Here is a one of the editors comments to this situation as well as a comparison of the edits of the section as Gian Carlo

offered to interested people. Judge for yourself. Contrary to what Alderman Carra would have you believe, the Board had nothing to do with the editing of his article. He has been asked several times to limit his submission to 500 words; his article was well above his allotted space and, unedited, would have taken up 1/3 of the contribution space. Pam and I, as editors, were forced to minimize the article for the busy September newsletter (due to the lack of an August newsletter). I have submitted our edited version to be posted alongside the original. - Elizabeth Newton Edited by volunteer editors, word count: excerpt: 131, total: 854 Your Community Association Board Back in January I attended a Ramsay Community Association meeting during which I made some strong statements that were met with mixed reactions. I stated that a Community Associations strength lies not in reactively saying, "No" to development propositions and issues, but instead in proactively working with all community members to forge a vision of what their community is and should become. In having a vision that the entire community supports, the role shifts from protecting the community from change, to working with proponents of change to fit their aspirations into the best outcome for our community. The real path to meaningful representation of the community lies in saying, "Yes, and this is how we would like to see it done" and we work on it, together. Gian Carlos original statement: word count: excerpt: 262 total: 1189 Your Community Association Board Back in January I attended a Ramsay Community Association meeting during which I made some strong statements that some members of the board and the membership found offensive (while others welcomed). My statements were central to both the type of leadership I provided in Inglewood prior to becoming an Alderman, as well as central to the type of Alderman I seek to be in service of my Communities. I basically stated that a Community Associations strength lies not in reactively saying no to development propositions and issues, but instead in proactively working with all community members to forge a vision of what their community is and should become. In having a vision that the entire community supports, the role shifts from protecting the community from change, to working with proponents of change to fit their aspirations into the best outcome for the community. My charge was that the Ramsay Community Association has become too mired in saying no, whereas the real path to meaningful representation of the community lies in saying yes, and this is how wed like to see it done. These statements got me in a lot of hot water with your CAs board and Ive been working with them to repair that relationship. I remain adamant that until the Ramsay Community Association makes a strong statement as to what they feel their mandate should be, and what they want their relationship with their Alderman to be, I will be spending less time interacting with Ramsay through your CA and more through direct contact with citizens.