We started off our last meeting with a robust discussion around what the content of our letter to the owners of the Promenade Shopping Center should consist of. The group decided that instead of sending a letter with information from our survey that we should instead invite them to our next meeting. The goal of inviting them to our meeting
would give us a chance to speak with them personally about the information that we gathered in our survey. Our letter to the owners would then start with a brief explanation of who we are and explain the concerns our neighbors have about the vacancies at the shopping center. This would allow the owners to clear up any misconceptions regarding the vacancies and we could share with them the data we
gathered showing there is significant interest in supporting new retail and restaurants in the shopping center. I’ll be reworking the letter and I’ll send out another rough draft for everyone to review in the next few days.
Regarding our bylaws, we once again did a thorough review of what we thought our group’s guiding document should entail. One of the big changes we looked at was a change to our group’s name. The discussion regarding our group’s name revolved what we felt the purpose of our group entailed. While we all agreed that our main goal was to be a
“community forum,” we also discussed what name our group should consist of to have the greatest impact. The group felt that going with the name, Pocket/Greenhaven Community Association would be the best step forward now that we had firmly established ourselves. At the same time it was stressed that we should also include “A Community Forum” with our title so that community members would also feel
welcome to join and discuss pertinent neighborhood issues. After a few minor changes we unanimously voted to accept our bylaws. I will be reaching out to neighborhood services to have us officially added to the city website. We will also vote on our our board members at the next meeting.
Our final topic of the evening was the upcoming family event that is planned for the morning of June 10th at Garcia Bend Park. Fiona, Devin and Erin have done an amazing job with the planning. They have been able to enlist the Pocket Moms group, Vice-Mayor Jennings office and possibly the Fire Dept. to help host our BBQ. As more details become available we’ll make sure to share them with the group.
Our next meeting will be held at Robbie Waters Library on May 24th from 6-8 PM. I’ll be sure to send out a revised version of the letter soon and we’ll continue to discuss our progress in working with the owners of the Promenade Shopping Center via email over the next few weeks. Thank you all again for your help and support. I am very proud of all that our group has accomplished in little over a year.
We have founded an important organization that will continue to make our neighborhood better for years to come. I’m looking forward to continuing to work with you all.