Results of first meeting

We had our first meeting on Oct. 5. Thanks to all 18 people that attended. The feedback was generally quite positive and many people volunteered for more involvement. We had some great food donations from On The Rise and Great Harvest, along with Erica Paradiso's bars.

I think we were able to explain what a neighborhood association is and what it isn't. The biggest thing it isn't is a "homeowners association" with covenants and membership fees. The biggest thing it is is a conduit for information between the city and people in the neighborhood. Some of the reasons for forming the association are:

1. Provide a more enhanced sense of community by organizing neighborhood events (and making it easier to organize meetings by having an official infrastructure in place).
2. Provide an organized voice for interactions with the high school, neighboring businesses, and the city related to neighborhood issues.
3. Provide organization for dissemination of information to and from the city about our neighborhood. 
4. Enhance notoriety of the neighborhood (this has already beginning to happen as our neighborhood name starts to gain notoriety).
5. Find ways to encourage better relationships between renters, homeowners, and businesses.
6. Obtain representation on the Inter-Neighborhood Council. 

Our next step is to start working on bylaws. We are hoping to adopt a block caption sort of model to running the association, so we will be looking for local representation within the different areas of the neighborhood. If you are interested in being involved in the next steps, please contact me at greenwood.stat@gmail.com.