The Angry Neighbors Saga

Attack of the Neighborhood Sockpuppets

chip — Wed, 22 Feb 2012 22:44:31 +0000

In a previous post, Mary Arnett commented:

And Anonymous, I know who you are on this blog but you don’t have the cajones to put your name on your postings. I wish you could put on your big boy pants and be a man.

I found her complaint about the anonymous posting a bit hypocritical — and lot hysterical — given her penchant for using sockpuppet accounts for posting negative comments.

On the Intertubes, a sockpuppet is a fake account, created for deception. Sockpuppets often are used to gin up support for positions or people that are controversial or not widely supported.

In 2010, our neighborhood email list had a new person mysteriously appear named Susan Garcia (posting as hikerlover72 [at] yahoo [dot] com). Every once in a while, Susan would pop up to make some nasty comments about some neighbors or the association. The thing is, nobody had ever met or seen this mysterious Susan Garcia.

Let me tell you about my favorite Susan Garcia post. My wife was featured in an Austin Chronicle article about film-centric websites in Austin. The original article is here: http://www.austinchronicle.com/screens/2010-06-18/1042137/

Shortly after that article appeared in print, Susan Garcia sent the following gleeful taunt to the neighborhood mailing list:

To: NSCNA [at] yahoogroups [dot] com
From: Susan Garcia
Date: Fri, 18 Jun 2010 13:33:13 -0700 (PDT)
Subject: [NSCNA] Chip and Juliette in the Austin ChronicleHey Everybody!

Check out this article in the Austin Chronicle that just came out. It’s about the President of NSCNA and his wife. I wonder if they are disappointed that Oat Willies has moved further away from the neighborhood.

Excerpted from the Chronicle.

Slackerwood

Jette Kernion is not a film school reject. Quite the contrary: She has a Master of Arts in screenwriting from the University of Texas and did a postgrad year on a Michener Fellowship (for what was then called the Texas Center for Writers). She knows her movies, sure, but just as important, she knows Austin’s movie culture. Her site, the aptly named Slackerwood, mixes local coverage – contributor Jenn Brown’s invaluable ”2010 Guide to Free (and Cheap) Summer Movies in Austin” is plastered across the front of our refrigerator as we type this – with knowledgeable and spot-on reviews of both major studio releases and local productions. Slackerwood is, for our two bits, the best Austin-based/Austin-specific film site now going, and, as Kernion notes, it’s been going for a while.

.
.
.

Has Richard Linklater ever commented on the site’s name?

“Not really. He knows about it, because I’ve interviewed him. We’ve had some great comments when we do red carpet interviews, though. We had somebody say ‘Y’all sound like a bunch of pot-smokers!’”

*************
Posted by
Susan Garcia
Ashdale

My wife, naturally, received nothing but accolades from our neighbors for being written up so prominently. I guess that wasn’t the response poor Susan Garcia was looking for. Best I can figure, Susan thought the closing paragraph — an obvious joke — was a cause to taunt.

Throughout the year, the mysterious Susan Garcia would appear, sometimes with some inept criticism or attack, and often just reposting emails from Mary Arnett. We never had any proof, but all were pretty sure Susan was really a sockpuppet that Mary Arnett created.

The proof eventually came out when a neighbor sent an email to Susan Garcia, but the response came back from Mary Arnett’s account:

From: MARY ARNETT
To: luckykobold
Sent: Thu, August 12, 2010 2:38:07 PM
Subject: Re: [NSCNA] New Article – Sustainable Neighborhoods Meeting, Aug. 17

I don’t know what you have been smoking, Lucky, but that park ain’t 7 acres. It might be big enough for chihuahua owners but not for me with my Great Dane. . . . .I’d rather the city spend their money on getting the sidewalks fixed, frankly.

Susan

If I remember correctly, I wrote to Susan Garcia asking if she was sharing email accounts, or if her account might have possibly been compromised. I never heard back from Susan Garcia. In fact, Susan Garcia was never heard from again.

