Re: Austin ACM SIGKDD
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David G. Boney
Apr 18, 2013, 6:13:25 PM4/18/13
to austin...@yahoogroups.com, Austin-ACM-...@meetup.com, aust...@googlegroups.com, semantic...@googlegroups.com, Samantha Goldberg
Dear Members,
Below is the official response I received from Austin Parks & Recreation concerning our continued weekly use of the classroom at Northwest Recreation Center.
It is very disappointing but not surprising. It is disappointing that the City of Austin does not support the high tech community in Austin. Our Austin ACM SIGKDD chapter only does good for the community by providing free education on the leading edge technologies that are the foundation of the grow of the Austin high tech sector.
Austin Parks & Recreation will honor the reservations we have until the end of May.
We will meet at Northwest Recreation Center this Saturday. Please come, this will be one of the more interesting design patterns, using Bloom filters with Hadoop.
We can discuss Saturday what to do for the future. Most importantly, I want to focus on finding a new place to meet. If you have a meeting space that can hold at least 20, please ask your employer if we can use the space. I would like to get feedback from the group on what we should do before taking any other actions.
-----------------
Sincerely,
David G. Boney
Chair, Austin ACM SIGKDD
ch...@austin-acm-sigkdd.org
http://www.meetup.com/Austin-ACM-SIGKDD/
http://tech.groups.yahoo.com/group/austinsigkdd/
On Apr 18, 2013, at 3:50 PM, "McNeeley, Kimberly" <Kimberly...@austintexas.gov> wrote:
> Dear Mr. Boney,
>
> On behalf of Sara Hensley, I am responding to your concern regarding Northwest Recreation Center room availability and an alleged act of retaliation against Austin ACM SIGKDD by Ms. Christa McCarthy, Northwest Recreation Supervisor. Although your e-mail does not provide a specific question, I offer the following information for your consideration.
>
> Recently the Northwest Recreation Center submitted a community engagement survey to its current participants, the Allendale Neighborhood Association (NA), Austin RAMP, Crestview NA, Hyde Park NA, North Shoal Creek NA, and Rosedale NA. The surveys provided some insight as to the programs and services the community is seeking for the center to provide. Many of the requests were for more evening classes in relation to either fitness or enrichment opportunities including but not limited to yoga, photography, weight lifting, cardio, computer classes, financial, languages, gardening, sustainability, cooking, and Zumba. As our surrounding community begins to understand the benefits of leisure/recreational programming, the Department is faced with having to meet larger programing needs. A larger demand for programming within a limited area of space causes a challenge. At the same time, the requests the center has received for facility usage for Free and Open to the Public meetings has increased drastically.
>
> Northwest Recreation Center has been challenged to provide the above specified programs while balancing the requests of 15 separate organizations who desire "Free and Open to the Public" program space every month. In an attempt to balance the needs and provide equal access for all groups considered "Free and Open to the Public" the Northwest Recreation Center had to limit each user group to a once per month guaranteed free meeting space opportunity. It is important to note that all user groups requesting "Free and Open to the Public" meeting space at Northwest Recreation Center, received and e-mail on Tuesday April 16, 2013 informing them of this change. This change was applied equally and consistently. There was no retaliation or mistreatment of your group by Ms. McCarthy. The hope and expectation is that this change will allow the Northwest Recreation Center community to continue to provide for all community needs.
>
> Although the Northwest Recreation Center will no longer be accepting reservations on a weekly basis; if there are rooms that are not in use, they can be made available to groups on a first come first serve basis each evening. The center's WIFI is available throughout the building and tables and chairs are also available in the lobby, which can be utilized should there not be a room available. This is also the case at other recreation facilities nearby, such as Gus Garcia Recreation Center. A Northwest Recreation Center employee will be happy to assist you in securing meeting space at other centers around the city if you so desire. Currently it is the Department's commitment to honor your weekly reservations until Wednesday May 29, 2013. If you have any additional questions please feel free to contact Sharon Aguilar at (512)974-5665 or via e-mail at sharon....@austintexas.gov or me; my contact information is listed below.
