[Summit] Resolving the many issues related to trees/the Fountain project

[Jesse C. Polhemus]

Andrew,
Save The Fountain was not and is not a registered non-profit organization, though SNA is.  I take issue with your e-mail on many subjects, but if you've read the innumerable prior messages (mine and those of others) and don't feel they address your concerns sufficiently, I have nothing to add.

- Jesse

--- On Wed, 7/14/10, Andrew Keating <writerkeating at yahoo.com> wrote:

From: Andrew Keating <writerkeating at yahoo.com>
Subject: [Summit] Resolving the many issues related to trees/the Fountain project
To: summit at sna.providence.ri.us
Date: Wednesday, July 14, 2010, 4:36 PM

Greetings again one and all. Sorry that I have been somewhat non-responsive of late. I have been travelling and planning my wedding - to take place this Fall (most likely at Swan Point Cemetery...how's THAT for a good time?).  Anyway, I've been following along and had some basic thoughts.
 
There seems to be a general issue with who people believe should have say in this type of matter, as well as who is addressed.  Someone mentioned that fliers were distributed to the houses surrounding Lippitt Park so that the neighbors would know what was going on.  Does this mean that someone inserted something in the mail slots along Hope St. and maybe a block or two up?  The fact is, a much much larger region uses that park for recreational purposes and therefore should have as much say as anyone in the decisions being made with their taxpayer dollars.
 
Many have also discussed the fact that they felt it was too late to deal with the tree-cutting issues in a timely fashion.  Someone somewhere had worked with the Parks Department and found out that trees were being cut down to some extent, and then possibly to a greater extent.  So, what I am not understanding is why everything was so sidestepped?  Who was advocating for who, and how?
 
Jesse founded the Save the Fountain organization, and it seems that that, as well as the SNA Board has seen a lot of the decisions coming through their hands.  I wonder now: is Save the Fountain a registered non-profit, or simply a band of people with a petition?  I don't intend to sound demeaning to the organization. Obviously it is a very important cause to the neighborhood.  It is just important to have this clarity when discussing the effectiveness of the organizations and communication between them (as well as with the city planning department and Parks & Recreation). 
 
Someone (or more than one someone) really dropped the ball on this one.  The fact that there was as much debate on these forums so late in the game over this matter simply shows the inability of the SNA and it's subsidiary organizations to effectively distribute the information that is greatly impacting our neighborhood.  I am not saying that it was SNA's intention to cut down trees, but it was SNA's job to advocate for only the appropriate removal of trees as designated by those members of the organization.  I fail to see where that happened in the planning stages (as opposed to in the aftermath).
 
-Andrew


      
-----Inline Attachment Follows-----

_______________________________________________
Summit mailing list
Summit at sna.providence.ri.us
http://mail.sna.providence.ri.us/mailman/listinfo/summit_sna.providence.ri.us
SNA Website: http://sna.providence.ri.us/


      
-------------- next part --------------
An HTML attachment was scrubbed...
URL: <http://sna.providence.ri.us/pipermail/summit_sna.providence.ri.us/attachments/20100714/b3ad526d/attachment.htm>