[Excerpt concerning mail-in ballot voting from Sol Shaviro, "The Middle 
Years; A History of the Amalgamated Co-operative", 2002, Part V, page 4.]

... The construction of the Towers moved apace. The first Tower was 
completed in August 1968 and the second in 1970 with the last scheduled 
move into the building in November 1970. ...

While relocation had proceeded without rancor, higher construction costs, 
leading to higher rent, created bellicose controversy in the community. 
Anger, accusations and bitter words were the order of the day. A group was 
formed in opposition to the actions of the President and the Board. The 
group criticized the expansion program and ran a slate of antagonistic 
candidates for the Board of Directors at stockholders meetings. This was 
not mere dissent, but bitterness, vituperation and character 
assassination. The spirit of cooperation seemed lost. We quote from a 1972 
letter sent to the community by the resident members of the Board of 
Directors:

"A specter is haunting the cooperative. It is a specter of rancorous 
confrontation, loss of cooperative morale and a less secure investment. 
... [A]nger and resentment are an addiction, mirrored in sour leaflets at 
bitter meetings. ..."
 
In 1974 the Board of Directors, at the recommendation of the President 
[Sol Shaviro], decided to issue ballots to all cooperator-members before 
meetings and have the election monitored by the Honest Ballot Association. 
The returned ballots were to be counted during the actual meeting by the 
Association; thus assuring a quorum and preventing a dogmatic minority 
from taking control of a poorly attended meeting. The Association was 
deemed necessary because of the discord in the community.

Eventually the controversy was resolved. Cooperators accepted the need for 
higher rents and the cooperative returned to a more ordinary state of 
peace and friendship amongst the members. Elections became less 
controversial. Numerous educational meetings of cooperators were held to 
discuss cooperation and problems facing the Amalgamated.
The Amalgamated manager also acted as the manager of Park Reservoir. 
Mutual Housing, originally part of the management group, dropped out in 
1974. ... In 1975, Sol Shaviro retired as President ....

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