or maybe it was "people" as it is difficult to tell) who apparently felt that the project had the effect of suppressing speech in a particular community. But that doesn't mean that the project in this community would have the same effect (in fact, given the series of posts, it would be difficult to conclude that anything could suppress free speech in this neighborhood).

In any event, while I quarrel with a lot of the conclusions that TCJ's commenter drew, TCJ's point in posting is perhaps a good one. Maybe the people leading the Tremont civility project will be sensitive to this issue and ensure that any such effects are minimized if not eliminated. In fact, given TCJ's concern, maybe he or she would volunteer to participate in the Tremont project to ensure that it is set up so as not to impinge free speech.

Since this seems to developed into a forum where concerns are voiced, my concern is that the project reach all segments of the neighborhood. Given the diversity of the neighborhood, if people get behind this project, I just don't see the concern that it is going to turn Tremont into Westlake. In that regard, maybe SLV would volunteer as well to ensure that his or her concerns are addressed.

The series of posts on this topic do illustrate, in my opinion, that our community could benefit from a little civility (myself included).

Stop me before I post again!!

Sheesh!

TCJ: You are correct, sir. No personal attack intended. Just poking some fun at you for sharing the opinions of others when you are not shy about sharing your own opinion. Plus, I genuinely am interested in hearing your thoughts on our (it is what we make of it) Civility Project. The next time I see you at the Lit, your next beer is on my tab. Peace, my brother!

Sandy's Little Voice - Use your own goddamn name and stop hiding behind anonymity. Your race baiting gives me a headache. And please, for the love of god, stop picking on Adam, who's a smart guy doing a cool thing with Tremonter.com. You could make the baby Jesus cry.

The genesis of the Civility Project in Tremont sprang from community meetings held to introduce Tremont residents to the Valley View/Hope VI project and concept. It became apparent at those meetings that there very much was an "us" versus "them" mentality in action, with the "us" being a few new or newer residents (many of whom moved to Tremont after Valley View closed) who were basing their opinions of the project and the returning Valley View families on neighborhood horror stories, half-truths, rumors and downright lies. The "them" in the discussions were, obviously, the returning Valley View families. It was obvious that education was needed to show that the vast majority of returning Valley View neighbors are great people who are so excited to return to Tremont, and to ensure that the (unfounded for now and forever, as far as we know) fears of a few residents would not be allowed to fester and spread unchecked.

The Civility Project was created to educate the folks with the "us" attitude, not the "them" folks, if you follow my drift. It's not an evil plot to turn Tremont into a Caucasian-acting (whatever that means - Timothy McVeigh was white and so were the men that dragged James Byrd Jr. behind their pickup truck and killed him and who beat Matthew Shepard to death) suburb. Quite the opposite: It's an opportunity educate all Tremont neighbors about the realities and challenges and, especially, the benefits of living in a diverse neighborhood.

Merrick House is looking for residents who are interested in in helping lead the project. If you want to ensure it doesn't become an attempt to turn Tremont into a generic, white-bread pseudo-suburb, then join the project.

Where can I find a schedule of actual events for the Tremont Civility Project? I'd like to attend a dinner or coffee.

It is still getting started Jenita, trying to get grant funding, trying to get people willing to help out. I'm sure Amy will keep us all posted.

thanks adam. hi jenita, adam is correct. feel free to give me a call at merrick house. 771-5077. amy

Sandy you asked for my thoughts on the Civility project so here we go.

My first thought: Wow 7 Habits for Highly Effective Neighborhoods! Steven Covey how did you miss this marketing, book, tapes and lecturing opportunity??? I then laughed when I read the subtitle of one of Dr. Froni's books "The Twenty-five Rules of Considerate Conduct." Hmmm the guy's a PhD in Italian literature and he's out peddling snake oil on fostering "civil" community, organizational interactions and processes. Way to go dude!!

Second thought; Don’t Miss Manners and Robert's Rules of Order cover all this and without the cotton candy???

Third thought: Jeeezzz I hope Merrick House didn't shell out any money for one of this guy's turn-key programs.

Forth thought: Ok let’s be fair, let’s go look and see if there are any effectiveness studies on this guy's cotton candy / Snake oil. So deeper into the online card catalogue we call Google I went. The closest thing I found was Cris Mayo's (read her bio/résumé bet she'd be fun to talk too) piece. A quick and superficial boil down on that could be stated as, "Civility comes in different flavors depending upon circumstances...Civility "rules" can be miss used and manipulated to squelch dissent.... any substantive and meaningful change is accompanied by a degree of incivility towards the status quo” Err yeah well Duh!!, thanks. Still I've no idea if Dr. Froni's 25 rules are of any measurable use. Back to thought number 2, I know Miss Manners and Robert's Rules work; in fact Robert’s Rules are designed in large part to manage the incivility inherent to any change (put bluntly, to stop parliamentary debates from ending with the swinging of Claymores). So back to viewing Dr. Froni's work as cotton candy and or snake oil depending on my mood. Well that and thinking it might be nice to bring my Claymore to the next TWDC Membership meeting. Alas I’ve put on a few pounds and my kilt no longer fits and well it just wouldn’t be right.

