Winnetka Residents - "WHOA" speaks for you????
When we first moved to Winnetka, we rented. We wanted to "test the waters" and see if this was a community where we wanted to drop anchor. The overflow of welcoming neighbors and rush of school/park opportunities hooked us. But the (literal) flood in the basement was a clue that we'd be wise to check out "higher ground" if Winnetka was to become home.
This blog isn't begging for a debate about what Winnetka HH will pay what portion of the proposed $35? $40? now 75?!+ million that's been proposed for storm water "chunneling." This is a topic that might whip up even more of a tsunami.
When we did buy a house, we got a recurring fungus we didn't anticipate -- frequent, sometimes daily e-mails from the"Winnetka Home Owners* Association." (Why? When we were renters, were we not part of the true community?? Were we not residents on the radar? Our opinions didn't matter?)
At first, we were just puzzled. The name sounded so official and all-encompassing. And the confusing logos/pictures they brazenly used were so clearly the trademarked images that belong to -- and should only be used by -- official governing bodies (ex. Park District, Village Hall, Winnetka 36, etc). I wondered: How many residents are involved? Are there open meetings? Is it politically motivated?
After more e-mail barrages, I got peeved. What's with the obvious Tea Party slant? Why all the school board bashing? Why all of the dramatic, fear-mongering ALL CAPS headlines? Actual examples of "WHOA's" sooooper scariest subject lines:
- OMG!!! (then OMG - Part 2 & OMG - Part 3)
- ARE YOU FRIGHTENED?
- CAUCUS BOAT IS FLOUNDERING (although just a few days earlier the caucus had announced a slate "WHOA: favored and at that time "WHOA" dubbed that slate their DREAM TEAM!)
- WORST STORIES OF 2008, 2009, 2010
Finally, I got PO'd. This started last year, when the e-mails took a viciously dark turn. "WHOA" had actually created sites & links dedicated to bashing individuals I personally knew that live and/or work in town. Selective bits of certain Trustees' comments were posted with incredibly misleading headlines. E-mails from residents (mostly anonymous, but some with names attached that were scattercast WITHOUT the senders consent) were being circulated that denigrated neighbors by name and sometimes address. Anyone - resident or not - that dared express a viewpoint contrary to what "WHOA" promoted was apparently up for the local firing squad.
Still I sent several e-mails pointing out glaring inaccuracies and asking for a simple mission statement. No surprise - I got banished and berated. But my efforts did spark this e-mail response that answered some, but not nearly all, of my questions:
WHO IS WHOA? (from their e-blast dated 2/8/11) The Winnetka Home Owners* Association has evolved over more than twenty years. It is true we coalesced around a single issue - preservation and property rights......We started out with a huge Board - most of whom are still in town and still agree with us - well, most of the time. However, now, we have only five officers and no “official” membership. No dues. No monthly meetings....... There are about five hundred people who we communicate with regularly. Another 1,000 open our mail occasionally. It seems we are always asking for help.... Carry Buck - Chairman, Ann Dillon - Chief Editor, Jim Burke - Treasurer, Mary Joyce Robbins - Secretary, Tracy Yale - Chief of Research
It's true that they are always asking for help. The ~ 500 e-mail followers are perpetually goaded to join the Winnetka Caucus, stack meetings & vote!!! (all laudable civic duties, right?) But the subtext is: only if you agree with the "WHOA" candidate/stance. Sometimes "WHOA" asks for more than help, they flat-out beg for money - like when they gathered funds to publish a "newspaper" that promoted Trustee Spinney. That year, they raised enough funds that they had to formally register as a PAC. And then just as quickly they "un-PACed."
Currently, the direction of these ~500 (?) people appears to be aggressively PACish once again and focused on electing Gene Greable for Village President. Several e-mails featuring his bio & photo have been sent out by them in the last few weeks. Mr. Greable is Winnetka Caucus-slated. Yet it's unclear if Gene G. even wants to be "WHOA"-backed! At the last open caucus meeting, he adamantly distanced himself from them. And yet, since then, Mr. Greable is silently, seemingly willing to let "WHOA" cheerlead for him.
The other candidate in the bid for Village President is independent Chris Rintz. "WHOA" has already taken the negative campaign route and hurled barbs. They have taken swipes at Mr. Rintz and even the audacity of him choosing to run an unaffiliated, self-funded candidacy.
