Broadlands Hospital

I really have no comment about how the e-mail addresses were compiled since she hasn't said anything about it.

My only concern was the process of adding the names for the list i.e."Your name will be automatically added if I don't hear back from you." IMO that's not the proper or ethical way to produce an authentic "support" list.

 

true- especially since some ppl don't check email all the time, some email addys are no longer in use (i have TWO like tha myself thqt i never check!), and still others would have sent this stright to SPAM, as someone pointed out earlier.

 

I think that some peeps are getting a little carried away. As a person who has used email to solicit business, I have missed removing some people who asked to be removed. About 95% of requests would never see a second email, except to apologize for sending unwanted email. About 4% would receive one more email before the deletion took effect. Although it has taken up to 3 requests for people who had multiple entries, I was on vacation, clerical error, etc., I was never threatened with any civil or criminal litigation as has been suggested here.

In case you don't know how email lists start, for between $.15 and $3 you can buy or rent any number of email addresses, by zip, by town, by income, family size, <sarcasm>hair color</sarcasm> etc.
:genius:My best guess would be that the email addresses were purchased (rented) by Inova.

 

Redon1-
Think about what you're saying.... Yes we all have email lists..we have bunco, boy scouts, 2 different book clubs, etc.
Are you saying it would be understandable or acceptable to just lump these all together, add them to a hot political topic list, then claim them all as supporters unless they opt out???? That's outrageous!!!!!
Many of these people have never contacted or know Donna, and have been supporters of BRMC. They are justifiably angry to now be included in this group without their knowledge or consent.
Some have opted out previously, but are still on the list. Donna's five year excuse of having computer problems is growing a bit old.
I won't go into discussion (yet) what I have found out from some of the PM's I've received.

 

i'm not addressing the ethics of making folks opt out- personally i wouldn't have made THAT decision. but i HAVE sent emails in the past to my whole address book- not on hot political topics- i don't HAVE any of those!

and if the goal was simply to compile a clean list of supporters from everyone in her address book, then i see why some folks got the email that shouldn't have. AGAIN- I don't think her decison to make recipients "opt out or be considered our supporter" was a wise one, but nobody's perfect. and if she was trying to pull a fast one to create a fake list of supporters, it blew up in her face, but if she wasn't, it's a bit of overreaction here.

i dunno which- and since i politely opted out, i don't care too much either. but i could see a BMRC supporter being VERY rankled by this turn of events.

 

Any response from Donna? Anyone heard what she's doing to get a list together? Did she heed any of the free advice we've been offering?

 

The intentions of this post are to clarify any misunderstandings regarding the Concerned Citizens of Broadlands and the use of our e-mail correspondence. Because of the controversy, we have updated our system. Below is a copy of our new e-mail and methods of correspondence. A copy of the understated will be sent to all of those who received the previous e-mail to ensure they are appropriately represented.


First, the Concerned Citizens of Broadlands is an organization registered with the State Corporation Commision as a C corporation. Our goals are to represent our members and their concerns regarding the development of Broadlands Regional Medical Center. More specifically our members oppose the allowance of a special exception for the location and construction of BRMC.

Our former representative and founder Donna Fortier, along with our members, compiled the e-mail list in question. This was done in many ways including, but not limited to, participating in surveys and petitions, both for and against BRMC, replies to mailings, attending public input sessions, referrals from other residents, participation in our online contact forms, or visits to our former site www.stophca.com which no longer exists.

Due to the appearance of a conflict of interests, Mrs. Fortier has relinquished her responsibilities, as described in the July 13th, 2008 e-mail. However, she still remains an active member of our organization, as she remains a concerned resident of Broadlands. In her place, Rhonda Paice and myself have begun to reengage in a community effort to stop BRMC. In an effort to once again clarify our membership, the July 13, 2008 e-mail was sent to all of those who had at one point been included in our e-mail listing regardless of feelings on the issue or how their e-mail had been obtained.

Again, we apologize for any inconvenience incurred by receiving our e-mail, and assure you our intentions were good. To remedy this situation, we are now using a new e-mail correspondence system, since the previous distribution list was a simple outlook contact listing and not an official contact database. Located at the bottom of this e-mail is the option to unsubscribe to our network. All of those who’s address remains on our network after 14 business days will be considered members of the Concerned Citizens of Broadlands and will continue to receive updates regarding CCB and our fight against Broadlands Regional Medical Center.

For those who choose to unsubscribe, please complete the unsubscribe steps, and henceforth you will NOT receive any further correspondence from CCB. Please note that the opportunity to unsubscribe will continue after the initial 14 business days, but without completing the unsubscribe process, you may receive further e-mails from CCB after that time. For those of you who have already requested to be removed and are still receiving this e-mail please repeat the unsubscribe process. We apologize again for any inconvenience incurred by receiving the previous and current e-mails. However, both e-mails were necessary to remedy our listing inaccuracies.

