By Nick Diamantides
Staff Writer
A recently formed organization, the Wrigley Area Neighborhood Alliance (WANA), is hoping to get control of the annual Daisy Avenue Christmas Tree Lane display, but its leaders insist they are not trying to replace the Wrigley Association, which has overseen the event for about 20 years.
“The Wrigley District of Long Beach has a population of over 29,000 residents; it is made up of many neighborhoods with different issues and concerns,” said Joan Greenwood, secretary of the new group. “Because of the size of the population and its diversity, it has become apparent that there is a need for more than one neighborhood group in Wrigley.” Greenwood noted that WANA will also focus on environmental issues, neighborhood beautification projects, and crime prevention programs–activities very similar to those of the Wrigley Association.
The primary impetus for the new group’s formation was a disagreement among members of the older Wrigley Association over how much time and energy the group should spend on Christmas Tree Lane.
“We can’t wait any longer. We’ve got money to raise,” Greenwood said. “We just can’t go on in limbo.”
Maria Norvell, WANA vice president agreed. “Christmas is right around the corner,” she said.
WANA has not yet formally requested that the Wrigley Association give it control of the Christmas Tree Lane event, but at this point the transfer does not seem likely.
“If there was a quality organization that could do a great job managing the event, we would gladly turn it over to them, but there does not seem to be an organization like that at present,” said David Carlton, president of the Wrigley Association, which holds approximately $8,500 in a special Christmas Tree Lane fund.
“That money cannot be spent on anything but Christmas Tree Lane,” Greenwood said. “There is no other organization that can take over the program, so we are hoping that the Wrigley Association agrees that it’s in the community’s best interests for us to run it.” Greenwood pointed out that quite a few WANA members have years of experience with Christmas Tree Lane. In fact, the new group’s president, Jill Hill, as well as Greenwood and Norvell are all still members of the Wrigley Association Board of Directors. (Greenwood was Wrigley Association president until she resigned last March.) All three women were also very involved in Christmas Tree Lane for many years.
The event, which includes Christmas tree lights on city-owned trees and the setting up of a small-scale village under the trees, was financed by the City of Long Beach and private donations for many years. However, because of budget woes in recent years, the city was able to provide less and less assistance. Disagreements among Wrigley Association members over how to best manage the Christmas Tree Lane began surfacing about three years ago as the organization was forced to spend more of its time and resources on the event.
Last year, Partners In Parks, an organization that helps collect and administer funds for non-profit groups announced it could no longer help raise funds for the Christmas Tree Lane event. In July 2006, with Wrigley Association board approval, Greenwood and Norvell began the process of setting up a 501 (c) (3) non-profit group, which could collect funds for the event.
Complicating matters further, last year, city officials informed the Wrigley Association that the city-owned electrical system on Daisy Avenue did not meet code requirements, and the city did not have the financial resources to upgrade it. Because the association did not have the money either, last year’s event did not include lights.
Meanwhile, disagreements between Wrigley Association board members continued.
“We asked Maria Norvell and Joan Greenwood to show us the financial records of Christmas Tree Lane in July 2006, and they refused to do so,” said Carlton. “After repeated requests the board hired an attorney, and we finally got the records about two weeks ago.”
Carlton added that the only reason the board hired an attorney was because Greenwood hired one first. Greenwood countered that she hired the attorney to review the Wrigley Association’s articles bylaws, not to resolve the Christmas Tree Lane controversy.
Greenwood and Norvell also insisted that they did not get a request for the records until about two weeks ago and they provided the board with the records less than a week later.
Carlton said they responded to a letter they received from the board’s attorney, but the women had delayed turning over the books for more than a year. “They knew the board wanted to look at the books, but they kept delaying it,” he said. “The letter from the attorney should not have been necessary; the board of directors of an organization should have easy access to its own records.”
Greenwood and Norvell disagreed with Carlton’s version of the dispute, insisting that they had done nothing amiss.
Carlton stuck to his guns, asking, “If they had nothing to hide, why didn’t they give the board the records a year ago?”
Other issues are involved in the conflict, including whether the bylaws of the Wrigley Association comply with state regulations and whether the current board has followed proper parliamentary procedure in the conduct of the meetings.
Meanwhile, WANA leadership has filed papers with the state to establish the organization as charitable group and expects to get 501 (c) (3) status from the IRS within 27 months. “We should be recognized by the state by the end of August,” Greenwood said. “Even though formal IRS approval takes longer, the IRS does allow groups to receive donations as soon as the state recognizes them as a charitable trust.”
Once that happens, WANA will be able to receive contributions for Christmas Tree Lane–something that the Wrigley Association cannot do now.
“It just makes sense that the Wrigley Association turn over the Christmas Tree Lane fund to WANA,” Greenwood stressed.
“I don’t think the board will agree to that,” Carlton responded. “These people, who are still on our board, have gone on a campaign of misinformation aimed at ruining the reputation of the board members with whom they disagree, and now they have set up an organization that wants to do the same things that the Wrigley Association has been doing for many years; it just wouldn’t make sense for us to give them that money.” He added that the Wrigley Association is mulling over the possibility of establishing its own 501 (c) (3) organization to raise funds for various programs.