If you ask around, the very favorite Mary Arnett sockpuppet has to be Mabel Jean Elliott. This one is a favorite not only for the name, but the image of the barking neighbor in the fabricated story she posted.

The first anybody heard of Mabel Jean was when she signed up to a neighborhood parents’ list, and posted this message:

Date: Thu Oct 7, 2010 11:58 pm
From: “mabeljean.elliott”
Subject: Dog Problem/ People Problem on Rockwood

Hey Neighborhood Moms:

I signed up for this group a while back and have not introduced myself. I live at the Royal Orleans Condos and I have a new baby. I am writing this group because a friend of mine, Joann Xyz, at Xyzwood and Xyzwood reported a disturbing experience to me.

Someone on Primrose Ln is walking their daughter to school down Rockwood and walks beside Joanne’s house. Joanne’s dog (which is a small rat terrier type dog) runs out the doggie door and barks through the chain link fence at the little girl and this apparently makes the girl cry. The parents came and knocked on Joanne’s door and complained about the dog barking frightening their child.

Joanne is 86 years old and she just got out of the hospital with a very bad case of the flu. These people have become very irate with Joanne and I’m sure they just don’t realize how hard it is for an 86 year old woman to deal with a problem like this.

If the person who is doing this is on this list serv – please leave Joanne alone. She is not going to accomodate you by shutting her dog door because it’s open all the time – Joanne is in frail health. She reported that this person has come back from dropping her child off and then stood at the fence, barking like a dog herself just to intimidate the dog.

So who ever is doing that – please stop. If any of you know who is doing that please ask them to leave Joanne alone. Someday you will be old too, and then you will understand how it feels.

Mabel Jean

Mary, of course, knew who the concerned parent was. Rather than express her concern, she made up an outlandish story and posted it under a sockpuppet. The attack backfired. The group members rallied around the accused parent, and instead kicked Mary … I mean Mabel Jean … out of the group.

It might have ended differently if Mabel Jean — to paraphrase Mary Arnett — had put on her big girl panties and expressed her concern in a reasonable fashion, rather than posting a pseudonymous attack.

Angry Neighbor Email EXTRA! Defective Rhetoric and Facts Edition

chip — Thu, 09 Feb 2012 20:09:50 +0000

I hadn’t planned on a new installment in the Angry Neighbor Saga this soon, but this comment posted by Mary Arnett convinced me a quick update was warranted.

In it, she requested:

Please remove these postings about [another angry neighbor]. You can leave mine up because I have a pretty thick skin and I have been around the block too many times to know that people like you, Chip, are not worth my trouble to worry about. I would not take back a word that I said in any of those posts.

At this time, I have no plans to remove any past posts.

I’ll tell you why. A good place to start is my basic principles for this series.

The goal of these posts is not to harass or humiliate, but rather to hold people accountable for actions that have persisted away from public scrutiny.
I will focus on public actions, and avoid discussion of personal issues or peccadilloes.
When I characterize or report the actions of a person, I will try to provide supporting documentation so its veracity can be ascertained, and endeavor to ensure my posts are accurate.
I will try to respect privacy, will sometimes obfuscate the identify of people peripherally involved, and try to avoid exposing communications made in confidence.

These principles give me no reason to remove the referenced posts. The messages indicated are not private records, and they accurately document the abusive behavior in question.

The fact that somebody acted like a jerk when they thought when nobody was watching, and now is upset that people know they acted this way is not a reason to remove the documents — it’s the whole purpose of these posts.

Which brings me to another important point. I’m trying to post only that which I can document, which means there isn’t much reason to engage in back-and-forth. Obviously, I think the allegations in the the angry neighbor emails are false. But what’s the sense in refutations? A denial wouldn’t be worth the oxygen molecules it’s written on.

But Mary’s comment does provide keen insight into her process for fabricating facts. She refers to a recent blog post I made, characterizing it as:

Look at your post on the left hand sidebar – the one that announces what a great website we were going to see when the switch was flipped.

