Seattle P-Patch Program

D* S*

Above all, a community is comprised of individuals acting in good faith to
further their common goals.  When good faith is replaced by politics,
gossip, and fear of dissent, then community is an illusion, rather than a
reality.

If the program manager of a P-Patch program decides to be a biased
participant in an illusion, then what must others do to seek fair play?

You can follow this discussion at www.greenpatch.org/interbay.  Is P-Patch
Program Manager, Rich Macdonald acting in the best interest of long term
viability of community gardening?  Or has he taken a short-sighted option
of supporting an undemocratic group representing an illusion of community?

At stake in this dispute is how conflicts are resolved?  Are conflicts
resolved by fiat of those in the inner circles and good graces of Rich
Macdonald?  Or are conflicts resolved by an arbiter guided by principles
of inclusion?

While we'd like to think that any community gardening program is operating
in a `goodness space', can that be true if basic tenets of democracy are
not present? Like fertile soil, fertile community requires a substrate of
inclusion.  We suggest that Rich Macdonald consider the ramifications of a
management policy by fiat versus one of maximum inclusion.

-- 
Sincerely,

David Smead
http://www.amplepower.com

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