>
> Sincerely,
>
>
> Kimberly McNeeley, Assistant Director
> Austin Parks and Recreation Department
> phone:(512)974-9490
> kimberly...@austintexas.gov
> P Please consider the environment before printing this email
>
> -----Original Message-----
> From: Hensley, Sara
> Sent: Tuesday, April 16, 2013 8:36 PM
> To: David G. Boney
> Cc: austin...@yahoogroups.com; Austin-ACM-...@meetup.com; aust...@googlegroups.com; semantic...@googlegroups.com; Samantha Goldberg; McNeeley, Kimberly; Corona, Patrick; Lumbreras, Bert; Garza, Jason
> Subject: Re: Austin ACM SIGKDD needs a new place we can meet weekly
>
> David: Thank you for copying me on this email. I am asking that you give me, along with the Assistant Director, Kimberly McNeeley, the opportunity to find out what is happening here.
> You are using very strong statements about what you think occurred. I honestly do not know. When you call out a staff member as a low level bureaucrat, I take offense. As the Director of Parks and Recreation, with a staff that works tirelessly to be good stewards of public resources, I realize that we do make mistakes. If indeed we have failed to communicate adequately or follow through with reasoning's behind a decision, then we will certainly correct the situation. Please allow us the time to investigate. Thank you. Sara Hensley
>
> Sent from my iPod
>
> On Apr 16, 2013, at 7:39 PM, "David G. Boney" <ch...@austin-acm-sigkdd.org> wrote:
>
>> Dear Members,
>>
>> I regret to inform you that Austin Parks and Recreation will no longer allow Austin ACM SIGKDD to meet weekly at Northwest Recreation Center. We can still meet their monthly if we choose. As we have been able to meet their weekly for the past 18 months, this is a sad news. It is a great central location, with free parking, and free WIFI. Furthermore, we have had free rent for the classroom that we use at Northwest Recreation Center.
>>
>> If anyone wants to volunteer their workplace, please let me know. The requirements for a meeting space are:
>>
>> 1. The building can be accessed after hours or on the weekends without someone having to wait at a locked door to let people in.
>> 2. The air conditioning and lights can be turned on after hours or weekends.
>> 3. Free parking.
>> 4. Free WIFI.
>>
>> I am alleging that Austin Parks and Recreation stopped letting us use Northwest Recreation Center weekly because last month the manager of Northwest Recreation Center, Christa McCarthy, was late in processing our request for a reservation, so I wrote the Director of Parks & Recreation about the issue, and now Austin ACM SIGKDD is receiving retaliation from Ms. McCarthy. Ms. McCarthy is pregnant and about to take maternity leave. I was concerned that our request had got lost in the transition of personnel at Northwest Recreation Center. The month before, the rental request was processed by a person who was training to take over Ms. McCarthy's position. I wrote the Director because it was the only email address of an Austin Parks and Recreation manager on their website. After Ms. McCarthy processed our rental agreement, after her supervisor contacted her, the next correspondence I received from Austin Parks and Recreation is that Austin ACM SIGKDD can no longer meet weekly at Northwest Recreation Center.
>>
>> On face value, it appears, or I allege (to cover myself legally :) that a low level bureaucrat, who did not do her job, and when reprimanded about her failure to do her job by her supervisor, engaged in retaliation against Austin ACM SIGKKD by not letting us continue to use the facility weekly, after we had been meeting there weekly over the past 18 months. This is not fair and we should not allow a low level bureaucrat engage in a personal vendetta against Austin ACM SIGKDD. We can fight back.
>>
>> I have written ACM and notified them of the situation. I have requested the assistance of the ACM legal department. Also, I will be writing Vint Cerf, President of ACM, and founder of the Internet, of our group's plight. I will be requesting assistance from ACM publications to publicize the situation and hopefully bring national attention to the policies and actions of Austin Parks and Recreation. Many people get very upset over abuses by government employees, particularly in a conservative red state like Texas. Hopefully, we can bring some media pressure on the City to change its policy toward Austin ACM SIGKDD.
>>
>> We can also work locally. I will be attending the next Austin City Council meeting to complain about this issue. I am requesting our local membership to show up with me. We can also write our Austin City Council members about the issue. If anyone is active in local Austin politics, or has a relationship with any of the city council members, please write me. Lastly, I will work on getting this into the Austin American Statesman. I went to high school with one of the reporters at the Statesman, Clair Osborn. I will be writing her to see if I can get our story in the paper.
>>
>> While I am ready to put up a good fight for the cause of injustice by cruel and heartless bureaucrats, given the saying that "You can't fight city hall", I think we should plan on finding a new location where we can meet weekly.