Fifth thought: Back to trying to be fair and open minded... a never ending struggle to be sure... How would one go about trying to measure the effectiveness of Dr. Froni's program? What would be an objective and measurable goal? Hmmm this lead to deeper thoughts....

To be continued.....

TCJ

Tim- For not being a fan of the civility project, you sure have spent alot of time on it! If I were to break it down into percentages, I would estimate that 3% of the Tremont Civility Project is based on Dr. Forni's work and the other 97% is based on two books from The National Civility Center. ( Community Weaving & Bring a Dish to Pass) I have copies of these books here for you. I will leave them at the front desk in case I am not around when you stop by. Also, I welcome a sit down with you, before or after you have read the books, to discuss the project and your ideas on how it should function. To specifically address your third thought, I purchased Choosing Civility on my own and was given permission by Dr. Forni to use his 25 rules and other research anytime, anywhere and, in any format, at no additonal charge.
Amy Weahry
Community Organizer
216-771-5077
merrick_house@yahoo.com

Amy, I think about many things of which I am not a fan, the Iraq war, tax-abatements for new housing (a particularly good example since I started thinking about them as being a bad thing and have since changed my mind, though I do think they should be 5 years fixed with a 10 year sliding scale after that), the anti-teaching-of-evolution movement (just can’t get around the thought “if your god is so weak his existence is threatened by a scientific attempt to understand the universe around us, Get Another God.”), just to name a few.

It is true I’ve been puzzling on this civility thing for awhile now. Frankly it struck my funny-bone, it’s so Monty Python. I mean really “The National Civility Center. Community Weaving & Bring a Dish to Pass.”

Ok I’ll try and take it serious, if only for a moment.

Tremont has always been a, hmmm, robust and contentious neighborhood, a unique little geographical hotbed of the great American melting pot. Tremont holds within her boarders more churches per square mile then anywhere else on earth save Vatican City or so I’ve been told. Even if not technically true, the added fact that the churches are varied in denomination, and varied in extremes even within denominations. A thoughtful reflection on this fact cannot help but conclude that tensions within and between groups of residents have always existed here. Then there are the Poles, the Germans, the Greeks, Ukrainians, Blacks, Hispanics, the list goes on and on. Today is no different then yesterday all that has changed is how we group ourselves.

In Sandy’s post she outlined how it came to pass that Dr. Froni’s Civility Project found its way into Tremont. I was not at the meeting in question though I have heard about it. If the question of civility in the neighborhood simply revolved around public subsidized housing residents, and residents who own their own homes I might half cavalierly offer that we start by having the “owner class” read selected works of Charles Dickens. The public housing residents perhaps could read Horiatio Alger stories. However, as disturbing as some found their neighbors comments at that meeting to be it is but a symptom not the cause.

One of the very first, perhaps it was the first, I don’t honestly recall, TWDC Membership meetings I went to there was much yelling and screaming, chairs were even tossed (a damn fine Cleveland tradition). It was very entertaining though I couldn’t tell you what, the hubbub was about. I didn’t get involved then it was all beyond me and frankly wasn’t sure I’d be staying in the ‘hood. I did learn later that the clause in TWDC’s by-laws that limits the board president’s reign to two consecutive terms some how came out of that chair tossing contest. Such was the civility of Tremont.

Much has changed in Tremont since that meeting. Some good, some bad. Chairs aren’t thrown at the annual membership meeting anymore, but then again no substantive attempt is made any longer to draw the membership into a discussion and decision making role regarding the activities and direction of the organization. That I believe is where civility begins to collapse. It is not just TWDC, though it is timely to use them as an example. It is, I think, endemic in these days of the reign of Bush II. This attitude of “if your not with us your against us”.

“If your not with us your against us” eliminates the possibility of a civil discussion of virtually anything. Agree with whatever it is or you’re the enemy and like all enemies by definition uncivil. Or if you prefer the ancient, Greek = Civilized, everything and everyone else = Barbarian. It also precludes any need for self reflection.

I recall a conversation I had a few years it went something like this…”will any of the women be crack whores? Well yeah I suppose but…., Well there you have it, it’s bad for the neighborhood we can’t be letting those people in the ‘hood.” He then unconsciously wiped the white powder from his nose with a pinching motion of his thumb and forefinger and snorted.

It is rare of course that the absurdity is that clear cut. Just as rare is the active presentation of “if your not with us your against us”. Rather it is a slow grind. I’ll return now to TWDC.

