GNWatch Meeting Report: Tasty Treats...
My wife and I along with several our our neighbors made the short trip down to the Lodge of the Great Northwest to attend the monthly Great Northwest Watch meeting. And tonight, it was more of a free for all, dig in and eat some vittles type of meeting. We had brisket, burgers, dogs and a multitude of side dishes including my wife's famous chili and numerous desserts.
Are you seeing a pattern here? I can't even do volunteer work unless it has some sort of connection to food! I'm sorry I don't have a picture of the "before" on this brisket. My wife talks about meat that can stand on its own without a sauce, and Richard's Brisket passed the test with flying colors - Tasty Treats all around!
We had about 40 folks including several of our newest Block Captains show up for the event. In addition to good food, we had Mr. Sean Fitzgibbons from District 6 Councilwoman Delicia Herrera's office and Officer Danny Robles, our SAFFE Officer field questions from the audience.
Of specific note was a series of questions one resident had regarding reduction in Section 8 payments the city is paying to landlords. The same resident had some other issues regarding water bills and CPS issues. I appreciated the way Mr. Fitzgibbons was able to immediately accept the complaints, offer his card and put her in touch with the appropriate person in his office to deals with those issues. People, this is why we have representatives, so we can get answers. Kudos to our District 6 staff.
Officer Robles fielded several questions from tagging to drug concerns and all matter in between. He talked to us about the Cellular on Patrol program and how we can put together a group of residents to have a class (you need to be certified to get the secret handshakes and such). I'm going to begin putting together an interest list of people that would be willing to take the course. If we can get 15 people, we can do it. In fact, I'm going to contact some folks from neighboring associations and see if they would like to form a joint class. Wanna be in the next COP class? E-mail me and tell me if you would rather do it in an evening (say 6pm to 9pm) or on a Saturday (maybe 9am to noon). You do not need to be a resident of The GNW or a member of the GNWatch to do this. We just want to make the class worth the officer's time.
We talked briefly about the National Night Out and what a great deal that is. If you were eagerly anticipating the heat of August for the next NNO, hang tight. It will now be in October (we think October 7th - more on that soon). If you want a good way to meet your neighbors, do like we do: Set up a table out front with a pot of chili, some hot dogs, a cooler full of refreshments and a yard full of lawn chairs. You'd be surprised at how easy it is to have fun! Our coordinator, Ms. Betty Hood is already working on obtaining door prizes. More to follow on this.
I was very pleased to have most of our members of the GNWCIA Board of Directors present. These people put in a lot of hours of their own time and it was super awesome to have them come as members of the GNWatch and meet and mingle with our Block Captains. We appreciate the hard work you do for the association.
Finally, I'm going to approach the Board concerning maybe changing the meeting times to begin earlier - even 6:30PM or 7PM (we normally start at 7:30PM). Tell me what you think about it. Would you come to the meetings if you thought we could get in by 6:30 and be out the door by 7:45 or 8PM? If this was your first meeting, I should tell you that we usually are a bit more structured. I walked in the door tonight with no agenda at all and literally shot from the hip the entire evening, fitting in the speakers as they arrived and such. My guess is that many people do not want to attend a meeting that drags on and on (like my blog posts). So please, tell me what you think.
Are you seeing a pattern here? I can't even do volunteer work unless it has some sort of connection to food! I'm sorry I don't have a picture of the "before" on this brisket. My wife talks about meat that can stand on its own without a sauce, and Richard's Brisket passed the test with flying colors - Tasty Treats all around!
We had about 40 folks including several of our newest Block Captains show up for the event. In addition to good food, we had Mr. Sean Fitzgibbons from District 6 Councilwoman Delicia Herrera's office and Officer Danny Robles, our SAFFE Officer field questions from the audience.
Of specific note was a series of questions one resident had regarding reduction in Section 8 payments the city is paying to landlords. The same resident had some other issues regarding water bills and CPS issues. I appreciated the way Mr. Fitzgibbons was able to immediately accept the complaints, offer his card and put her in touch with the appropriate person in his office to deals with those issues. People, this is why we have representatives, so we can get answers. Kudos to our District 6 staff.
Officer Robles fielded several questions from tagging to drug concerns and all matter in between. He talked to us about the Cellular on Patrol program and how we can put together a group of residents to have a class (you need to be certified to get the secret handshakes and such). I'm going to begin putting together an interest list of people that would be willing to take the course. If we can get 15 people, we can do it. In fact, I'm going to contact some folks from neighboring associations and see if they would like to form a joint class. Wanna be in the next COP class? E-mail me and tell me if you would rather do it in an evening (say 6pm to 9pm) or on a Saturday (maybe 9am to noon). You do not need to be a resident of The GNW or a member of the GNWatch to do this. We just want to make the class worth the officer's time.
We talked briefly about the National Night Out and what a great deal that is. If you were eagerly anticipating the heat of August for the next NNO, hang tight. It will now be in October (we think October 7th - more on that soon). If you want a good way to meet your neighbors, do like we do: Set up a table out front with a pot of chili, some hot dogs, a cooler full of refreshments and a yard full of lawn chairs. You'd be surprised at how easy it is to have fun! Our coordinator, Ms. Betty Hood is already working on obtaining door prizes. More to follow on this.
I was very pleased to have most of our members of the GNWCIA Board of Directors present. These people put in a lot of hours of their own time and it was super awesome to have them come as members of the GNWatch and meet and mingle with our Block Captains. We appreciate the hard work you do for the association.
Finally, I'm going to approach the Board concerning maybe changing the meeting times to begin earlier - even 6:30PM or 7PM (we normally start at 7:30PM). Tell me what you think about it. Would you come to the meetings if you thought we could get in by 6:30 and be out the door by 7:45 or 8PM? If this was your first meeting, I should tell you that we usually are a bit more structured. I walked in the door tonight with no agenda at all and literally shot from the hip the entire evening, fitting in the speakers as they arrived and such. My guess is that many people do not want to attend a meeting that drags on and on (like my blog posts). So please, tell me what you think.
2 comments:
First-timer here....and I have to agree with the early start time. I also like the pot-luck aspect--is that not something that happens every time? I appreciated it, since that's about when we eat dinner normally.
It was very informative overall, and I'm glad I went. You did fine without an agenda, but I do agree that most people, myself included, do not want to be there more than an hour and a half to two hours max.
Anyway, many thanks to you and your wife for taking charge and helping our hood be that much better! Now, if even 2 or 3 families from each block would do something--imagine!! We'd be awesome!
After reading your blog I'm so hungry
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