Here is what I actually wrote:

I attended one of the public test drive sessions earlier this month. I was very impressed with the platform design and the opportunity for new capabilities. I saw, however, several navigation glitches and needs for content … which is not unexpected at this stage of the project. I’m anticipating some happy surprises come Monday, but I’m also anticipating that there will be a way to go before we’re all satisfied.

As you can see, what I actually said is exactly the opposite of what she claimed I said. I hope you find this little example illustrative of her defective rhetoric and facts.

Angry Neighbor Email, Neighborhood Crank Edition

chip — Mon, 06 Feb 2012 03:48:12 +0000

This installment is important for a couple reasons.

First, today, I’d like to pivot the focus. This email thread involves an angry neighbor named Mary Arnett. She has been mentioned previously, but mostly as a peripheral player. In fact, she is the central character in this melodrama.

Second, the incident described here is the precipitating event that convinced me it was time to start documenting these abuses. It’s been going on for too long, and it’s time people were aware of this behavior.

This incident starts with a cranky message from Mary Arnett sent to City of Austin staff, and copied to me:

From: Mary Arnett
To: Troy Gay (City of Austin)
Cc: Chip Rosenthal
Subject: The city’s New Webpage for APD
Date: Mon, 19 Dec 2011 12:37:15 -0800 (PST)

Troy,

The city nerds just flipped the switch to show us all the hard work they’ve done on this new website. Apparently, not much at all (hard work that is).

I don’t know what kind of info they asked from APD, but many of the links from the old webpage are gone. Just vanished into thin air.

I can’t tell you how upset I am about this, but I was in a hurry today and went looking for something that is just gone.

I have made a complaint with all the council members and the city manager that until they have a webpage that mirrors all the stuff that was on the former APD webpage, they need to take this down and put the old one back up. I would expect this from a small tiny company with a minor little webpage, but a city webpage that is accessed by people all over Austin on a daily basis??????? We don’t have time for this!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

I can’t believe how irresponsible the public information department was in doing this. And I can’t believe that their approach to this is to just wait for people to tell them what to put out there. Unbelievable.

Mary Arnett

How rude! It’s one thing to lodge a complaint about a city service, but it’s another to denigrate the staff people, characterizing them as lazy or irresponsible.

The prompt response from the city staff was everything that Mary’s email was not: polite, helpful, and completely on target.

From: Troy Gay (City of Austin)
To: Mary Arnett
Cc: Chip Rosenthal, Paul H. (City of Austin)
Subject: RE: The city’s New Webpage for APD
Date: Mon, 19 Dec 2011 15:14:13 -0600

Thanks for the information Mary…..I will do my best to look into what is not there but if there is something you are needing please let me know…Troy

Mary then responded to Troy, thanking him for offering to look into the situation, and listing the information she needed help with.

Ha! Ha! Not really. A few minutes later she fires back a message, and ratchets up the heat.

From: Mary Arnett
To: Troy Gay (City of Austin)
Cc: Chip Rosenthal, Paul H. (City of Austin)
Subject: RE: The city’s New Webpage for APD
Date: Mon, 19 Dec 2011 13:23:25 -0800 (PST)

Troy,

Thanks for your reply.

Just for starters, when I sent out my CLASP newsletter just last week, I always include a link to APD;s webpage. Along with info about Commanders forums that are coming up, the Chief’s monthly report, etc.

Now it returns to this:

http://www.austintexas.gov/department/police

which is highlighting what to do if you want to work for the police deparment. This is not information that is helpful to people in the neighborhoods.

We spend years learning how to negotiate the city’s services through their website and with the flick of a switch, now we have to re-educate ourselves and our neighbors.

They city needs to pull the plug on this thing and restore the old website ASAP. The APD home page should include all the links from the old homepage; it should be a complete mirror of that.

I also want you to know that this has had a negative impact on 311 operators today as well. They cannot locate some information that they used to have access to. I cannot think of a more irresponsible way this could have been handled. And I lay the blame square at the feet of the Public Information Office.

