Our next business meeting is Tuesday, January 12th at Project Place (Corner of Washington & East Berkeley). Enter in the door next to Meyers and Chang Please arrive before 7:30, as the external doors lock at that time.
Meeting format:
6:30-7 - Social Networking. Meet your neighbors in an informal setting.
7-8:30 - Business meeting.
The theme of this meeting will be the Our Neighborhood.
First, a proposal for a liquor/wine store on tremont next to Picco. Based on the two public meetings and feedback gathered since there, there is not enough neighborhood support to support the proposal of another wine store so close to so many others. The store is an interesting proposal, most feel this isn't the best location for yet another wine store.
While we will discuss the proposal at the meeting, it has exposed some ugly neighborhood discrimination. Lone time residents saying the opinions of newcomers (< 5 years) "don't count" because they're not really a part of the neighborhood; while newer residents calling the long-time residents elitists and over-eager to kill any new idea. Not exactly putting our best foot forward.
Everyone has an opinion, but seeing neighbor pit against neighbor hasn't been pretty to watch over the last few weeks. What can ESNA do to help bridge the gap? How do we get both 'new' people and 'long timers' more involved in the neighborhood and interacting more with each other? How do we get new folks (young and old) more involved in Neighborhood doings?
(Hmmm - anyone have lots of 70's photos willing to chat about South End history?
Next - It's a new year and time to begin planning. We'll find out how our December social went, and make plans for June (We don't have our room) - what should we do instead. Spring is almost here - what plans do Ringgold and Watson have for the Spring?
Which leads right into - We've also discussed out meeting structure in the past. There has been a proposal to move to a more board-oriented structure with meetings being more business only with the occasional 'bigger' guest speaker; and more social events. Less pressure on the board to make every meeting 'exciting', and concentrating more on neighbor engagement than strict meetings. While we've talked about it, we haven't done much to go in that direction. What are YOU interested in seeing from the neighborhood? More meetings? more social? How can we get more engagement from neighbors and still keep everyone informed and interested in the NA.
We'll also have our regular neighborhood updates, rumors and such as well as open discussion. Our posted January guest Hingham Savings will be at our February meeting instead.
Hope to see everyone there.
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Hope to see everyone there!
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