The Meeting the Carnegie Board Didn't Want You to Attend

The absence of posters announcing the Special Meeting at Carnegie Community Center on Thursday evening suggested to members that the Board would rather they not show up.   But over 50 people did show up, more than Board member Peter Fairchild had seen in 11 years. It was a meeting to vote on a resolution to change Carnegie's constitution. If the resolution passed, it would do away with guerrilla election tactics allowed by the current system.  Any member who hangs out amongst the low income Carnegie Center population can now simply turn up on election night, get a pal to nominate them, give a two or three minute speech, and get elected if they've asked enough of their pals in the Center to show up to vote.  The long term members of the 15 member Board, who rely on abysmally low election turnouts to re-elect one another year after year, are caught off guard.  

Homeless William Simpson caught them off guard.  He had been barred from the Carnegie Learning Center on the 3rd floor for allegedly blogging about Carnegie and on the day of the June 2007 election, he asked his acquaintances in the Center, "What are you doing at 5 o'clock?  Would you be willing to vote for me?" A troop of Carnegie members trailed him into the election and Holy Brazen Blogger, Batman! Bill Got Elected!  Two weeks later, Carnegie Director Ethel Whitty hand delivered Simpson a letter barring him from the entire Carnegie building "indefinitely."

If the resolution at Thursday's meeting passed, there would be a gap of a month between the nomination of candidates and voting.  Never again would the current Board, which has members such as Jeff Sommers who have sat on the Board for decades, be caught completely off guard.   

"I've never seen so many people in the room for a meeting", announced Board member Peter Fairchild.

"Yes you have Peter!", yelled former Board member Michael Read from the audience. "When William Simpson packed the meeting!"

The resolution was defeated  ....by one vote. Read the full story at Downtown Eastside Enquirer, complete with salty language by Board members and their attempt to pressure 'dissident' Board member Rachel Davis to resign.