Mary Arnett

I thought it funny that all Mary could propose was “pull the plug.” After a year of work and a publicized beta process to gather and repair exactly the sort of defects Mary cites — something that would be expected in almost any major web migration — that wasn’t going to happen. I knew this was going to get good.

I’d like to point out that I’ve rarely responded to the angry neighbor emails. As the saying goes, “Don’t dip your hand in the crazy.” But this time my snarky self got the better of me — I thought “pull the plug” was a hoot — and I posted the following tweet:

My local neighborhood crank CCed me on her angry emails demanding that city staff roll back the new website. Pass the popcorn. #atxgo

Oh dear. It seems like Mary is pretty good at throwing out the insults at people, but is very thin skinned when it comes to a little jibing. Her righteous indignation erupted into email:

Date: Sun, 15 Jan 2012 21:09:51 -0800 (PST)
From: Mary Arnett
To: Mayor Lee Leffingwell, Councilmember William Spelman, Councilmember Laura Morrison, Councilmember Kathi Tovo, Councilmember Mike Martinez, Councilmember Chris Riley, Councilmember Sheryl Cole
Cc: Chip Rosenthal, City of Austin Public Information Director Doug Matthews, City of Austin City Manager Marc Ott

Mayor and Council Members,

In North Shoal Creek we have had to endure Chip Rosenthal at the helm of the NA for a few years. Many of us know first hand of his arrogance and meanness. He has taken this neighborhood association down from 170 members to about 50. Many refuse to have anything to do with the association as long as he is part of it.

Chip was called out by his board last year due to inappropriate ‘tweets’, in particular comments about a certain attorney in our neighborhood, a long time volunteer and effective leader. She is a disabled woman who served on the board in 2010, but like others from that year, decided that she will now have nothing to do with the organization. She was taunted and teased and humiliated throughout the year by Chip. It was very sad for me to witness.

I am very concerned that Chip plays any part in designing the city’s webpages. I have expressed my concern over the public safety pages and now I see the tweet that Chip broadcasted. It is above, saved as a jpeg file.

Several of us warned you that nominating Chip to any board or commission at the city was a bad idea. I stand by that advice. He should be removed immediately from any contact or influence over the city’s website. His attitude here is exactly what we have had to endure in this neighborhood for the last 3 years. It is obvious that the Public Information department that is overseeing this effort does not care about public input. No one anticipated what they were about to do. And no one anticipated that they would not care about public input, before or after.

Chip Rosenthal is should not have a hand in designing or implementing the city’s website. I will be passing this comment around in my neighborhood as yet another reason why they need to divest themselves of any association with him or his wife.

I thought the city had some guidelines on how their commissioners were to act in carrying out their duties. Maybe not, depending on who placed you on that commission.

Mary Arnett

Hey, way to prove you aren’t a crank — by sending a cranky email to the entire city council and senior city management.

(By the way, the poor little disabled woman mentioned above is Vicki McFadden, and you’ve seen her emails in the prior installments of this saga.)

Which brings us back to the city website and the beginning: the reason for this “Angry Neighbor Email” series. Mary followed up that email with some angry phone calls to City Hall, expressing her ire about the website. One person, who had never heard of Mary before, was stunned by the foaming, angry person on the other end of the phone.

They Googled her to try to find out what her deal was, but didn’t come up with much.

It is my goal to make sure that never happens again.

So let it be known, if you get one of those angry, abuse messages or phone calls from Mary don’t take it personally, it’s just what she does.

So go grab some popcorn, this is going to get interesting. We’ve got an awful lot more angry email to share.

Angry Neighbor Email, Part Deux

chip — Sat, 04 Feb 2012 11:05:40 +0000

Well, we seem to be in a new round of harassment and bullying in my neighborhood. The Angry Neighbor Email I posted a few days ago may turn out to be just the opening salvo. In the past month, several people who have stepped up to volunteer in our neighborhood are now having to respond to various complaints lodged with local and state authorities — complaints that have largely been dismissed as unfounded. (One technical violation was confirmed, and the city and neighbor are working together to do a paperwork correction.)

