Thus spoke Steven Hicks of DHCR Thursday night as he chaired – and ended – one of the RIOC Board's two-per-year evening sessions, scheduled to give the public access to the Board.  Hicks's last words were obscured by murmurs and cries of protest from residents attending the meeting.

The incident, in its entirety, was reminiscent of Jerry Blue's stellar performance in September of 1997, when he responded to 44 minutes of resident questions with a cursory four minutes and a stack of "position papers."  Blue's performance that night ignited, in the community, a steel-hard determination to be rid of him.

This week's episode with a still-unresponsive RIOC came when Joan Christianson, First Vice President of the Residents Association, spoke of her confusion over the Board's June vote on the minicondos – a vote that gave the go-ahead to developer Diane Wilson amid a flurry of confusion in which one Board member thought she was voting for an amendment to a resolution – not the resolution itself.

"Just what took place?  And where do things stand with the minischools?" Christianson asked.  "If there are things in writing such as Mr. Leitner's annexed memorandum, would you be so kind as to make copies available?  I would appreciate your addressing these issues now and to please not brush my questions and concerns off."

Christianson was asking for solid facts on the negotiations with Wilson on deadlines for financing and other "deliverables" that may serve either to establish her competence to go forward with the luxury condo project that would add a second story to the Island's west-shore minischools, or act as a barrier to keep her from continuing with her project.

In the public portion of the session, Christianson virtually pleaded for answers.  When, by session's end, she had none, she asked for attention to her questions.

That brought this response from Hicks: "Discuss them with Ken or Rob, please."  When Christianson tried to insist, he interrupted, "Unfortunately, the Board doesn't meet to address questions from the public..."

His misperception that answers given one-on-one by RIOC President Rob Ryan or Attorney Ken Leitner would satisfy the community's need is a serious error: Christianson was asking not just for herself, but for an entire community that is wondering how the RIOC Board could so cavalierly agree to Wilson's minicondo project when hardly a single member of the community supports it.

Hicks is right on one thing: The RIOC Board is not answerable to this community.  The RIOC Board is, for all practical purposes, at the head of a feudal fiefdom in which the serfs – you and I – are, at best, an unfortunate inconvenience.

Self-governance, anyone?