Walking Nights # 2: A Success!!!

We had another successful event tonight. Thank you to all who came and made it such a pleasant and inspiring time. Thank you to Mayor David Sander also for taking time out of his schedule to join us in our efforts to build a strong neighborhood. We had a decent amount of people and the good thing is that we were able to interact with a handful of new faces too. It is always nice to meet neighbors. The majority of folks walked with us, but it was good to see too that some neighbors came and sat out on lawn chairs while we walked (that's fine to do for those who may not want to walk). And the idea of walking as a group worked better this time instead of a few people walking here and there as was the case with Walking Nights # 1.

This was a momentum building event and I think we have some things to build on. As a result of conversations which occurred tonight, we will have dialogue soon regarding hosting a Block Party and also inviting the City to come to the neighborhood one night to talk about code issues and how to deal with code concerns as a neighborhood. These two issues seem to be a strong desire amongst neighbors.

To adapt the words of JFK's "it's not what your country can do for you, but what you can do for your country"..... We say, "it's not what the City can do for us, but what we can do for our neighborhood." The responsibility is ours. Sure, we have the City to partner with as well as the Cordova Council, and they are a great blessing as they offer us helpful advice, wisdom, and the heavy hand of law too. But we, all of us, are the ones to take up the torch and go to work in our neighborhood to actualize dreams and build community in simple ways each day.

One other thought came up tonight in the course of neighborly conversations. I hear that there were 35 people who showed up to complain about the median on Mather Field Road when it was brought before the City. That is some great passion and admirable on many levels. In light of that, we'd like to extend an invitation for some of these folks to not only inform the rest of the neighborhood about the process (please post on the blog or send something out on the email list and let us know about Council Meetings), but to join forces with what is beginning to stir with the efforts of the Cordova Towne Neighborhood Association. Building unity with everyone and therefore solidifying a strong neighborhood voice will have great advantage in political dyanamics with the Council, but also in promoting a more peaceful neighborhood too.

Anyway, enjoy the following pics from tonight. Click 'em for larger images.