Then, I realized, this may be a pattern. It seems that every year, at the change of association leadership, the disgruntled neighbors find a new collection of targets to go after. Last year, they successfully chased one member off the association board. I hope that my neighbors — you know, the sane ones — will stand up for their fellow neighborhood volunteers to call out the bullies.

I’m reminded of the incident last year, where angry neighbors Vicki McFadden and Mary Arnett teamed up on a neighborhood association board volunteer. Here is the angry email that started it:

(I know this message is long and bizarre and ranty … but stick with it …)

From: Vicki McFadden
To: NSCNA Directors
Cc: Sherran Williams, Mary Arnett, Ben B.
Date: Wed, 26 Jan 2011 00:42:00 -0800 (PST)

Directors,

It would be beneficial for NSCNA directors to refer to a front page newspaper article published Monday in the American Statesman titled, “Libel suit may change how we look at tweets…Experts weigh in on how social media could send you to court. This is an important case which will be heard in Los Angeles on potential legal liability and compensatory and punitive punishment for persons sending tweets deemed libelous by another party. Why or how does this affect you as a board member of NSCNA? I was contacted by several neighbors who were concerned about a tweet purportedly sent by NSCNA Pres, Chirp Rosenthal after Sunday night’s board meeting which read “Huzzah!! The troll has been vanquished.” Many neighbors told me they felt the vitriolic banter was directed at me personally. I am not going to lower myself to respond to such a hateful, unprovoked attack on a neighbor. In my opinion, the numerous childish, unprofessional attempts to clearly libel the reputation of an outgoing member says much about the maturity level of this individual and his ability to leadNSCNA. How sad that the very first comment after the first board meeting would be to demean another human being with nasty rhetoric for no other reason than having a pulpit. If sent out of jealousy, poor self esteem, hate, or just poor judgment, these types of tweets are an emerging example of the basis for growing and expensive litigation. Beware, new directors, if you happen to disagree with chirp, you may be the next person subjected to one of his tweets as evidenced here. Derogatory tweeting about other NSCNA members, board members or neighbors should be subject for removal from office as unbecoming conduct. Please take a stand and refuse to allow these and other bullying tactics (which historically have been directed at women) to continue.

Further, please be aware of Mr. Rosenthal’s growing conflict of interest between his consulting work for the city of Austin and his continued refusal to represents the best interests of NSCN residents in dealing with the Homeless RV Park, Section Eight Housing and sidewalk issues. It is up to the general membership to vote on whether a resolution should be passed to oppose or support these important projects which may potentially affect property values and crime in our neighborhood. I have been told Mr. Rosenthal does not plan to address this in a vote, but know that you or any other member may request a vote on the topic.

Reminder, our opinions should be heard, board transactions should be transparent and communicated in proper adult discussion with no childish name calling.

If you want to know more about chirp and his opinions, his contacts with the city, please visit his website at unicom.com where you can view his offensive bonehead form which he uses the homophobic word “flamer” and such directives as “eat excrement and die”. See below. Evidently, this is also where the “troll” language in the tweet stems.

FROM CHIP’S UNICOM WEBSITE WHICH WE DISCUSSED WITH HIM LAST YEAR AND HE REFUSED TO TAKE IT DOWN, EVEN AFTER USING THE UNICOM REFERENCE IN NSCNA EMAILS…….

[copy of document at http://www.unicom.com/people/chip/stuff/bonehead was embedded here]

A newly elected board member tried to address the complaint in a very adult fashion:

From: Cheryl
To: Vicki McFadden, NSCNA Directors
Cc: Sherran Williams, Mary Arnett, Ben B.
Subject: Jan. 23 NSCNA Board Meeting
Date: Wed, 26 Jan 2011 19:37:39 -0800 (PST)

Vicki,

I don’t know who else will respond to you, but I at least want to acknowledge your frustration and assure you that I hear you. I do not discount what you have alleged against Chip, and I will take it very seriously if it proves to be true. Your email can be considered an official complaint against a member of the board, and it needs to be officially addressed.

