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QuoteThe assertion is that it creates a conflict of interest.
There usually is a conflict of interest. A number of BOD members are quite good about not letting this affect their decision making, but the conflict of interest still exists.
QuoteThe real problem is finding people to fill the seats. It's common for the elections to have only one or even no candidates in some regions. Lets exclude DZOs from the next election, and see what were left with.
There would probably be many more candidates, because members would know that they do not need to compete with another candidate that is an incumbent, already well known (from a skydiving related business perhaps), has a turbine aircraft to fly around to various drop zones, or whose face is seen in USPA publications.
It would be no problem finding people to fill the seats if DZO's were excluded.
Unless the average member has a lot of time and money to run for the position to prove a point or to raise awareness of an issue, they normally will not run if they don't think they have a chance.
QuoteUnless the average member has a lot of time and money to run for the position to prove a point or to raise awareness of an issue, they normally will not run if they don't think they have a chance.
I think even if the seats were just offered, no election required, I'm not sure how many people would have the time and money to donate towards doing the job properly.
Especially with the internet, running for a seat is easier than ever. You can get easily get your platform known to a large number of people.
Critisizm of the BOD is nothing new to the internet. Rec. and DZ.com have always had their share of anti-BOD chatter going on. Despite this, the make up of the candidates has changed very little.
These are still elections, and still won by the majority. We all know the turn out is always dismal, and a well run internet campaign could easily reach enough people to make the difference. For christ sake, this thread in itself is a great indicator of the power the web can have in terms of getting a message out, and this is just a general posting. Imagine the damage a cadidiate could do with a well organized and focused effort.
Wth all this, we still see the same type of candidate, year in and year out.
QuoteIt would be no problem finding people to fill the seats if DZO's were excluded.
I completely disagree....If that was the case we would not see regions with ZERO people running for RD.
What's the main concern with DZOs being on the BOD? They clearly have an interest in seeing skydiving survive, more of an interest than another person who does not feed their family via skydiving. What would they be doing to threaten their livelyhood?
In terms of the Skyride situation, it may be true that some of the DZOs on the BOD accpet Skyride certs at their DZ. Let's keep in mind that in the beginning, Skyride seemed like a great idea. Signing up in the early days cannot be held against anyone.
Staying with Skyride? That might be a shitty thing to do, but due to the way that Skyride operates, a DZO stands to lose a good piece of business by cutting their ties with them. Maybe even enough to risk the financial health of their DZ all together.
I know of some DZ that accpet Skyride, and it's a solid third of their business. If any one of these DZ were to lose a third of their business, they would have to close up shop.
Lets keep in mind that Skyride doesn't bring new business into skydiving, they just intercept the existing business that is seeking a DZ in their area. Skyride is, in effect, taking control of a portion of the customer base, the same customer base these DZ pulled from before Skyride came along. If they were to drop Skyride, they would lose this portion of their customer base.
It's my understading that DZOs who do business with Skyride excused themselves during that portion of the BOD meetings. What more can you expect?
Let's keep in mind that the BOD positions are not paying gigs. You're already getting their time and money (for travel) for free, do you really expect them to risk their livelyhood by dropping 1/3 of their tandem business?
To that end, do you really think that they are happy with Skyride? With the crooks they turned out to be after these people 'got into bed' with them? Do you think these DZOs are happy about paying a 20% commision to Skyride, when they expected Skyride would be bringing new business in, only to find that Skyride was simply intercepting the customers already looking for a local DZ?
Lets get real people. None of these people on the BOD are independently wealthy, none of them are looking to, or even able to, make great personal gains via the USPA.
Does anyone really think that any of these people sat down five years ago, and mapped out thier rise to power? These are people who cared about skydivign enough to make it their livelyhood for one, and then went the next step to offer their time and money to help run the USPA.
Finally, in terms of the things they do that appear to be geared toward making DZOs more money, good for them. We need the DZOs to make as much money as possible. I, for one, love jumping out of a million dollar aircraft, but I'm not crazy about the idea of acutally paying 1/20 the cost every time I go up. It's all the other money the DZ makes, that allows me to buy a slot for $20-something all day long.
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