I have two hopes:
1. Whatever happens on election day will be determined by the intelligent, free-thinking voters of Winnetka and will not be corrupted by conspiracy-theories, misstatesments and dead-horse** issues flung about by a non-official group of fiction writers that try (sometimes successfully, sometimes not) to flaunt power.
2. It's nearly springtime and Winnetka's ever popular "Trash Week" is coming up....maybe after two dozen years of nonsense "WHOA" can be booted to the curb..like that dangerous wooden crib circa 1975 and those crooked golf clubs.
QUESTION: Wilmette, Northfield, Kenilworth, do you have an unofficial "HA" that gets this involved with local politics and even the personal business of residents (yard signs, landmark status, etc.)?
- Jen McQuet
* Homeowner is a single, compound word. Thus -"WHOA" should be "WHA!"
** Their most popular scare tactic is to continually harp about the dangers of affordable housing (and those folks that come with it) coming anywhere close to Winnetka. Those of us in town that supported the modest moves to improve the rights of both homeowners and renters recently succeeded on two issues that put “WHOA” in an angry tailspin – coach home rentals and a downtown Property Maintenance Code. Then, the vote on affordable housing was negative. It’s now a closed subject with NOTHING in front of our Trustees or even on anyone w/ Winnetka power's radar….except for, of course, “WHOA.”
Sully
4:49 pm on Thursday, February 14, 2013
Hmmm, maybe WHOA was responsible for your voice accidentally being deleted from Patch for a little while. It sounds like they would do just about anything to silence it's critics. What a shame that a small group such as this one can manipulate and twist the people's will into their own agenda.
Ann Airey
5:13 pm on Thursday, February 14, 2013
How strange that all the comments disappeared as well. Here's what I said previously: "No kidding. FINALLY someone is willing to stand up and say what we've all been thinking for years. Who are these bullies and why do they think they can say whatever they want about anyone, with impugnity? Fear-mongerers who launch anonymous personal attacks on anyone who dares to disagree - I've been a victim, as has Jennifer, and now Chris Rintz (who's done nothing other than decide to run an independent campaign for Village President). Enough is enough!"
Sully
5:20 pm on Thursday, February 14, 2013
I'm not making accusations, but I've always wondered who these Patch editors are (not their names- their backgrounds and such). Do they live in the communities that they represent for Patch? That is, does the Winnetka editor live in Winnetka, or the Grayslake editor live in Grayslake? As I said, I'm really not trying to accuse anyone of anything. I've just always been curious.
concerned citizen
8:32 pm on Thursday, February 14, 2013
They wrote about UNICEF with false misleading information and when asked to correct it - did it very poorly- not fully or factually. They seem to deliberately want to tarnish the reputation of a very fine and upstanding charity.
I think WHOA is harmful to the image of Winnetka and its citizens. The residents of Winnetka are much more generous, kind, fact based and forward thinking than what WHOA represents. WHOA always seem so angry about everything. Why is this group so angry? They are some of the most privileged and rich people in America. I do not understand where their angst and anger comes from. I had to unsubscribe because I felt their message was so intentionally negative.
MD
9:17 pm on Thursday, February 14, 2013
It's about time someone brought this up. When we moved here in 07 I started getting emails from WHOA. I assumed that WHOA was actually a homeowners association, and that they got my email through legitimate means. I quickly realized that calling yourself a homeowners association no more makes you one then calling myself a brain surgeon makes me one. I still don't understand where WHOA gets our email addresses from. Are they using the school directories? Is someone at the Village giving them information?
I have since removed myself from the list, as I find almost everything Carry Buck has to say lacking in facts, logic, common sense or civility. Several people have told me that she reprints emails that were sent to other people as if they were sent directly to her; that she reprints without permission; and that she changes the wording to suit her needs.
Unlike a real homeowners association, she only represents one side of any issue (the conservative side), and operates WHOA with a handful of her friends. I found her vitriol during the affordable housing conversations to be deplorable. She continued to spread misinformation no matter how many times she was corrected. I don't understand why people follow her or why they can't do their own research and come to their own conclusions.
Andy Kingston
7:41 pm on Thursday, February 21, 2013
from the whoa e-mail of pass-alongs, today
Carry - I am appalled at the nasty comments the Patch prints after their incredibly biased (and equally nasty) editorials. Who are those people? Mary Lou
Hi Mary Lou -
We could put names to the remarks but we won't. Suffice to say they are Rintz supporters. - Carry
Carry -
I haven't written to WHOA before but the article/editorial written by Jen McQuet made me crazy. It is so insulting. Why does the Patch publish that trash? I see that recently most of the comments following the article have been deleted - probably because they were flagged as inappropriate. Terrible. In case Ms. McQuet is wondering...WHOA speaks for me. Thank you.
