Reflections on Tucson's Neighborhood Summer Sessions

Reflections the Neighborhood Infill Coalition (NIC) Hosted Neighborhood Sessions, a.fonte, 8.22.13

 

Earlier in the week, I thought I would be writing a detailed summary of the last of three NIC hosted Neighborhood Sessions held at Ward II this summer and posting it via my AnitaWrites blog.  But, as the days have passed, and I have had time to consider what role, as a neighborhood resident and as a professional in community development, I would be willing to take on as a result of these sessions, much of the “wind has gone out of my sail.”   

Maybe it’s the announcement this week of the “strategic pause” of Imagine Greater Tucson (IGT), yet another planning organization that did not meet community expectations for positive change.  I had devoted many hours as a volunteer and later as a consultant to IGT.  I co-facilitated the 2010-2011 Community Conversations and the subsequent policy analysis process that generated the IGT list of community values.  But, two years before IGT put itself on “pause”, I left the organization due to what I viewed as a significant (and non-community-based) decision to focus on transportation planning.  And I have experienced other efforts in the past years that, although begun with the intent to be inclusive and community-based, turned out to be top-down driven and, because of that, produced community plans with no community supported actions. 

The intentions and commitment of NIC and the other twenty-five neighborhoods who participated in this summer’s sessions are, I believe, positive and consistent with determined efforts they have demonstrated over the years.  Tucson is, for better or worse, a city-town of neighborhoods and small businesses.  We are not a corporate city, we are not a destination city for new businesses, in spite of economic development incentives and recruitment attempts to make us one.  Neighborhoods and small businesses are pillars of our region’s progress or stagnation.  These summer sessions were framed by NIC neighborhood leadership to be positive and proactive.  For the most part, they have been.  They have also been productive.  Here are several outcomes of this all-volunteer summer effort: 

• A statement of neighborhood and community principles and goals, entitled “This We Believe”;
• A quantitative summary of “desired organizational outcomes” for one or more neighborhood city-wide organizational structures;
• Identification of (three potential and one current) organizational structures to implement the desired outcomes;
• NIC’s invitation for another follow-up session in six months to access continued actions.

Within my neighborhood, I live in an HOA community.  Within that community, I am active in establishing a little free library to promote community building through reading.  These are focused steps I can do.  I have professional skills that I can and do contribute to the broader community through my business, Community Renaissance www.community-renaissance.org .  However, I won’t be taking on any new roles or responsibilities as I might have done a few years ago.  Instead, I deeply value the efforts of others I enjoyed working with this summer at these sessions and I will continue to share the word of their progress and successes.

 

If you want more specifics on this summer’s sessions, outcomes and next steps, send an email to Collette at williamaltaffer@azbar.org .

 

 

Tucson Neighborhood Leaders Meet and Do the Hard Work: BrightSpot Surprise

"This is really hard work," one of the participants mused at yesterday's meeting of neighborhood leaders who gathered for a 2nd of 3 scheduled meetings this summer convened by the Tucson Neighborhood Infill Coaltion.

"It sure is hard work,"  Ruth Beeker, facilitator for the meeting agreed.  "Moving ourselves from complaining (actually, Ruth used the "bit....." word, but I am cleaning it up a bit for my post) to finding solutions is hard work."  And, silently, I also agreed, saying to myself, "And this is why I am here: to find solutions."

As part of my tentative re-emergence in community work focused on "my cup is half full" philosophy and practice, I wasn't sure I had a place in this group.  But I decided to give it a try and administer a kind of self-test about how deep my exploration of community happiness and prosperity had really gone into my psyche.  So far I would say, it's made a definite positive difference in my attitude and behavior of public particpation.  I listen more closely and think a bit longer before I say something.  I judge less and appreciate different perspectives a bit more--not a 180 degree shift, but, still a change.

It's too soon to tell if this gathering of 22 neighborhood associations and 44 civic organizations can lean forward toward a more positive direction between neighborhoods, businesses and local government, but, as of today, I am hopeful.  One example emerged from my small group where a representative from the Garden District NA talked about how they have formed a public-private partnership with two neighborhood stores.  The businesses now fund a neighborhood newsletter and have altered their business hours to accomodate neighborhood concerns.  If this kind of progress can be duplicated in other neighborhoods (and expanded), Tucson can offer a brighter neighborhood-business community future. 

My neighborhood of Crest Ranch (located in Campus Farms NA) is just east of what I refer to as an example of "funky Tucson."  Walking west along the rurban roads along Vine and King, I enjoy rabbits and quails, lizards and diverse birdlife and the holiday decorations provided by one of the residents.  If I go east, I quickly can shop at Safeway and eat at Ghini's and buy French pastries at La Baquette Bakery.  On cooler days, I can ride my bike to UA Farms and enjoy the animal life and green fields that remind me of my farming roots.  All this, and more, contribute to the good life in my neighborhood. While establishing a "little free library" remains a challenge to my HOA (we have expanded my front yard "book basket" practice to something bigger...), a dedicated group of my neighbors and I are working with our HOA board to find common ground on this small community-building project.

What creates the good life in your neighborhood and how are you contributing to it on a regular basis?