chris y wrote me
This is chris y from tikigardens.com. I thought I would answer some of the points you raised in your post on tc.
Unfortunately, you couldn't be more wrong about this being a charity and not a business venture. To hand the county a check to be used to improve the park system at their discretion is one thing, to specify that the money must be used for a specific purpose that we designate in a specific park we designate is entirely another. The county doesn't look at this as charity; they look at it as we want something from them- a place to put our statue. As such, they require rigid documentation of all aspects of the project, from the engineering schematics that are sitting on my desk to the estimates and references from wayne to the account statement for the Tiki Gardens Memorial Fund included in the proposal showing sufficient funds to complete this project. That's the cold hard truth, and yes because my company has presented to entrenched bureauracies before and we know what to expect, I do get a little frustrated when there's almost a sense of entitlement because you have some cash or a statue to donate. If you want someone to say thank you, send a check you were going to use to help build a tiki statue to your local homeless shelter, that's charity, not this.
If you read my last post, I explicitly stated that anyone who has pledged (or would like to) would be welcome to continue to be a part of this. When I first contacted tikigardener about helping out with his pledge drive, there were over $2,000 in pledges; tikicentral had pledged that in a matter of days, I thought at the time there would be even more pledges forthcoming. Based upon those pledges we retained wayne to build a statue; despite my call to announce to tc in november that pledges would soon be coming due, tc members weren't alerted until several weeks ago-after Christmas, a strategic disaster- and now those pledges amount to $675 or so. I am honoring my committment; as for needing to polish my fundraising skills, if expecting people who pledged to honor those pledges is fundraising, then I guess I wasn't cut out to do that. And as for otto and tc being the only hope for contributions, let me remind you- this was tikigardener's idea to have tc fully fund this, not mine.
wayne is expecting to be paid five grand to build that statue; if you'd like to tell him you're assuming that responsibility, I'll bow out immediately and it can be a tc project exclusively. But until then spreading disinformation and casting aspersions because you are admittedly out of the loop is counterproductive. thanks for your time. cy
My response:
Ok. I'm out of the loop.
CY: "despite my call to announce to tc in November that pledges would soon be coming due, tc members weren't alerted until several weeks ago-after Christmas, a strategic disaster- and now those pledges amount to $675 or so. I am honoring my commitment;"
Why didn't you just post a deadline yourself? You know how to post.
What is your commitment? I have no idea.
If your commitment was to shepherd this project, why not more information in a timely manner?
CY: "let me remind you- this was tikigardener's idea to have tc fully fund this, not mine.
Unfortunately, you couldn't be more wrong about this being a charity and not a business venture. If you want someone to say thank you, send a check you were going to use to help build a tiki statue to your local homeless shelter, that's charity, not this."
You want us to contribute to your pet project; your hat is in your hand. This is a charity.
TC has 700 members. If Tiki Gardner said TC would foot the entire bill, he was not speaking for me. This is not business. If your expectations were that we would pay for this entirely, that was completely unclear to 99% of TC.
I did not cast aspersions. I did not spread misinformation. It was a hissy fit and still is. Hanford asked some questions. Answer them online. We deserve your answers. If you believe I've spread misinformation, inform us. If this is your project stand up and take responsibility.
Al
Ok, now I have some questions.
Tikigardner, did you sign us up to pay for this in it's entirety?
Chris y, do you expect anyone else to contribute with your pugnacious attitude?
Your call for some one to "take responsibility", is it a call to bail you out? Are you in over your head?
Let us know.
Al
[ Edited by: Alnshely on 2003-02-17 17:28 ]
[ Edited by: Alnshely on 2003-02-17 17:34 ]
