After 36 years of membership in the Austin Neighborhoods Council (ANC), the Windsor Park Neighborhood Association (WPNA) wrote an open letter expressing dissatisfaction with some of ANC’s recent practices and decisions. The full letter is here. Some excerpts are below. In any case, it appears WPNA will not be a member of ANC in the year 2019.
ANC seems to have wandered from its original aim to represent its collective membership.
ANC has departed from being the voice of its constituent members, instead concentrating on the concerns of a few. This is further exacerbated by a top-down structure, where decisions are made by the Executive Team and the membership is exhorted to support its decisions.
The ANC has become increasingly opaque in its operations, refusing to share information even with its membership.
WPNA has lost faith in the capability of recent ANC leadership to lead ANC as stated in its purpose and guided by its bylaws.
WPNA has decided to cease automatically renewing its membership in the ANC, effective January 1, 2019.
I have always thought that ANC and FAN can co-exist and complement each other, with at least some neighborhood associations participating in the neighborhood dialog in both organizations. What do you think?