Friday 06/30/2023
I went for the standard walk, first time in a week. Then I had not much to do until 2pm, but I filled some of the time writing a report to my AV team on my meeting with Tom and Gerald.
At 2pm I joined Ian and Gigi and Susan in the auditorium to help Susan practice for her First Monday book talk. It’s going to be quite interesting. Ian had signed up to do the AV but Susan and Gigi want it video recorded, which Ian hasn’t done, so we will work together on it.
When the book talk people cleared out, Bert came in, wanting to practice a zoom event. Bert has lots of ideas and likes to experiment. So instead of working my carefully planned checklist he wanted to plunge in and do things other ways. Eventually we got the results.
I met with Patty for supper a deux so we could talk over the state of the auditorium upgrade. Patty is part of the Heritage Circle committee that approved that grant a year ago. She gave me a new perspective on the situation. Basically reminding me that the HC approved the grant proposal, not a specific sum of money as a budget cap but a specific list of items to be accomplished. So I should make sure that we know what we want and have a plan to get it. She is frustrated with two other approved grants, where the staff have overruled and basically sidelined the resident committees that proposed the work, doing it staff’s way instead, and leaving the people who thought it up and argued for it, with their noses rather out of joint.
One case of that which rather shocks me is the approved grant for electric car chargers. The three person committee that planned and pushed that grant includes a guy whose resume includes a seat on the California High Speed Rail commission (not to mention many years at the IMF approving transit loans to national governments). To bypass his advice seems rather feckless.
Codgerville 