abel_pranger
Posts: 2319
Joined: 5/7/2003 From: St Augustine, FL, Status: offline
|
Bill, Like you, I belong to 3 clubs, active in two. One club I am active in and the one I am not have decided to allow PPP members to join. For those, the PPP members get no special considerations apart from any other AMA member, except there is an expectation they operate in accord with the limits set for PPP. For the third club, I proposed that they be admitted, for a number of reasons of which I argued only three. a) it's the right thing to do; good for model aviation, would probably get some younger folks in the club, moral/ethical considerations and the like. b) the club site is within a very quiet ag/rural/residential zone, and keeping a low profile has been essential to our tenure there - we've worked hard and successfully to operate within that constraint for 30 years. New neighbors moving ever closer indicates to me we'll have to do more and lower our profile further. PPP members joining in the club seems like an opportunity, as the limits they agree to operate within are more community compatible than our existing standards. We wound not have to impose tighter standards on existing members, just let the PP members lower our overall community impact, and let AMA pay them an incentive to do it. like, when life throws you lemons, make lemonade. c) site is a closed landfill, owned by a public entity and fairly recently been turned over to administration by Parks & Rec. A trail of agreements with or in the hands of external agents, including the club lease and by-laws. We're on the record as having club membership open to any AMA member. I don't want that provision changed or questioned, especially at the County Sup's office by somebody that has been turned away because he isn't a 'full' member of AMA. Anyway, what I thought were solid reasons didn't get a warm reaction at all from The Board. After a couple of days and some feedback indicating they were still deadlocked, I withdrew my proposal. At that point I knew they would either do something right or something wrong, and because of the uncertainty I decided it was best they do nothing, as that was the only option I could vote for. Abel
|