The May 2016 Wards Corner Civic League meeting will be held on the 16th at 6:45pm at the Fitness and Wellness Center.
We will have a speaker from the Norfolk Health Department to speak about the Zika Virus and Rabies.
We will also discuss new bylaws. A draft can be viewed here: Proposed bylaws
Here are links to the May newsletter: May 2016 May 2016 Ads
Below is the President’s Message:
PRESIDENT’S MESSAGE
by Jim English ajim.english@gmail.com
Dear Neighbors,
As you read this message we will have elected a new Mayor, a Superward 6 Councilman, and a member to the Norfolk School Board for our area. Perhaps your candidate/s won, perhaps they didn’t. Nonetheless we are all going to have to recognize that they are our elected officials and while we may or may not agree with them they will be with us for four more years (at least) and we will and should make our voices heard to our elected officials if we do not agree with the policies that are being proposed. This is our right and obligation as a free and democratic society. To sit idly by in apathy as decisions are made without our input or voice oftentimes (or should I say many times) allows poor policies to be put in place that don’t represent the best interest of the majority of us. It allows the few and vocal to get what they want. Exercise your free speech right and speak up to your congressmen or elected official/s if you disagree with them. Also let them know if you do agree with them. It works both ways. I know I like to be vocal (sometimes to the point of being borderline obnoxious I suppose) if what I see happening isn’t right or makes no sense. I challenge you to do the same – but civilly.
Should Andy Protogyrou become our next Mayor, we will have a vacancy for Ward 1 on city council. Because of a ruling in our city charter/constitution, a sitting councilman running for another office (i.e., Mayor) must give up their seat whether they win or lose their election. This means that Andy cannot finish out his term of two more years on city council. Interestingly that does not apply to other candidates running for office (i.e., Sheriff and Senator) who can keep their seats if they lose their election. While we may agree that this is unfair and foolish, nonetheless we must live with it. Therefore it is vitally important and imperative that we get behind Martin Thomas Jr. as he enters the race for councilman for Ward 1. Please sign the petition for Martin for city council, pledge to help his campaign and let us vote him into office when that election is held sometime after July 1, 2016.
In other news, the Board of Directors, after several months of review and discussion, has now approved a new set of constitution and bylaws for our civic league. These can be viewed on our website at www.wardscorner.com so that you may become informed of what they say before we vote on them at our June meeting. They will also be introduced to the membership at the May meeting. Your feedback is encouraged and welcomed. We will consider all feedback and respond to them at the discussion phase of this process prior to voting in June.
The Board of Directors has also made a decision regarding the printing of our newsletter after considering several options. Our concern has been with the increasing cost of our newsletter and the sustainability of printing it at the current level and frequency. Thanks to Ray Duron who spoke with our printer recently, the printer lowered his price to a more manageable level rather than lose our business. Therefore the Board of Directors has agreed to keep our current printer for now as long as we don’t go in the red each month printing the newsletter. By doing this we will not increase the dues at this point, endeavor to maintain 10 ads per month and gradually increase the advertising fee as current ads expire or we pick up new advertisers. This way we still have a sustainable newsletter based on fees from ads and membership dues received while still having funds for such events as our picnic. Hopefully this can be maintained.
Finally summer is almost here and with all of the good things that happen in the summertime we must also realize it is a time for mosquitoes and mosquito bites. Mosquito bites are becoming more of a concern because of the potential of spreading the deadly Zika virus. In addition, summertime usually sees an increase of animal bites and the potential of contacting rabies through the bite of an infected wild animal or an unvaccinated domestic pet. Therefore for our May meeting we will have a representative from the Norfolk Health Department talking about this these issues. You won’t want to miss this presentation.
I hope to see you at our next meeting of our Civic League on the 16th of May at 645PM at the Wellness Center.
Sincerely,
Filed under: Uncategorized |
Wards Corner Civic League 