President’s Message
We’re all familiar with the procrastinator’s creed—“Never do today what you can put off until tomorrow”—and painfully aware of the frustrating consequences. But come the first of the year, and presto!—New Year’s resolutions to the emotional rescue, as manifested in ubiquitous exercise classes overflowing with freshly motivated enrollees. But skeptics abound as well: “Why even bother?!” they ask. “Resolutions are meant to be broken.” Optimists counter: “Nothing ventured, nothing gained!” Controversy aside, the new year does seem to provide a kind of psychological “new beginning”—for many, an invitation to turn over a new leaf in the bout with procrastination. Be it losing weight, increasing exercise, uncluttering the clutter, or completing that unfinished something, early January is a popular launching date—a kind of domestic “D-Day,” if you will. A “Do it, already!” opportunity to stop kicking the can of challenges down the road.
But Ringo Starr reminded us in his hit song following the breakup of the Beatles, “You know it don’t come easy!” For him, attainment of the good things in life such as “trust” and “peace” requires dedication to purpose over the long haul—hence the recurring lyric, “Got to pay your dues…” Likewise, while the anguish involved in facing up to unpleasant responsibilities is something we’d prefer to put off or avoid all together, the reward in succeeding may well be worth the bumpy ride. That said, there’s no reason why everything has to be accomplished all at once—at the beginning of the new year or otherwise. Fact is, any time is the right time to get started on fixing what needs fixing.
And that’s the basic attitude at BWNA. We dive in whenever and wherever the need arises in the neighborhood, regardless of difficulty or odds of success. A prime example was the “Good Neighbor Understanding” reached with the owner of Beaumont Village’s McPeet’s Tavern in November. During the spring and summer, complaints of late-night/early-morning loud noise and rowdy behavior on the part of some of McPeet’s patrons were voiced by frustrated residents via e-mail and at general meetings. As the residents told it, this was a longstanding problem that had never been seriously addressed—not by the owner, not by the city, and not, for that matter, by BWNA. The breakthrough came as a result of the willingness of new owner Chris Peterson and wife Erika to participate in a problem-solving pow-wow with myself representing BWNA, Ron Suchanek on behalf of neighbors, and representatives from the city Office of Neighborhood Involvement and Portland Police Bureau. There was tension in the room as the parties entered. But Chris proceeded calmly and resolutely to explain how he had bought McPeet’s last January from his parents after over 30 years of ownership and how he was now determined to have his business be perceived as a good neighbor, not as a neighborhood menace. No surprise from a guy who was born and raised in the B-W neighborhood and continues to live nearby.
With everyone around the table providing constructive input from an array of viewpoints, consensus was reached in little more than an hour. Chris would implement steps to mitigate problems, including prompt and courteous attention to phone calls by concerned residents. Thus, what seemed potentially confrontational at the outset ended in cordiality and a win-win for everyone—including Chris accepting my invitation to speak at our December general meeting.
Moral to the story: thorny problems have the best chance of being resolved when dealt with sooner rather than later, and collaborated on by people of goodwill and can-do practicality. As for New Year’s resolution, I would suggest that there’s no better time than the present to venture out into neighborhood activism through BWNA participation.