Progress vs. Backsliding

The International Village Board of Directors election is just about a week away, and the choice couldn’t be any clearer. It’s a choice between continued progress and savings on the one hand – and returning to the reckless spending, shady deals and scandals of the past on the other.

That choice came into sharp focus at last week’s Candidates Night forum. (See video here.) I and my colleagues – Board members Luis Jimenez and Colbert “Carl” Simmonds – stood on our record of lowering maintenance for the last three years by saving money while making needed improvements and renovations WITHOUT a special assessment.

Our opponents – Douglas Meyers, Stuart Wolff and Daniel Coco (aka the “Doug Meyers slate”) – had quite a different vision. For one thing, they refused to rule out another special assessment (even though none is needed), and they failed to make a convincing argument as to why owners should put them back on the board after they betrayed our trust the last time they were in charge about seven years ago. (See the “$250,000 scam.”)

Mr. Meyers also refused to shed light on his recent secret settlement agreement with his once bitter rival Ilan Weiss. As I reported last week, Mr. Meyers dismissed his longstanding libel lawsuit against Weiss less than two months ago, just before announcing his candidacy for the board and obtaining Mr. Weiss’ endorsement. I asked Mr. Meyers if he dropped the lawsuit as part of an agreement – if elected – to forgive Mr. Weiss’ very substantial debt with the association in exchange for Weiss’ support in the election. But Mr. Meyers refused to reveal the terms of his secret deal with Weiss, citing confidentiality. That’s just not good enough, considering Mr. Weiss owes the association tens of thousands of dollars in legal fees after losing his latest lawsuit against the association (and has used various delaying tactics to avoid paying until after the election). Given the circumstances, we have every reason to be suspicious.

But the phrase “I can’t answer that here” was unfortunately Mr. Meyers’ most frequent answer to owners’ questions on a variety of topics, especially if they dealt with his reputation for not playing by the rules. The most dramatic moment of the night came when a member of the sales and leasing committee produced this complaint letter from one of Mr. Meyers’ former tenants involving serious allegations of rule-breaking and even swindling. Mr. Meyers said he couldn’t talk about it because it was going to wind up court.

Mr. Meyers’ team also made some unfortunately false statements regarding security in an apparent attempt at fear-mongering. This was especially galling considering their rumored plans to rehire a former security chief who was the subject of a number of complaints during his time at the association. Our new security manager Austin Freeman, who started Feb. 1, is a consummate professional with a solid background in handling security for large properties, and I strongly oppose our opponents’ apparent desire to replace him with a less-qualified former employee. The Doug Meyers team’s willingness to play politics at the expense of security is just one more reason why they can’t be trusted.

For continued progress, savings and honest dealing, please vote for John Labriola, Colbert “Carl” Simmonds and Luis Jimenez. Your vote must be received by Feb. 28, so if you haven't done so already, please drop it off at the association office or mail it in as soon as possible. For detailed instructions on voting, click here and then scroll down.

John Labriola
International Village President