We can’t help but wonder why the “hundreds” of members of the Crestwood Smart Growth Alliance won’t show themselves publicly.

Kelley Isherwood of Oakville, chairman of the Crestwood Smart Growth Alliance, has told the Crestwood Board of Aldermen his organization has hundreds of members.

Where are they? The only people we’ve seen representing the Crestwood Smart Growth Alliance at Crestwood Board of Aldermen meetings have been Mr. Isherwood, the alliance’s attorney and members of the Boegeman family.

The Boegeman family owns the Crest Development Co., which owns the Creston Center. Preserving the Creston Center would appear to be a primary — if not the primary — goal of the alliance. The organization’s attorney, Mary Schultz, also represents the Crest Development Co., a fact that she has been up front about in her presentations to Crestwood aldermen. She also represents this newspaper. Small world, isn’t it?

During their presentations to the Board of Aldermen, Mayor Jim Robertson has cautioned Crestwood Smart Growth Alliance representatives that the weight accorded to their positions would be directly proportional to the accuracy of their statements.

Quite frankly, we question the claim of hundreds of members. Perhaps that is true given the fact that members aren’t really expected to participate as “the association will act on behalf of its members, at the discretion of its chairman performing such tasks that may include, but are not limited to, gathering and distributing helpful information, filing litigation and organizing gatherings and petitions.”

This newspaper on several occasions has asked Mr. Isherwood to provide a membership list for the organization and he has declined.

The Crestwood Smart Growth Alliance and its attorney rightfully are demanding accountability from Crestwood’s elected and appointed officials. Conversely, we believe the public should demand the same level of accountability from the alliance.

The alliance purports to be speaking on behalf of the citizens of Crestwood. Given that, the organization, which is not registered with the state, should open its membership list and financial books for public inspection.

We believe a public inspection of those records could confirm the organization’s legitimacy and credibility if, in fact, it truly does represent the citizens of Crestwood.