A committee of the Neighborhood Board was formed last month to start a 'visioning process for Mitchell Park West'.
This post is just a first step for a dialog among all the residents to add your ideas, wants, wishes, goals, etc for MPWNA. I hope that you will bring your best intentions to this endeavor. Of course there are problems, and they need to be vetted and organized and solved, but the better path is to focus on positive goals and actions. I generally start with the idea, 'what is good for everyone in the neighborhood will probably be good for me too'. Coming up with ideas is the easy part too!
I've been thinking about a conversation on 'community' and what that means. An inclusive definition, whereby, the genesis would be from an expansive long term dialog and hopefully result in a generally agreed upon set of standards or goals. There are lots of resources for this type of information. I've been looking into some lately. Some organizations do that sort of thing as a retreat, etc. At the very least the elected representatives should be trying to get that message across to as many of the residents of the community as possible.
So to begin, to me a neighborhood is a very weak political entity by it's nature, so it can't have a very rigid structure. Bumped up against organized associations, government and businesses, the neighborhood is very likely going to lose. And by 'lose', i mean a lesser quality of life for everyone. The losses can appear small initially, but added up over time, they will become apparent. And the message will be that the residents really dont care about their community or even each other all that much.
Also because a neighborhood is weak political organization, it potentially can be manipulated easily by a few. So at best, the few, should have the best intentions in mind, or at least have benign intentions. Elected representatives for the neighborhood should definitely have the best intentions. And because they are elected, their 'platform' should be made clear right at the beginning. It doesn't have to be elaborate.
When I was organizing the first street tree grant a few years ago (2004), I was informed by the city that I needed the Chair of the Association to sign the application. It was the first time I'd heard there even was one, even though I'd moved here at the end of 2002. In a sense, while walking around the neighborhood searching out tree huggers like me, I stumbled upon the MPWNA that had been in existence since 1988. I had no concept of the time and energy it took for those few residents to organize the Mitchell Park Neighborhood Association . I have some sense of that now. My 'platform' at that time was to get as many free trees for the residents as I could. The fact is, it's harder to give away trees than you think!
I think the real challenge is to increase participation in the association. Everyone will probably have their pet project, like me and street trees, but a coming together of mind, spirit and body would organize those efforts and yield much greater results. To start with, creating a respectful arena for discussion will encourage involvement for those among us that are more timid, busy, solitary, quiet, etc. At the very least, as i told a neighbor the other day, "just come and listen. No one has to be on a committee, on the board, etc." Eventually, if residents listen long enough, and what is heard (or read) is reasonable or 'reasoned' and delivered respectfully, the likelihood will increase that more residents will motivated to action, hop on the train, and help the neighborhood move to a better place. Leave no stone unturned, there are no stupid questions, etc. In the summer of '88, a long time ago, i was studying in Rome, and I struck up a conversation in my very poor restaurant Italian with a flower vendor that had been on that corner for decades. He was a fount of information about the piazza behind me; ie: why that corner across the way was empty, "the building fell over in the earthquake of '55", etc. And also a fount of incorrect information about other historical facts of Rome. But the conversation was so much fun that it remains my favorite memory of that trip. Everyone has something to share, some of it true, some of it false, but hopefully all of it with good will and good faith. (I also had a one man tour of the Vatican with the Architect of the Vatican, the guy was crazy funny and definitely an expert.)
This is often misconstrued as a bad thing, but the codes, ordinances and laws of the city were developed by its own citizens, people like you and me. I admit that process has it's flaws, but that doesn't prevent a person from working to correct the flaws either. I think that the elected members of the neighborhood board should have a passing awareness of the laws, codes and ordinances. I dont think its a requirement before being elected, but I do think there could be some kind of short cut learning session that lays out the general intention of the codes, ordinances and laws; including incumbent processes associated with each division. A lot of hard feelings have resulted at times, basically because someone was not aware of the process, or the pertinent approvals for their personal endeavor. I understand they can seem voluminous, but the ones that apply directly to our neighborhood and park aren't beyond a simplified general understanding, or at least knowing the place to look. I keep some, like the recycled trash list, on my frig. All of them are posted on the city website. As members of the board, they will be called upon to discriminate their actions as a neighbor first, then legally. Informing or guiding a neighbor to look in the right place is possibly a good way to avoid difficult feelings or even unexpected high monetary costs for someone. I call it helping your neighbor.
There are three members of the current Board on the visioning committee, David Saar, Pat Konomos, Carol Sparks, get in touch with them, talk to them on the street, leave messages here, get your ideas out there!
-mark