At last year’s annual membership meeting the Board of Trustees and the staff of TWDC were given a directive from their membership to post board, committee meeting minutes and when possible upcoming agendas for those meeting on their website. The Board and staff have complied with that directive but in a telling way. Not once has an agenda for an upcoming board meeting been posted. Now I can’t speak to current practice, but past practice was that the agenda for each board meeting is set at the executive board meeting held a week prior and mailed / emailed to the board members. My assumption is that this practice is still the case, at least most of the time. Now I doubt any member of the Board of Trustees who has received an agenda by email has ever bothered to look and see if was also posted on the web. Let alone thought to themselves, “aren’t I breaking a trust with the membership by not insisting they be posted.” I think the truth is far sadder then that.

There are 6 standing committees for TWDC. With the exception of the Executive committee none of these committees meet on any regular bases. I find this an indication that TWDC has long since lost a sense that committees are meaningful. This is curious and disturbing, curious from the stand point that I’ve heard staff and board members complain about a lack of membership involvement. Disturbing because as both an Executive Director of a community organization and a PhD in Urban Studies each quite separately pointed out to me, “when they (CDCs) start dismantling the committee structure, it is the first sign they are pulling away from their membership and disconnecting from their community.”

I did note that minutes for the Finance Committee and the Development Committees did appear on TWDC’s website once each last year. Alas no public notice of either of these meetings was posted anywhere I could find prior to the meeting. A violation of the TWDC's by-laws. Moreover only board members and staff of TWDC were present. Standing committees are committees of the general membership not the board, designed both to encourage active membership participation in the decision making process of the organization and as a check on the board’s power. This is parliamentary process 101 stuff here.

The above would be bad enough if it weren’t for the fact that over the last 2 years TWDC has been involved in a process of re-examining it’s Master Plan. Yet shockingly the Long Range Planning committee of TWDC has not met in over 4 years. When NPI first approached TWDC about re-writing it’s plan for the neighborhood, the Board saw no reason to call into session a committee of the membership whose existence is called for in it’s by-laws to deliberate on NPI’s proposal. When the deal was cut the committee was still not called. When work was underway on the proposal, no committee. Finally it was decided that a committee might be useful to over see the process, did TWDC follow it’s by-laws? No. Instead a “Steering Committee” was formed comprised of TWDC staff, board members, staff from NPI and staff from City Architect, no one from the general membership was present. The existence of the Steering committee was not announced to the general membership, the dates and times of these meeting were not published, a flagrant violation of the organizations By-Laws, nor were the minutes posted on TWDC website. (I’ve a copy of minutes from one of the Steering committee meetings.)

Forming a committee of the membership is not rocket science or hard to do. I constantly hear Board Members and Staff from TWDC bragging about how great the block clubs are. When was the last time TWDC asked the block clubs to send someone to sit on the Long Range Planning Committee, the Housing Committee, and the Finance Committee? Think if you asked, the block clubs would send someone? Worked that way once upon a time. Ah but then once upon a time the Housing and Long Range Planning committees were darn near as powerful as the board.

TWDC dutifully sends a staff person to each block club meeting to take minutes; when was the last time that staff person reported to the block club what TWDC had been up to during the past month, committee reports, what the boards working on, how the various outreach programs run by the organization are going, etc?? No the Block Clubs make good PR when going for funding, encouraging an equal two way relationship with them….hmmm now your getting into that messy democracy stuff. This is the Bush era we only do “executive branch” stuff.

What does this have to do with the Civility project? Everything. People become uncivilized when cut off from effective means of redressing their concerns or making their voices heard. It is not a class, ethnic or race thing, it’s a human thing. Systematically shut down and narrow the avenues for people to participate in a meaningful way in the decisions being made about the world around them and they will become increasing uncivil.

The trick isn’t cutesy sayings, 25 rules, and pot luck dinners. Oh those are all well and good. The trick, and it is by no means easy, is turning the paradigm from “you did this to me”, “you changed the neighborhood and now this is hurting me” to “we did this”, “we are in this together”. That cannot be done if the processes aren’t open, clear cut, and transparent.

Perhaps a clear and measurable goal of a civility project for Tremont isn’t how many cups of coffee can we serve each other and how many different dishes are brought to the next pot luck dinner. Worthy goals those might be. Rather how many people actively participate in the standing committees of TWDC? Should be easy to get a stunning percentile increase the first year, we’d be starting at zero.

TCJ

TCJ-

"The trick isn’t cutesy sayings, 25 rules, and pot luck dinners. Oh those are all well and good. The trick, and it is by no means easy, is turning the paradigm from “you did this to me”, “you changed the neighborhood and now this is hurting me” to “we did this”, “we are in this together”. That cannot be done if the processes aren’t open, clear cut, and transparent."

