On January 10, we had our first social hour at Jenny and
Stephen’s. It was super fun – 12 adults and 2 kids. Over beer, wine and chocolate, we got to know
each other better as neighbors and friends.
Then some of us walked a couple doors down to the neighborhood
meeting.
Full house at the neighborhood meeting! So great to see so many familiar and new
faces! A summary of what was discussed:
We are now on
FaceBook! Please follow us! Search for Goss Grove Neighborhood or use this link: https://www.facebook.com/GossGroveNA/#. Information will be posted on both
NextDoor.com and FaceBook. Please join one or both!
Setting notifications
on NextDoor.com. Our neighborhood
uses NextDoor.com and we currently have 220 members! That’s great, but in order
for it to be effective, users have to set their notifications properly. Not much point in joining if you never get
notified of a posting. Turn off posts
from all other neighborhoods for starters.
Then set notification to daily or weekly digest at the minimum. There
are not many posts, but this is where meeting notices get posted – very important!
Goss-Grove Community
Garden: The growing season is beginning soon! There are plots available. This year, pea gravel will be renewed. Michele will be following up on repair of the
Dragonfly sculpture. Irrigation needs
to be checked on flower beds.
Little Free Library
and Community Bulletin Board: The
Little Free Library is well loved! It
was repaired a few months ago and is going strong. The Community Bulletin Board was vandalized and
Stephen is in the process of fixing it. Jenny will be posting meeting and social hour
notices at least two weeks ahead of events.
Crime and Safety: Most brazen crime award to theft of an
expensive bike off a second story deck! Otherwise,
a light mix of residence burglaries, car break-ins and vandalism. If you’d like to know more details and get to
know Mike and Keith (the other long time neighborhood cop), come to the next
meeting! We have had friendly
neighborhood police support for many years.
As usual, they attended this meeting.
Mike Heath is the new sergeant for Goss-Grove. He’s experienced and super nice.
Homeless/Transient: We wondered what to do to help the homeless
in our neighborhood. Police said to
refer them to churches and shelters. If
they are sleeping in your yard or front porch (which happens), feel free to
call the police and they will transport them to where they need to go, whether
it’s shelter or detox. If you’d like to
volunteer your time, donate money, and get involved – Bridge House is a great
resource for this population. I was glad
to hear that this year, two officers have been designated to homeless outreach,
helping them to get jobs, housing, etc.
They are part of the HOT Team (Homeless Outreach Team). This is part of a nationwide program, and is integrated
with other agencies in the city of Boulder. This last year, I have seen people
sleeping under the benches in the park – first time.
Community Issues
Team: Pilot program out of City Manager’s office to deal with issues that
don’t fit neatly into current policy. Parks
and Recreation Parks in Boulder are smoke-free, but our pocket parks are administered
under the Dept of Transportation. At the
neighborhood meeting, we agreed that the large no smoking zones at Boulder
High/creek/downtown pushes (mostly) students to our neighborhood to smoke in
the parks. They are there all the time, including weekends. This neighborhood seems to have been
identified as a great place to smoke and deal drugs, close to downtown, but out
of the zone of no-smoking. Unfortunately,
this is often accompanied by lots of trash left behind. On the more serious side, there are kids who
are really in trouble, clearly strung out at 10 am, not just smoking. Ongoing reports of drug dealing in the alleys
(not just kids, either). It was
suggested that a couple of neighborhood residents (renters or owners) get on
this team as volunteers. Jenny will
follow up to find out more. Boulder High
School has no interest in addressing issues of what their students do outside
school grounds, while fully cognizant that this neighborhood bears the brunt of
their policies.
Effect of co-op
ordinance: A new co-op ordinance has
been passed allowing for 10 coops to be established around the city/year. The minimum house size is 2000 square feet
and there are only 3 houses that are that size or greater. Limited effect on neighborhood.
Grant money is
available: We don’t need to be a
501c(3), but we need some mechanism to accept the money (like a business). We
can discuss this more next meeting. The
Little Free Library and Community Bulletin Board have been great assets. Perhaps it’s time to come up with another
neighborhood enhancing project. $1k - $20k
grants available.
Neighborhood Block
Party Trailers: A “pop-up potluck”
is how it’s been described. Neighborhoods can get it for a day. City delivers
it and picks it up. All we do is clean it up.
Only available for neighborhood block parties. This would be fun to do this summer. Reservations for Friday/Saturday/Sunday start
in April.
Budget report on request.
A million thanks for Paige for taking such meticulous notes
during the meeting! We currently do not
have a secretary. Please volunteer. It feels good to contribute. Really.
