What, Another "Love Fest?" Perhaps Not Quite as Loving as Some. But a Fest All the Same.

At the March Commission meeting this past Tuesday, we had the second reading of an Ordinance approving our borrowing up to $350K to finish the log cabin/annex project.  Although the dispute about this matter has been mostly irrational and pointless, still there has been some.

Roxanna Ross and Ana Garcia from the last Commission, and Roxy, David Coviello, and Heidi Shafran Seigel from this one, worked hard to get the State to grant us over $1M for this project.  There's no way we could have done more than repainting without this kind of help.  But considering the extent of the complex tasks, we had to contribute $50K of our own, and even at that, we came up $350K short.

Either we do the work, or we don't.  And if we do it, we have to scare up $350K.  David Coviello and I were apprehensive about doing the whole task at once, because of the shortfall, but our Commission colleagues, and a number of our other neighbors, persuaded us that we should do it all now.  There was discussion about where to get this kind of money, and the most forceful and confident advice from our Manager was to borrow it.  Again, a number of our neighbors agreed.  Not all of the Commission was so sure, though.  Barbara Watts declared the equivalent of "over [her] dead body," and Bob Anderson was distinctly skittish.  For this approval to happen, at least four of the five of us had to agree, and Bob at least tentatively did agree last month.  He didn't feel good about it, but he was willing to be dragged along.  So the first reading of the Ordinance passed by its minimum requirement: 4-1.

This week, we had to revisit the matter for the second reading.  Bob appeared to have reconsidered his reluctance, and indications were that he was now committed.  Barbara was not so quick to capitulate, if that was what would get her endorsement.  (Yes, for those keeping score, the matter was already settled, with or without Barbara.  But since the resistance was so empty, it would have been nice to have had the most enthusiastic commitment possible.)

The pre-meeting grumblings have been increasingly weak, though they have happened.  They have seemed almost more reflexive than considered.  Barbara had dredged them up last month, and it seemed as if she might try to take her quixotic stand this month, too.

She was disarmed, though.  Heidi Seigel had spent time with her, answering all her questions, and providing full reassurance, and Chuck Ross in his public comments gave her every reason to have full confidence in agreeing to borrow.  In the end, Barbara voted with the rest of us, in favor of taking the loan.  The vote was 5-0, as it should have been all along.  What Barbara told herself and us was that she could see it was going to pass anyway, so she might as well climb on board.  But I would like to offer her more credit than that.  I think she really did get it.  I think she saw not only what was going to happen, but that it was the right thing, and even why it was the right thing.  And it was great to have her endorsement.  It might not have included all the unequivocal enthusiasm in the world, but she did join us: the rest of the Commission and all but a very few heels-dug-in neighbors.  Or was it just one heels-dug-in neighbor?