Maggie Blackwell's Advice to NOMA

Hi Neighbors & Friends!

We mentioned, in a long list of other activities, that Maggie Blackwell visited our neighborhood meeting this past July. Maggie is best known for (1) her work her work with the Fulton Heights neighborhood where she was the driving force behind the creation and installation of their Centennial Park, (2) her candidacy for City Council (election day Nov 3rd 2009), and (3) her writing ~ having authored many articles for the Salisbury Post and other publications.

We had not yet shared the many insights she gave us to help us here in the North Main Neighborhood. Here are some of the many items she discussed with us:

• Maggie said the Fulton Heights neighborhood is NOT an official non-profit agency holding 501 (c) (3) status. We were surprised because this has often been recommended to us. She said in obtaining their grants and contributions for the Centennial Park, that the checks were written directly to the City and earmarked for the Park.


• Fulton Heights sends copies, five to be exact, of their newsletter to City Council.


• Now folks, newsletters are perhaps our most expensive endeavor. We had one distributed last year very successfully, however we did not touch the Old North Salisbury coffers to do it. One person paid privately for postage and another did most of the printing and folding. With over 400 households here in the North Main community, postage alone becomes quite costly. The Fulton Heights neighborhood EMAILS most of their newsletter. They can do this because they have gathered quite a list of neighborhood email addresses. This is why we are now encouraging folks to send us their email information on this site. (see right top corner)


• Maggie says the Fulton Heights community uses their extensive email list to communicate to one another. Birth announcements travel this way, news of folks who are ill and may need community help travels this way, news of any undesireables in the neighborhood travels this way. They have created a wonderful way to communicate with one another! This is definitely something we can work on . . . . again the need to develop a list of email contacts here in NOMA.


• Maggie suggested we try to focus on one topic at a time for the neighborhood. . . . to perhaps address one emotional issue and cover it before we move on to something else.


• If illegal drug issues crop up in our neighborhood, as they do in nearly every neighborhood, Maggie suggested we meet regularly with the "head drug guy" at the Salisbury Police Dept. She said to REQUEST patrolling here. She also said asking for and getting NO PARKING signs to go in front of houses that perhaps have a lot of in-&-out traffic as a method to be able to contact police when cars are there. The NO PARKING acts as a deterrent.


• Maggie strongly suggested we get children involved and engage families with children. We've often talked about perhaps a Halloween Party or Christmas holiday event, and Easter Egg Hunt but we've thus far never gotten these off the ground. Maggie says that by engaging children and families with children we get to KNOW more of our neighbors, and know who should be in the neighborhood and who should not.


• Maggie reinforced something we've supported all along - the appearance of the neighborhood. She called out the "Broken Window Theory" where someone sees a broken window and then throws another rock to break yet another . . . the downward spiral begins. Appearance is important. She recommends getting Salisbury Code Enforcement involved, and perhaps even before that, appointing individuals in our neighborhood to keep an eye out for properties that are falling out of code. This could be as simple as overgrown lawns, cars in front lawns, backyard junkers with no tags . . . or could be more complex as in rentals that don't look up to code, empty houses that are being neglected, etc.


• Maggie's neighborhood, and several others here in Salisbury, have a Neighborhood Watch program in place. We had one here - the signs are out - but we do not meet regularly on the topic. Maggie suggested we find some local handymen who may put up security lights for us. We actually can recommend someone if you email us at oldnorthsalisbury@gmail.com, but this person is for hire. If we could find someone to donate the installation, while each individual purchases their own lights, this might be another way to give back to the neighborhood.


• Maggie recommended establishing relationships with the churches in our neighborhood. This may have been done in the past because several past social events were held in church yards and gardens, but we should perhaps get back on track with that.

Lastly - the most valued advice Maggie gave us: She offered to us that each of us is gifted in some way . . . that each of us brings our gift to the community. Our neighborhood is a diverse community of painters, photographers, teachers, doctors, chefs, musicians, shop owners, business people, gardeners, lawyers, accountants, students, tailors, landscapers, and so much more. While one may be a good blog writer, another is a good fund-raiser. While some may enjoy the camaraderie of meetings, another may prefer not to be involved publicly but may enjoy creating neighborhood flags or signs. Another may be the watchful eye on neglect or crime while another may be the event planner. Some can go to SNAG meetings and City Council meetings, while others may just enjoy to spread the work of the neighborhood association by word of mouth to their friends and next-door neighbors. Find these people and let them know we need and appreciate their gifts!

We can't thank Maggie enough for the gift of her time to our association. Thank you, Maggie Blackwell!

PS: Maggie gave us a nice plug talking about her visit with us in her Campaign blog on her website:
http://maggieblackwellforcouncil.com/thecampaign.html

So Much Happening!

The Old North Salisbury Association, the North Main Neighborhood Association, met last night to discuss new projects going forward. We have been very successful in our effort towards getting the new sidewalk and crosswalk at W. Miller St and all who worked towards this should be very proud of your achievements! Here are some of the exciting new topics we covered last night:

1. A possible fund raising effort to put decorative, pedestrian level lighting along the new sidewalk project. We are in the process of obtaining cost estimates from the City to help us determine what is needed and how to go about it.



2. We discussed officially changing the Association name, currently the Old North Salisbury Association, to North Main or NoMa because it is more relative and meaningful. We are checking to see if Old North Salisbury was legally incorporated and what a name change would mean in that regard. We've asked for serious thought and a final vote at the next meeting.



3. Putting together a "Welcome Packet" for new neighbors



4. Dividing the neighborhood into Quadrants with Quad-Captains in order to better communicate with folks throughout the neighborhood.



5. We discussed getting more involved with the Police Department and getting them more involved in our neighborhood. We need to send representatives to the SNAG meetings (see earlier posting) and CALL-CALL-CALL 911 when anything even APPEARS to be amiss in the neighborhood. The squeaky wheel will get the grease!



6. We unanimously voted to include the west side of N. Jackson St. in the neighborhood. Our boundaries before this included the east side of N. Jackson but not the west. That portion of neighborhood currently is not supported by a neighborhood group or association.



7. We are looking at hosting a NoMa Home/Garden Tour in Spring 2010! How exciting - stay tuned for more!



8. We agreed to meet monthly on the 4th Thursday of the month, except for November & December when meetings will be scheduled as needed. A Christmas Party may take the place of a November/December meeting.

In addition to the above, we were very pleased and proud to have Maggie Blackwell join us as a guest. Maggie was president of the highly successful Fulton Heights Neighborhood Association and shared some of her insights and successes with us. We could not be more grateful to Maggie for sharing her time and wisdom with us. Maggie is running for City Council this fall. Not only did we get to meet and speak with this wonderful intelligent woman who shared with us her neighborhoods strengths but we got to know our candidate better as well! Thanks, Maggie!


We perhaps had our biggest turn-out in recent years at last night's meeting. So Cool! For anyone who thinks these meetings are stodgy and stuffy - they are not! We conduct the meetings in a casual atmosphere (last night we were scrunched in Sue McHugh's living room on Main St.) and everyone is welcome ~ all ideas are welcome ~ and the energy is positively electrifying! Thanks to everyone in attendance from all the corners of our neighborhood!
The next meeting will be on August 27th. We'll post the details here as that date approaches.
THANK YOU NOMA!