Pittsburgh Rys 101

[Derrick J Brashear]

On Wed, 14 Jul 1999, Jim Holland wrote:

> Greetings!
> 
[]
> 	From past personal exchanges, you have raised many warning flags. This gives 
> me great concern because you have been an officer of the Pennsylvania Trolley Museum 
> (PTM) in the past and have the potential to be an officer in the future.  Membership 
> should be such as to be mutually beneficial but the balance there is lost.  Others 
> have complained that a small group of PTM run the operation, disregarding the 
> membership at large, and this seems to be the case.  People leave the museum and you 

The problem I've seen is a small group is all that seems to be interested
in getting involved, and therefore they end up being called on to do most
of the running of things. It's all a matter of perspective.

> personally say they left because they didn't get their way without inquiring as to 
> who or what situations were involved.

Ok, well, did they?

> And you talk about universities being 
> unethical for receiving grants - but trolley museums have definitely jumped on that 
> "cash" wagon!  With these grants being in the multiple hundreds of thousands of 
> dollars, membership dues of $35 per year are meaningless.  The big bucks talk and the 
> railfan member has been pushed aside.  I see no reason to be a member any longer, and 
> thus terminate my membership with PTM.  I wish you much success!

I'm going way off topic for this list, and I don't like to, but I'll say
what I said on the PRR-Talk mailing list when the folks there were being
critical of the PRRTHS folks for not being forward in stance with respect
to the internet and digital media: If you're serious about your goals, and
you believe other people share your feelings, walking away isn't going to
help anyone. Get involved, and help move things in the direction you want.
Any change is going to take effort, but if it's a good change, the effort
should be worth it.

I for one feel no grounds to be critical based solely on the fact that
I've not had sufficient time to devote to any sort of volunteering, and
I'm big on what I like to call the doctrine of "Put up or shut up." Having
not put up any effort, I'll shut up now:-)

-D