Our First Board Meeting

Fellow Club Members,

We had our first board meeting last night.  There is a summary in an e-mail that we will be sending out  to you today.    

If you have any questions, let us know.

  

So, What's Next?

Fellow Club Members,

Now that the euphoria of our victory on April 11 has died down a bit, we figured it was time to share with you what's next.

Well, first of all, we want to thank you again for your support.  All three of us go to Columbia Club with a new sense of purpose each time we visit and we could not have done this without you.

We have decided that we will keep this blog going as way to stay in touch with the membership.  We will let you know what the Board is doing and how its decisions impact you.  You can also use this blog to field questions or concerns you want us to take to the Board.  You can also e-mail us, our addresses are below.  We ran on a campaign of openness and transparency and we plan to keep that promise. 

With that said, our first Board meeting is April 29 at 5 p.m.  You are welcome to come watch.  Please note, only Board members can participate, but we feel that it is important for you to know what's going on and if you can, see things for yourself first hand.


Thanks again for your support.  We promise not to let you down.

Joe Ferrara (jfferrara@aol.com)
Abdul-Hakim Shabazz (attyabdul@gmail.com)
Bruce Stauffer (bstauffer@ameritech.net) 

Election Results

Some of you have asked about a breakdown of the recent election at the Club.  The results have been certified by the Election Committee.  Here they are.*

• Abdul-Hakim Shabazz - 216 total;  160 in person; 56 absentee.
• Joseph Ferrara -  211 total; 160 in person; 51 absentee.
• Bruce Stauffer - 187 total; 141 in person; 46 absentee.
• Tim Wilcox - 160 total; 101 in person; 59 absentee.
• David Ring - 159 total; 102 in person; 57 absentee.
• Dan Yates - 106 total; 57 in person; 49 absentee.

Once again, thanks for all your support.  We would not have been victorious without you.

*We are working to get an exact count on how many members voted.  By last estimate, slightly less than 300, about 21% of the membership, participated.

VICTORY!!!!

You won tonight!!!! If you are a member of the Columbia Club who believed that members should elect the Board, that there should be more accountability and transparency, and that membership has value, then you were the big winners!  We just filled in for you.

Thanks to you, Abdul-Hakim Shabazz, Joe Ferrara and Joe Stauffer did a clean sweep, despite the best efforts of our detractors.  We appreciate all the support we received, not only from fellow club members and our spouses, but also members Sam Turpin and Larry Woods.  Their organizational skills kept us focused and on track and made our victory possible.

Celebrate today because tomorrow the work begins to restore the Club to what it once was.  We've taken it back and you made it possible.

Election Day!

JOIN THE REVOLUTION!!! VOTE TODAY FOR FERARRA, SHABAZZ, STAUFFER!!! 

TAKE BACK YOUR CLUB!!!

Less than 24 Hours to Go

In less than 24 hours, the voting will begin for the three vacancies for the Columbia Club Board of Directors.  Our team feels very encouraged by the support we are getting from the membership, including some members of the current Board who also think it's time for change.

However, we can't rest on laurels, we really need you to come out and vote tomorrow between 10 a.m. and 6 p.m. 

The maintainers of the status quo are really worried that we are shaking things up by calling for direct elections, accountability and transparency.

And they should be.

This is NOT THEIR CLUB, this is YOUR CLUB and you deserve have a Board that is not only willing to listen to the members, but value their opinions!

Thank you for your support and let's win this one for the Columbia Club!

Joe Ferarra
Abdul-Hakim Shabazz
Bruce Stauffer

The Columbia Club & Membership Value

To Our Fellow Columbians,

One of the issues in this year’s election for the Columbia Club Board of Directors centers around “Membership Value.”  But what is Membership Value and why do we need it? Membership Value is hard to define, but easy to recognize. It’s an intangible, the basis of which is belonging and respect. Other connotations include “esteemed,” “worthwhile,” and   “important.”Membership Value is a necessity, because without it, we are not a club--we’re just a group of people who happen to frequent the same place for cocktails and dinner. Membership Value means:     

§  To know that you matter

§  Not just being heard, but being listened to

§  Having your opinions sought after, valued and respected

§  Being an integral part of your club (opposed to just being a member of a club)

If you feel membership Value  has diminished over the past few years we ask for you voter the Columbia Club Board of Directors on April 11^th.*

Thanks in advance for your support.

Best wishes,

Joe Ferrara        Abdul-Hakim Shabazz       Bruce Stauffer                        

Our Supporters

In case you were wondering, these are the fellow Columbians who are supporting our candidacies for the Board. We appreciate their authentic and genuine support.

Our supporters from Abdul-Hakim Shabazz

A Quick Thank You

As the campaign enters its final stretch, we wanted to take a few moments and thank all of you who have supported our candidacies and read this blog since we put it together.   Since its inception we have had nearly 1,800 page views, which is more than we have members at the Club.  

Our goal has been to share with you our vision and to make a promise that we will always put the Club and the membership’s interests before our own.  Also, there will never be any question about what we stand for, open elections, membership value and accountability and transparency.  

We will never fudge numbers to make things appear to be better than they are.  Nor will we ever mislead the members about how much support we have.  And we always hold the democratic process in high regard.   A cornerstone of our campaign has always been honesty and integrity.  We respect the Columbia Club and our fellow members too much to do otherwise.

So as we go forward, remember, we are not running to maintain the status quo, but to move the Club forward.   And together, we can make that happen.

Vote on April 11th for Joe Ferrara, Abdul-Hakim Shabazz and Bruce Stauffer.  And if you can’t vote in person, there’s always absentee.