Residents were sent the following email (below) re the AGM by CBWRA ‘co-chairs’ Larisa Villar Hauser and Louis Sebastian Kendall, who changed the constitution in September 2023 resulting in only 9% of leaseholders… Continue reading
Also in this post: An update on electricity refunds and a note on the challenges for Chelsea Bridge Wharf residents in 2024. In October 2023, this blog reported the letter from Rendall and… Continue reading
In September 2023, with the support of residents, I passed a motion at the CBWRA SGM which required a written process to be provide regarding the closure of CBW app accounts. The aim of this was to prevent the arbitrary closure of residents’ CBW app accounts simply because they dare to question the ‘wisdom’ of the CBWRA committee or to point out that they are misinforming residents that Right to Manage was not possible or simply saying things that are not true. More than 10 weeks later there has been no update on this from CBWRA committee and no sign of this written procedure. This means that CBW app accounts can still be closed in an arbitrary and subjective way, without any evidence regarding the reasons for account closure needing to be presented to the person whose account is closed, nor any chance given to them to respond or appeal. This is an utterly revolting form of censorship, in effect.
Many thanks to those who supported the motions I put forward for this meeting which focussed on freedom of speech on the CBW app, trying to ensure fair elections for the future and also trying to ensure that Right to Manage actually delivers increased power to residents not just to a handful of people on an unelected/unfairly elected committee. The meeting also included a vote on ‘ratification’ (i.e. not an election) of the committee and a new constitution. Two of the five motions I proposed were passed.
These motions (in plain language) were that:
That no residents CBW app account can be closed in an arbitrary manner without any due process (as was the case with the closure of my account in May 2022). The closure or threat of closure of CBW app accounts has carted a ‘chilling effect’ on the CBW app which means that residents are afraid to say what they think or to be critical of the CBWRA committee in any way.
That there will be quarterly meetings with the new managing agent (Urang) assuming that RTM foes ahead and they are appointed – the meetings will e hybrid (face to face with the option to attend online) and ALL residents will be welcome not just leaseholders.
vote AGAINST ratification of committee (because they are not consulting residents, the consultations they do carry out are biased/ leading and the proposed quarterly ‘forums’ are too infrequent and exclude non-leaseholders. Also there is not freedom of speech on the app, and the CBWRA committee misinformed residents about RTM and have not explained or apologised for that). Also that there should be ELECTIONS not ‘ratification’
· VOTE AGAINST the ratification of the constitution because we are only being given 10 days to see it before the meeting (it will only come around on 30 AUG)
· VOTE AGAINST CBWRA fees rise CBWRA have never given any meaningful justification for the 140% increase in fees which they carried out in Feb this year. They claimed it was partly for legal fees to do with RTM but they have also said Urang (the proposed new managing agent) are covering all fees or will recover them through the service charge.
I also encourage residents to consider withholding all payment to CBWRA until they adopt normal standards of governance in respect of fair elections, free speech and resident consultation. #NOSAYNOPAY
