on bronx pride

Someone took issue with my earlier post regarding the closure of the Bronx Pride Community Center.

Or did he?

At issue:

1. Moving to 975 Kelly Street.

Says the source, the move, spearheaded by Dirk McCall, who resigned as Executive Director at Bronx Pride Community Center in late March,to become director of communications and marketing at GMHC, was a necessary one.

I can understand that; however, in retrospect, and or in lieu of what happened recently, it just seems like here was an organization operating at a deficit, and rather than improving the space they already had, they spend thousands of dollars moving to another part of The Bronx, in an area that’s not necessarily bus and subway friendly, and in a building named after a notorious homophobe.

2. Members of the board were just as frustrated, too.

theres only 1 person on the board now who was there when lisa winters worked for them & as i understand it he was frustrated with their lack of motivation for oversight & battled with them on that & insisted on her dismissal once they found out what she was doing & cuz of that i wouldnt have a problem with him being on the board now

Although I’m an outsider and writing from an outsiders perspective, this speaks to lack of accountability and transparency, and perhaps even general ineptitude.  This may not be what happened, but this is the way its coming across.

How many times have I written how we LGBT people don’t appreciate consequence?

There’s an organization that running in the red, there’s a board and staff working angry and frustrated and in apparent opposition to one another and rather than doing something about the damage caused by Lisa
Winters’ greed, they all play something stupid waiting game.

3. The entire blame can’t be placed on Lisa Winters, but…

Isn’t that the whole point we’re making? “We,” as in, comments made on other blogs and websites regarding this matter.

The embezzlement occurred between 2004 until her firing in 2010 and the board and staff, rather than being vocal about it…

4. Should have, could have, would have.

I’ll be fair: I’m [probably] being hypocritical for judging the staff and board of Bronx Pride Center in present day for a matter that occurred starting eight years ago. 

It happens to me a lot, and it’s usually by those who think they’re privileged to judge and ostracize people for their personal dysfunction.

But I’m just a blogger, responsible to just himself.

But these guys were running a business, providing services and facilities to a particular constituency, and they fucked up, basocailly protecting themselves instead of those who benefitted from the Center.

5. We’re all working toward reopening the Center

Are we?

Because right now it seems to me everyone is resigned themselves to the fact the Bronx Pride Community Center was closed because Lisa Winters embezzled money.

6. A lack of communication.

Lisa Winters was arrested on June 15, for crimes that occurred between 2004 and 2010.   For some reason, details of that arrest weren’t made available until the New York Post’s so called exclusive story.

One day after that story is published in print and online, The Bronx Pride Community Center  suddenly goes out of business, and they post no announcement to that fact on their social media or their listserv, nor did they give other activists and bloggers a chance to start a fundraiser to keep the center open.

And rather than having community activists and bloggers issue statements advising the community to fight against this injustice, instead what we have is “oh well, let’s go smoke a blunt and chill on Facebook.”

Although this is a personal blog, and I am it’s sole writer, if there is anyone who would like to speak out against BPCC’s closure, or in support of it for that matter, for what it’s worth, you’re more than welcome to do so.