By Mary Baker
Rodney Nash was elected by acclimation of all members present at Idlewild Neighborhood Association’s April meeting. Rodney has an impressive history of volunteer service to the community.
He has been involved in many activities in the Cooper-Young neighborhood. He volunteered in the Curbside Recycling Campaign and was a Neighborhood Watch and Neighborhood Night Out Coordinator. He served as Vice President of the CY Community Association and was a CY Development Corporation board member for 6 years. He was a Neighborhood Cleanup Coordinator for Cooper-Young and works as a CY Community Farmers Market volunteer.
However, Rodney’s service does not stop in CY. Rodney worked on the Storm Drain Labeling Project for the City of Memphis Division of Public Works Storm Water Program. In that capacity he has assisted in getting storm drains labeled in Cooper-Young, Central Gardens, Walnut Grove and Prescott, Walnut Grove and Shady Grove, and the Soulsville neighborhood. He is a Memphis in May Transportation Committee volunteer, a member of the Midtown Action Coalition, a MIFA Souper Bowl Fundraiser, and a member of Memphis Heritage.
Rodney’s first objective as President of the Idlewild Neighborhood Association is to organize residents into Block Clubs for efficient sharing of information and to promote shared goals and responsibilities. Under his leadership several residents have volunteered to be Block Club Captains. Idlewild Neighborhood Association is very pleased to have Rodney as President.

I recently met with leaders of other neighborhood associations who, like CY residents, are protected by the officers of the Union Avenue Precinct.
Crime and safety were the topics of conversation. The stories shared were very eye-opening for me. One leader described her fear of calling about a drug house down the street because of retribution. Another spoke of how her neighbors call her and then she calls the police. I heard story, after story, after story about drug deals, thefts, home breakins all being everyday or every night occurrence in these areas.

The grass roots solution to all of the above? Block clubs! Knowing our neighbors (who they are, what they drive, how many kids they have, how to contact them in emergencies, etc.) is the foundation to knowing what’s right and what’s wrong on the street. Knowing our neighbors is a way to show our caring for our neighbors. People with something illegal to hide will move away if a community works together.

These other neighborhoods are struggling with block clubs, but we are blessed to have the largest number of block clubs ever in the history of the CYCA. Yet, there is room for more. Block clubs can start with two homes sharing information and coming together. It’s okay to start small and grow into a larger club. Contact the CYCA office if you want more information on how to start a block club. The CYCA has resources that can help you feel safer and meet your neighbors. Board member Ginger Spickler has done a tremendous job with forming and strengthening block clubs. Thank you, Ginger!

With summer upon us, this is a great time to get out, meet your neighbors, and get involved with a block club.

In CY happiness,
John Kinsey

Thank you, Cooper-Young, for electing me the new President for the CYCA. It’s an honor to be given the opportunity to lead an organization with such a fine history of accomplishments and caring for the community. I’ll continue to work towards fulfilling the mission statement of the CYCA: “…to make our diverse and historic community a more desirable and safer place to live, worship, work, and play.” We are all blessed to be in the best part of Memphis!

In April, the Art for Art’s Sake Auction raised funds to help us with organizational expenses, such as maintaining the Trestle Art and bringing more public art to our community. I hope all in attendance enjoyed the evening, and congratulations to those who outbid others on some great art! The event, again, shows the community-focused mindset of our neighborhood.

For the rest of 2010, the CYCA will continue to bring you community meetings focused on ways to make our neighborhood safer, as well as meetings to educate residents on issues that impact you, such as the fairgrounds redevelopment, the development of bike lanes on Cooper Avenue, and the McLean mural project.

How can Cooper-Young be improved? Call the CYCA office, send us an email, visit our website at cooperyoung.org, and let us know. Additionally, get involved! Join a committee, join our volunteer database, join your block club, or organize a block club.

I believe that CY is the best neighborhood in Memphis, and I want others to know that, too!

John Kinsey

Springing forward

Spring is here! Yippee! Outdoor activities are already picking up, like quarterly clean-ups, preparing for the Art for Art’s Sake Auction on the 10th of this month, our own spring cleaning at the office….OH BUT WAIT! Have you heard the good news?

CYCA has purchased the building at 2298 Young. Owning our own space will provide a great foundation for us to build our future. All of the board members have worked to make this happen, and John Kinsey assisted with the financing. We are so excited and hope to make it better and better by doing some improvements. We have lots of plans and hope to make it fun and beneficial for all Cooper Youngians and beyond.