>>
>> -----------------
>> Sincerely,
>> David G. Boney
>> Chair, Austin ACM SIGKDD
>> ch...@austin-acm-sigkdd.org
>> http://www.meetup.com/Austin-ACM-SIGKDD/
>> http://tech.groups.yahoo.com/group/austinsigkdd/
>>
Below is the official response I received from Austin Parks & Recreation concerning our continued weekly use of the classroom at Northwest Recreation Center.
It is very disappointing but not surprising. It is disappointing that the City of Austin does not support the high tech community in Austin. Our Austin ACM SIGKDD chapter only does good for the community by providing free education on the leading edge technologies that are the foundation of the grow of the Austin high tech sector.
Austin Parks & Recreation will honor the reservations we have until the end of May.
We will meet at Northwest Recreation Center this Saturday. Please come, this will be one of the more interesting design patterns, using Bloom filters with Hadoop.
We can discuss Saturday what to do for the future. Most importantly, I want to focus on finding a new place to meet. If you have a meeting space that can hold at least 20, please ask your employer if we can use the space. I would like to get feedback from the group on what we should do before taking any other actions.
-----------------
Sincerely,
David G. Boney
Chair, Austin ACM SIGKDD
ch...@austin-acm-sigkdd.org
http://www.meetup.com/Austin-ACM-SIGKDD/
http://tech.groups.yahoo.com/group/austinsigkdd/
On Apr 18, 2013, at 3:50 PM, "McNeeley, Kimberly" <Kimberly...@austintexas.gov> wrote:
> Dear Mr. Boney,
>
> On behalf of Sara Hensley, I am responding to your concern regarding Northwest Recreation Center room availability and an alleged act of retaliation against Austin ACM SIGKDD by Ms. Christa McCarthy, Northwest Recreation Supervisor. Although your e-mail does not provide a specific question, I offer the following information for your consideration.
>
> Recently the Northwest Recreation Center submitted a community engagement survey to its current participants, the Allendale Neighborhood Association (NA), Austin RAMP, Crestview NA, Hyde Park NA, North Shoal Creek NA, and Rosedale NA. The surveys provided some insight as to the programs and services the community is seeking for the center to provide. Many of the requests were for more evening classes in relation to either fitness or enrichment opportunities including but not limited to yoga, photography, weight lifting, cardio, computer classes, financial, languages, gardening, sustainability, cooking, and Zumba. As our surrounding community begins to understand the benefits of leisure/recreational programming, the Department is faced with having to meet larger programing needs. A larger demand for programming within a limited area of space causes a challenge. At the same time, the requests the center has received for facility usage for Free and Open to the Public meetings has increased drastically.
>
> Northwest Recreation Center has been challenged to provide the above specified programs while balancing the requests of 15 separate organizations who desire "Free and Open to the Public" program space every month. In an attempt to balance the needs and provide equal access for all groups considered "Free and Open to the Public" the Northwest Recreation Center had to limit each user group to a once per month guaranteed free meeting space opportunity. It is important to note that all user groups requesting "Free and Open to the Public" meeting space at Northwest Recreation Center, received and e-mail on Tuesday April 16, 2013 informing them of this change. This change was applied equally and consistently. There was no retaliation or mistreatment of your group by Ms. McCarthy. The hope and expectation is that this change will allow the Northwest Recreation Center community to continue to provide for all community needs.
>
> Although the Northwest Recreation Center will no longer be accepting reservations on a weekly basis; if there are rooms that are not in use, they can be made available to groups on a first come first serve basis each evening. The center's WIFI is available throughout the building and tables and chairs are also available in the lobby, which can be utilized should there not be a room available. This is also the case at other recreation facilities nearby, such as Gus Garcia Recreation Center. A Northwest Recreation Center employee will be happy to assist you in securing meeting space at other centers around the city if you so desire. Currently it is the Department's commitment to honor your weekly reservations until Wednesday May 29, 2013. If you have any additional questions please feel free to contact Sharon Aguilar at (512)974-5665 or via e-mail at sharon....@austintexas.gov or me; my contact information is listed below.
>
> Sincerely,
>
>
> Kimberly McNeeley, Assistant Director
> Austin Parks and Recreation Department
> phone:(512)974-9490
> kimberly...@austintexas.gov
> P Please consider the environment before printing this email
>
> -----Original Message-----
> From: Hensley, Sara
> Sent: Tuesday, April 16, 2013 8:36 PM
> To: David G. Boney
> Cc: austin...@yahoogroups.com; Austin-ACM-...@meetup.com; aust...@googlegroups.com; semantic...@googlegroups.com; Samantha Goldberg; McNeeley, Kimberly; Corona, Patrick; Lumbreras, Bert; Garza, Jason
> Subject: Re: Austin ACM SIGKDD needs a new place we can meet weekly
>
> David: Thank you for copying me on this email. I am asking that you give me, along with the Assistant Director, Kimberly McNeeley, the opportunity to find out what is happening here.
