The June 2016 Wards Corner Civic League meeting will be held on the 20th at 6:45pm at the Fitness and Wellness Center.
Invited speakers are Robert Blizard from Norfolk SPCA and Jeanita Castille from Prime Plus Senior Services.
Below is the President’s Message:
PRESIDENT’S MESSAGE
by Jim English ajim.english@gmail.com
Dear Neighbors,
Summer is just around the corner and schools will be out and hopefully we will all enjoy some relaxing vacation time. Hopefully this summer will be great and we will once again be spared any major hurricanes just like we were last year. However make sure you are prepared just in case. Over the summer please continue to enjoy the Norfolk Fitness and Wellness Center. There are many great activities to be enjoyed at this facility. If you are not a member yet please consider joining. Please take advantage of this exceptional facility in our back yard. Also please consider joining our social media Next Door Ward Corner at www.nextdoor.com . It is a great way to keep up with many of the things happening in our civic league area.
The June meeting marks the last meeting of the first half of the civic league year until we resume our schedule again in September. We will not have a newsletter in July and August. We will, however, post any news that you should know about on our Wards Corner Civic League website and the Wards Corner Now website. We will not have a meeting in July and August unless absolutely necessary.
This brings me to the critical point of electing a replacement councilman for Ward 1. As you are aware Councilman Andy Protogyrou will no longer be our councilman as of July 1. At its July 1st meeting the newly elected city council will determine when a special election will be held to fill that seat. We are pushing for an August election. If the election date is held in August then we will have an election forum or meeting in July, a date to be determined. As you are as aware I have endorsed Martin Thomas Jr. for this seat and our Board of Directors has also done the same at its meeting on June 6th. Therefore please look for announcements about this important election on our website www.wardscorner.com as well as the Next-door website. It is vitally important that we elect Martin Thomas Jr. If the election is not held in August, then I will let you know when it is planned.
This is the time of year that I like to thank all of those folks who have made our civic league great over the course of the year. First, I wish to thank Barbara Ross for her dedicated service as our newsletter editor and board member. She has done an excellent job of preparing the newsletter each month. This takes a significant amount of time to complete and Barbara’s newsletters are informative and always on time. Barbara, we thank you for your service and look forward to your newsletters again in the fall. Enjoy your two months of newsletter free time. Speaking of keeping us informed a hearty thanks goes to Martin Thomas Jr. for keeping our website www.wardscorner.com up to date and informative. He also manages the website www.wardscornernow.com for the Greater Wards Corner area. We also thank Martin for the good work he is doing on the Planning Commission for our area and the city. Also a special thanks to Joan Griffey and Ray Duron for keeping the records of our meetings and ensuring that our finances are in order. Joan, also thanks for your continued efforts as Chair of the Beautification Committee with the Wards Corner Task Force. A thank you also goes to our 2nd VP, Sue Classick for organizing the delivery of our newsletters each month with our many newsletter carriers. Thanks also to our many newsletter carriers for their time in delivering our newsletters to you. This also is no small task. It is yet another valuable service that we are providing to all of the residents of the Wards Corner Civic League area residents. It is also the envy of many of the civic leagues in the Greater Wards Corner area as well as citywide. Thanks also to Betty and Ray Duron for organizing and conducting our adopt-a-street cleanups over the past several years. Thanks also to the members of our civic league who help in each of these cleanups. I thank Scott Guirlinger for all his help as a board member. Thank you for organizing the evenings at Guads and planning our civic league picnic. We are pleased that you have joined us. Lastly I want to thank Socko Pearson who is now coordinating and soliciting the ads for our newsletter. He has already brought in several new advertisers that you will see in the future. Thank you all for your service.
I also wish to thank our Police Officers who keep us safe every day and also provide us with needed information each month at our meetings. They do an outstanding job. We especially thank Officer William Old for his service to our civic league. Please make sure we follow their advice about how to keep ourselves safe. With the rise in car larcenies this means keeping our cars locked at all times and not keeping any valuables in our car. It also means calling the police at either the 911 number or non-emergency number to report any and all crimes that are witnessed. If they don’t receive the calls, the crime is not registered with them and there is no record.
Finally, I extend a very grateful thanks to all of our paid members for your continuing support and attendance at our monthly meetings. Your presence and input at our meetings is much appreciated. Please tell your neighbors to join us in attendance and membership as more numbers mean a bigger voice at city hall.
One thing is for sure. The Wards Corner Civic League is one of the strongest and most powerful civic leagues in the city and you helped us with getting that distinction. The dedication and commitment of the membership of the Greater Wards Task Force, and area Civic Leagues (including and especially ours) will continue the push with our city elected officials and senior city management staff to help us correct and develop the area and rid it of the dysfunctional and criminal element that has unfortunately been drawn to the area. We will not be taking the summer off but will continue our fight. Please join us in that fight as numbers speak to elected officials. Maybe by the time the September meeting comes around we will see new businesses open or opening in the shopping center on the Northeast corner of the business district. You know that shopping center with all the vacant parking spaces that exist now!
Please have a safe, relaxing and enjoyable summer. We will continue our work to improve our area throughout the summer. We hope to see you again in June and then in the fall at our September meeting. Please also join us for our civic league picnic on June 25th at the Northshore Ave playground. There will be food and fun for all.
Sincerely,
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