To our Sunshine Mile community:
This is Andy, the president of the Sunshine Mile Business Association. I know it sometimes feels like you work, give, speak and little comes of it all. But every once in a while, you get a little gift, or a window, into the impact of your voice. It hit me the other day while driving to my office: a traffic light is being installed at Broadway and Plumer.
I can’t say this new traffic light is because of me. But I can say that it was not a part of the initial plans I saw while attending a community input session, and that I had suggested one get added. I remember seeing this note written down onto the giant paper map being used to outline future plans. Working on the Sunshine Mile, I use the Broadway and Plumer intersection often, and have regularly observed people hopping out of their cars to hit the pedestrian crosswalk button so they can merge into traffic. I have experienced first-hand how frustrating it can be to sit five or six cars back when heading north out of Arroyo Chico, knowing it is going to be awhile. I have seen people in this situation decide to instead cut through the gas station parking lot. I had experiences, I had something to offer, a meeting was held, I showed up, and I spoke my piece. Maybe a hundred of us did that, but maybe it was just me.
Cool story huh, so why bother you with an email about it? Well, we have a long way to go here on the Sunshine Mile. New developments are coming our way. It’s fair to assume lots of meetings will and should happen. The Barnum Hill journey has been instructive in many ways– I don’t remember hearing about the meetings about the zoo’s expansion, and maybe I never got the memo. But if more of us who cared had showed up early on, perhaps the initial plan would have been more community friendly than it was. This kind of future, one where new developments are community-focused, is possible.
So, all this to say, let’s show up to more meetings! I can’t be at every one. I get it. But I think a lot more of us can than often do. Our area is about to change, and while we won’t like every bit of it, we can at least share our desires for the area and give input from our vantage point in the community. Maybe one of us who shows up will bring a key insight that leads to the city spending millions in a better way. Maybe we’ll simply get to know our neighbors better. Either way, it will be worth it. And every once and a while, we may get a much-needed traffic light.
All the best,
Andy
SMBA President