In the spirit of transparency I would like to share the following: I am not a friend or a foe of Chip Rosenthal. This is my first time to work with him. I was present at the Sunday, Jan. 23 NSCNA Board Meeting, and the meeting was led by Chip in a professional, respectful and efficient way.

All of the discussion during the Sunday meeting was positive, on-topic, and followed the agenda. There was nothing disrespectful or slanderous aimed at anyone during the board meeting. If something slanderous or negative had happened during an official meeting, then we would all, as Board members, be responsible for condemning it and acting upon it, openly and swiftly.

If you have evidence that Chip was the originator of that “tweet”, I encourage you to pursue it as an individual. The Board should use the evidence you provide us with to act upon and follow the NSCNA bylaws to address it accordingly as well. EVERY member of the NSCNA board represents the membership and should speak and act in a respectful and dignified way at all times in and out of official NSCNA meetings.

That being said, I would personally like to request –in the spirit of a fresh start for at least me and some others new to the Board — that caution and discretion be used in the language of emails (like calling the NSCNA Board President “Chirp” instead of Chip and other language like “bonehead”, etc.). I want to support you with all the evidence behind me to do so, but that will be hard to do if the alleged slander is lost in other slander.

I appreciate your consideration.

Cheryl C.

Oh oh, Cheryl, big mistake. The crazies fired back.

From: Mary Arnett
To: Vicki McFadden, NSCNA Directors
Cc: Sherran Williams, Ben B.
Subject: Re: Jan. 23 NSCNA Board Meeting
Date: Wed, 26 Jan 2011 19:50:08 -0800 (PST)

Cheryl

Thanks for your thoughtful letter asking everyone to wipe the slate clean – - – just because you never bothered to attend any previous board meetings and witness what went on—- That’s asking a bit much.

You can see the TWEET yourself. Just google Chip Rosenthal and you can see it just like the rest of us can.

Have a great year with all your buddies on the board.

Mary Arnett

And this one (which is not only more ranty and incoherent than the first, but also — alas! — less entertaining):

To: Cheryl
From: Vicki McFadden
Cc: NSCNA Dirctors
Subject: Re: [NSCNA Directors] Jan. 23 NSCNA Board Meeting
Date: Wed, 26 Jan 2011 23:40:12 -0800 (PST)

The use of the word Bonehead was Chip's language, not mine. It came from the "Bonehead Form" he has on his website which has been referenced in NSCNA correspondence to which I object. I have rheumatoid arthritis and type with two badly deformed fingers, chrip was a typo not caught by spellcheck. Go to his website at chiprosenthal [at] uncicom [dot] com, view the "Bonehead Form" and you can see the spewing of hate and homophobic comments......not very professional for the president of a neighborhood association, in my opinion.

With respect, his last tweet is only one of many derogatory postings and emails from chip directed to me or Sherran Williams throughout the year. And, not one person stood up to address it last year, nor do I have any hope it will be done this year. He openly slandered at a board meeting last year, Chris Jones, accusing him of criminal behavior which was totally false. The same thing happened with Sandy Perkins. I stood up against this behavior and was further chastised by him for doing it. These two people were tireless dedicated volunteers, who like me will not return to NSCNA until there is new leadership with some integrity.

