I’m one of the ‘old guard’ from the Suffolk Park Progress Association (SPPA) committee who had hoped to clear the air regarding our resignations at the general meeting held last week on 29 April.
Alas, the issue could not be addressed as the president failed to attend. I would have left the matter there and moved on, but then read Gael Nash’s letter in The Echo.
She claimed those who resigned struggled to accept a new dynamic style of leadership bringing the association into the 21st century.
This ‘dynamism’ translated into the president bombarding the committee with multiple emails, day and night, usually containing the latest thought-bubble for new tangential projects.
The so-called ‘21st century’ leadership also involved chaotic, overburdened meeting agendas that were impossible to get through.
The ‘dynamism’ culminated in an injunction not to stand in the way of the president – which in our view was an intolerable breach of our responsibilities mandated by the constitution.
We didn’t ‘oppose change’ – we were committed to the key principles of transparency and accountability in giving a voice to, and promoting, the interests of our community.
My alarm with leadership style was confirmed when the new guard promoted a private electronic survey regarding the impending DA at 9-15 Clifford Street, a development with dramatic impact on the community.
Plans for this development were not even available at that stage. This is why the ‘old guard’ called a public meeting, independent of the SPPA, in the pub on 19 April.
Finally, far from lacking integrity and misrepresenting the truth, according to Ms Nash, The Echo has been remarkably balanced in its reporting.
For four decades The Echo has printed the stories some people loved, some people hated, and some pretended not to read. If you want us to keep telling the truth, the real truth, not the sugar-coated version. We’ll need your support to keep the presses rolling. 
