Tuesday night, Feb. 24, while President Obama was speaking to the nation, some neighbors met to rekindle community spirit in the Central District, by resuscitating the Central District Neighborhood Association. Gathering at the Union Street Lutheran Church of the Good Shepherd, the organizers discussed our history, activism of the past, large projects that transformed the community, and hopes for a great future.
Long-time community activist Jean Tinnea reminded us of the Union Street beautification project, and of the garden tours that had funded this effort. It was agreed that there is a place for such activism now, and that the neighborhood needed better representation in competing for resources with the city of Seattle. Other groups, such as the Squire Park Community Association, have a long tradition of activism and we hope to join them.
Presenting draft bylaws, Pearson Cummings acted as chair. It was decided to keep the description of neighborhood ‘boundaries’ very general, to encourage belonging. The audience acknowledged concerns about school closings, trash in the streets, the very discouraging burden of violence in the community, and the desire for socializing. The group talked about organizing a street cleanup and barbecue event for later on in the Spring.
There is plenty of room for collaboration with other groups on our issues. Next meeting is scheduled for 7 pm on Monday, April 6, at the Lutheran Church of the Good Shepherd. We will vote on officers and review and approve the draft bylaws.
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If you really mean: Other groups, such as the Squire Park Community Association, have a long tradition of activism and we hope to join them.
Why do you not join them/us now– and why not before rebirthing of CDNA? The latter is poorly named since the CD is much larger than you intend–even larger than Squire Park. (Note the name of the website we now enjoy!) Mmost people living around here think that the Central District is much larger than the “Central Area” with its several urban villages– as designated in the SUSTAINABLE SEATTLE plan of 1996-99.) Admittedly, sub-neighborhoods within Squire Park (or Central Area) should also meet and pursue closer relationships within a still more limited area, because Squire Park comprises 3500 households– or more– from Union to Jackson, 12th Ave to 23rd.
Johnwilla,
Is there contact info for the CDNA? I wasn’t able to make the last meeting and I won’t be able to make the next meeting, but I’d still like to be involved.
I’d also like information. I live in Jackson Park and would love to be a part of a clean up. Willing to help organize, too!
John, one of the reasons we didn’t just dissolve the CDNA and join Squre Park CC is that most of the actively involved residents live east of 23rd. SPCC’s eastern boundary is 23rd per the City-mandated community council layout and does not represent these people at all.
The City-mandated comm council layout is what it is. It also may have nothing to do with how a community coalesces around a neighborhood center and actually functions.
We ARE a sub-neighborhood association – within two community councils. We have been in existence over 25 years and have achieved some fine things. I feel it’s entirely appropriate that we meet to socialize and address issues at this level. Having attended both community council and CDNA meetings, I think we at the CDNA level can be (and have been) quite effective at a more local level than the comm councils could be.
I see the comm councils as a means to support the larger neighborhood and pass up the chain of councils to the City Council our issues and concerns. We intend to send a voting rep to the Central Area Comm Council. Since we lie within two community councils, we probably should send a rep to the Squire Park CC as well.
We voted to change our name from the well-established Central Neighborhood Association (CNA) to Central District Neighborhood Assoc (CDNA) to differentiate ourselves from Coleman Neighbors Association (CNA) who stole our initials while we were in time-out after the Union St Improvement Project burnout. I didn’t vote for CDNA precisely because it implies that we cover/represent the entire Central District. If the name continues to be an issue and a source of confusion, we’ll just have to revisit the issue.
If you are interested in the activities of the CDNA, or want to get involved, we have set up an email address: [email protected]. Thanks!
WHAT city mandated Community Council layout? I thought articles of incorporation set boundaries. Maybe the city wants to say there needs to be a size limit, but where is the layout mandated in ordinance? I’m asking because if this was a REAL city instead of just total anarchy, the city would lay out real areas and COVER and represent ALL areas and we would be voting for our community council leadership on the ballot like regular cities that you know follow democratic principles?
Not to criticize what you guys are doing which is great. Just that it’s crazy that everyone does not automatically have a community council to belong to. Instead, some people are in the territory of more than one and have two ‘votes’ and some are disenfranchised.
Another way to look at the current Community Council boundaries is to question why it is that our neighborhood business districts aren’t the center of…any…of our local community councils. Does the Union Street corridor suffer because it’s at the edge of Squire Park? Look at what Pike/Pine has done by being able to focus on their neighborhood business district…
Hi John, how about setting up some sort of free website for the CDNA. The Union Street Business Group (unionstreetbusiness.org) uses the ning service which is free. Scott might also be able to set you with the same neighborlogs service that runs centraldistrictnews.com That would be so easy for everyone as we all know how it works already.
Just a caution. .ning and anything smelling like a social network is often blocked at work places. For some reason, they have not stopped all the blogs where I work, just some. Probably has to do with the url..