Urban Neighbors-Call for Members & Volunteers!

[Misty]

Urban Neighbors, Downtown’s Neighborhood Association is now official and ready to launch! Our 6-member planning group has been working very hard since January and we are now ready to start recruiting members and volunteers to serve on various committees! We are having a press release & logo unveiling after the City Council meeting Tuesday, May 8th at City Hall. Our first monthly social is Thursday, May 10th at Nonna’s at 5:30 P.M., complimentary appetizers provided by Nonna’s with a cash bar. We have three levels of membership and this is the annual membership fee:

Resident Membership-$25 for members living downtown (includes voting rights)
Associate Membership-$25 for friends of downtown (no voting rights)
Business Membership-$100

We could use some assistance getting the word out to all the current and potential downtown residents. If anyone is interested in membership, serving on a committee, or just helping spread the word please let me know! All are invited to both the press conference and social at Nonna’s, please come join us! We will be having a social at a different downtown location the 2nd Thursday of each month.

Thanks!
Misty Kemp

[metro]

Misty, I'm all in support of Urban Neighbors, but how come they keep saying its "the official downtown neighborhood association" and only one as well. Call me crazy but the Downtown Residents Association or more commonly DRA has been going for over 3 years now.

Also, I'm a downtown worker and resident and am interested in possibly joining, at least getting more involved.

[Pete]

Fantastic idea!

Wow, it's exciting to see some of these grass-roots, citizen-driven organizations that have the best interest of OKC at heart.

Are you planning to have a website? Would be a great way to organize and communicate -- plus solicit donations.

[Misty]

Jeff Bezdek started the DRA and he is our first Urban Neighbors President. When we first started organizing and talking about doing this the Mayor referred us to Jeff and the organizations joined together. The DRA was never incorporated or set up through the Neighborhood Alliance as an “official” neighborhood association. So now we have Articles of Incorporation & Bylaws and basically a new name. We will have a website, urbanneighbors.org It’s still being developed but should be up and running soon. The six member planning board that has put this together consists of Jeff Bezdek, David Remy, Dick & Sharon Rodine, Paige Gregory and myself. We couldn’t have done it without the help of Georgie Rasco at the Neighborhood Alliance. If you have an idea for a committee you’d like to start & head up please let us know! We thought we’d let the new members decide what committees we would have based on interest rather than just creating a bunch of committees and looking for people to fill the committee chair positions.

[metro]

Yes he did, and I helped him start it up as well as a few others. I didn't mention his last name publically since we try not to mention site members full names for privacy sake, at least not w/o their permission. I'm having lunch with him next week to talk about it since I haven't spoken to him lately. Since the DRA never got too much support, Jeff , myself and others quit having the meetings as often. If Jeff is involved with Urban Neighbors, go ahead and count me in for sure! Count me in for a committee as well!

Just FYI, here is a past post on DRA , doubt it will be helpful, but knowledge nonetheless:

http://www.okctalk.com/okc-metro-are...ts+association

[Misty]

Great! I look forward to meeting you & having you involved!

[Misty]

Doug L. has agreed to head up our History Committee! Alright!

[jbrown84]

Great choice!

[Doug Loudenback]

Great choice!

Ha ha! We shall see! Since I don't live downtown but live in Mesta Park, I won't be eligible to vote, though, so I guess I can't do too much harm!

[Misty]

We're glad to have you Doug! FYI-We decided to start the social at 5:00 instead of 5:30 AND paid members will receive complimentary beverages. Hope we have a great turnout! Don't forget cocktails on the skyline at OKCMOA afterwards!

[metro]

I'm excited to be heading up the Civic Committee. Hey Misty, I won't be able to be at the first social, I'll be out of town on business.

[Misty]

I'm excited too! Sorry you won't be able to make the social, if you're available for the press conference please join us.

[Doug Loudenback]

Urban Neighbors, Downtown’s Neighborhood Association is now official and ready to launch! Our 6-member planning group has been working very hard since January and we are now ready to start recruiting members and volunteers to serve on various committees! We are having a press release & logo unveiling after the City Council meeting Tuesday, May 8th at City Hall. Our first monthly social is Thursday, May 10th at Nonna’s at 5:30 P.M., complimentary appetizers provided by Nonna’s with a cash bar. We have three levels of membership and this is the annual membership fee:

Resident Membership-$25 for members living downtown (includes voting rights)
Associate Membership-$25 for friends of downtown (no voting rights)
Business Membership-$100

We could use some assistance getting the word out to all the current and potential downtown residents. If anyone is interested in membership, serving on a committee, or just helping spread the word please let me know! All are invited to both the press conference and social at Nonna’s, please come join us! We will be having a social at a different downtown location the 2nd Thursday of each month.

Thanks!
Misty Kemp

Soooo ... where do we pay to become a member? Address/link/whatever?

[Misty]

Eventually you will be able to pay on our website at urbanneighbors.org, but it's still under development. You can pay at the door at the social at Nonna's or you can mail payment to us at P.O. Box 2293, OKC, OK 73101. Our new member sign up form should be ready within a day or so. If you do mail a payment we will just need your contact info included with it until we have the form uploaded on the net.

[metro]

Misty, one thing you may need to clarify to the public is that is the $25 membership per person or household. Alot of us downtown residents, and especially the ones that will move in these newer developments (Block 42, Maywood, Harvey Lofts, Central Ave. Villas, etc.) will be families or couples. What is the plan for that as most Home Owners Associations (HOA's) typically cover a househould and not each individual.

[Misty]

We did discuss have an individual membership at one price and a family membership at another. We decided to keep it simple and just charge $25 per person. One thing to keep in mind as well is that everything we've done so far is just to get us up & running. As we build a membership base anything can be changed down the road based on member preferences. We will need a few more board members (board members must reside downtown) and committee chairs (committee chairs/members do not need to be downtown residents). We plan to have an 8 member board but only have 4 people so far, so hopefully we'll have some interested people at the social at Nonna's!

[jbrown84]

I have a friend who may be moving back here and if so we may be moving downtown. What area is considered downtown for you guys, Misty?

[Misty]

Our boundaries are Classen on the West, Highway 235 on the East, the Oklahoma River to the South and 13th Street to the North. My favorite rental place that I've seen so far is Sycamore Square. Lots of trees, flowers, birds, it's really cute and the floorplans are perfect for roommates.

[jbrown84]

Thanks for the tip. I really hadn't considered it because of the suburban style, but I guess I should give it a try.

[metro]

Just wanted to remind everyone the official unveiling is tomorrow at the City Council meeting. From what I understand, you should get there around 9:45-10:00 to get there in time for the official unveiling!

[jbrown84]

We are leaning towards the Park Harvey or Deep Deuce now.

[metro]

Go to the Park Harvey, we need more CBD nightlife!!

[jbrown84]

I really like the Park Harvey (inside) but it may be a little high for us, especially considering that parking is extra.

Anyone know how much a monthly parking pass goes for in the Galleria garage?

[Doug Loudenback]

Just wanted to remind everyone the official unveiling is tomorrow at the City Council meeting. From what I understand, you should get there around 9:45-10:00 to get there in time for the official unveiling!

I'm bringing my camera!

[metro]

I'll see you there Doug.

jbrown, I think normally its around $92 a month but I know that Park Harvey has made special arrangements for lower monthly parking rates for their residents. And with the current special that they're running with free utilities for a year, I think that's a good trade off.