If you have any further questions regarding the Concerned Citizens of Broadlands, membership, or mailings please visit our website at www.StopBRMC.com, use the contact us form provided, or e-mail me directly at Rebecca@StopBRMC.com.

Sincerely,

Rebecca Zoellner
Campaign Manager
Concerned Citizens of Broadlands

 

Rebecca-
Please contact me at your earliest convenience. I have some information I want to share with you regarding the previous collection of email addresses.
I would rather discuss this with you than put it in a public forum.
As a starting point, it would be in your group's best interest to require an "opt in" not an "opt out."
You can find my phone number elsewhere on the HOA website or in the phone book.
Look forward to speaking with you.
Better yet, I'll meet you for a Heineken at Clyde's!

 

I live in Egypt and I am am member of this organization: j/k

 

I love your sensationalist website:
To quote a few "The development will bring with it, an additional 14,000 car-trips-a-day on our neighborhood streets, excessive noise, and vast pollution."

And why do you post a number of "negative" articles about HCA, (under the HCA tab) if your organization's & Inova's main argument against BRMC is all about location? Seems kind of hypocritical to me?

This just sickens me and makes me want to speak to the board on behalf of its approval.

 

Besides fixing the numerous typos, grammatical mistakes and incomprehensible statements (did Lee help write this content?), I do have some other suggestions for the StopBRMC web site.

In order to really drive home the point that BRMC will "destroy our community," I would rotate in some other representative images on the home page. In addition to the pictures of the ambulance at a devastating crash scene on there now (sweet, I like that one!) and the huge parking lot, I would add the following images:

Helicopters crashing not just into the hospital, but into residential homes
Mental patients wandering the residential streets among children

I am sure I forgot some, so maybe we can all jump in and help out.

 

The e-mail sent was intended to "clean up" our mailing list. The reason we choose to use an out-out method is because 99% of our list is of our supporters and we chose to opt-out to lessen the hassle on their end. It was just simpler to have 1% deleted than 99% confirmed. We have repeatedly apologized to that 1% for accidentally including them.

 

The content on the website was written by the sources provided any grammatical mistakes can be directed at the authors, mostly newspaper writers. My favorite is the crash scene as well. Thanks for the photo advice! There's always room for improvement.

 

Oh my gosh, it gets even better! I was going to add that you need a picture of a huge traffic jam to demonstrate how traffic will come to a standstill in Broadlands because of the hospital. So I check the web site and what do I see?! A picture of a huge traffic jam on an interstate.

I can't decide whether this is really funny or just shameless.

 

The lack of punctuation in your reply above is indicative of the writing on the site. For example:

"HCA responded by suing the county and vowing to resubmit their application to put a hospital in Broadlands HCA’s new application will destroy our community. The approval of a HCA’s special exception to our highly coveted and carefully developed Communities Comprehensive Plan and will allow them to begin construction on BRMC."

Just trying to help, that's all!

So as a concerned citizen of Broadlands myself, could you please explain the crash scene and its relevance to this debate? The image is that of an ambulance at a nighttime crash scene. (I like having the night scene, much scarier). It appears there is an 18-wheeler overturned and some heavy equipment on the scene. It looks like it's on an interstate. I'm just curious how that scene is relevant to BRMC.

 

Although I am a bit hurt that you believe we are sensationalists, you are entitled to your opinion, as are the supporters of CCB. However, I can assure you that the information on our site is accurate. I don't believe that posting public articles about HCA is hypocritical. It may be a bit controversial, but definitely not categorized as hypocritical. We at CCB oppose BRMC for many different reasons. Since HCA is the company requesting to develop in Broadlands, which we are clearly opposed to, it is only logical that we would be opposed to several of HCA’s practices as well. I hope you will not be too sick to attend the board meetings; we are always up for a challenge!

 

I too would recommend opt in for an accurate list of supporters. I'm sure you're wrong about the list being 99% supporters. I for one have appreciated receiving Donna's emails over the years and was sorry to have to unsubscribe this week in order to avoid being counted as a supporter of the Inova fight against BRMC. I considered the information in those emails as I formed my opinion, so I was legitimately on the mailing list, but I am most definitely NOT a supporter.

 

One (1) % ?!? mg:

I realize you're new at this, but you really have to be careful about believing everything Donna tells you. I alone probably count as one percent and I want to stay on the list anonymously, and as a non-supporter of Inova's business efforts.

BTW, if you do not follow advice similar to that provided by Mr. Linux, then I look forward to the day you officially present this list. I will immediately follow your presentation and discount the list by saying I am on the list. And I am OBVIOUSLY not a supporter of the Inova business effort. I have several friends that are also on that list that don't support you that will join me.

Face it the list is crap, you need to start over.