While I respect your viewpoint, unless you are willing to follow every word he says, every agenda without input....that is, walk the line, then you, too, could find yourself in the same position. Why do you think 6 board members (all women) refused to serve a second term under his direction. I was going to give him the benefit of the doubt, both at the beginning of last year's term and this year's, however he obviously hasn't learned anything from last year's horrific experience. It would be way too lengthy to gather all his hateful, vengeful, emails and taunts. He will NEVER allow the board to take him to task for anything. He is refusing to post the new bylaws, has consistently said they do not apply to him and will oppose an idea until others work hard to make it successful, then take credit for the idea, refusing to give acknowledgment to the people who did the work. With all due respect, you have no idea what he is like. In the interest of transparency, why do you think it is that he controls every agenda at both board meetings and general meetings, refusing to allow members add topics of interest, controls the content of every newsletter, controls the content of the website, controls who is allowed to chair a committee, controlled whether committees could announce their meetings........Control, control, control.

I am sure you are a very nice person. I have lived in this neighborhood for 15 years and had planned to stay here. However, after my experience with Mr. Rosenthal, I am hoping to sell my house and move to a neighborhood where neighbors can be concerned about their property and have a venue that doesn't include such childish, rude behavior. I wish you the best of luck and appreciate very much your response to my email. I had moved on, had not had any further contact with NSCNA, had contacted NSCNA to request no further contact with me; so that really makes me wonder why chip would want to send a tweet to stir up all the nastiness again. He had already kicked me off all committees I wanted to join, had refused to allow me to participate in board business to the extent due every board member; so why not just let the vitriol go? You would have to ask him! I have tried to ignore the tweets and emails, but if it continues, I will take whatever legal action available to me.

The emails continued. Cheryl resigned from the board not long after, and I can't blame her.

Some people propose that you should just ignore the bullies. Of course, the people who say that aren't the victims of the bullying. Moreover, after three years of no action, I think we can admit the "ignore the bullies" strategy doesn't work. In fact, it emboldens them. (See my previous post, where Vicki McFadden sent email to the city undermining the neighborhood efforts.)

My goal here is to fulfill the words of Justice Brandeis, and bring a little sunlight to the situation. These people have been acting badly, without repercussion, because they act under the cover of protection. So, let's remove the cover and let the community judge the actions of these email warriors.

Angry Neighbor Email (UPDATED 2/5)

chip — Thu, 02 Feb 2012 07:43:21 +0000

For the past two years, I’ve been receiving vitriolic email from a couple of disgruntled neighbors over my work with our neighborhood association. These “email warriors” have been hurtling these screeds from behind the safety of their screens, where people don’t see what they are doing. I tend not to post private emails, but emails like the following — copied to a City of Austin email address — are by definition public records. So I thought I’d share:

Date: Wed, 1 Feb 2012 16:19:21 -0800 (PST)
From: vicki mcfadden
Subject: RE: Development
To: NSCNA Directors, Chip Rosenthal
Cc: Sherri Sirwaitis (City of Austin)

This might be “a concern” for the neighbors in North Shoal Creek IF the development committee would inform the entire neighborhood through a newsletter or proper notice that it is even occurring! It’s Feb. 1 and the NSCNA development committee still doesn’t know where the meeting will take place? “The meeting location is not yet confirmed. We will update this post and notify the neighborhood email list once the location is final.” The association is suppose to try to reach and include all neighbors, whether or not you are on chip’s email list or a member of the association. “Neighbors who are not members are encouraged to join the Association and participate.” Chip’s “notice” sounds like he is holding the information hostage unless you pay $15 in order to participate. North Shoal Creek neighbors should be encouraged to participate in the hearings whether they are a member of his clique or not. Many people refuse to join NSCNA until chip rosenthal stops trying to run everything in order get a job at the city.

Vicki McFadden
——————————————————————————

Development Committee Meeting, Feb. 2
Posted on January 30, 2012 by Development Committee

Date: Thursday, February 2, 2012
Time: 6:30 – 7:30PM
Loocation: to be announced

The City of Austin has scheduled a public hearing on Tuesday, February 7 for a zoning change request at 8100 Burnet Road (the Ross Store and former Chuck E Cheese location). The developers are planning a large apartment complex (270 – 300 units) with some retail facilities, and have applied for rezoning of the property to MF-6, highest density multifamily residence.