Lastly, there is an upswing in activity at the Fairgrounds. We hope to keep you as informed as we can and may have some calls to action soon. So keep up with the news on our website, and if you have not joined our email list, please do so now to get any alerts direct to your inbox.

Elections are coming up in April, and I want to take this opportunity to say how much I have enjoyed serving our community as President. Enjoy the upcoming warm weather by getting out and talking with your neighbors. Knowing them makes us all a bit more aware, a bit more safe, and, heck, makes it all more fun. THAT is why I love CY!

Debbie Sowell

What does the year hold?

This year at the CYCA board retreat, we had to get down to some basics! We, as a board, will be working on expanding our committee structure and reaching out to you for your help. I am putting our board members to the task of seeking out people to join their committee by putting together a plan for their committee and setting expectations. So when you are potentially tapped on the shoulder, you will be told exactly what is needed of you. Are you willing to except the call to serve?

Coming in March:

Saturday, March 27th– Meet at 9 am at the gazebo for a good old neighborhood clean-up. We’re going to focus on picking up trash and general clean-up at CY’s Gateways and the Gazebo. We’ll have water, trash bags, and tools.

Coming in April:

April General Meeting– This meeting will hold elections for our board of directors. A slate will be printed in the April LampLighter. This election will be for the positions of President and Treasurer.

Art for Art’s Sake Auction– Enough said! You all know this is a fun and exciting event!

Cooper-Young Yard Sale– We have decided to hold the neighborhood-wide yard sale again! We have scheduled this event for Saturday, April 24th, from 8 am–2 pm, rain or shine! Clean out the corners of your house, make room for a clean beginning, and make a little money, too.

Debbie Sowell

CY needs your thoughts on present challenges for future successes

Thanks for your service

I want to take a moment to thank Robert Grisham for his service on the Cooper-Young Board of Directors. He has been very consistent in his message that community is the key to making Cooper-Young a home, not just a subdivision. As we will miss him at our meetings, I am sure he will still continue with this message, and we will definitely be seeing him around.

Also, I want to welcome Susan Currier to our Board of Directors. She has been in the neighborhood for a while now and has worked with our CY Parent’s Network and Block Clubs, and she is ready to see what she can do to make CY even better. She brings some experience with nonprofits and grant writing to the table. Welcome aboard, Susan!

Back to Basics in 2010

CYCA was started in 1976; started from a group of residents wanting to take their neighborhood back from decay and blight. We still have some of the same challenges but with different twists and some additional goals and needs. Based on the survey that many of you were kind enough to take on our website this month, these are very apparent (results are posted on www.cooperyoung.org if you want to view them). We do need to get down to the basics. We will be working to improve many of these but cannot do it without you. It is going to take a small effort on all of our parts.

Over the next couple of months, members of our board will be calling on you personally to get your help on a number of teams that are to work on some of these issues. More beautification projects? Work on safety issues? Code Enforcement? We will be asking questions about what you as residents want to see in our boundaries and what together we are willing to do to handle these objectives.

It will take a little work from all of us. Are you ready for the challenge? Will you take on your small part? We are working on some organization skills that will help us all work together effectively and hope to have some clear roles and expectations of what we need. Thanks, in advance, for your help.

Debbie Sowell

Happy days and helpful ways shared straight from the CYCA office

by Maggie Cardwell

Often I am asked, “So what do you all do?” It is hard to know where to begin to explain all that is done at the CYCA office. I am in the office at 2298 Young Avenue where you can stop by and ask questions. I answer your phone calls, letters, and emails. I may not always have the answer you want, but I can usually point you in the direction of someone who can. I am here for our members, and I help our volunteer board of directors and committee members organize meetings and events like the Art for Art’s Sake Auction, Friday Festival 4-Miler, and alley clean-ups. Below are some of the things keeping us busy. Each issue, I will try and tell you a little more about what we do and hopefully you will find a way to join in on the fun.

Holiday Party and snack bags

A lot were unable to make the CYCA Christmas party due to the weather, and we are sorry you had to miss it. I would like to thank Whitney Jo for making the Playhouse on the Square available to us and Joe Beasley, along with his staff, for making it a wonderful holiday experience. Playhouse on the Square has long been a community advocate and continues to offer to us the rare gift of exceptional entertainment at our doorstep.

The old year does not end for me until the last goody police and firefighter bag is filled on Christmas Eve. Our volunteers have been doing it so long, they do not remember when this tradition began. We all marvel at the shopping, baking, packaging, and thought put into preparing 70 of anything. Thank you, Eclectic Eye, for providing the bags to fill again this year.