> You are using very strong statements about what you think occurred. I honestly do not know. When you call out a staff member as a low level bureaucrat, I take offense. As the Director of Parks and Recreation, with a staff that works tirelessly to be good stewards of public resources, I realize that we do make mistakes. If indeed we have failed to communicate adequately or follow through with reasoning's behind a decision, then we will certainly correct the situation. Please allow us the time to investigate. Thank you. Sara Hensley
>
> Sent from my iPod
>
> On Apr 16, 2013, at 7:39 PM, "David G. Boney" <ch...@austin-acm-sigkdd.org> wrote:
>
>> Dear Members,
>>
>> I regret to inform you that Austin Parks and Recreation will no longer allow Austin ACM SIGKDD to meet weekly at Northwest Recreation Center. We can still meet their monthly if we choose. As we have been able to meet their weekly for the past 18 months, this is a sad news. It is a great central location, with free parking, and free WIFI. Furthermore, we have had free rent for the classroom that we use at Northwest Recreation Center.
>>
>> If anyone wants to volunteer their workplace, please let me know. The requirements for a meeting space are:
>>
>> 1. The building can be accessed after hours or on the weekends without someone having to wait at a locked door to let people in.
>> 2. The air conditioning and lights can be turned on after hours or weekends.
>> 3. Free parking.
>> 4. Free WIFI.
>>
>> I am alleging that Austin Parks and Recreation stopped letting us use Northwest Recreation Center weekly because last month the manager of Northwest Recreation Center, Christa McCarthy, was late in processing our request for a reservation, so I wrote the Director of Parks & Recreation about the issue, and now Austin ACM SIGKDD is receiving retaliation from Ms. McCarthy. Ms. McCarthy is pregnant and about to take maternity leave. I was concerned that our request had got lost in the transition of personnel at Northwest Recreation Center. The month before, the rental request was processed by a person who was training to take over Ms. McCarthy's position. I wrote the Director because it was the only email address of an Austin Parks and Recreation manager on their website. After Ms. McCarthy processed our rental agreement, after her supervisor contacted her, the next correspondence I received from Austin Parks and Recreation is that Austin ACM SIGKDD can no longer meet weekly at Northwest Recreation Center.
>>
>> On face value, it appears, or I allege (to cover myself legally :) that a low level bureaucrat, who did not do her job, and when reprimanded about her failure to do her job by her supervisor, engaged in retaliation against Austin ACM SIGKKD by not letting us continue to use the facility weekly, after we had been meeting there weekly over the past 18 months. This is not fair and we should not allow a low level bureaucrat engage in a personal vendetta against Austin ACM SIGKDD. We can fight back.
>>
>> I have written ACM and notified them of the situation. I have requested the assistance of the ACM legal department. Also, I will be writing Vint Cerf, President of ACM, and founder of the Internet, of our group's plight. I will be requesting assistance from ACM publications to publicize the situation and hopefully bring national attention to the policies and actions of Austin Parks and Recreation. Many people get very upset over abuses by government employees, particularly in a conservative red state like Texas. Hopefully, we can bring some media pressure on the City to change its policy toward Austin ACM SIGKDD.
>>
>> We can also work locally. I will be attending the next Austin City Council meeting to complain about this issue. I am requesting our local membership to show up with me. We can also write our Austin City Council members about the issue. If anyone is active in local Austin politics, or has a relationship with any of the city council members, please write me. Lastly, I will work on getting this into the Austin American Statesman. I went to high school with one of the reporters at the Statesman, Clair Osborn. I will be writing her to see if I can get our story in the paper.
>>
>> While I am ready to put up a good fight for the cause of injustice by cruel and heartless bureaucrats, given the saying that "You can't fight city hall", I think we should plan on finding a new location where we can meet weekly.
>>
>> -----------------
>> Sincerely,
>> David G. Boney
>> Chair, Austin ACM SIGKDD
>> ch...@austin-acm-sigkdd.org
>> http://www.meetup.com/Austin-ACM-SIGKDD/
>> http://tech.groups.yahoo.com/group/austinsigkdd/
>>
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