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Fairmount Park Commission Elects New President, But Can't Agree on Much Else
By Ed Goppelt
Tuesday, 06/04/02
(1023212842975)
View photos of 6/3/02 Fairmount Park Commission meeting
Back in May, the Judges replaced 6 out of 10 sitting Fairmount Park Commissioners in a stunning rebuke to the Commission's leadership. Some of the boardmembers--apparently unused to having to compete for their positions--were evidently still smarting yesterday. Commissioner Pauciello and to a lesser extent Commissioner Bloom raked Friends of Philadelphia Parks' Beth Ounsworth over the coals for several minutes. Pauciello appeared to be especially angered by the letter writing campaign sponsored by the Friends and Hallwatch, asking why the Friends had not endorsed her. Ounsworth explained that the Friends neither endorsed nor opposed any of the sitting commissioners, but Pauciello seemed determined to take offense.
Returning to the business at hand, the new Board quickly elected Robert N.C. Nix III as President but couldn't agree on any other executive positions. Commissioners Bloom and Nix supported newcomer Debra Wolf Goldstein bid for Vice President, but Wolf Goldstein's candidacy was quickly derailed by radio personality Mary Mason.
Mason argued that the Board should take some time to get to know the newly elected board members before voting on the executive positions. I found this reasoning a bit odd coming from someone who lost her bid for reelection. Although no longer a member of the Board in her own right, Mason attended yesterday's meeting anyway, this time as the Council President's representative.