Over the past several months Carefree Unity has been receiving increasing requests for membership disclosure. Our current policy is described below with supporting context.
With a changing membership this policy is once again under review; any changes will be posted on this website.
On August 4, 2021 a group of twenty former BHOA Directors cooperated to publish an ad in the Sonoran News that attempted to lay out the known facts related to the Carefree Water Transition project, specifically as it affected the Boulders and southwest Carefree residents. We expressed support for the interests of all Carefree residents and, though we called no one out, we pointed out that misinformation and personal attacks were being used against the project and against certain groups of Town citizens.
We believe that our membership included a majority of the former BHOA Directors living in the Boulders at that time and until our recent restructuring. We also believed the key to our credibility was our collective identity, not our individual names, and we registered our entire roster only with two individuals, one inside the Boulders and one a member of the press.
Our roster of twenty included several former Board members who had themselves been subject to personal attacks. In this environment several of our members agreed to participate only on condition of anonymity. To protect those members, Carefree Unity adopted a policy of identifying itself exclusively as a collection of twenty former Board members. Members were free to self-identify and many have, some to people they trusted to be respectful and some in public disclosures. Those who have publicly disclosed have, predictably, been attacked.
Over time the reporting principles of Carefree Unity became our identity. Much like a newspaper or television network, we believe we became known more for what we published than for our membership.
We believe our identity became:
- A voice committed to reporting issues of interest to BHOA residents
- A commitment to factual reporting
- Limited and clearly identified editorial content
- Approval of at least five CU members for all significant published information
- Avoidance of personal attacks
Carefree Unity continues to be subject to criticism, but generally as a group or organization, and sometimes for not living up to our reporting principles. When sincere, this type of commentary is fair and welcome.
Now, however, our membership is changing, which once again raises the question of who we are and how we should relate to our readers. Of course, all new members are exposed to our core principles and commit to supporting them as a condition of membership.
With our new members we are reviewing our membership disclosure policy and it could change. Any disclosures we do make will be placed on our website, so we encourage you to check it often if this is an issue of interest for you.
In the meantime, we are working to keep our group identity unchanged, except that we are now interested in reporting issues of interest to all Carefree residents. We hope all our readers will judge us on how objectively we live up to our principles and how well we serve our community.
Carefree Unity
Carefree Unity 