Be it Thanksgiving, Hanukkah, or Christmas, ‘tis the Season of Tradition. Holiday customs from card-sending and gift-giving to light displays and ritual feasts to religious services and charity drives are long-standing and widespread. But as any empty-nester will tell you, even tried-and-true family traditions are vulnerable to changing realities. And so we evolve, creating new routines for new circumstances.
BWNA newsletter “traditions” have also evolved as we seek to stay relevant and compelling to our readers and serve as catalysts for the community. Each new wave of newsletter team volunteers has generated innovation. For example, during my time as editor alone, many premiered features have become commonplace: Letter to the Board editorials, Barb Strunk’s gardening tips, Kathy Campbell’s recipes, Susan Trabucco’s investigative business reports, Mark Mohammadour’s interviews, my Editor’s Notes column, infill-development updates, John Sandie’s reporting on health concerns at demolition sites, Beaumont Business Association updates, Friends of Wilshire Park updates, our graphic designer’s creative accent graphics, and copy editor Myrna Sheie’s streamlining of the information columns (Calendar of Events and Our Organization). But constants remain as well: the BWNA logo at the top of the front page, the President’s Message column, the handy little B-W neighborhood boundary map, the listing of board vacancies and committee opportunities, showcasing of advertisers (NW Seismic in this issue), our eclectic array of content (from Plant or Else! to Holiday Fest in this issue), and of course, promotion of BWNA activities and projects.
But the tradition of BWNA itself may be in peril—or at least in limbo for awhile—due to a City Hall challenge to the heretofore venerated Portland system of 95 neighborhood associations and accompanying coalition organizations. Beginning a few months ago with an under-the-radar, but telltale, bureau name change—the Office of Neighborhood Involvement was replaced by the Office of Civic and Community Life. An exploratory committee was formed to brainstorm alternatives to the traditional neighborhood association model, which was lambasted by critics as insufficiently inclusive and institutionally elitist. I would urge the committee to take note of the broad scope of topics on neighborhood association dockets in general and BWNA’s in particular. From BWNA’s October meeting, for example:
- Homelessness in Portland (Neighbors Helping Neighbors PDX presentation)
- Beaumont Village grocery retention
- Wilshire Park improvements
- Art along Fremont
- Traffic/pedestrian safety improvements
- Beaumont Middle School scholarship
Are these the issues of an “elitist” agenda? I think not. And I don’t see BWNA as an exception. Some traditions are worth fighting to maintain, and this is one of them.
HAPPY HOLIDAYS, and I hope to see you at the BWNA December General Meeting.