Since the 60s, when the Old Town Triangle was the base camp for the gentrification of Lincoln Park, the area has prided itself on being a model for community activism and neighborhood involvement.

Much of that involvement centered on the Old Town Triangle Association (OTTA), an organization now facing a revolt by some of its members, according to reports in the Skyline newspaper. The dissident group, which goes by the name of Neighbors for a Better Old Town, is contesting the filling of several open seats on the OTTA’s board of directors.

Petty squabbling, albeit genteel, over neighborhood issues large and small has long been a tradition, almost a requirement, frequently an obsession, in the Old Town Triangle. Is this controversy any different? And what, exactly, is behind the controversy? The opaque reports in Skyline and on the Neighbors for a Better Old Town site lend little clarity.