What's wrong with the Girl Scout lease?

In the 1950's my grandfather (John Fix Sr) was treasurer of the building committee for the construction of the Tuckahoe Eastchester Girl Scout cabin on Highland Avenue.  Based on historical records like drawings and blueprints, it appears the idea for a Girl Scout cabin was discussed for a few years, and several locations were considered including a plot of land that is now Greenvale School and Labriola Field.  In 1951 the County of Westchester provided a parcel of land on Highland Avenue to the Town of Eastchester, and the Girl Scout cabin project moved forward.  Funds were raised through sales of Girl Scout cookies (yummy!) as well as from private donations, and the cabin was completed in June of 1958.  Four generations of Fix family members have participated in Girl Scout events at the cabin my grandfather helped build, so it holds a sentimental place in my heart.

That connection is also likely felt by thousands of Girl Scouts and their families who have used the cabin over the past half-century.  How many other communities in Westchester have such a unique facility, a cabin in the woods, close to home and yet isolated by trees, with a bubbling stream running through the property?  It's an oasis in the community, a shared natural woodlands protected from development.

Places like the cabin need to be protected and cherished.  It is far too easy to take a short term view and make "improvements" that change the character of a facility.  The Girl Scout cabin is used for a very specific purpose...for Girl Scout activities.  It is used a LOT, because we have an active and vibrant Girl Scout community in Tuckahoe, Eastchester and Bronxville.  While many youth organizations struggle, the Girl Scouts continue to attract large numbers of girls to their program.  One reason for this success is the dedication of the leaders, who volunteer so much of their time to the Girl Scouts.  Isn't it great that our town has such a wonderful organization that brings parents and children together to learn, grow, play, and serve their community?

So it really boggles the mind to see how the current town administration is trying to chip away at this wonderful cabin.  With so much going on and so many challenges facing both our town government as well as our local economy why choose to focus attention on something that has worked wonderfully for over 50 years?  First (in 2009) the supervisor proposes a park/playground which nobody in the local community asked for, without even contacting the local civic association or the Girl Scouts.  Luckily, the local civic association turned down the supervisor's quest to build a playground in the woodland and the idea was dropped.

In the fall of 2011 the supervisor refused to renew the Girl Scout lease without first making changes.  This is a lease that has been renewed with little or no change for over 50 years, and suddenly it needs major revisions?  The lease rewrites have now dragged on for over seven months, and the Girl Scouts are still without a lease they can agree to.  The supervisor now has threatened that if the Girl Scouts do not sign the revised lease they will be evicted.

Note that the supervisor has not directly threatened the Girl Scouts, and technically he may not be the one who refused to renew the existing lease (a lease which he had approved at the prior renewal).  He has left this to the town attorney, a town attorney that the supervisor appointed. What has suddenly changed to require so many revisions to the lease?

Here's the bottom line...if it ain't broke don't try to fix it.  We have a thriving, wonderful organization that includes hundreds of children and their parents.  They have a perfect facility, with a long tradition, and everything is working smoothly and at NO COST TO THE TOWN.  Why change it?  Why add costs and responsibility to the town?

Nobody in the town government has even attempted to answer the "Why?" question, and I think it's time to demand an answer to this very simple question.

Why specifically can't the existing lease be renewed without any changes?

Peter Gabriel at Radio City

Last night I went to Radio City Music Hall to see Peter Gabriel on his orchestral "Scratch My Back" tour. My daughters went to the show with me, and we had an amazing time.

First of all, I'd forgotten what a beautiful venue Radio City Music Hall is. From the retro marquee outside to towering art deco lobby inside, the experience of attending an event there is 1/2 the fun.

Second, Peter Gabriel put together just the right combination of musical arrangements, staging, and lighting. The orchestra was mic-ed well, and the conductor was animated and entertaining to watch. The first set was the new album (Scratch My Back) while the second set and encores consisted of older Gabriel songs arranged for orchestra (Mercy Street, Red Rain, and San Jacinto among others).

I wish I had seen Gabriel on prior tours, but I'm thrilled that I had the opportunity to catch him on this unique tour at the still amazing Radio City.

Published again...sorta

Hot on the heels of my magazine debut I'm extensively quoted in a new book called Taming the Search-and-Switch Customer: Earning Customer Loyalty in a Compulsion-to-Compare World by Jill Griffin. Cornell's True Value is the lead-off case study in Chapter 8 and it's an informative and accurate discussion about our in-store loyalty program. I haven't had time to read the book yet but her previous books have been excellent resources for loyalty marketing in your business.

I'm published!

This month's issue of Hardware Retailing has my first ever magazine article. I'm hoping it will be a regular feature, most likely on a quarterly basis. It's all about using some of the free Google business tools to promote your website, and I'm pretty happy with the way it came out. I have a habit of explaining things in a complicated fashion, but I think this time I managed to write an article that should be readable by anyone with a basic understanding of the web (i.e. they can find a web page). :)

Escovedo Rocks The Highline

Alejandro Escovedo's show last night at the Highline Ballroom seemed to exist in some twilight zone between 1978 and 2008, swinging back and forth, diving into pure punk, soaring upward with achingly beautiful guitar and string arrangements, and then crashing back with squeals of guitar feedback. In the center of it all was Escovedo, spinning to face the crowd, the strings, the guitars or the drums, urging them on, feeding off their energy and spitting it back out. Well, no real spitting involved, but there were moments when Escovedo came close, abandoning his guitar for the Iggy Pop-inspired "Real As An Animal" so he could grip the mike stand with two hands and sway from side to side, appearing poised to dive into the crowd. But there was no stage diving or slam dancing, with a crowd that was somewhere between crushing the stage and sitting at the outer ring of tables, nodding in time to the music. And that was just fine for Escovedo as he took us on a whirlwind trip through the last thirty years, finishing up with the Stones "Beast of Burden" before walking slowly off stage as his amazing band played out the last few bars.

A nice collection of photos from the show is here, including one featuring yours truly. Another great set of photos is here

What am I missing?

So today the House of Representatives approved the revised FISA bill that includes a "compromise" to the telecom immunity. As usual, Glen Greenwald at Salon explains the issues brilliantly. If the government can initiate a wiretap immediately and has 72 hours to get a court approval after the fact then what is the problem? Historically, the FISA court has approved nearly all government requests. And if the telco companies broke the law by letting the administration bully them shouldn't they be held accountable? It boggles the mind that conservatives are not up in arms that the government can strongarm telco companies to spy on our communications. Since when are conservatives for more government oversight?

At this point it appears that FISA is a done deal. The only solution now is to direct your campaign contributions to candidates that opposed the FISA "compromise". The House vote is here and the Senate votes next week.

John McCain v2.0 Project

Open Left has started a project to get informative articles about John McCain ranked highly on Google searches. It's sort of a "Google Bomb" variation, intended to direct anyone searching for John McCain to a site with a reasoned criticism of one or more of John McCain's policies. The article about this John McCain project is cross-posted on DailyKos. OK, and did I mention that this is all about John McCain and getting John McCain links out there for readers to see? :)