President’s Message
I was plucking at my guitar (plucking is a term I use where a very limited amount of true music actually escapes from the sound hole) seeking inspiration for a theme for this edition’s message. The idea for this article took shape during my unrecognizable cover of Bob Dylan’s “Don’t Think Twice, It’s All Right,” so I didn’t—think twice, that is.
I mentioned in past articles that your perception of your neighborhood is affected by your relationship with your immediate neighbors. If you feel comfortable giving out your house keys to three or four close neighbors you trust like family, you are more apt to have an optimistic impression of the larger neighborhood in general. So while the BWNA Taste of Beaumont and National Night Out picnic do help bind the neighborhood together, smaller events like block parties can add even more “glue.”
I’ve had discussions with a few neighbors to form a group to generate ideas to help more of these events occur within our neighborhood. This may be a “toolkit” of how to facilitate and handle the permitting required. Some have wondered if BWNA supplies mandatory barricades for ends of blocks (we do not). Maybe we should? Block parties could also promote informal neighborhood crime watch areas or even small pseudo Neighborhood Emergency Teams (NET). These NETs could coordinate emergency supply caches to help the particular block get through emergencies when we all will need a helping hand that might not be available right away. (Please note: I’m not ignoring the efforts of a formal NET network, just saying these could enhance their efforts.)
A fellow neighbor, Dan Hahn, has indicated he’d like to be involved and possibly facilitate a group’s effort to generate a proposal for the BWNA Board to consider. In addition, Allison Stoll, Director of the Central Northeast Coalition and also a former BWNA President and crime prevention specialist, has offered her experience and expertise to the endeavor. A couple of other neighbors also have expressed interest in getting involved and I have put out the call to enlist others.
We also will seek folks who are presently active in coordinating block parties in Beaumont Wilshire to offer their thoughts about how a program might be structured.
If you have other ideas for strengthening our neighborly bonds, I’m all ears. But you’ll have to excuse my tone deafness; that even causes Mr. Dylan to cringe a bit.