Estonian House Sydney: A New Dawn Has Arrived?

I heard a very good analogy of how life should be approached once: that we should look at life like a four-legged chair with only one leg supporting it on the ground. How it stays upright without toppling over relies on its balance - ergo; the balance of life. If everything is given equal measure, time and patience, the balance will be maintained and the chair will remain upright. Too much of one thing or the other...and the chair falls over.
Well, where Estonian Houses chair has been concerned, this chair of balance was kicked off its leg and put in one of the stacks in the hall, out of the way a long time ago.
This Sunday the 17th of October 2010 marks the Annual General Meeting of the Estonian House Co-operative Society Ltd. Out of the 7 positions that occupy the board, 5 positions will become vacant. Therefore 5 new or old members will be voted in. A veritable 7 legged chair.
From its last AGM a year ago, certain targets would obviously have been set and whether they were achieved or not, I don't know. My involvement in anything to do with Eesti Maja (Estonian House) administration has been limited up to this point. But then again, so has the involvement of basically all 300+ members of the Co-operative (which I have only recently become a member of). In fact, the involvement has been so poor where the AGM is concerned, only the board showed up to the last meeting!
This Sunday may mark a change where AGMs are concerned however as a crunch-point has appeared on the horizon for Eesti Maja - either make it viable or move it along.  Things really need to happen now, more than ever. We have an aging asset with infinite possibilities and an administrative situation that has gone no-where for decades. This AGM should mark a possible changing in paradigm where Eesti Maja is concerned.
As I write this now, 8 candidates appear for 5 seats on the board.
Of these 8 candidates are a team of 5 who want to be voted in collectively, and who come from the Estonian Society of Sydney - the Eesti Selts (SES); Madis and Tiina Alvre, Peeter Muttik, Kadri Stamos and Aivo Takis. Their platform is to consolidate the two entities that control Eesti Maja - the Co-operative and the SES - with mandates for "...steps in the right direction...".
As an indicator of how serious the SES are, Juhan Lubek has taken the liberty to set out the 5 nominees platform for all to see ahead of the other three candidates, Maie Barrow, Terry Kass and Tõnu Meiusi (all currently on the board but required to retire due to the constitution, but are running for re-election) who are unfortunately conspicuous by their platforms absence.
Although this information from the SES has been made available, I can't help but mention the timing smacks a little of major party costings before the federal election this year - that they showed up only a week out from elections. But the SES's effort is pretty good considering the other candidates (so far) haven't offered anything at all. Maybe if they had in the past, more people might have showed up to meetings in general. Who knows.
Why this AGM might be different from others could be reflected in the influx of people taking up shares in the Co-operative in the last year. Whilst the previous 5 years showed a declining trend in membership of the Co-operative, this year has seen as surge of new memberships rising from approx. 290 up to as high as 340 by the time the AGM runs. A rise of almost 10%! Imagine what might have happened at the last federal election if the voting roll had jumped by 10%! From this figure alone, one can reasonably assume that votes for this board might not be as passive as they have been in the past few years.
So where has this surge come from?
I guess the best comparison I might come up with might be (ironically) Russia. You see there is a slight parallel where Russia and Eesti Maja are concerned, even if there is a lag of 20 years on the part of Eesti Maja. Russia, as we know, annexed Estonia back in the 40's - when Eesti Maja was built and experienced it's "golden" period or growth in community and subsequent extension of Eesti Maja, and which lasted about....20 years.
Then came the "dark" period. The authorities that controlled Russia an Eesti Maja went into lock-down / lock-out mode. Nothing and no-one came in, and if anything, only people went out. Escaped even. However with time, Russia began to thaw. The authorities let in minor liberties which, when people got a taste for it, turned into the ruin of communist Russia...20 years ago.
Now, 20 years on from the fall of Communist Russia, a similar thawing is taking place with Eesti Maja. In the last year, the SES has been granted the liberty of running the Esto Cafe series in Sydney, with great success. Add to that the community of Adelaide forging an exemplary path to the future, the idea that things can be done have had people showing up again and getting re-acquainted with Eesti Maja. But does this mean the fall of the current board will yield a result that everyone wants and thinks might be possible from the SES team? The democratisation and capitalisation of Eesti Maja? Yes, but maybe no.
There are several glaring omissions from the SES team, and their competition. The biggest to my mind has been the lack of a clear promise NOT to sell Eesti Maja. Whilst what they have promised in terms of making the current Eesti Maja more accessible and functional not only for the Estonian-Australian community but the local community of Surry Hills has been a sweet sweet tune to listen to, the fact they have stopped short of unequivocally saying "whatever happens, we'll go down in flames before we sell of Surry Hills" has not eventuated.
Eesti Maja Surry Hills comes with pedigree. It is massive leverage that can make a once envied community even more envied in the future. The Finns and Swedes don't have what we have. From Eesti Maja Surry Hills can come great growth. If managed correctly (in terms of generating return) neighboring property can be acquired for accommodation and ease parking difficulties; additional facilities like a ski lodge and even accommodation back in Estonia could be achieved for its members. Why stop with Surry Hills?
But we have to be comfortable inside ourselves first. And I am one of many who believes the future might be an awkward fit if the Maja is re-located to a more "convenient" location. A short-term fix with no real answers. Whilst Eesti Maja doesn't have parking or the facilities other clubs might enjoy in the 'burbs', the community has an asset that can provide for the future. But this will only happen when we get the mix right. The balance right.
Another thing that I have never heard anyone talk of is having a business and marketing evaluation conducted on the property to give an independent opinion of what it will take to get Eesti Maja back on the rails again. Whilst these things are costly, currently there stands enough in the coffers to conduct such an evaluation. Money well spent if you consider it may give direction to a board whos function it seems is bailing water out of a sinking ship. An evaluation like this may shine light on options such as accommodation, commercial entertainment facilities and how much it may cost to build such a place and what return it might yield. It may answer the vexing question, should we even go down a commercial path or just hold onto the side of the chair and maintain the awkward balance.
Although as the outgoing chairman, Arvo Tinni put it, "It is time for the position [of chairman] to have new blood, new ideas and fresh enthusiasm to move to the next challenges", those ideas and challenges should represent all aspects and viewpoints of what we each want from Eesti Maja. If we all vote for the SES and allow (an almost) wholesale change of leadership, we might only be shifting the already un-steady balance from one leg of the chair onto another.
Whilst it seems easy for me to fire away at the SES and the current board, I'm not. The SES are the only candidates that have offered up any answers so far. They appear to come as a team and that is great if they all pull in the same direction and stay the course. I'll be the first to admit their platform appeals to me greatly and made me say "HARAGH!" when I read it, though the other candidates might be offering the same things - I don't know yet.
All I really want to say to you is be careful how you vote on Sunday. We are a small community with people who have big ideas and hearts to match, but balancing this is not as easy as it seems. Short term gains might not necessarily lead to the chair staying upright after all.

Stayed tuned for the 'Results Show'