Community Relations Board - Regular Meeting

I'll call this meeting to order for Community Relations Board. Thank you, everybody, for coming. And the agenda is here.

Chair, you have a quorum. Thank you. We have another lot of things to talk about. Commissioner Gerardo is at the meeting over there. So did he give you anything?

Okay. All right. And we did have a public person.

Okay. All right. So for the minutes, did anybody see anything that we need to add or change or revise? All right, so is there a motion to approve the minutes from the January 14, 2026 meeting?

I make a motion to approve the minutes. I second.

Any discussion on it? All those in favor, say aye. Aye. So I wanted to just, 6A I'll start with, the book club that we had. So anybody want to comment on the success or anything? Because that's a good word for it.

It was wonderful. So first of all, Rita, thank you for getting the food. The food was so delicious. It's great. It was great. Cressy was the boss. Cressy. Cressy, really good. Great falafel. I can't say enough good things about Anna Menendez. She was so generous with her time and so interesting. The discussion was great, and I just really thought it was a success. It was great. It was.

put back on after the next commission comes in. Let's bring that up. This could be the end, guys.

Last time they got rid of it, we were told no. Last time we were told no, but we'll just come. We'll bring snacks and stuff. We'll get a bottle of wine or something. Yeah, she was excellent and I don't usually do, but I've never really done a book talk, but she was great and a couple people I talked

idea and she is definitely wanting to do that so I think we can do another event with her and it could be really impactful we could even have maybe two authors there or something I don't know one thing and do so it's like workshopping would we allowed to we would we be allowed to add something tonight for that

Well, if we do miscellaneous items, is that what you're saying?

So we're going to approve something tonight, we could do that? So if we wanted to approve another event...

They may keep this board. It may not go away. We just may not be on it. We don't know. Both things could happen, though. They could literally do away with the whole entire board and it doesn't exist anymore, or most likely we'll all go back into the pool, reapply, and whether they put us on or not is going to be...

Through the chair, we do have things that we are planning. So maybe that is something that will help us to argue our case. We've met with the chief of police to do this rodeo. We've got things in the works. hopefully when we reapply we can mention all these great things we have going on. They show us where and how we could apply, you know?

And then also if you talk to any of the commissioners that get elected and just say I would really like to, if you want to sponsor me, because they have to call out. Because there's five people on a committee, right Frank? And so each one takes one of us and says, and they can vote us yay or nay.

Right. And now that it's an established board, I think they'll have any, you know, they had a little bit of a hard time in the beginning nominating everybody, but I think now that it's established, I think it will be the same thing.

And so, and if you see, like, they'll probably all be here tonight at the party. Yeah. Don't be afraid to go introduce yourself. Oh, that's right. They're campaigning. Yeah, and one of the candidates is having something Tuesday at Flanagan's. I saw that.

And just introduce, just say, you know, keep me in mind, you know, if you get on, I'd like to be on.

So, yeah, so she was excellent and so we gave her a $50 card. I asked Frank for that the last minute. Nice. Books and books and it went through electronically to thank her. So she was very good. Nice gesture. Okay. The Resource Fair and Wishing Tree event, 6B. Frank?

She told me yes, and I said she had to contact you. Hello, come and sit down. This is Nora. We're in the community relations. We're having an event on March 1st. Maybe I haven't reached out to you yet. Remind me.

Right. Well, we're doing children's bereavement, which I sent you the contact of Gail Slacco, who lives in Surfside. Okay. Yeah, so they're going to have a table for sure. Okay. They're a great resource. Yeah.

We ran out at the sugar. At the palm frond. I mean, we can always, like, order more. Order more. Yeah. Will you be there that day?

But we can ask for, I don't know, too much? I think so, maybe? I don't know. People are going to be walking through to go to the beach. That's true.

Gerardo was good last time, for your wish.

I think just, is it a non, are you a profit or non-profit?

Because somebody did, I think somebody asked and I told you no because it was a, but that's just.

But it's up to, is there a policy? It's not up to me. Is there a policy?

Yeah, through the chair. Maybe this one's a little smaller. And then we sort of see how it all goes.

You would set up a table if you wanted to.

Okay, so who did, so, yeah, the Bullets for Life, I did talk to her, but she was supposed to call you because that was the group that we're paying $500 for. Okay.

So we approved it. They make the bracelets? So what they, this is Hillary's group, and they do, they pound out the, And then they string you a bracelet. They have all the beads and everything. And it's called One Less Bullet, One More Life. And I've been to like two or three of these. It's very powerful. Great. But theirs is a fee, and we approved it. Great. But then she was going to charge adults an extra $15 to $20. I said, oh, no. I'll try to call her and make sure she gets in touch with you. I wrote to Hatzala again.

He just knocked on his door. I called the head. He said yes, no problem, but then he never called back Frank. So I sent him two names. Do you know anybody?

So yeah, I look forward to meeting her. She'll be out.

To have a representative from the police department just kind of like a representative. I was thinking a table with.

We're going to pay $300 for our police to sit there and mute people? No, I don't think so. That's my personal opinion. I think they're out and about.

I mean, they do their coffee with the cops.

Okay. I was just trying to get another table.

Oh, right. He said they're for me. Oh, yeah. Okay.

