IT
HAS
NOW
been
six
years
since
the
Cherry
Fund
decided
it
was
important
to
set
aside
money
for
a
new
GLBT
Community
Center
in
Washington,
D.C.
We
now
need
to
ask
what
has
been
achieved,
so
we
are
not
asked
to
throw
good
money
after
bad.
When
the
Cherry
Fund
decided
to
hold
back
some
funds
from
the
annual
spring
circuit
party,
attendees
were
told
the
money
would
go
to
a
then
non-existent
entity.
Understandably,
many
questioned
the
validity
of
that.
It
is
now
six
years
later,
and
we
can
legitimately
still
question
what
the
purpose
of
“the
Center”
will
really
be?
What
we
know
is
that
in
these
past
six
years,
the
Center
has
spent
nearly
all
the
money
and
has
to
show
for
it
mostly
in-fighting
among
a
small
board
of
directors
and
no
real
benefit
to
the
community.
The
one
successful
project
that
the
Center
has
undertaken
is
a
series
of
films
in
Stead
Park.
But
in
reality,
the
same
people
who
put
this
together
could
easily
have
added
their
efforts
to
a
group
like
One-In-Ten,
which
produces
the
annual
gay
film
festival,
and
accomplished
the
same
thing.
WHAT
WE
KNOW
they
have
done
with
this
money
raised
for
a
charity
is
spend
nearly
$90,000
on
a
study
to
determine
if
anyone
really
wants
the
Center.
This
study,
completed
by
a
California
group
called
Aplomb,
asked
questions
like
whether
the
Center
should
be
accessible
to
the
handicapped
or
include
transgender
needs
in
its
programming.
We
also
know
that
$10,000
was
paid
to
the
partner
of
a
Center
board
member
for
a
strategy
document
that
amounted
to
little
more
than
a
history
of
the
Center
—
clearly
a
short
document.
We
also
know
that
the
Center
has
rented
office
space
and
hired
a
managing
director,
who
was
recently
fired,
and
that
a
board
member
has
been
asked
to
leave.
Patrick
Menasco,
the
driving
force
behind
the
Center
and
its
first
president
—
who
I
believe
had
the
best
of
intentions
—
has
resigned
from
the
board.
We
also
know
that
the
Center
tried
to
take
over
a
city
park,
causing
broad
conflict
in
the
community
before
District
government
eventually
refused
to
go
along
with
it.
We
are
now
led
to
believe
that
there
is
only
about
$25,000
left
of
the
original
$275,000,
and
the
current
Center
board
is
unwilling
to
release
a
detailed
report
on
how
the
money
was
spent.
It
is
incumbent
on
the
Center
board
now
to
release
a
detailed
accounting
of
how
money
was
spent.
Until
now,
Board
President
Michael
Sessa
has
hidden
behind
IRS
filing
rules
to
delay
release
of
the
information.
Whatever
the
legal
requirements
about
the
minimum
the
public
must
be
told
of
the
financial
standing
of
a
non-profit
organization,
continued
refusal
only
encourages
the
conclusion
that
there
have
been
improprieties
or
at
least
some
questionable
expenditures.
THE
BLADE
RECENTLY
reported
on
discussions
between
Whitman-Walker
Clinic
and
the
Center
regarding
collaboration
on
Capital
Pride.
For
anyone
who
believes
in
Capital
Pride
as
an
important
and
positive
event
in
our
community,
this
was
cause
to
shudder.
Here
we
have
two
organizations,
both
in
apparent
financial
difficulty
that
was
in
part
self-inflicted,
both
asking
for
community
help
while
refusing
to
release
financial
information,
both
still
under
the
leadership
of
those
responsible
for
their
current
state,
discussing
collaboration
on
an
event
that
is
difficult
to
put
together
and
usually
only
marginally
successful
from
a
financial
standpoint.
As
someone
who
has
been
involved
in
a
small
way
with
the
building
of
a
GLBT
community
center
in
Rehoboth
Beach,
Del.,
and
seeing
the
slow
and
steady
progress
of
that
project,
I
am
not
opposed
to
community
centers.
But
after
six
years
of
planning
and
discussion
over
what
will
be
the
fourth
attempt
in
Washington
to
form
a
GLBT
Community
Center,
we
really
need
to
sit
down
with
all
the
facts
and
be
realistic
about
what
is
happening
and
why.
