South of South Neighborhood Association (SOSNA):
Unofficial Meeting Reports

January 2008: I have not attended a SOSNA meeting since June 2007, but I understand that they are proposing relaxed eligibility requirements for an election to be voted on together with, if approved, an election on February 13. Because their website, domain name and e-mail are not functioning right now, I worked with office manager Deborah Williams to convert the membership form to an Adobe Acrobat document that can be filled out and submitted via e-mail to Deborah's HotMail account. [Get the Membership Form]

July 2007: The SOSNA website is still not back, the e-mail list is apparently not being updated, and leaflet distribution is problematic at best. A couple of resources to find out what's going on:

• July 18, 2007 Zoning Notice
• June 20, 2007 Zoning Notice

Phillyblog discussion of June 13, 2007 General Meeting

MARCH 2007: The SOSNA website has vanished, replaced by an "under construction" sign and link to an independently maintained online community calendar. But the bylaws have not vanished. HERE THEY ARE...

(Originally posted Summer 2006) Like many folks in the neighborhood, I'm a little frustrated when I don't get SOSNA news until it's too late to voice an opinion.

I was frustrated by that when I was on the board as well, being bound by a cumbersome and time-consuming approval process.

It has recently occurred to me that I can provide both SOSNA and the neighborhood a useful service by attending meetings, taking notes, and filing reports. I started this in June (2006) with e-mails to the southwest_center_city list and postings to the appropriate Phillyblog section. Longer reports will be placed here, most recent first, and I'll go back and pick up my other two in due course.

Please note that these are unofficial reports, not minutes, although when I was secretary for the SOSNA board my minutes were rarely amended.

Documents circulated at June 13, 2007 meeting. Produced by one faction of the SOSNA board. Not surprisingly, the "questionnaire" supports removal of members of the other faction as well as the appointment of new members. If acted on, these will change the composition of the board, rendering all the board members elected in October 2006 ineffectual.

• SOSNA Organizational Plan 2005-2006, abridged (appendices contain confidential information)
  
• September 13, 2005 General Meeting (wherein we learn that there are all of 24 eligible voters in the neighborhood, aside from the members of the current board)
• August 30, 2006: Board Meeting (a very distressing meeting)
• August 3, 2006: 17th District Crime Stats, year-to-year (from 17th District meeting)(image file)
• August 2, 2006: Special Meeting - Community Park
• July 26, 2006: Board Meeting (prepared by Mark Scott with additions from others; I was not present and cannot vouch for their accuracy)
  
  ADDENDUM: The matter raised in closed session was an attempt to remove two board members for cause and is outlined in these documents. Several board members have taken exception, based on their understanding that 1) this is not a permitted use of executive session; 2) the accused board members were not given prior warning, nor were they given the documents presented here in order to prepare a response; 3) SOSNA's own attorney had already rendered his opinion that this was a permissible and perfectly ethical use of procedure. Discussion of this issue is likely to take place on the Phillyblog forum for Southwest Center City, and this is expected to be a topic for the August 30 Board meeting, which is open to the public.
  
  
• June 28, 2006: Board Meeting

Archives: SOSNA board meeting minutes (link will take you to a directory). These cover the period from fall 2004, when SOSNA adopted bylaws making the board meetings and minutes public to summer 2005, when I resigned as volunteer webmaster; I will add to them as members send along any minutes archived from the SOSNA website.

• 2005
• 2004