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Executive Director's Newsletter
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| Communicating more…Building our membership When I accepted the Executive Director's position, one of the Board of Directors' goals was to increase our membership. Presently, we have nearly 900 members who support the Association's efforts. Membership in a community association is about developing a neighborhood where people take an active interest in each other and strive to improve the community for their families. One important way to build our membership and further strengthen the support of our current members is to communicate more regularly regarding the many activities undertaken by the SPCA on behalf of all residents in Sherman Park. We realize that the Board and staff do many things on behalf of the residents, but often their story is not shared. A new monthly newsletter! This newsletter is the first monthly edition that we will be mailing to all our members. The goal is to highlight the efforts of the Board and staff on your behalf. This is a way for us to stay in contact with members. It is important if we are to be a vibrant community organization that collaborates with the many people who represent us at City Hall and at the County level, and will help Sherman Park residents to be active in their Association. Quarterly meetings are important, but that's not enough! Our strength and our ability to communicate decisively with those in government, who impact our neighborhood, depends heavily on the number of people who are active in the community and are active members of SPCA. Two issues -Neighborhood Safety and Security -Shermanfest's future Neighborhood safety and security is a significant issue in Milwaukee. If you have been keeping up with the latest editions of our newspaper Sherman Park Today! you are aware that we set a number of goals for the organization this year. Foremost is making Sherman Park a safe neighborhood. In a recent editorial, I point out that there is much we can do but we will only get the job done when everyone decides for themselves to get involved take neighborhood safety personally. We cannot allow others to lower the quality of life of Sherman Park. Step One: Report Nuisance Properties. When there is a property on your block that is disruptive, you have to take steps to report the activity to the police. Your calls to the police are crucial; without them, the house cannot be declared a nuisance property. Three calls in 30 days starts the process of fining the property owner, which could lead to foreclosure. When you call, please ask for the operator's number, his/her name, and note the time and date of your call. Be specific in your report to the operator. After you make the first call, please contact our office (444-9803) and ask for either Ayana Bufford, our organizer for the 7th Police District (Center Street to Capitol Drive) or Merrie Felder, our organizer for the 3rd District (North Avenue to Center Street). We will then start the process of monitoring the property. Step Two: Use Citizen Complaints for Loud Noise. A second step you can take is to pick-up citizen complaint forms for reporting cars whose occupants are playing their music too loudly. We hear many complaints about this, but we need you to do your part to get the job done, because when you fill out the form, the owner is issued a ticket. Many people have asked if the name of the person who complains will be known by the person who is ticketed. Only if the person goes to court, will the person who filed the complaint be called. Let us know if you want us to mail you the forms; they can also be picked up at the police department. Step Three: Volunteer as a Neighborhood Ambassador. Consider volunteering two hours each month to become a Sherman Park Community Association Ambassador-the new name for our Neighbor's Watch program. To expand the program of neighbors looking out for each other, we are asking members who walk for exercise daily to consider wearing an "Ambassador vest" and carry a cell-phone to report suspicious activity in the area. You will also be able to answer questions for people who need directions to some of our more out of the way streets like Philip Place or Sieben Place. We are looking to schedule training sessions so that we can have a full complement of ambassadors on the street every evening. This is a program that works; we need all our members to consider taking part in this program. Remember, only two hours a month and you will be making a difference in your neighborhood! To volunteer for the program contact Evelyn Haralson, our Ambassador Coordinator, at 871-0333. I believe that if we all take these three steps, the quality
of life in Sherman Park will improve. Sherman Park Back-to-School Family Festival. We have new and exciting ideas for this year's Sherman Park community event. Before we reveal it to the community, we would like to meet with all of you to talk about our plans. It will be one of the topics for our first 2002 membership meeting which will be held on April 11th from 6:30-8:00 in the Washington High School cafeteria (enter at the north end of the building next to the football field). We're looking to you for suggestions as we finalize our plan for
the 2002 festival. Also at our membership meeting, we will introduce
new Board members and answer questions about the new Ambassador Program.
Our goal is to leave the meeting that evening with at least 10 new
Ambassadors who are willing to get involved to promote safety in our
neighborhood and volunteers to who are willing to help us with the
new Sherman Park Back-to-School Family Festival. Other items of ongoing interest at SPCA · Cruising meeting - on the same night another 40 people
attended a meeting with Aldermen Herron and Gordon to discuss cruising
that is disrupting the neighborhoods around Capitol and Sherman Blvd.
More to come! · And so much more! Please join us for the first membership meeting of 2002 April 11th from 6:30-8:00 in the Washington High School cafeteria.
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SPCA Staff: |