KATHLEEN GAVIN
Hi Cary,
Did you see the most recent Patch.com article? What bunk. I like that WHOA speaks for me and informs me.
Keep up the great work.
CATHERINE LESTERHUIS
Sully
6:07 am on Friday, February 22, 2013
It's all big bad Patch's fault! Yea, that's the ticket! Obviously the editors are liberals. Probably even voted for Barack Hussein Obama.
MD
9:18 pm on Thursday, February 14, 2013
This latest nonsense surrounding Patrick Livney was yet another example of how she works. After infiltrating a small majority of the Caucus Council Village Candidates committee she was able to get him slated as a Village Trustee. Other Council members, aware of what had happened, raised their voices against the committee's corruption, and nominated a better qualified candidate. Furious that she had been thwarted, Carry mounted her own campaign to get Livney slated. Fortunately, the community rallied and did the right thing. She holds no office, has not served on the Caucus Council (and still doesn't, despite the emails claiming she had joined this year), and has no official power in this village. The whole thing would be laughable if it weren't so pathetic. Lets not forget the way she backed Spinney, either. Unhappy that the Caucus Council found Spinney lacking and did not reflate her, Carry Buck mounted her own campaign to re-elect her.
And then of course we've got her son on the Village Council, too. No experience in governance, no volunteer experience in our community, but slated by a committee that she had packed with her friends and supporters for the very purpose of getting her own son elected. Really, you've got to hand it to her. She's never served on the Caucus Council but pretty much runs it.
That we Winnetkans have tolerated this for as long as we have is just as pathetic as the maneuvering that's been taking place.
X-Man
9:33 pm on Thursday, February 14, 2013
whoa helps me when i don't read the real newspaper or pay attention to the village e-mails. without them i wouldn't know how to vote or who to vote for. i wouldn't even know when it was a good day to pack a snowball. or if i should cheer for notre dame. if it wasn't for whoa, i wouldn't have a clue what to do.
i'm so happy they make life simple.
jimand7
7:19 am on Friday, February 15, 2013
Whoa is the best thing to happen to winnetka
jimand7
7:23 am on Friday, February 15, 2013
Who are these silly patch writers? Clearly they are deleting any negative thoughts on the article and are against WHOA. Lets see how long this one stays up. Carry does an excellent job on her own time no one forces you to read her emails, perhaps you should find your delete button, just like the patch editor will do with this!
nsmom
7:26 am on Friday, February 15, 2013
Not only does WHOA use a misleading name, but their emails often include logos making them appear to come from official organizations such as the Village of Winnetka. Their objectives are to mislead and scare residents into voting for their candidates and their issues. Much of what Buck & Co. put out is factually inaccurate, with significant evidence refuting their claims, and their arguments continually change as they are demonstrated to be false. They continue to use affordable housing to divide and frighten people, even though that issue has been decided and WHOA is the only person/group even mentioning it. Fortunately the vast majority of Winnetkans don't take WHOA seriously. Unfortunately WHOA appears to have, and be willing to spend, significant time and money in support of its positions and people.
North Shore Lady
1:19 pm on Friday, February 15, 2013
a
Barry K.
1:20 pm on Friday, February 15, 2013
No, not for me. I've lived in this town 21 years and the whoa thing has always bothered me. It's an embarrassment to the entire village. Some people think they do a service by providing dates and times. But in my opinion, it's lazy and foolish to have someone else interpret news and current events for you.
It is easy enough not to get her e-mails any more -- just write back with an argument FOR whatever she's against that day. She'll never circulate anything that disagrees with the whoa worldview. And eventually, you'll get dropped.
North Shore Lady
1:24 pm on Friday, February 15, 2013
May I suggest a glass of wine, some botox and try to relax. Winnetka has been a close knit town and has dealt with political drama before. Instead of bashing the people that care and are trying to get stuff done (from both sides) why not bash the citizens that are never involved with the community. Or why not be positive instead of being a negative Nancy and causing unnecessary drama. High school is over.
Mac N. Cheese
1:38 pm on Friday, February 15, 2013
OMG I WOULD BE FRIGHTENED IF MY NAME WAS MCQUET. WHOA IS RUTHLESS!
