Facebook just sent me a reminder of a post I put up three years ago https://goldberg-online.net/2019/03/ There is no Super Bloom this year, except in our park where we irrigate, there is little desert bloom to be seen. On the other hand the future of our community, while never in doubt, seems refreshed and growing stronger every day. 2020 was our roughest year in over a decade with 25% of our members leaving for a variety of reasons but all influenced by the pandemic in one way or another. We ended that year with over 10 vacant lots. Today we are looking at a growing waiting list and vibrant new – and younger – members filling in the empty sites and the holes in the volunteer ranks. 

I have believed my greatest strength that I could give to the park is my financial and marketing background. As I wrote three years ago I don’t have a lot of knowledge about the infrastructure in the ground beyond knowing it needs to work. I won my unopposed election to the Board and no one wanted to be Treasurer so here I am. But I am also working with committees that are rehabbing space and restructuring space utilization and catching up on infrastructure maintenance that has been left to long since I left that committee. 

I have superb people around me and great support from the staff. The Park draws in what it needs from new membership. We have a retired CPA auditor, a landscape engineer who managed slopes for California highways, a couple of civil engineers with knowledge of sewer systems and water systems. Most of these have joined within the past year! We have a large reserve fund and we are about to make use of it to refresh the 32 year old property. 

Some days I feel like am actually “working” and I don’t mind it. No one cares if I stop for a nap as long as I get my Board material to the Secretary in time to be on the agenda. – 21 hours left! and so far only one person has stopped by to get my signature for a project that will be brought to a vote on the 4th. Is it really April already? Our plan has us rolling out on April 24th. In my spare minutes I am building  a possible route through Albuquerque to Charlottesville (a whole lot of open space there) and on to Rochester to change clothes and head for Boston in the car. 

But I do get ahead of myself. At least three Board meetings before I leave and a few committee meetings too. I need to find time to play some Bridge and enjoy social time and a concert or two, we have tickets for the 23rd.