You can view a copy of the hearing notice here: Public Hearing Notice: 8100 Burnet Rezoning

Members of the NSCNA Development Committee have been meeting with representatives of the developer to express concerns about the high density of the proposed development and increased neighborhood traffic, in efforts to work out potential problems. They are also coordinating with the adjacent Wooten Neighborhood Association regarding the development. This matter should be a concern for our neighborhood, since whatever is developed on that property will be with us for a long time.

The NSCNA Development Committee will meet Thursday, February 2, 2012, to discuss the current status of this project.

All NSCNA members who desire to provide comments and recommendations concerning possible NSCNA action concerning the rezoning and planned development are invited to attend. Neighbors who are not members are encouraged to join the Association and participate.

The meeting location is not yet confirmed. We will update this post and notify the neighborhood email list once the location is final.

This entry was posted in Development by Development Committee. Bookmark the permalink.

Here is the response I sent:

Directors -

1. The reason the message Vicki quotes doesn’t look like what’s on the website (http://www.nscna.org/?p=1984) is that she’s cutting-and-pasting from an email she received, not the website. If she had looked at the website this evening she would have realized the article she had was two revisions out-of-date.

2. Vicki is accusing me of things I didn’t do. The Development Chair called the meeting. The President drafted the article on the website. I guess I should be impressed that Vicki has such high estimation that I’ve done the work of all these people.

3. Vicki is asking for things that sound nice, but are infeasible. The neighborhood only gets 10 days notification on public hearings. That’s not time to produce and deliver newsletters — let alone call a general meeting (which our bylaws say require 10 days notice). Once again, she is making accusations without having any of the facts.

4. Here is the timeline of what’s happened:

* I got the notice by USPS Friday 1/27.

* I scanned it and sent it to the Development Chair and President on Saturday 1/28.

* On Sunday 1/29, since we couldn’t call a special membership meeting (10 days notice is required), they decided to call a Dev Committee meeting and invite the entire neighborhood to attend.

* On Monday 1/30, Kevin tried but was unable to get Village Christian to confirm availability of their meeting room. So that night I went ahead and posted the notice with location TBD.

* On Tuesday 1/31, when Kevin received confirmation, the notice was updated with location and a message was sent to the neighborhood email list.

5. In the meantime, Kevin has been working with the developer to try to get a postponement, so we can properly notify and call a special meeting. We think we’re going to be able to do that, in which case notices will be sent to members. (This is going to be an item of discussion at the Dev Comm meeting.)

Directors – I’m at a loss to find any positive recommendations in Vicki’s screed, and at a similar loss to think of anything that can be done differently.

From my vantage point, Kenneth and Kevin (and me!) have been working very hard in a critical situation, coordinating with the developer, and trying to get the neighborhood organized and informed. They (and I!) should be commended for their/our service to the neighborhood.

I hope you will reject Vicki’s vitriolic, ungrateful screed, and give our volunteers (including me!) the support they deserve for the work they do

Feb 5 update: Vicki McFadden has widely distributed a reply to this post, included below. A copy of this blog post was attached to her email, which is why I’m adding this update here, even though she doesn’t really address any of the issues raised in this thread.

Date: Sun, 5 Feb 2012 13:09:41 -0800 (PST)
From: Vicki McFadden
Subject: Fw: chip’s email
To: NSCNA Directors, Chip Rosenthal
Cc: Tom, Steve Farmer (City of Austin), Sherri Sirwaitis (City of Austin)

Directors,

Once again, Chip has used his public platform of blogs, tweets, websites, etc. to spew his “vitriolic screed”. Get one thing clear, I AM NOT RESPONSIBLE for any missing neighborhood signs or reporting anyone for code violations. Mr. Farmer, perhaps you can confirm to Mr. Rosenthal I did not report any violations to city code enforcement. As usual, his email has skewered the truth and he has convinced a group of people that he is the victim when he has a long history of verbally bullying not only me but other good long-term volunteers. I am not going to respond to the lies he continues to perpetuate.