John and Eva;
We are writing as individuals and not as representatives of the CIC.
It would have been our preference to deal with your concerns face to face to clear up some of these misconceptions. But since you have decided to bring others into this we feel the need to answer to you in this forum. During a little gathering in July, which you attended, the topic of creating a CIC website was discussed. The concept was met with great enthusiam as a timely idea. Another idea that also met with great enthusiasm by everyone in the room was putting a section on the website called “What’s the Scoop”; putting out an up-to-the-minute item to keep viewers returning to the website. You did not register a complaint at that time. Everyone then went on vacation for August and that was when we put together the website. The first comment from you about “scoops” came a couple of weeks ago when I visited your office. Regarding your concern, I came up with an instant suggestion…that we could make the CIC scoop page look like it was actually the website for the BTST or that it could be linked to the BTST website and you could host the scoops page yourselves. When I left, we had no resolution as yet because you were still considering it, but we never heard back from you.. While waiting for your response we had actually stopped writing scoops out of respect since the BTST is now sending out important newsflashes after a long absence which was the original intent of “scoops” in the first place. So, your comment about us not following through on the suggested remedies is incorrect. We were waiting for you to follow-through.
Regarding mailing out news items from your competitors; we are very busy people and don’t have time to scour the Sun-Sentinenel, Miami Herald, or Palm Beach Post on a daily basis. We have always appreciated Barbara Cole making our life easier and keeping us up to date by sending us area news articles that may impact our quality of life. We decided to expand this exclusively to our membership as a way of keeping them informed and have received a very positive response. This was never intended to usurp your paper in anyway and we personally believe this decision is the perrogative of the CIC.
Regarding your comments about members of the CIC dividing the original group efforts we also disagree. We, as well as the CIC and the BTST all have the same goals….to promote a change on the dais in January. Everyone has their own part to play in this shared goal. The CIC website as well as the CIC ads placed in your newspaper are intended to promote our reputation and gain respect throughout the Town so that when the CIC democratically endorsed candidates are announced , residents will pay attention.
In the spirit of cooperation and this shared goal we, as well as many other members of the CIC, have contributed generously in many ways to the BTST over the years. As a matter of fact, in the last edition we, personally, contributed 5 submissions including the centerfold which you asked us to create at the 11th hour, and we did. We also contributed an article and numerous photographs for this week’s edition So, to disregard us in this manner is very disappointing to us.
Marc and Cristie
Start with…scoop ….Duplicity …but by whom?….
Tags: Civic Organizations, Local News, Local Politics, Scoops
