We really don't have a lot to work with here, as these things go. We're a small community, and we're functionally limited. I mentioned this before, but the fact is we provide almost exclusively for ourselves. About 87% of our revenues come right from us: from property taxes, utility taxes, and a few other assessments we make against ourselves as neighbors. We provide our own administration, our own police force, and our own public works. There are things we don't have, because we can't afford them. It would appear that we were at a disadvantage, or that we had ourselves at a disadvantage, by keeping ourselves on something of a shoestring. Unless we wanted it this way. And there's some evidence that some of us might.
There's a proportion of the neighborhood that likes an insular feel. "Open" internally, but closed to the outside world. There's almost an "us/them" posture for some of us. Some years ago, we lowered the speed limit: to make it difficult enough to drive here that outsiders wouldn't "cut through." Some of us have thought of our public park as an invitation to outsiders, and have wanted it altered, to make it less inviting. The basketball goals were briefly removed, so people shouldn't have a reason to come to the park. There was some talk about allowing the grass to deteriorate, so people wouldn't be encouraged to come play field sports here. One Commissioner had the idea to charge for parking at the park, which would either raise money (I know, not much, but that was the proposal), or discourage people who lived far enough to have to drive, from using our park. There was some talk of closing streets. There's been a subtle theme of converting "Don't Even Think About Speeding" to "Don't Even Think About Coming, or Stopping."
So when we have needs, it is left to us ourselves to meet them. If our public buildings need repair or renovation, we need primarily to rely on ourselves to provide the money. Who else would support a municality whose welcome sign says "Keep Out?" (I don't mean that concretely. Our actual Village sign is quite beautiful. And not off-putting at all.) If we want better medians, our special feature, we have to raise the money ourselves. If we don't, the medians will look like... Well, watch dogs leave the medians, and figure out for yourself what they look like. If we want public enrichment through public art, some of us independently have to donate the funds.
We have incorporated a Village Foundation, whose mission it is to raise money for special improvement projects within the Village. One of the methods the Foundation uses to raise money is to ask each Village household to donate $20 per year. I know, it sounds silly and unambitious to ask only $20 per household per year. Most of us piss away more than that per week, without flinching or even noticing. But the curious fact is that if every household (household, not person) gave the Foundation $20 just once every year, the Foundation would collect $26,000 per year for special projects to improve and enrich the Village. We could do some interesting damage with $26K per year. And that's based only on someone flipping us a crumpled twenty once a year. Having spent a little time going door-to-door, I'm embarrassed to tell you how many people "don't have" $20, or have to think about it, or have to talk to their spouses/partners about it, or need a compelling enough reason to give me $20 for the municipality in which they themselves choose to live. Presumably because they like it.
And we have other methods of raising money. We have "Food and Tunes" evenings, where we beg for those $20s, and sell 50/50 raffle tickets, either to the same people who gave us the $20 per year, or to those outsiders some of us don't want here. We're now planning a fund-raising "gala." Perhaps I shouldn't say this publicly, but there has been some serious negotiating as to how much we should charge for tickets, not to inhibit residents from coming to the fund-raiser. (It's a fund-raiser! We're supposed to charge a lot. That's how you raise funds at a gala! Oy!) The other day, I was talking to one of our neighbors about a road race she hopes to enter. On the 7-mile bridge in the Keys. Tee-shirts and everything. That's a long way to go to enter a road race, isn't it? So she and I were talking about doing our own VBP road race. We'll do our own tee-shirts. She even had ideas. And MSV/MSCC wouldn't help us set up a golf tournament? Of course they would.
So what could we do with the money? We could resurface the tot lot, which is currently surfaced with a combination of mulch and animal excrement, and garnished with cigarette butts. We could begin median improvements. We could get serious about public art. We could have addtional, smaller scale entry signs at various points of Village entry. We could begin a grand plan for our historical and architectural treasure: the log cabin. And the addition it needs. And here's another thing we could do. We have trouble with the eastern border. The trains make a racket, and the elevated expanse and the tracks seem to provide good cover and opportunity for "visitors" who really aren't welcome. Not the ones who like sports. The ones who come here to make trouble and steal stuff. So what we need is a tall and dense wall, maybe made of concrete. Or even made of an impassible thicket of arecas or bamboo. That's what we need. And since the FEC doesn't care and isn't mandated, we need to spring for that ourselves.
So do we really want to live like this? Like disadvantaged beggars whose only choice is to "rely on the kindness of strangers," or do without? It's our home. We're all here for a very particular reason. And I hope it's not because misery loves company.
Can I make a request? It's 2012. Can I have $20 from every homeowner I know, and would every homeowner who gives me the $20 ask each of his/her neighbors to do the same? I know, I'm on the Foundation, and you're not. It's my job, and not yours. But we're all just neighbors. It's every bit as much your neighborhood as it is mine. What benefits the neighborhood, and our neighbors, benefits us. And you. So give me the $20. Cash or check (to the Biscayne Park Foundation). I need a name, an address, and an e-mail address, so we have you on our circulation. It's how we'll keep you informed of Foundation doings. And how I'll track you down in 2013, when I want another $20.
You can give the money and the personal information to me, Steve Taylor, Supreme Dorvil, Priscilla Blake, or Victor Romano.
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