JIMAND7 - REALLY? THE BEST THINK? HARDLY. I CAN THINK OF AT LEAST 1000
Sandy Says
1:54 pm on Friday, February 15, 2013
Why hasn't the village sued them for unauthorized usage of their logos/pictures?
They should. That would be a way to pay for stormwater fixes.
Eric Baldwin
4:30 pm on Friday, February 15, 2013
Am trying to wrap my head around this one.
Definition: A Homeowner's Association is comprised of two or more homeowners that belong to a mandatory membership organization for the maintenance of commonly owned real estate and improvements and regulations of privately owned property in a given area. New community developments are often required to form a nonprofit corporation charged with maintaining common areas within the development. They typically are responsible for managing community finances and their board’s direction, and enforcing the guidelines in their covenants, conditions and restrictions (CC&R). Collecting unpaid assessments, enforcing the association's governing documents, handling disputes and dealing with contractors.
So, Winnetka's "homeowners association" has:
- NO DOCUMENTS
- NO BOARD
- NO MEMBERSHIP
- NO DUES
- NO COMMONLY OWNED REAL ESTATE
And they:
- HAVE DONE NO IMPROVEMENTS
- TRY TO ENFORCE GUIDELINES TO A MYSTERY CC&R
Wow. I'd move. Who let's them get away with this?
Lisa B.
7:52 pm on Friday, February 15, 2013
Political Committee Receipts:
Carolyn Buck 609 Sheridan Road 2009-01-21 $500
(WHOA) Jean Brainerd 910 Willow Rd. $200
(WHOA) Carolyn Buck $3,144 (WHOA)
(WHOA) Jean Brainerd 2008-12-02 $200
(WHOA) Carolyn Buck 2008-11-18 $595
(WHOA) Carolyn Buck 2008-11-12 $85
(WHOA) William Redemann 2008-11-05 $10
(WHOA) Chadwick Prodromos, M.D. 2008-11-01 $75
(WHOA) Mary M. McMahon 2008-10-27 $100
(WHOA) Grace Young 2008-10-26 $100
(WHOA) Paul Crnkovich $250
(WHOA) Pigott Sheila $250
Lisa B.
7:54 pm on Friday, February 15, 2013
That's clearly a partial list. But it's mostly Buck and Ann Dillon's $.
Sully
9:59 pm on Friday, February 15, 2013
Paying to keep Winnetka a gated community of spoiled brats (and I'm not talking about the kids)?
Winnetka really is beautiful. It's a shame these people want to prevent others from experiencing it.
Antonia Duhe
3:08 am on Thursday, April 11, 2013
You came here to join the community ...yet you call names and Demonize ...I find it difficult to believe you're a positive force for Winnetka. You seem teeming with anger and your chip-on-your-shoulder attitude is most unbecoming.
lacey
6:26 pm on Saturday, February 16, 2013
Keep the comments coming
Would love to hear a whoa response
Jennifer Mcquet
9:10 pm on Saturday, February 16, 2013
Charlotte McGee 9:29 pm on Wednesday, February 13, 2013
I found there emails so offensive, inflammatory, and downright wrong that I took my name off their list. In my opinion they do not speak for many residents in this Village.
Sully 9:36 pm on Wednesday, February 13, 2013
Hey, Winnetka's own little mafia!
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Jennifer Mcquet
9:13 pm on Saturday, February 16, 2013
Veep 8:54 pm on Wednesday, February 13, 2013
the name they use seems to be the biggest problem. angry republicans will always get together and bang their chests. but that's their right too. they just shouldn't use such a grandiose title that implies that they are politically legit and speaking for all winnetka residents (those that OWN homes anyway).
why don't they have a web site? if they want help and money, that would seem like a basic necessity for their efforts. does everything actually funnel through one person's e-mail?
Sully 9:31 pm on Wednesday, February 13, 2013
You answered yourself- they are angry republicans who use grandiose, yet extremely inaccurate, names in order to fool people who are not that familiar with the issue. Look at the names of some of the republican legislative acts or the names of certain political action groups. The opposite if what the name implies. You never want to miss out on the opportunity to mislead.
(These comments were posted on a previously posted, re-edited version. But got left off the re-post).
Antonia Duhe
3:09 am on Thursday, April 11, 2013
Twisted, very twisted.
M. Cook
3:27 pm on Wednesday, April 17, 2013
Yes, Antonia, it's twisted for sure....that you're posting @ 3:09 AM two months after this blog ran its course. Are you that desperate for human contact?