So, attendance was pretty good at the meeting. I'm especially pleased with the signups I got for the welcome committee. At this point I only know of a couple of houses for sale -- none sale pending -- so if you know of any let me know. I know Barbara and Leslie didn't get what they were hoping for with signups for the home tour (they need people to check tickets at the door of each home). You get to do the tour free, assuming there are enough volunteers to relieve you from your duties for half the time. It's October 12, a Sunday of a weekend with no home football game.
From the APD reports, it sounds like the Crime-Free Housing initiative is going fairly well, although it's still just getting started. We also heard about the Campustown Safety Walk tentatively set for the evening of October 6 -- if you'd like to walk around the neighborhood one of 8 or so groups consisting of APD officers, city council members, Greek community members and other relevant individuals, they'd love to have more residents volunteer -- just email Adi Johnson, ajohnson@city.ames.ia.us.
Finally, my letter was published by the Daily -- 2 days after they published a similar one (although in my opinion more intrusive in its advice on students' personal lives), giving them nearly identical titles. The previous one has already gotten some negative online feedback, and shows up on the sidebar on every page of the Daily's website as one of the most read stories; I'll have to keep an eye on mine to see if there's any either in print or online. I worry that with 2 letters on similar topics, as well as feedback on people not picking up after their dogs, there will be backlash against all of it. Speaking of which, it appears I have my first comment -- and it's my first flame. I don't see any need to respond to it: if the person who left it is as apathetic about our organization as they claim they won't be back to benefit from a reasoned response. Then again if they were as truly apathetic as they claim they wouldn't have bothered to go online to complain about us in the first place.
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2 comments:
Hello,
I'd like to get a little more info on the SCAN neighborhood organization. I’ve read the information on the blog and it looks like the annual meeting was last week and I was unable to attend. Was this the first annual meeting? It appeared that there were elections of sorts planned, is there information on how these turned out? Could you provide the names and contact information for the board of directors or president, etc? Is this blog the only place to get online information about SCAN organization activities?
In your most recent post, some comments or questions for you:
• Houses for sale – what are you asking for from us? When we know that a house is for sale, we are to notify you via this blog? What is this information being used for?
• It looks like there is a home tour planned for Oct 12. Is this for the whole SCAN neighborhood? Is this a fund raiser? Will more information be posted on hours for the home tour and which homes will be open? Is there a fall theme or anything to be followed?
• As far as the letter in the Daily is concerned, it appears to be focused primarily at students. Is any such letter planned for the Tribune for “non-students”? In my experience, there are several homes in the area that need attention that are not inhabited by students. What is SCAN’s intent for these properties?
• I’m not sure I can agree with your response to the comment left on your post. Surely you understand that not everyone is going to be in agreement with every activity. If this is going to truly be a neighborhood organization, it seems prudent to address areas of concern for all rather than judging them and making negative comments amount them on the SCAN organization’s official BLOG. It doesn’t seem to make the organization very approachable and therefore will most likely drive a wedge between neighbors rather than building the family-friendly neighborhood your desire as stated in the SCAN Vision Statement.
Thanks for your time and efforts on behalf of the neighborhood!
This was the 7th annual meeting, actually. My very first post (dated August 21) describes how the organization was founded in 2002. Nobody contested the incumbents this year (although some have been serving for a number of years and wouldn't mind passing the torch) so the board of directors remains the same. I'll add a widget to the side later today with all the contact info you requested. I'm also working on getting us a static webpage so that we can post minutes and have information like the story of our founding in a place that doesn't get archived away.
If you're offering to be a part of the welcoming committee, I'd appreciate it if you contact me directly: hcolvin@gmail.com, which is also how I'd like to be informed of houses for sale. I'm more concerned about ones that get a "Sold" sign, so that we can start planning the welcoming. Some houses in the neighborhood have been on the market for months.
Barbara Pleasants and Leslie Kawaler are organizing the home tour. The houses (including a fraternity) have already been chosen; I think we broke even on last year's but I don't know the full financial details. I know we needed a grant from the city to make it happen. If you want free tickets (they're $10 I believe) you can volunteer to staff a home (take tickets, basically) for half the afternoon -- just contact Barbara at pleasant@iastate.edu. They're going to be held on alternating years in the future so if you're interested in having your house on the 2010 tour you can let Barbara know about that, too.
Owner-occupied properties that aren't in great condition was something that came up at a "Meeting with the Neighborhood" that the city held this past spring. It's typically because the owners don't have the means, physically or financially, to take care of their property. At this meeting, which was attended by several SCAN board members as well as myself, 9 priorities were referred to a committee, which has been meeting regularly since then. #9 was to create a way for such individuals or families to be put in touch with philanthropic organizations to help them out with their situation. Sharon Gruber has been the SCAN board member attending these meetings, and she reported at our annual meeting that 4 months later, they're still on #1, which has turned into a complete overhaul of Ames property maintenance code. The results of this overhaul may have an impact on some of the owner-occupied houses that are of concern as well as on rentals, where the main discussion of this committee's meetings has centered. Minutes from these meetings are available at the city's website at http://www.cityofames.org/InspectionsWeb/rentalhousingadvisorycommittee08.htm
Did you actually read the post? The poster explicitly stated that he/she did not want to be included in SCAN's activities, or even informed of them. I found it a little irrational to expect us to skip a single house when leafleting for a meeting that most neighbors wouldn't mind being informed of, even if they weren't interested in participating in the organization, without leaving any sort of details on which house it is. Referring to our leaflet as "trash" was also extremely inflammatory, not to mention the attitude that we aren't, in fact, an inclusive organization (and thus the invitation hand-delivered to everyone), but one designed to boost some sort of imagined superiority complex on the part of the current members. The only logical implication that I could draw from the post is that the poster doesn't think we should be leafleting at all.
It's true that we haven't been as inclusive as our stated goal in the past, but that's largely due to a lack of communication on our part, and that's why I'm being paid to do what I do. When I refer to it as a flame I mean not only that it's inflammatory, but it's the sort of inflammatory comment that would never be made in person, in that it takes advantage of the anonymity provided by electronically mediated communication to go beyond normal social boundaries. As such I believe it shouldn't be directly responded to, since such behavior shouldn't be encouraged.
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