Dear Neighbors, I am sorry for the late posting, but wish to share with you this great idea a neighbor from Bloomingdale has. I did not read the email until Sunday morning, but did attend to support this parent and the parents and children that showed up. Unfortunately, the park gates were locked and as of 9:45am were not unlocked. I will be working with the organizer to get this on a regular schedule and well organized, I encourage you to please join us.
I’m pleased to announce, the WALK is on!!!
You’re Invited:This Sunday June 12th: 9am at Florida Avenue Park for our 1st official “Neighborhood Walk on Florida Avenue Park”
For those of you who haven’t heard, we are organizing a Neighborhood Safety Walk / Kids Playtime in conjunction with the MPD in our area. The idea is simply to descend en mass to reclaim Florida Avenue Park for the community, and largely for our smallest members. We want the park to be a place that welcomes all members of the community – not just those who frequent the corner liquor store over there.
We will be bringing trash bags for a “clean up” to rid the area of beer cans, liquor bottles and any other littler & debris to make it safe & clean for the kids to play. PSA Lieutenant Roch will be on site as well as other MPD officers to ensure safety and to provide face time to residents with questions or concerns. So please bring the kids for some FUN & to help keep Bloomingdale moving forward!!
Please post & pass this on to anyone you think would benefit from a safer, cleaner & friendlier Bloomingdale!!
We need all the community support we an get so if you’re heading to the Farmer’s Market, please consider taking a few minutes to walk across & add to our numbers!!! We start at 9am and will wrap up around 11am (or later if the weather permits).
We plan to do a series of these events at least monthly with activities for the kids, however, as this is the 1st of these walks, it is a show of numbers we are really looking for. Hopes are that the more involvement we get, the bigger & better the next one will be! We are working with community & city agency leaders to have them present & involved as well to make sure our efforts are supported as best as possible.
Thanks & hope to see you there!!!
Daphne Schultz
Randolph Pl NW
Bates Area Civic Association 
I appreciate the incentive of our neighbor in Bloomingdale in organizing an effort to positively impact the First Street and Florida Avenue Park. Having raised two children in this community to become well balanced, productive young adults, I will be the first to stand in line to proclaim that creating and maintaining a family friendly environment is a goal we should all aspire to. I am concerned, however, that the timing of the park event tends to exclude those of us who traditionally attend church services on Sunday mornings. I realize that the Sunday morning worship experience is not univeral to all of our residents. But given that it is, or should be, our collective goal to be inclusive of all well meaning elements of our community, I wonder if planning a family event for Sunday mornings might be perceived as culturally insensitive to those who do participate in the worship experience. It seems to me that scheduling the gathering for a Sunday afternoon, or some time on Saturday (though I realize that some of our Jewish residents might have something to say about certain hours on Saturday as well), would accomplish the same purpose of bringing our community together in support of the park while at the same time avoiding the perception that those who do go to church on Sunday mornings are being left out. To further emphasize the point, I’m sure that in planning the kick off of this activity for June 12th, the organizer was not aware that June 12th this year happened to be Pentacost Sunday, the day recognized as the “birthday” of the Christian Church. Other than Easter Sunday itself, Pentacost Sunday is probably the most significant day of the Christian calendar. At many churches, Pentacost Sunday is the date chosen for Confirmation, which is the day that young people (generally in the 12 to 16 age range) are officially and ceremonially welcomed into the church. Again, I understand that community civic organizations are not secular, nor should they be. Community activities are open to people of all faiths and no faith at all. Never-the-less, I believe that in scheduling community events, we ought to take into account the sensibilities of all of the cultural components of our community. In conclusion, I applaud those who organized and participated in the reclaim the park event. It’s a wonderful idea which I hope catches on and grows from month to month. I just wish we can consider not holding it on Sunday mornings.
Bradley I concur with with you fully on this issue. Some of the residents in this area don’t realize that the transformation of this community has to include respect for the Faith Base Community as well. We need their participation in our churches as well as outside our churches.
Bradley, I agree with you that the Sunday time may not work for all. I would encourage those to than get involve and take initiative and coordinate a Saturday playtime. I don’t think the parents planned this day and time to exclude individuals, it just happens to correspond to the Farmer’s Market schedue. I would love to see other parents tak this initiative and coordinate a time that works for them as well. We would all benefit in having mulitple activities on multiple days and times.