By SHAIN HAUG
The obligations of social distancing required us to cancel the March 24, Allied Gardens/Grantville Community Council Town Hall Meeting and for the time being we will postpone all Town Hall Meetings. We are working on our return to the topics of importance to the community, including the work of San Diego Canyonlands; Dr. Pat Abbott’s discussion of the geology of our earthquake prone area; how state legislation overrides our local zoning; and, of greatest importance, matters that you think the community needs to talk about.
The closure of the places we work and the public areas where we socialize brought sudden changes to every aspect of our lives. There are a thousand stories of your adjustments to this crisis, of your adaption to sheltering in place, and of your solutions to the tensions of the day. Your story will enlighten and brighten our day. Let us know of the humor and pain of life in the time of the corona virus so we can share them on our website and in future editions of this article.
Our website guru Kim Morris updated our aggccouncil.org/ with a COVID19 Response page. She compiled resources from the state and city that are relevant for our community. Also, you will find a place for your observations on how the community has been impacted and for your recommendations what you would like the Community Council to do. This is where you can tell us your story.
While we have postponed our in-person Town Hall Meetings, our bylaws require us to hold a public meeting on May 26 to nominate and elect board members and officers. It will be a virtual meeting held on the Zoom program, as discussed below. We will distribute the agenda and notice of the meeting to the 150 or so on our mailing lists and in the May issue of the Mission Times Courier. Those who register to attend will receive specific instructions on how to join the meeting.
For the times they are a-changin’
Maybe virtual meetings will be, or even already are, the new normal. Our Board of Directors meeting on May 5 and the general meeting on May 26 will be tests of that format. We need you to attend.
The AGGCC Board of Directors meetings are open to the public. We meet on the first Tuesday of each month at 6:30 p.m. The agenda for the May 5 meeting will be published on Saturday, May 1. Send me an email with your name to the address given below or complete the contact form on the website and we will give you the instructions for attendance by way of the Zoom program.
We will hold candidate forums for the mayoral race and the District 7 race by way of the virtual meeting platform. We will let the candidates chose the dates and times convenient to them. More to follow.
Tree project
The Zion Avenue Tree Project is one of AGGCC’s efforts to enhance and improve our community. The project was awarded “Best Urban Forestry Project of 2018” by the California Urban Forests Council.
The 60 trees planted along Zion Avenue are going into their third growing season and could use the help of volunteers to continue to thrive and flourish. Over half the trees are cared for by residents who live along Zion Avenue. They water, weed and mulch the trees regularly. You can see the benefits of their green thumbs as the trees grow stronger and bring shade and beauty to our community.
We are looking for volunteers to care for the rest of the trees. If you can help by taking on one of the trees from late spring until fall, please contact AGGCC board member, Sophia Frost at [email protected].
— Shain Haug is the president of the Allied Gardens-Grantville Community Council. Reach him at [email protected] and be added to the email contact list.
