Hakoah members have the right to decide
THE Hakoah board has come under fire from a former director after it convened a working party to explore development options for the organisation’s $13.5 million White City site and then disregarded the group’s recommendations.
Former director and part of the working party Andrew Boyarsky, who quit Hakoah over the saga, has called for the board to stand down, while David Balkin, instrumental in delivering the 22,000-square-metre White City property and a former JCA president, says members are owed an explanation.
After several failed attempts to find a partner for the site, which was acquired in 2010, Hakoah sought the help of the JCA.
They convened a working party, which included five Hakoah board members and five people nominated by JCA, in April last year to recommend viable development options for the site.
The group proposed that Hakoah would build a communal and social facility as well as one football field as stage one of the development.
In stage two Maccabi NSW would be given a capital appeal, to raise funds for a multi-purpose sporting hall, futsal fields and other sporting facilities on the site.
The proposal was passed by the working party with an 8-2 majority, and had the support of three of the five Hakoah board members, including Daniel Grynberg, Harold Kopelowitz and Boyarsky.
When it was taken to the full Hakoah board, however, it was rejected.
Balkin has now called on the Hakoah board to convene a special meeting to allow the working party to explain its vision and recommendation to members.
“The members have a right to hear the proposal from the working party and the Hakoah board should explain why they rejected it and what their alternative vision and plans for developing the site are,” Balkin said.
“This board created a process to bring in the community and, having done that and rejected it, owe it to the members to explain their reasons.
“If the members support the board then they have a mandate, but if they don’t then they should step aside as a matter of principle.”
Boyarsky, Kopelowitz and Grynberg, the only three people with property development experience, left the board following its decision to ignore the working party’s recommendations.
The recent inaction comes after a string of failures by the Hakoah board to make the White City site viable including the collapse of negotiations with the Double Bay Bowling Club; a benefactor who offered millions of dollars through Maccabi NSW and B’nai B’rith, which has several million dollars after selling its property in the city.
Boyarsky told The AJN the board needs to step down because it has lost the faith of the community.
“I think the current board will be unable to deliver a viable solution for the community.
“There was no other alternative and we worked very hard for a long period of time and finally the pieces were in place so that we could get moving,” Boyarsky said.
“We had the money available to start the first stage and we had a strategic plan, but then the board voted against it.”
Hakoah president Phil Filler said Hakoah “did not feel that the way forward proposed by the JCA was in the best interest of Hakoah members” but wouldn’t explain why.
He said plans for White City were “very advanced” and that discussions with “entities” were underway, but said negotiations were confidential.
JOSHUA LEVI
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