May 1 and May 16 Mtg Recaps
It’s a hospital week for me so no time for a video post but I wanted to share updates from the last 2 village board meetings regarding issues that are important to me!
Community/ Economic Development Director staff position- The past two board meeting discussions (watch here and here) on this topic have easily been the most vigorous debates the board has had, certainly during my term. Discussion centered on Trustee Raisa Koltun’s proposal to add a full-time Community Development Director to village staff, a proposal that was passed last night (village board documents discussed are here) and will now move to a committee to hash out a job description.
I believe this is a BIG win for Whitefish Bay’s future. The Bay is a phenomenal place to live and this position dedicates resources to ensure the Bay remains a phenomenal place to live by allowing us plan for smart growth, for neighborhood preservation, for environmental risk mitigation, and for community-first commercial development/ re-development.
We have phenomenal staff in the village office. My personal impression is that our staff are exceeding all expectations trying to manage the daily aspects of village operations, and that our current staff lack the bandwidth to tackle long-term planning, including:
Zoning reform
Community engagement regarding long-term planning
Intergovernmental and public-private partnership development
A major goal of this position is to make sure that with the Fox Bay theater building, or any future opening on Silver Spring, or any broader community development, we have dedicated village bandwidth and resources to make sure we are doing everything we can proactively to find the right fit for our community, not just whatever comes at us.
Community Magazine initiative- At the May 1 village board meeting and May 5 BID board meeting I gave this presentation on a community magazine proposal. I’ve already written/ spoken on this blog about how important I think a community magazine could be for our community, and so MANY of you have reached out in support. Thank you! Next meeting to take this up will be June 5, and I hope my colleagues will take action at that meeting to bring this to fruition. I will be presenting a financial model and operational structure at that meeting.
I cannot emphasize enough how different this will be from Bay Leaves/Living, in the following ways:
Created and edited by local residents, not a multinational company
More original content than ads or sponsored content
Goal is community-building and communication, not profit
More features on WFB rather than generic content
The BID Board gave enthusiastic feedback and general support for the concept. The Shorewood community magazine has been a boon to its local small businesses and BID president Charle Stalle noted he believes a WFB community magazine could do the same for ours.
Civic Foundation president Eric Bunke has signaled strong support for the concept.
I’m meeting with the Education Foundation soon to elicit their support.