by Josef Lowder When my wife and I moved here two years ago, I remember seeing signs in many front yards that read "Vote No" That seemed curious, but since we were new, I didn't know what was going on, so I didn't look into it at that time. Then last May, we attended a meeting in the community center where the leaders of this community were making a presentation about a proposed new masterplan. There was a fairly large crowd of a couple hundred people there, and after the leaders had made their presentations, there was an open forum, during which time a few people were given a microphone and allowed to express their questions and comments. It seemed that there were some positive comments and also a number of questions and concerns that I thought deserved further consideration. However, since I don't hear well, I was unable to get a good reading on everything that was said. But I remember thinking, at that time, how I did wish that there had been a recording of the entire proceeding, and a transcript of it, so that every member of this community could have an equal opportunity to review and consider everything that was said. A month earlier, I had contacted local community association management with an offer to help. And two months later, last June, I submitted a more detailed proposal, in writing, that spelled out a number of specific steps that could be taken to encourage and facilitate more open communication. As a management consultant over the past 45 years, I have set up and facilitated many such programs. Even though there is a place on the community website to make comments, it does not seem to have been used very much for important topics. So a few days ago, I set up a new, independent website called fos-forum.com in the hope that it will be used to encourage and facilitate more open communication that will work toward building better consensus. This new free forum is now available to people of all association controlled communities to submit ideas, suggestions, questions, comments, and concerns on any subject that would be for the good of their community.
Now, I hope to encourage as many members
of our community as possible to do so
. . . for the good of our community.
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