November 8, 2000
There goes the neighborhood
Workshop examines benefits of neighborhood associations
By Carol South
Herald contributing writer
From barking dogs and feral cats to zooming traffic and commercial development, the city's neighborhood associations address a variety of topics every year.
For the active board members of these associations, help with organization, meeting facilitation, decision making and consensus building is just a phone call away. For the past few years, Priscilla Holmes of the Michigan Regional Community Policing Institute at Michigan State University has lent her expert assistance and guidance to these groups.
Saturday morning Holmes and colleague Diane Casey presented a seminar on facilitating neighborhood meetings at the Grand Traverse Heritage Center. Seven representatives of city neighborhood associations attended, including those from the Central Neighborhood, Olde Towne, Slabtown and Traverse Heights associations.
During the seminar, Holmes discussed the importance of defining the neighborhood and ways to identify issues, prioritize them and build consensus. She also stressed that association leaders must be flexible if resident concerns are different from what they expected.
This point was clear to Barbara Rishel, a founding member of the Olde Towne Neighborhood Association. Rishel noted that the association's founders came together to obtain an historical district designation two years ago, but were quickly diverted by residents' concerns about traffic.
"We organized to be an historic district and it turns out that we had all these traffic issues," Rishel noted. "We still haven't gotten to the historic district."
Holmes gave attendees various methods for determining neighborhood concerns so that the association would spend its energy in appropriate places. She noted that most times the group members would express the same concern or concerns. For very divisive issues, Holmes said an outside facilitator might be necessary.
Once the group's concerns were established, she told seminar participants to look to the group for solutions.
"If a group of people have a problem, I personally believe they have the solution, too," Holmes said. "If you truly believe in the democratic process, the people will have the answer."
The Central Neighborhood Association is the grande dame of neighborhood associations, the oldest in the area. Despite its longevity, it faces the same challenges of newer neighborhood associations: busy families, changing leadership, changing neighborhood demographics and new hot-button issues. Co-president Mike DeVries attended the seminar to find ways to draw more residents into the organization.
"I was looking at ways to get more people involved, ways to motivate people," said DeVries, who has been a resident and active in Central neighborhood for more than four years. "Participation means different things to different people, whether that means going to meetings or helping out in any way they can."
Holmes firmly believes in the power of neighborhoods to solve local problems, applying that belief in her personal life. In her own neighborhood in Lansing, which includes more than 1,500 families, she sees how a small group with common concerns can improve the quality of life for all.
Social get-togethers are important for community building. Even neighborhoods just starting to organize should have communal events so people can get to know each other on an informal basis.
"I believe that neighborhoods are the forum where democracy happens," she said. "In America, it is one of the joys that you as a neighborhood can join together and have an impact."