Answers to HPLA Questions received in emails and through blog

Hi, everyone:

There have been some questions and concerns sent to me, and I will do my best to address them here.

Question: "When did Mady take over from Phil as President? Who are the board members?"

Answer: In name, I have been president this past year, but Phil and I have been working as co-presidents so the position would be filled.

Currently, the HPLA board is made up almost entirely of emeriti because we have not had parties interested in running for board membership. Despite requests for board members, many of these requests made personally to people in our community, there has just not been a resource for board members. That is understandable, as people in our neighborhood are just too busy helping our city and neighborhood in other ways. However, the board is now made up of the same people who have been doing this for years, and who are all stretched a bit thin. Hopefully, with the influx of new neighbors, we will have lots of new board members this year.

The board members are as follows:
Amy Rizzo, Mady Dersch, Kathy Fields and Phil Cheney are all emeriti who are staying on the board to try to help keep it going. Christine Shorr (past president) agreed to be on the board as an emeritus member as well. Jeff Abugel is in his last year in his term, but we don't ever want to lose him because he keeps his eye out for crime, always shows up when needed, and writes hilarious blog entries. Susette Kearns (who is one of our most dependable association members ever and shows up to everything but who does not reside in her home here in Poplar Lawn) was our only new member this year. Amy agreed to stay on in the VP position, and Mady stepped up to the President position for the year, with Phil's help.

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Question: "Why didn't HPLA support High Street's Holiday Party last year?"

Answer: There have been several accusations that we did not promote last year's All Neighborhoods Party. While this accusation in and of itself seems sort of ludicrous, (Why would there be an organized attempt to systemically thwart a social event?) the HPLA board commits its support to the 2006 Holiday Party hosted by High Street.

On the contrary, the neighborhood was emailed last year with notification of the High Street-sponsored party. Mady also personally delivered to residents the hard copies that were given to us by High Street and did the usual call tree calls for the 2006 party at the same time that she called residents to inform them of the HPLA 2006 party. (not a lot of people came to the HPLA party in 2006 either).

The short answer: HPLA announced the 2006 Holiday Party hosted by High Street. The party was advertised by High Street and by HPLA. Not a lot of people went. A resonable guess is that people were busy with all the other parties and commitments during the holidays, which brings me to our next concern ...

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Question: "Why didn't we have a Christmas Party this year?"

Answer: Everyone in our neighborhood was too busy: we all have careers and commitments and old houses that need fixing and families, etc. All of those things are priorities and should be. The holidays are a busy time. People are over-extended, and we all have a difficult time making it to all of the potential engagements.

Much discussion went around the board trying to justify a party that may not even be well attended: our last several have been a waste of money and really poorly attended. Ideas were thrown around to instead do something community-minded and improve the city with something other than a party that gets lost amidst all the other celebrating of the season or have a party at another time of the year.

We had very little budget to work with because we had not collected everyone's dues. We could not afford to rent a location, and no one wanted to offer a space. The usual players who balance the majority of the neighborhood association's workload were all stretched thin with work, moving, job searches, family commitments and illness, and travel.

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Question: "Are we having a party to make up for the one we didn't have"?

Answer: A subcommittee has been formed by the fabulous Debra Robles to work on planning a social event. They are meeting and we will get back to everuone on the decision that is made about a social engagement for the combined neighborhood associations.

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Question: "Why did we ask those outside of Poplar Lawn to bring anything to the party, back when we originally were scheduled to have a holiday party? I have never heard of guests from other Neighborhood Associations bringing anything."

Answer: In the past, we have been asked to bring things to parties outside of our neighborhood. Additionally, outsiders have brought things to our parties before. When the newbies on the board (the lot of us) came here, that was how we were told it was done, and how we'd been doing it. Otherwise, we wouldn't have shlepped all those ham biscuits to othe neighborhoods' parties. (And the invitation to our last all-neighborhoods holiday party, the one at At The Globe, had the same request on the invitation. No one set us straight that time.) We've learned our lesson now.

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Question: "Why aren't we meeting regularly? Why don't we meet in peoples houses like we used to?"

Answer: Our bylaws say every other month. If we have a meeting with city officials made available to the neighborhood, we count that as a meeting. We actually have met a fair amount, but sometimes those meetings are poorly attended. if you would like to host a meeting, let us know.

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Question: "To whom do I pay my dues? Are my dues paid for this year? Why are our dues due in June instead of Janurary?"

Answer: Pay dues to our treasurer, Kathy Fields. Our fiscal year starts in the summer per our bylaws.

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Question: "...where is HPLA? Is the association on hiatus, or has it just died altogether?"

Answer: It's still around, with a few people doing a few things when they can. We need your help, though. If you like what we do, help us. If you hate our guts and everything we do, please, please throw a coup and take it over.

posted by Mady