I'd like to suggest that we use this website to discuss issues and not personalities. One of the issues is that Mr. Lange was removed from the position President-Elect by a majority vote of the Board. The majority of the general membership in attendance at the June 19 meeting voted to request his removal. His response is evident in his postings. At the Sept. 18 Membership Meeting, members will be advised that there will be a vote at the Oct. meeting. The vote will determine whether the membership wishes to have Mr. Lange assume the Presidency in 2001, in spite of his removal as President Elect, or whether they wish to hold a new election in November to elect a President. The issue is whether the Membership has confidence in Mr. Lange's ability to lead. If you have strong feelings about this issue, campaign and show up to vote. This is a very important issue, but just one of several important NSNA issues and challenges.

Everyone has an opportunity to discuss this issue in the neighborhood, on this website, and at NSNA meetings. I simply want to encourage people to talk about it without name-calling, ridiculing, or venting hostility. Mr. Lange stated in a previous posting that he's having ''fun.'' If you don't like his conduct, don't join in. If there's a false statement in any posting, by all means, post a correction. I simply question what we're accomplishing on behalf of the neighborhood by posting and counter-posting insults. Just a suggestion...

Very Good

Dear Mrs. Rebillot:

As usual, well put, beautifully written, concise, accurate and informative.

Thank you!

By Concerned Neighbor

Thanks, and some issues....

Thank you. Here are some issues that I've been thinking about and that others have raised that perhaps we could have some constructive dialogue about.

Can the very large and diverse North Shore neighborhood of 160 blocks and over 3,000 households be well-represented by one neighborhood association? Would it be better served by an umbrella historic district with multiple small neighborhood associations, like one for Granada Terrace, one for the Snell-Hamlett area of North Shore, etc?

For the past few years, the NSNA Board has been predominantly comprised of people who live in the central and southern portions of the neighborhood. Currently, all Board members but one live south of 16th Ave. and east of 1st St. Are any of you concerned that you have not been or are not well represented? Do you believe that good representation is a matter of address or a matter of attitude and belief system?

The Board's operating procedure when a Board member resigns during a term has been for the Board members to nominate and elect replacements, sometimes nominating individuals who ran for the Board previously but were not elected. What do you think about that? Would you rather that the assoc. membership be notified and asked to nominate/elect replacements?

Would you like to see more NSNA fundraising events to give the neighborhood more independent ability to initiate improvements?

Do you feel sufficiently included in association decision-making. If not, what changes would you like to see?

To: Improvements

More fund raising events would be great.

Also, remember, North Shore has the Special Dependent District, which allows us as a neighborhood association to self tax ourselves, with city approval of coarse, and with 51% approval of the residents of North Shore. We could elect to self tax ourselves $1.00 a year for one year or $35.00 a year for one year or whatever. We set up this mechanism years ago so that we could help fund important work or important projects. This tool is available to us if we need or want it.

Likewise I have another fund raising idea that at the appropriate time I would like to put on the table.

As for breaking up the neighborhood, it has been suggested before, twice, and failed misserably twice. The reasons are many, but here are a few.

North Shore gets alot of mileage out of being big. It has a long standing reputation of success and accomplishing its goals. It trades on the fact that it has a very cohesive geography from Fifth Ave. to Thirtieth Ave. from Fourth St. to the Bay. Its a nice shape and the architecture and grid layout support a logical feel and cohesiveness which is easily recognized by resident and city alike. Additionally, all of our identification, neigborhood planning, all of our overlay docuements, etc. are based on the current configuration, not to mention the 26 year history we have as a single large entity.

Besides, many people, like homeowners, realtors and the like trade on the ''Old Northeast'' concept. Dicing that up would cause much concern I believe. Better to leave the organizational structure as is and simply attempt to motivate residents to get involved. Besides, it doesn't matter where you draw the lines of an association if people don't get involved. Just think of having to duplicate or triplicate the number of boards, committees, newsletters, etc. for two or three different neighborhood associations all in the same area. Additionally, rather than creating a concensus among one large area you could now find what used to be one group disagreeing with the new group. Better to stay here and work things out for ourselves. Afterall, we have been able to do it for 26 years. I believe we can continue to work together.

By Steven D. Lange