« Two Potholes Fixed!! | Main | Apology & Mea Culpa Too »
GCCC Meeting a Pleasure.
"That was a very nice meeting." a member.
Thanks to all who attended the GCCC meeting on Wednesday, June 22. About 25 members attended and in addition we had five new member guests, one of whom signed up and paid his dues. Welcome, Jack Walsh, our 64th paid member. In addition, lt. Schiavulli and two beat officers also attended for a total of over 30 in attendance.
The minutes from the meeting will be posted soon.
We reviewed the year to date as far as our Crime Watch initiative and our 2005 GCCC Agenda are progressing.
Ten Crime Watch signs will be ordered and placed.
Some members were disappointed that Rep Fox did not show up again to discuss his promise to schedule a meeting with the State Police as he promised in our March meeting. Fox has also not followed through on his public pledge to secure some funding for GCCC through legislative grants.
Graffiti on my Fence (since Removed) Much Improved
Lt. Schiavulli proved to be a hit among our members who were impressed with his candor and his commitment to improving the quality of life in Mt. Hope through District 8 community policing. The topics covered by the Lt. are too detailed to go into here, but will be covered later. Lt. Schiavulli stressed how much improved Mt. Hope is over the last 15 years.
We had two different parties who came to the meeting to address their specific agenda and the problems specific to them and not to the community in general. One party, two people from Forest Street, wished to address the loitering on and around 206 Camp Street and outside the Men’s Pride building on Camp Street. They were reluctant to join or to even share their address, phone, or e-mail address even after we committed significant time to discussing their issues. When I asked them to join GCCC, and pointed out that they had already received more than $15.00 worth of service, (GCCC dues for one year) they demurred in joining our organization.
The other party, one member and his guest, a contractor, Pat, who has worked for Donald Shein, came to complain that his contractor’s tools had been stolen from his job sites. It was suggested by Irene that the contractor invest in an alarm system for the jobs he works on as a cost effective solution to prevent theft.
After we devoted about 30 minutes of our time to the contractor’s issues, this party of two unceremoniously got up and left in the middle of the meeting, obviously because they had addressed the issues important to them, and because the general issues relevant to the community at large held no interest to them. More than one member commented on how transparent, rude and disrespectful this behavior seemed.
This prompted a discussion after the meeting about how to handle this problem in the future. It was suggested that we restrict the meetings strictly to members only and if any non members wish to attend to discuss their specific issues, they pay GCCC dues before being allowed in to the meeting.
Another, suggested a pre-emptive strike, by asking before the meeting if anyone will be needing to leave before the meeting is over and why. And asking if they have a specific issue to address.
Numerous times we have run into people who wish to use the GCCC organization to further their own narrow agenda without contributing to furthering the improvement of the Mt. Hope community as a whole. Perhaps it is time to develop techniques to prevent these types of people from wasting our time and energy. Your suggestions on this topic are welcome.
At the close of the meeting members discussed the formation of the Reorganization/Election Committee for the election of new officers in September.
Elections will be held for President, Vice President, Secretary, Treasurer, Members Secretary for Recruitment, Political Liaison Officer, and Community Relations Director.
All members paid up for the year 2005 by August 15th will have a vote.
Members will be drawing up new by laws, rules of order for meetings, and a comprehensive GCCC general agenda. We will begin disseminating information on this process shortly.
Recommit, recruit, and realize, it takes a village!
And that it takes individuals, working, on a day by day, week by week, month by month, year by year basis!
With that kind of philosophy and committment, we can forge a new Mt. Hope, inclusive and diverse, and we can break free from the chains of the Drug Culture and the crime that keeps us apart, ruins our quality of life, and that wants to make us prisoners in an insular life.
Our GCCC Mission Statement states that we strive to improve the quality of life for all Mt. Hope residents.
Remember that.
John Twomey
Posted at June 25, 2005 12:01 PM
I’m always surprised at how many people come up to me or John and say, Why don’t you do this, or have you tried that. ” If people have good ideas about community activism, they should step forward and actually do the work or at least produce a well thought out proposal. We welcome people to get more involved on any level.
I agree with the opinion that all Mt. Hope community organizations should work together. We have a few needs based organizations here, and they are responsible for dispersing government funds to the community. When these organizations operate effectively, they are a great asset to the community. One of the GCCC’s goals is to develop a working relationship with the other community groups in Mt. Hope. We need someone to volunteer for a position of the Community Relations Officer to coordinate our activity with the other community organizations to benefit the community as a whole. We have people of all different social and ethnic backgrounds here in Mt. Hope. Some people need help, because they are elderly, single mothers, people of modest means. I think we should combine the efforts of all the community groups towards the improvement of quality of life for all Mt. Hopians.
Posted by: Irene at June 27, 2005 06:19 PM
D.O. if you have a solution we are all ears. If you are just here to criticize find the door. When GCCC members have a problem the GCCC members come together to help with a solution.
P.S. Some of the Community groups in MT. Hope condone the problems in Mt. Hope working with these groups would really help LOL.
Posted by: Uri at June 27, 2005 06:51 AM
Enough of these band-aid soultions to problems. We're like the dutch boy with his finger in the dyke. You guys should get a broad band approach to achieve an overarching agenda that incorporates an approach to all the social ills of Mt. Hope that lead to the problems within the community. Get your finger out of the dyke and let's begin sniffing out a solution. We need a coalition of all the community groups in Mt. Hope pulling together to address the problems that lie at the core. You should do something about that and get your finger out of that dyke, and put your band-aid solution back in the box, Jack. Get serious.
Posted by: D.O. at June 26, 2005 11:26 PM