HERE ARE THE EMAILS FROM BACC VICE CHAIR, JOANNE D'ALCOMO, PROHIBITING ANY MENTION OF THE 'NO RICH AND NO POOR' GOAL IN THE BACC'S EMAIL GROUP, AND JOHN SPRITZLER'S REPLIES
On May 30, 2019 at 10:25 PM Joanne D'Alcomo <> wrote:
Hi John,
I’m writing because of this exchange below. You know we appreciate your work as a volunteer and value your involvement. But we are striving in this listserv to stay roughly on-topic with the issues in the mission statement and the related quality of life issues in the neighborhood. . While the issues you raise are important, they are broader in scope than we deal with on the BACC listserv and broader than we strive to deal with. Please use other more general listservs like Cleveland Circle one that we both are on, or AB2006 to pursue that topic. Please do not use the BACC listserv to promote “no rich, no poor” . You may use it a tag line under your name or something when you do a post, as people sometimes do with favorite savings or themes on their emails, but do not use the BACC listserv to proselytize about this. We can’t permit this any more than we would permit on the listserv a campaign for gender equality or wage parity, etc.
Regards,
Joanne
From:bacommunitycoalition@googlegroups.com [mailto:bacommunitycoalition@googlegroups.com] On Behalf Of JOHN SPRITZLER
Sent: Thursday, May 30, 2019 8:33 PM
To:bacommunitycoalition@googlegroups.com; cleveland-circle-community <cleveland-circle-community@googlegroups.com>
Subject: Re: [Brighton Allston Community Coalition] Stop & Shop project: What next?
Eileen,
Do you think it is appropriate, or inappropriate, for members of the BACC to discuss among ourselves the question of whether it is possible to achieve all that we want within, as you put it, "the system we have now"? What I mean by these words in quotation marks, and what I assume you meant, is the social system based on profit and having some rich and some poor that characterizes our current social system.
If you think it is inappropriate for BACC members to discuss this question, please say why you believe so. Then we can have a fruitful conversation about whether your reason is persuasive. Please also keep in mind that more than 1000 Allston Brighton members have signed the following statement:
NO RICH AND NO POOR
We the undersigned joined (or are hereby joining) the Brighton Allston Community Coalition (BACC) because its goals, including adequate affordable housing and good public transportation and an end to gentrification, are part of our larger goal: removing the rich from power to have real, not fake, democracy with no rich and no poor. We hope that the BACC will declare that it also aims for this larger goal; that would make us be even more enthusiastic members of it.
Thanks.
John Spritzler
On May 30, 2019 at 8:04 PM Eileen Houben <> wrote:
I'm sure all BACC members appreciate your description of last nt's meeting,and are unified on the goals of less density, less height, more family friendly housing, more ownership opportunities and housing residents can afford.
However, AB residents and BACC members represent a spectrum of political philosophies - yet isn't it wonderful that we can all join together on quality of life issues. Achieving this outside the system we have now is for a forum other than BACC.
BACC has a hope of bringing pressure because we are unified on these development issues and these local issues should remain its scope.
Eileen Houben
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Then this exchange took place, in which Joanne told me I was prevented from posting even a mention of an article of mine online about how to actually win what the BACC says it is for:
From: Joanne D'Alcomo <>
To: JOHN SPRITZLER
Date: May 31, 2019 at 12:01 PM
Subject: on your recent message to the listserv
John,
We had to reject your email just sent for the listserv because it’s just a variation on the same thing, with a link to the same proselytizing. Please use the general interest listservs for this effort, not the BACC’s listserv. As I explained, the Steering Committee values tremendously your work as a volunteer and your interest and your attendance at meetings, but we are striving to keep the BACC more narrowly focused.
Thank you, John.
