Life-altering crises like the pandemic give pause for reflection on the nuances of normalcy. Remember when it was no big deal to shake hands with—let alone hug—friends and neighbors? Remember when it was nothing special to attend indoor gatherings? Remember when it was routine to dine out? And the list of “remember whens” goes on ad infinitum—actions we didn’t think twice about prior to COVID-19. That said, deviating from the norm has not been without a silver lining or two along the way, and among the more unlikely beneficiaries have been organizations like BWNA, dependent on communication and participation for their very survival.
But silver linings aside for a moment, it’s certainly been no walk in the park for BWNA since the coronavirus roared in last spring: annual elections canceled, neighborhood cleanup canceled, Movie in the Park canceled, all-neighborhood August picnic canceled, New Neighbor Welcoming Project on hold, newsletter delivery interrupted, and most disruptive of all, in-person board and general meetings postponed indefinitely. But uncharted waters give rise to innovate-or-sink exigency. Take for example a “constitutional predicament” stemming from BWNA bylaw provisions that limit board members to two-year terms and require that half the positions to be subject to election every April—and only in April—leaving half of our board in electoral limbo. The conundrum was finally resolved via resourceful interpretation of an “elastic clause” (as it were) in Article I of the bylaws: To perform all activities related to purposes enumerated above. How, reasoned the board, could stated purposes in the bylaws be effectively performed with half of the members missing, including the president?! Thus was the underlying rationale for the board’s decision to extend incumbent member terms until next April (or perhaps the April after that!) as well as permitting interim voting by e-mail and/or at Zoom meetings.
Curious? Click on the “Bylaws” link atop the home page at www.bwnapdx.org.
Now back to those “silver linings” referenced earlier—and no better place to start than our newsletter. When door-to-door delivery of the hard copy was disrupted this past summer, access to the newsletter became digital by default—a rather dubious prospect, given residents’ comfort level and familiarity with home delivery combined with relative unfamiliarity with the new website address resulting from the redesign of the website. Enter the silver linings: responding to a BWNA publicity campaign to draw attention to the new website and digital-only access to the newsletter, residents flocked to read the newsletter online in record numbers, resulting in boosted visibility for both the color version of the newsletter and the nascent website. That in turn motivated the board to create a Communications Committee charged with synergizing the website and newsletter to facilitate participation. But perhaps the most impactful pandemic-linked silver lining for BWNA was the necessitated switch to Zoom, affording the opportunity for neighbors to become actively involved in BWNA meetings from the comfort of their own easy chairs. Check “Upcoming Events” page on BWNA website (www.bwnapdx.org) Zoom link information.
Here’s to new rays of hope and silver linings on the horizon for 2021.
Finally, welcome to our newest advertiser, realtor Jamie Van Hoorn with Moran Homes, Windermere Realty Trust!