Garry Kanter

Garry Kanter lives in Cleveland Heights, where he is actively engaged on a number of local issues, including the discussion of an upcoming CH-UH schools bond levy. He can be very aggressive with his advocacy, and recently he was banned from the online forum where discussion about the levy is taking place.

Here is my response to the other participants on that forum:

Recently, Garry Kanter pointed out to me that an administrator had locked him out of this forum[0], perhaps because his advocacy on this issue had grown particularly astringent and aggravating to some of the participants. Garry does care deeply about this and other local issues, though, and I value the attention that he gives to them. I'm anxious about no longer having his voice in the conversation, and I would like him to be able to once again participate. I also strongly second the spirit of the questions posed by Cindy Hannover[1], which, in brief, is that it is unfortunate and dangerous that public conversations are being held in a private and opaquely managed forum.

There exists a conflict mediation and empathy technique called Nonviolent Communication (NVC), which can be used by everyone involved in discussions such as this to try to connect with the needs that everyone else has by acknowledging how our feelings represent these needs. In brief, NVC consists of 1. making dispassionate observations about a key situation, 2. expressing and exploring what we are feeling, 3. identifying what needs are at the root of those feelings, and 4. making specific requests that would meet our needs. I see a lot of feelings and needs going on in this thread, but not a lot of acknowledgement of either, which has certainly contributed to general isolation and a lack of progress on this decision. I am quite afraid of the implications of censoring opinions that some may find unpleasant, and so I request that you restore access to this forum to Garry Kanter and Cindy Hannover, and I invite everyone to find ways to connect with each other over our mutual needs (possibly by using NVC, for example), rather than attacking and isolating each other and thus breaking down community cohesion.

[0] http://clevelandheights.patch.com/blog_posts/the-boes-the-lfcs-thought-police-hard-at-work-on-the-taxpayers-dime

[1] http://pastebin.com/6ADNkUkZ