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WGNA buried by money, applications from non-members
Mysterious mail shows up in a pre-election landslide
By Mary Spicuzza
One of the directives of the Willow Glen Neighborhood Association has been to increase membership. But these days, suddenly facing a last-minute flood of applicants requesting membership and participation in an election on Wednesday, May 19, board members might be wishing they'd have been more careful what they wished. Their desire for new members has come true--all at once, in one giant package.
"WGNA always welcomes new members," writes Larry Ames, WGNA's newsletter editor. "However, an unusual situation arose recently in which we were handed a large sum of cash and a stack of membership applications."
In the last few weeks leading up to the neighborhood association's big spring general meeting, the WGNA board received an en masse stockpile of unexpected applications. The fact that some of the applicants live as far away as Elk Grove, near Sacramento, is presenting a new challenge to the Willow Glenbased group. But the greater, immediate mystery is the way the applications arrived--stuffed inside a giant envelope, including a mix of cash and checks for payments. To complicate matters, according to WGNA board members, the amount of money in the envelopes and the number of applications inside didn't add up.
Joanne Cordova, a long-time Willow Glen resident, is one of the new applicants. She was one of many who picked up her application, and nine others, at Able Printing, near the corner of Hamilton and Meridian avenues.
"I thought these were application sites," Cordova says. "I picked up applications for myself and nine gals that I went to school with. We all joined because we wanted to be a part of this [group]. And I wanted to get them in before the vote."
Apparently the old friends weren't alone in their ambition to become involved in the community. Able Printing had collected nearly 100 application since February.
"I had made applications available to customers on a little stand," says Karen Naegli, an employee at the print shop. Naegli says she didn't check with WGNA before setting up the stand in February, but assumed the association would be excited about new membership.
"I would think one of their goals would be to increase membership," Naegli says.
Cunningham, the current board president who will be vacating her seat, says she never saw the applications, and had no idea they were being collected.
Both Naegli and Cordova say they would like to see the new members be able to participate in the upcoming election.
"[WGNA board members] said that they need processing time," Naegli says. "But what kind of processing do they do? Why would processing take so long?"
Incoming WGNA president J. Michael Gonzales says there is no guarantee for processing time. But the 600-person association is used to receiving only a handful of applications at one time. For example, on Founder's Day, the board typically collects up to 30 applications, more than any other time of year.
Because many of the applications appeared to come with cash payments, the board is trying to determine who paid how much. Letters have been sent to all of the applicants asking them to submit forms stating how much money each submitted.
"They were in a sealed envelope," Naegli says, when asked about the incorrect amounts of cash. She says is confident that there was adequate money for each of the applications, which she says she has photocopied and saved in her Willow Glen print shop. Naegli initially said she didn't know how many applications had been submitted, but later counted and said that she submitted exactly 89 forms.
Cordova says she turned in her application at Able, rather than send it to WGNA's post office box, as is the usual practice, because she just wanted to drop it off where she got it. She adds that WGNA "application centers" are an idea long overdue.
"I've never seen anything about how to become a member, and I've never been actively recruited to join before," Cordova says. "Willow Glen is the best place on earth, but I don't think that the WGNA reaches community in any other way except to control it."
Cordova cites the controversy over The Glen (formerly known as Willow Glen Billiards and Brew), as an example of how the neighborhood association attempts to bully the community. She says the neighborhood association spoke for a few concerned neighbors who were worried about The Glen's late hours and live music, but that WGNA did not represent the community as a whole.
Cordova worries that WGNA is only representational of the 40 to 60 members who regularly attend meetings. "I didn't even know how to get involved," she laments.
Now both Naegli and Cordova want to get involved--quickly. Both have expressed conviction that new members participate in the upcoming board elections. Ballots must be submitted before or during the General Meeting on Wednesday, May 19.
The election is for the 19992000 WGNA board, including officers, elected directors and a nominating committee. New proposals for bylaws changes have been included on the ballot.
"It's not a very contested ballot," Ames says. "Well after the posted deadline, we received a few more nominations for candidates who did not meet the qualifications for the offices sought. They are not listed on the ballot."
Because some of the applicants are from areas like Elk Grove, Campbell, Santa Clara and other areas of San Jose, the flood is forcing WGNA board members to re-examine the boundaries of the neighborhood they hope to represent. Whereas most neighborhood associations lay out clear boundaries in their by-laws, WGNA members report that they haven't because they've only had a handful of nonWillow Glen applicants in the past.
"While we are still trying to resolve whether this was an act of kindness by an effective recruiter, or a fraudulent attempt by someone trying to pack the voting rolls, it has nonetheless caused us to re-examine our bylaws," Ames says.
Gonzales, the only member on the nominating committee's slate for president, says that clarifying boundaries is a common practice with neighborhood associations. He says that with a handful of money, for example, a developer could come in and buy up a bunch of memberships and put grassroots organizers out of business.
Proposed bylaws changes include boundaries for eligibility, classes of membership, and a minimum six-month membership before individuals can participate in an election.
Ames writes, "Basically, we are saying that the Willow Glen Neighborhood Association is for residents of Willow Glen."
The WGNA Spring General Meeting will be held on Wednesday, May 19, at 7 p.m. at the Willow Glen United Methodist Church. For information, call WGNA at 294-9462, or check out its website, www.wgna.net.
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Willow Glen, California Since 1992