Joanne
---------- Original Message ----------
From: JOHN SPRITZLER <spritzler@comcast.net>
To: bacommunitycoalition@googlegroups.com
Date: May 31, 2019 at 10:55 AM
Subject: Re: [Brighton Allston Community Coalition] Chance to speak to the Mayor, Wed. June 5, 9:30-10:30 am on Stop & Shop's project and other development issues
I wrote an article relating to what Tony here calls "the BACC’s image as a constructive and credible presence in the community." My article is titled, "Credibility, But In Whose Eyes?" and is online here. I think you will find it extremely relevant to this discussion and quite interesting; it includes a personal story of mine that illustrates its point.
John Spritzler
On May 31, 2019 at 10:46 AM Anthony D'Isidoro <> wrote:
Hello Everyone,
I want to emphasize “Obviously, in keeping with our mission statement, we encourage BACC members to be civil in advancing their views to Mayor Walsh”.
I know for a fact the Mayor left early last year because he was probably overwhelmed and unprepared to respond regarding development issues.
I believe that demonstrations and confrontations will not only make the Mayor and his security staff uneasy, but it will leave a bad taste and not enhance the BACC’s image as a constructive and credible presence in the community.
Also, the Mayor usually brings his senior staff to these events therefore seek out the following individuals, if they attend, to express your views as well.
Brian Golden, Director, Boston Planning & Development Agency (BPDA)
Lauren Shurtleff, Acting Director of Planning, BPDA
Jonathan Greeley, Director of Development Review, BPDA
Tim Davis, Housing Policy Manager, BPDA
Tad Read, Senior Planner, BPDA, Allston Brighton Mobility Study
Chris Osgood, Chief of Streets
Greg Rooney, Acting Commissioner, Boston Transportation Department
Bill Conroy, Senior Transportation Planner, Boston Transportation Department
Chris Cook, Chief, Environment, Energy, and Open Space; Commissioner, Parks and Recreation
Carl Spector, Commissioner, Environment
Shelia Dillion, Chief of Housing & Director of the Department of Neighborhood Development
Finally, remember to efficiently use your time with the Mayor, he is not in the "weeds" on local issues like his senior staff would be.
Tony
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Note: Joanne D'Alcomo uses a specious argument to justify her censorship. She says that the BACC has a narrowly defined goal spelled out in its Mission Statement, and therefore any mention of an expanded larger goal, even any discussion about why the BACC goal should be expanded, is inappropriate in the BACC's email group. This might make sense if the BACC's Mission Statement had been written by God on stone tablets taken down from a mountain top by Moses, but it was not! What BACC members wrote in the past can perfectly well be changed by BACC members and they ought to be allowed at least to discuss the pros and cons of doing that, especially when two-thirds of the members have signed a statement saying they hope the BACC will expand its mission and that doing so would make them be more enthusiastic members.
The short URL for this page is https://tinyurl.com/u5zho3d .
FINALLY, THE BACC STEERING COMMITTED JUST REVOKED MY MEMBERSHIP IN THE BACC:
---------- Original Message ----------
From: Brighton Allston Community Coalition <bacommunitycoalition@gmail.com>
To: John Spritzler <spritzler@comcast.net>
Date: 07/06/2020 12:00 PM
Subject: Membership
Dear John –
We have been delayed in writing to you about this given the distractions of COVID-19. However, we are taking this opportunity, in the wake of the last public BACC meeting at the Brighton Allston Congregation Church, to notify you that we are removing you from membership in the BACC and you have been removed from the BACC Google group. You will no longer receive emails or messages from the BACC Google group.
We are taking this action because your screaming outbursts and highly disruptive conduct at the BACC meeting were antithetical to a key element of the BACC Mission Statement, that is, acting in a “civil manner.”
The BACC is not government and does not make laws. It is an all-volunteer community advocacy group. Since you vehemently disagree with the key principles of what the BACC is advocating for, then it makes no sense for you to continue to be a member. You should find an advocacy group that shares your views or form your own advocacy group.
The BACC Steering Committee