November 28th Meeting (Minutes)
On Tuesday November 28th the community had its first organizing meeting around Cooper Playground, graciously hosted by staff from Longfellow Community Council and moderated by Sarah Robinson, at the Bethlehem Covenant Church. Thanks to all those that helped pull it together and to everyone that was able to make it out (or via Zoom). The next community-wide meeting is set for Jan 16th 2024.
The minutes can be found here (pdf).
Additionally, MPS sent us their meeting minutes from the Nov 2nd MPS Town Hall at Howe, and those are available to review here (pdf), though they were not available for our most recent meeting.
Summary
The meeting went from 7pm to just about 8:30pm with some staying a little later. At the start we covered the introductions, the background of why we were having a meeting, and some of the facts of the playground removal. The organizing committee also wanted to be sure we focused the conversation as much as possible on how to organize to ensure we reach our goals. In pursuit of that there were slips available to collect ideas/comments/concerns which we will sort through very soon– and if you’ve missed out, you can find the same forms available via Google Forms here.
Ultimately the meeting produced a collection of working groups or committees that can work semi-independently of each other, collected under a Governing Committee. Participants can be a part of any group, or multiple groups, and there is no mandatory time commitment– if you would like to get more info on any group, please reach out to info@plaympls.org.
Working Groups
- Lobbying: Working with MPS, MRPB, city council, and State
- Leasing & Acquisition: identify a short term leaser and liability insurance holder
- Structure & Equipment: estimating repairs and contacting playground construction companies
- Communications: external relations with media and community. Social media, press relations, flyering, newsletters, and internal templates, etc
- Fundraising: grant writing, researching old NRP grant, events, etc
- Governing committee: organizing, coordinating interaction between groups
How to participate
If you would like to get more info on any working group, please reach out to info@plaympls.org or ask in the Save Cooper Playground! facebook group.
Much of the current communication is happening via a mix of emails and Slack messages. If you aren’t familiar with Slack, it’s a very useful text chat platform for organizing teams, with features such as distinct channels for different topics, document viewing, and more. By no means is anyone required to use Slack to engage with the community, so please don’t let that be a barrier.
Cooper, and the greater Longfellow area, is home to many civically-minded residents with either personal or professional skills that would be a great asset to our group. We hope to hear from as many as possible in the coming months.