Athertonians is a an electronic (email) message group started in 2004 to facilitate communication by and between residents of Atherton. We send residents email on important or time-sensitive matters and events pertaining to our town neighborhoods and community. We are not affiliated with or controlled by any specific town group or Atherton town staff and have always been clear about that. As a resident-run email list that is privately organized and managed by Atherton residents, we owe the existence of this group to the volunteer efforts of its Moderators.
While this email list is moderated to be non-partisan with respect to town issues, we are aware that the town's political climate is extremely unhealthy. Rather than a town council that listens to and openly addresses concerns raised by residents, the council majority (Widmer, McKeithen and Dobbie) has ignored expressions of concerns from both fellow council members (Carlson, Lewis) and residents and suppressed requests by residents and council for opportunities to vet these concerns. This is particularly acute regarding the rather broad-based unhappiness with the proposed Library Project, which is being pushed through, despite much opposition, by council member McKeithen, who is also an author of the plan.
There have been a number of surprisingly aggressive actions taken recently to attack individual residents, council members and even town committees, related to the Library Project. Unfortunately, the lack of a permanent Town Manager, the revolving door of City Attorneys, and a staff that is comprised of nearly all contract temporary consultants, provides little ballast against inappropriate actions taken by entrenched council members.
With this as the backdrop, Athertonians has begun to embrace an additional mission—which is to serve the important rights of Atherton residents to have a channel of truthful and reliable information, to balance town-supported sources deemed unreliable, and to allow residents to air concerns and points of view that are dismissed by their elected representatives. We reserve the right to not send messages deemed misleading or disrespectful, no matter who they are from. Currently, in what seems like a direct effort to counter Athertonians' efforts to inform Atherton residents about what their leadership is doing, council member McKeithen has now threatened the Athertonians group directly with legal action from the town.
Fortunately, the Supreme Court stands behind our right to Freedom of Speech and our ability to use a name reserved for the denizens of a locale, in our case Athertonians, which is distinct from the name used by the town for its infrequent newsletter, "The Athertonian." As such, we have no hesitation in assuring you that we are not discontinuing our use of a name we have held for over 8 years. Furthermore, we will gladly assist those who are discomforted with the type of information that we provide and remove them from the list.
We value informed civil discourse and its benefits to good governance, which this town is currently not enjoying. When facts and opinions get freely shared, this enables people to discuss such information amongst themselves. Thus, we welcome messages from residents towards that aim and we occasionally send alerts ourselves. If we send out information and members have corrections to suggest, we would happily consider such points and issue corrections. We do not claim either to be infallible or to have no opinions.
From: Renee Batti
To: athertonians_moderator@yahoo.com
Sent: Monday, May 7, 2012 5:06 PM
Subject: Questions for Athertonians
Greetings.
I'm interested in talking with the moderator/moderators of the Athertonians Yahoo group. Could you call me or, at least, respond to this email? I'll be doing an article about the town's interest in shutting the site down if it continues to use the name Athertonians. I'd like to get your comments about that.
Hope to hear from you soon. Thanks, Renee
--
Renee Batti
News Editor
The Almanac
3525 Alameda de las Pulgas
Menlo Park, California 94025
(650) 223-6528
I very much appreciate hearing all viewpoints and I find this communication approach very helpful and open and transparent, unfortunate some in our town do not.
ReplyDeleteKen
I agree with Ken’s remarks…..and believe that there is no legal basis to ‘shut down the site’.
ReplyDeleteI agree with Ken. Hearing all viewpoints are extremely important and helpful.
ReplyDeleteDenise
650-274-8560
I also agree with Ken. Does anyone else wonder what people make up Ms. Batti's "town's interest"? I imagine it is against "The Almanac's" interest to have competition to their online forum.
ReplyDeleteI think this is a very useful forum for hearing/airing viewpoints, though of course no way of knowing how
ReplyDelete'representative' of the whole Town it is, but so what? Is 'Athertononians' a copyrightable name owned by the Town is I guess the issue. It seems spurious argument to me, at least without hearing much more about that.
I appreciate the difficulties of being on the Town Council and for that matter, Staff, and weathering a lot of criticism. It is sometimes thankless, and open to criticism and attack whatever is decided. But that goes with the job(s)-- paid or not. And some of these issues-- like the library-- merit very full discussion and considerable thought. People will not take kindly to being railroaded by the bureaucracy and the Town government. This forum is a place beyond just the Council chambers for such discussion and valuable. If not here, then some other similar internet place
will be created, and should be.
Thank you for helping connect Atherton residents. You seem to be doing a good job of staying neutral and focusing on facilitating a channel of communication - that is to be commended.
ReplyDeleteI found this council discussion posted on You Tube and on the Almanac Web site. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jkoSokr_8IY#t=36m6s
ReplyDeleteOn the Almanac site it is Video 4 of 5: http://www.almanacnews.com/square/index.php?i=3&d=&t=7269
At 34:00 minutes into the tape McKeithen and Dobbie request the site be shut down and if need be a special meeting called to do so.
Atherton Library Project
ReplyDeleteI believe the conflicting views emerging regarding the decision to move the library to Holbrook Palmer Park could have been avoided. Neither the Atherton Town Council, nor the Library Committee put an effective process in place to get input from residents. And when residents challenged the decision to move the library, neither group supported an open dialog to discuss the issues. If a referendum or survey of all residents shows that a majority want the library in the park, and are satisfied that safety issues are resolved, so be it. I believe there are far too many unresolved issues, including safety concerns, to move forward without a referendum or survey including all residents. Issues in the Draft Environmental Impact Report are getting "mitigated" with quick "solutions" without analyzing and understanding the effect on residents who live in the area and on those who use the park.