One of my 6-year-old grandsons came with me to help that evening. He lives in a very small town in Virginia with one police car and a volunteer fire department. He hears the trains, planes, and sirens in Memphis that we all ignore. He was so pleased with himself when we got home that evening that he had help to do this marvelous thing. Thanks to you all for giving him (and me) this experience. I truly appreciate the warmth in which he was received. We all then began Christmas with a “Merry Christmas toast” and helped Santa and the Mrs. (Terry and Cynthia Lawrence who make the late night delivery) fill their sleigh in their bobbing red Christmas hats. There are always lots of laughter and hugs.

Membership

First, I would like to apologize to the Dodds family for not listing you in the 2009 membership in December’s issue of the LampLighter. If I left off anyone else, I apologize, as well. I have to collect the data from one file, transfer it to Excel, and transfer it again to Word for publication in the LampLighter. Then there is the “get ‘er done” factor. I never mind being corrected, so let me know when there is a problem, and I will do my best to change it. All membership participation is cherished.

We hit the ground running in January. Once again, the office filled with volunteers, your neighbors, who gave up their Sunday morning to get the membership message out to you. Once you join, there is the data entry, coping, sorting, personal embossing, and mailing of each membership card. All of our events are important to us as a collective, but this one makes us stand out in the crowd. This is where we take ownership of our community. Good, bad, or indifferent, we become responsible for and to one another. We raise our own funds. Our voice is stronger in the political arena because we are self-supporting.

We are truly grateful to the creative collaboration of the membership committee. They worked for months (in their spare time after working all day) to make our membership the most desirable community membership in the city. How do they do it? I think with a passion to excel and a desire to make life better for each of you.

Art Auction

This is also the time of year that we prepare the mailer for the Art for Art’s Sake Auction. Over 200 letters of invitation to participate in the auction will go out to local businesses, to give them an opportunity to add their product or service. Efforts to put the auction together begin in September. As I drink my coffee in the morning, I reflect upon the hundreds of hours volunteered to make this event such a success. It begins with our local artists that spend hours creating a special work they donate to benefit your community. The physical and mental labor of volunteers is too tedious to recount. I am usually tired of it by the time auction day arrives, until the silent auction begins and the challenge is on to get the piece I have coveted for months. If you have attended an auction, you know what I mean; if you have not, you are missing some unique entertainment. More about the expanded mission of the Art for Art’s Sake Auction will be published as we near the event to take place this year on Saturday, April 10th.

Communications

We do not have a LampLighter in January because of the holidays. Be a positive voice in your community and write to the LampLighter. Page 2 lists the contact information. To me, it is awesome to think about the fact that our community owns a newspaper that has been in publication for 20 years and that your neighbors deliver it to your front door step free of charge.

Other neighborhood volunteers have been working for the past year to make improvements to your community website. Take five minutes to get familiar with it, and enjoy what it has to offer. Take another 2 seconds to take the poll they have worked so hard to create so that you can have yet another channel of expression. There will be a new question posted each month.

Believe it or not, your community association received a lot more praise in 2009 than criticism. I personally would like to thank all of you that have taken the time to call, write, or come by the office to convey your appreciation and offer your assistance. We received one unsigned letter of criticism and six very critical no-name phone messages last year. How nice of your community to pay for a place where you can send a letter, a person to receive and read it, and pay for a phone answering service for you to vent on. If you feel we need to address an issue, you need to let us know who you are.

Help from our friends

I cannot quite leave 2009 or begin 2010 without thanking Sutton Mora-Hayes, the executive director of The Cooper-Young Development Corporation for helping the Community Association with the many political and developmental hurtles that are presented to us. Her work continues as she searches for new and better resources to bring to our community. I would also like to thank Tamara Walker, executive director of The Cooper-Young Community Business Association for her commitment to the positive development of our business district and her creative thinking through the First Thursday Night Outs that we all enjoy and of course for her work on the Festival.

Planning ahead

January is the month for the CYCA Board retreat. Most of us who have worked for incorporated businesses view this as a trip to Vegas on the company dime. For the CYCA Board, it is a retreat from the front line of action. Once again, your volunteer board (neighbors) gives up a weekend to reevaluate what was good in the past year, what was not, and the best way to move forward. Words of encouragement are always welcome.

In Closing

If you were one of the many that I talked to, who really want to be more involved but cannot find the time, we hope that this new year will present to you the opportunities you desire.