Hear Hear! One other thing I've noticed changing around us with regard to humanity - there are a small group of people willing to forge ahead and take the stands or make things happen. The rest of the population has taken to "delegating" their rights and wishes.

For example, taking the argument out of the hood for a minute... of 50 people I can immediately name who vehemently oppose the war, only two (2) actively do something about it.

While we live in a representative environment, if the other 48 desire to "delegate" their opinion, that is fine.

However, I'm noticing that the 48 also do nothing to support the two who carry their opinion forward... further, when things don't go their way or results aren't reached... the same do nothing group reserves their right to complain.

Ditto on the smoking ban. So many smokers didn't get out to vote and look what happened. They let their fellow smokers represent their opinion. The non-smokers rallied better and won.

Ditto on this website. Adam has spent a great deal of his time, effort and resources creating it for all of us to use. He put up a donation window for a mere $200.00 which I'm sure does not come close to covering his expenses. The window has been up for a long time - and it is at only $45 of the total goal. If everyone donated $5.00, heck for the number of people on here, if everyone donated $2.00 it would be great. So, same example, the burden of the effort is on Adam and if we wear him out, we lose a great venue.

It makes me really sad that we push ourselves as a community to the outside, and many hands do make light work, but we don't operate that way on a general and consistent basis.

Further (back to the feel of the times):
Delegating your opinion does not = doing nothing. To get results, the entire group still needs to make some type of effort or provide support.

Once you have complacency, in any population of people pursuing any objective, the folks fighting for the opinion are at some point going to burn out or will be less effective.

It seems to be our current time. Tragic events seem to be what rallied the generations prior. Perhaps we are just spoiled...

TCJ;
Well said,bravo. There is nothing to add to your post as it is comprehensive and complete. I would only add that it is a shame that we have to be "taught" how to be civil. I suppose if people who don't understand the concept - lessons concerning this will be an instrumental tool for them. It would be nice if we were all afforded the same opportunities in this city. Business would thrive on an equal playing field as opposed to favors provided to those who sip quietly and obediantly, their kool-aid. If requesting "MORE" were met with interest as opposed to fear. Requesting to be included and having the same opportunity, without favor. If we all played on the same field of opportunity-hope would not seem so unattainable here in Cleveland. Civility=does or will that include opinions that differ? Will it include and demand a fair opportunity for all- regardless of name recognition or name dropping? Or dare I say; MONEY-campaign contributions- a handshake containing a concealed wad of cash? Will people stand up for their neighbor in the face of unequal opportunity? Will laws and ordinances be applied to all in an equal measure? Is it too late for that.? It would only be civily correct and just-- if it were to be. BRENTTON

TCJ-

I read with interest your suggestions aimed at making TWDC more of a community-based organization, with increased (and, in my opinion, valuable) input from community members.

There has been discussion among some board members about reviving the committees. I hope it moves from just discussion into action. Personally, I would love to see more residents involved with committees. As for posting committee meeting minutes, many of the committees don't take minutes, while other committees meet sporadically. I think/hope both things will change in the near future.

If we reach out to community members - through the TWDC Web site, mailings, newsletters, block clubs, etc. - will people view participation in committees and action groups as some kind of conspiracy aimed at shutting them up, rather than a genuine attempt to listen to residents' concerns? I know that you make an effort to attend a number of community-based meetings, but others chose not to, and then complain that they are being shut out of the process.

For example, I keep hearing people bitch about the long-range plan. We've had several community meetings about the long-range plan. To say that these meetings have been badly attended would be generous. Fewer than 100 surveys indicating how residents felt about Tremont, saw the future of Tremont, thought were concerns in Tremont, etc., were returned. None of this is encouraging to me when I think about attempting to get more residents involved in TWDC (not to say I'm giving up...). Maybe the problem with the long-range planning process was the process. To be honest, the board isn't happy with the process, either, and is seeking ways to provide more community input. Maybe the problem is that a lot of people don't like ideas that don't come from them. Maybe the problem is apathy...I don't know the answer.

As for some of your suggestions, speaking only for myself, I have no problem with posting the agenda for the monthly board meeting to the TWDC Web site before the monthly board meeting, so that anyone wishing to attend knows what will be discussed that night. And as a board member, I'd be happy to attend any block club meeting to let those residents know what was discussed at a previous board meeting or what will be discussed (if I know at that point) at a future meeting. I also have no problem with TWDC community organizers (who do not attend the board meetings, and would have to utilize information given to them by the board president or other designated person) sharing the approved board meeting minutes with block clubs.

This is not an excuse for not getting things done in a timely manner, but I want to point out that TWDC is understaffed by about three people right now. With no executive director, property manager, commercial development person, etc., every staff member is taking on additional responsibilities.

Tim, I appreciate the fact you took the time to outline your concerns and I want you to know I'll take them to heart.

Thanks,
Sandy