We still can avert the potential of a long term dividing issue within our town by determining the opinion of the people of Atherton. A democratic process with each resident giving his or her input is the way to resolve this issue.
Robert Roeser
Atherton Resident
I am not pleased with what is looking more and more like salami slicing of Holbrook Palmer Park. If the library is built in the park, how long will it be before the complaints about inadequate parking begin and then another slice will be taken from the shrinking open space? I feel very strongly that the Town should obtain an opinion of counsel that building a library and, if needed, more parking spaces, fits within the letter and intent of the donors. I would expect this to include an examination of the Town's (and its taxpayer's exposure should the descendents of the donors object to the continued taking of park land for other "worthy" uses.
DeleteAccording to http://www.trademarkia.com/trademarks-search.aspx?tn=Athertonian
ReplyDelete"Athertonian" is not trademarked
Thank you for keeping us all informed with a moderate, unbiased, and helpful information. Janet Larson
ReplyDeleteWell said!
ReplyDeleteJ
John B. Lovewell
The Lovewell Company
700 Emerson Street
Palo Alto, CA 94301
Phone 650-614-6247
Fax 650-328-7394
www.lovewellcompany.com
Great message - thanks
ReplyDeleteSent from my iPhone
This was an excellent message and well on point. Thank you for giving us a communication vehicle that is easy to access and provides helpful information and perspectives.
ReplyDeleteAthertonians Moderator,
ReplyDeleteWhat Athertonians is doing is the very essence of the word “American”. I thank you. May I suggest regarding the Library Project the classic cliché, “follow the money”. Thanks for being there. Jack Comerford
A well stated and well reasoned response---well done.
ReplyDeleteThank you.
Joanne Knapp
61 Atherton Ave.
In the words of Kathy. Sunlite is a good thing. Not an exact quote but close enough. Jim Massey
ReplyDeleteDear Moderators:
ReplyDeleteThis is a very powerful and reasonable message. As an Atherton homeowner for 11 and a member of a Lindenwood family that dates back to 1941, I strongly congratulate you for Athertonians and all that you are doing.
Best regards, Rick DeGolia
Sent from my iPhone, please excuse the brevity and any typos
Praise to the Moderators:
ReplyDeleteThis has been going on for some time with the current council.
Viewpoint - Wednesday, July 1, 2009
Editorial: Censorship feud in Atherton
As if they do not have enough tough issues before them, now the Atherton City Council has found time to knock heads over who controls placing items on the body's agenda, a perk that just a few months ago was available to all members.
But not now. The ideological 3-2 split on the council has festered and a couple of weeks ago burst into flames when members Jim Dobbie, Kathy McKeithen and Mayor Jerry Carlson agreed that it should take three votes to get any item before the council.
After passing this new ordinance, the majority can now blithely ignore any issue minority members Charles Marsala and Elizabeth Lewis want to place on the agenda, effectively muzzling their ability to have the council even discuss items they believe are important to their constituents. Mr. Marsala and Ms. Lewis, who often vote together, are blasting the majority for censoring their ability to speak and act freely on the council.
Mr. Dobbie told Almanac reporter Andrea Gemmet last week that "Agenda items can be very dangerous if they're not approved by the council," a ridiculous observation that on this council simply means that he and his two majority partners determine the degree of "danger."
In support of the majority-rule on setting the council agenda, Mr. Dobbie said at the June 17 council meeting that there could be "absolute chaos" if a majority did not approve an item before placing it on the agenda.
Ms. McKeithen chimed in: "If the council doesn't allow it, we'll have to take the flak from the public."
All of this seems ludicrous when looking back to prior years when it took just one member to send a request to the mayor and city manager to place an item on the agenda.
Thanks. Well put.
ReplyDeleteAntonia Fore
Front page story in today's Daily Post.
ReplyDeleteIt is tricky to pick out messages that aren't "fit to print". How do you all judge that?
ReplyDeleteI find the information helpful, but want all the sides not to be tossed out or edited.
Ginger Levick
Sargent Lane
That is a good question and admittedly, the moderation process is based on judgment, much like that of an umpire. We focus on the use of facts, opinions and reason versus those which fail the civility test by offering only insults. Here is a good example of the kind we do not approve.
DeleteFrom: James Dobbie
To: Athertonians_moderator@yahoo.com
Sent: Friday, May 4, 2012 6:46 PM
Subject: Worthless Anonymous Comments
Anonymous Invisible people afraid to give their names,
The people who have strong opinions about issues, in this case the library,have no credibility, because they want to present a one sided argument with no opportunity for those who think differently to determnine who they are representing or whether they are even Atherton residents.
If you want any of your arguments considered remove the cowardly cloak of anonymity and identify yourselves.
Jim Dobbie
I feel Jim Dobbie came across rude when Charles brought up Awristachatz. Also after someone bringing this to my attention I am not sure how professional the Council came across at certain times.
Deletehttp://www.youtube.com/watch?v=glx-YvLL-I0&feature=relmfu
The behavior of many pro-park supporters but particularly of our elected representatives, Ms. McKeithen and Mr. Dobbie, fits into the category of what I call "The New Mandarins." This phrase describes people in government who for the sake of a particular goal bypass fair government. They do not follow protocol but go to the papers first, they do not notice parties involved, they bypass people in their own administration who should be notified, misrepresent, over-control, beat up the Constitution, and try as hard as they can to limit public input. Unfortunately all of these things have occurred with the library project. We need a Vote. Please share my letter with everybody.
ReplyDeleteThanks,
Anne Mc Veigh
Watkins
This discussion is now also on the Almanac Online at:
ReplyDeletehttp://www.almanacnews.com/square/index.php?i=3&d=&t=7353
Feel free to post whatever you like there......