PQNA Breakfast This Thursday…DDOT In The House

I wish that these breakfast meetings were at a time that residents of the area could attend. I just cannot go to work late.

I tend to agree, but that has been discussed a few times on here and Jo-ann seems to get complaints from different people regardless of when scheduled.

I do find these interesting, but personally can rarely attend due to the timing. For the one that I did manage to go to I got a better sense of why the timing is as such – seemed to be a large proportion of older / maybe retired people.

Older and retired people are available at any point in the day. The meeting time would be best if it suited the demographics in the area. They call themselves a “neighborhood association” not a “business association.” Just my two cents. I’m afraid that a good organization will not grow with the neighborhood if it isn’t inclusionary.

I’m out of luck for both the PQNA and the DNA–one has meetings during office hours and the other has meetings on 2nd Tuesdays when I have another commitment.

I get the feeling that no matter what time any neighborhood meeting was planned, most people would still not show. I see it at every PQNA, DNA, local condo board and other area meetings. Residents are uninterested in attending meetings — and would rather vent via the web (like here). Thats fine — but without your support, nothing will get done — and a lot of kvetching will.

PQNA meetings are in the AM. Attend from 8:30 to 9:30, meet your neighbors and be a few minutes late for work. Skip lunch.

DNA meetings are in the evening after work — 7:00 is late enough for most people.

Your condo board meeting is also in the evenings.

These are regularly scheduled events — and are announced weeks (if not months) in advance. PLAN for them. It really is that simple.

Jon’s point is well taken. I’ve been involved in community activities long enough to know that, in general, meeting times have less to do with attendance than other priorities.

If the District announced that it was redeploying 90% of the downtown police officers to, say, the southeast sector of our city, there would be standing-room only at the next PSA 101 meeting. (If you don’t know what a PSA is, this helps make my point.)

If the Wizards, Capitals, and Mystics announced that they were building and moving to a new stadium near the new ball park, the DNA or PQNA could not have a venue large enough to hold their next meetings.

Or if the District made plans to locate more homeless shelters and soup kitchens in the heart of the Penn Quarter, well, look out.

The same patterns emerge with condo association meetings, ANC meetings, City Council meetings, etc.

But for less extreme problems or those with more incremental approaches, where is everyone? Eating, watching TV, going to the Verizon Center, socializing and what not.

It’s unfortunate that so many see blogs as a substitute community involvement. these are armchair activists, and their fingers, not their feet, do the marching.

CityLiving,

Thank you.

C’mon, people. A meeting at 7 pm at night is one thing – most people are off work by then. However, starting a meeting at 8:30 am is sure to limit the number of attendees – not everyone is in charge of his/her schedule. Most offices start at 9 – if these meetings started at 8 [with the speaker starting soon thereafter] & ended by 8:45, the meetings would be accessible to a lot more people.
It’s no wonder that most of the attendees seem to be retired – most people who work aren’t able to stroll into work at 10 am. That said, I do control my own schedule, & while I’m accustomed to that, I realize that most people have to be at work by 9.
Denigrating people who visit this blog as “armchair activists” is unkind, unfair, & so last century. This blog could be a critical factor in improving life in PQ. Moreover, all these meetings will have a “virtual” access opportunity in a few years & we’ll be able to sit at our computers & participate.
Good luck – cooperate, don’t denigrate; empathize, don’t criticize.

I, for one, have wanted to attend PQNA meetings for a few years now, but will never be available at 8:30 am in my current job. Even if the topic was one about which I am passionate. Hell, sometimes I just want the free food!

I don’t have the luxury of running my own business, so the comment about being a few minutes late and skipping lunch rings a bit hollow to these ears. (Hope this doesn’t garner a bunch of suggestions to find a new job…. since it seems like some on this board have all the answers for those of us who just aren’t as great as you.)

Hey, I’m at almost every DNA meeting and the condo association (owners’) meetings. But the PQNA breakfast time would mean I would basically have to take off the whole morning of work – I would be more than “a few minutes late” for work. Maybe if I worked right next door to the PQNA meeting site, but I don’t.

If the main event doesn’t start before 9, I’m guessing it won’t be over before 10:30 or even after; that puts me in to work around 11 or later. By then it’s almost lunchtime. I would really like to go, but it’s not doable on a regular basis.

#8: “All these meetings will have a ‘virtual’ access opportunity in a few years & we’ll be able to sit at our computers & participate”? This is what was projected decades ago (i.e., last century). It’s not for lack of technology. So, even if you think the PQNA, DNA, ANC meetings will have virtual components in a few years (they won’t), you’re going to sit things out in the meantime?

Just give peace a chance. Love, not war.

#9: Cooperate, don’t denigrate; empathize, don’t criticize.