<VV> 100% et al

[Ken Klingaman]

   I've tried to remain a lurker, but...

   I agree with Bob Marlow in that the 100% should go both ways, but I do not believe that this will fix anything. It has become, not necessarily, a source of contention. While a member of the SCCA (which has 100% membership) I was a member of the San Francisco Region, and living in the area of the North New Jersey region. Did I ever plan on attending meetings? No, but I also got a better newsletter. 

   Some have asked how we got in this fix. Some others have noted the declining membership, and why it is declining. The reasons are all true, and there is little we can do about it. Our Marque has been marginalized, and I do not see any way to change this (I am not sure I would want to). We should always try to increase membership, try to keep up with what might attract new members, but it is a battle we will not win. However we find the BOD intractable, remember they are us. Remember what Pogo said, "we have met the enemy, and he is us." The BOD has always been reluctant to raise dues, almost always not until we get into a crisis. Somebody posed annually, perhaps biannally would be better, tied to the previous two years COLA. Someone had used constant dollars to point out that the dues were not out of line, but they forgot (or did not know) they were not comparing apples to apples. Some of the big things not included in the comparison, include a management team, vice volunteers, (if you think it is contentious now...), and a monthly Communique versus a monthly newsletter, etc.

   Maybe we need a Risk Management Committee, I would nonimate the two who have explained the probabilities of what our coverage might mean.

  Some have knocked the Communique as being too 'racer' oriented, and wanted more of the grassroots stuff. Well some of the Racers write. It is a simple as that. As much as the BOD is us the Communique is even more so. WE are the source of all the material that gets published. Yes, I too am one of those who submitted an article and was told it was too technical for the general membership. Well, they were correct.

   I've been a member of NJACE since '70, CORSA since about '75, VV since '94, and FastVairs from the beginning. I've been Pres. of NJACE a few times, helped create the NECC, been it Chmn a few, been CORSA Competition Chmn and remain a member of the Committee, and on the BOD. I learned two things about being on the BOD. the first of which is, that it is not the way I can best serve CORSA, the other is that the BOD is constricted in it's action by the Policy and Procedures manual, instead of guided by it.

  Let us watch our tone to each other, as in many other things, we can divide the words we use into two types, those that hurt and those that heal. Which are YOU going to use.

   Ken Klingaman