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Mexico, Woodburn Neigbhoorhood Association |
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Gregory Morris, 5/9/06 9:09:05 am |
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We are leaving for Mexico in 6 days. I finished packing yesterday. All I have to do is throw my digital camera and charger into my carry-on, then I'll be ready to roll!
In other news, I attended a preliminary neighborhood association meeting on Sunday. I'm really glad that there are a few people in my area who really want to embrace the community. Where I grew up in South Park, they have had a neighborhood association for years. They organize block parties, neighborhood watches, yard sales, etc. The main goal of the Woodburn association seems to be increasing property values, and keeping Woodburn elementary school where it is. There are a lot of families with children, and a lot of teachers that live in my neighborhood, and we all agree that having a community elementary school is important. Ron Justice (Morgantown's mayor) was at the meeting, because he lives in our neighborhood. He had a lot of great information to share (statistics, personal anecdotes, etc.) There were also a handful of the typical "dang students won't stay out of my yard" comments. The meeting organizers tried to stress the importance of embracing the rental community, since at least 1/3rd of Woodburn is rental property. However, the was a big push for a neighborhood watch and more crime prevention, since there has been a rash of car-breakins (at least 6 in front of my house, that I know of) and other misc. thefts.
One of the funnier things that happened at the meeting was an old man who said, "I've lived here for 60 years... what are the boundaries of Woodburn?" Good question since it isn't legally defined anywhere. There was a good bit of discussion about that, since residents have one view of Woodburn bounderies, realtors have another, and the city probably has a third. There was some discussion (a lot of it centered around streets with mostly rental properties.) Everyone also wanted to know "where do we put the 'Welcome to Woodburn' sign?"
The meeting was held at Crosley's banquet center, which is one of the few businesses located in Woodburn. The owner of Crosley's and Mario's Fishbowl hosted the event and served food and beverages for free! In a community with only a few businesses, it was refreshing to see one of them taking up support for the association, and offering us meeting space whenever we need it.
We have another meeting next month, and hopefully we can determine some of the major issues (do we write by-laws? do we collect dues? should we have some kind of official meeting format? do we need to register with anyone to be officially recognized? etc.) I volunteered to work on a web page for the association, because... that's what I am good at  Maybe I could set up a blog-style minutes page. I also may volunteer to help compose the by-laws, if we choose to go that route. My experience in running TSA meetings may finally get some use! |
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