All right, and I'll tell him to bring a bike. I'm tired of talking to people. I talk all day. I'll tell him to bring a bike, you know, so he can demonstrate. Yeah, demonstrate, and I think those are all great. Because I don't know how many bikes are going to come through.

Okay, very good, very good. Okay, thank you, Frank, for helping us with that. And then what is Michelle doing that day? Do you understand?

All right, so that's the next item anyway, 6C.

Yeah, I met with the chief. He was wonderful. He wants to do a lot with us, by the way, and he hasn't picked a date yet. He's thinking it will be deep into the spring. We just don't know if we'll be around, but I told him to. We came up with a lot of great ideas. He's also, he used to be the chief in Key Biscayne, and he had a sort of partnership between Key Biscayne and some of the... less affluent neighborhoods of miami where they did things together and we talked about maybe we could help with arranging where we do book exchange or anything with we'll pick a town whatever it is and do somet

Excellent. Okay, I'll put that on next month. Just keep it up on the agenda. Thank you. Thank you for meeting with me. Okay. March 8th, we have a walking group.

Were we meeting at the 88th, like last time?

Then everybody can go to the bathroom and fill up the water bottles. Yeah.

Okay. David will be, if you're not able to, David.

Let's see. 6E, Elderly Health Repair Cafe. We'll wait until... Do you know anything? No. We can push that off as well. They've not gone to contact us.

general lending library for miscellaneous items i could not get a place yeah until we have space we'll just keep pushing along step it on the agenda or should we wait till the building um i guess we can wait on that you know it's all in our minds but once we have space for it we'll be ready to rock and roll okay so we'll probably that'll be a good point for that i saw that um

Jody Stevens, who came last year to push for that building to be a... She's good friends with the... Jody's the media person?

Yeah. And so she liked the idea of having our book talks there. We gave it another purpose. okay so i'm going to take it off and then we'll just keep it in mind for when we that building frees up Community clothing swap at Paddle-Topia. Yes. Is that you?

Well, I talked to Sarah. Did you guys pick the date, May?

Yes, and I... I think it's a great idea. It was really fun last year. I will be in Ducasse that weekend. Oh, we were in Providence, huh? Oh, thanks. Love Ducasse. It was so much fun. But I can tell you how we did it last year.

Very popular. I am happy if people want to do the clothing. We can, by the way, do anything we want. Sarah is going to give us space if we want to do something instead of a clothing swap, if we want to do a trinkets thing, you know, not clothing, things around the house. You just put your stuff there, and you just take stuff. So what we did, it was work, but it was good. We brought hanging racks, and we hung everything up, and people came, and they took, and it was actually really fun.

That was my son, actually, because we also did tables where people could sell stuff. Oh. so he sold records a three thing of a three record out thing of prints for three dollars wow so yeah that i mean that's like free and and then um the next day i then stored everything in one of the closets there and the next day lotus house came and picked everything up which is great so i think it worked on every level we've So I definitely would recommend we do it again. I'm not going to be here. But. Yeah.

It was too complicated. Definitely not. Just for everyone to participate. It was not at all. I think we were thinking it would, there were too many people who want to do it. Right. Who cares? Yeah.

And game night is hers. Love it. Okay. Can we just jump ahead to new business while we wait for her?

New business. March 10th, we're invited here. So that should be before the commission meeting? So I think it was 6 o'clock. Yes. So if you could all be here that would be great. I will unfortunately not be here. I'm so sorry.

Do you keep track of this in your head or on your calendar? I'm in Los Angeles. You're exotic. Sorry, so sorry. I wish I were going to be here.

And so Elgie got an invitation, but he doesn't want to come. I told him to come if you talk to him. Yeah. Try to convince him. He was here for a while. Exactly. Do you talk to him? I haven't spoken to him in a while. Okay. I saw him this week. Try to encourage him. Okay. And then anybody have any ideas for anything else? The next meeting is also joining Third Thursdays.

I can't wait. So our next meeting is 4 o'clock. Still good for everybody?

setup where people we fix cell phone screens we help watch batteries just things it doesn't it's not just elderly though i think it was the idea was for anybody but you know who needed those things done and what was your idea um did we create a task force of able-bodied people with the um

Volunteer, community volunteers, how's that?

And is there any liability problem for anything? Oh, I didn't think about that. Frank? Any liability for? Like say somebody goes and helps somebody and they get hurt.

I would say the liability is more like I didn't tell you to cut back. I think it's less about getting hurt. I think it's more like, I didn't tell you to cut back that tree, and now you've ruined my tree. It's the only thing I would say could become an issue is all of a sudden it's like, you know, but I don't know. That could be.

It's worth a try. We can do a pilot with the two people you know and anybody else would like to volunteer. I'll call it a pilot. Mary, do you have anything you want to put on for the future? Anybody read anything in the future that we should keep in mind for another event? The future is TBD. Yeah. I'm just kidding. Yeah. We'll see. I already have Anna Menendez for her writing work, so.

Okay, well that's me to lead her things for. Okay. So, full moon yoga. I mean, great. I love yoga. I love a full moon.

No. We haven't even talked about it. Oh, okay.

So March 3rd is the next one, and then I guess after that... My birthday. Next full moon, following full moon. How's the wedding? April 1st. April 1st is the one after that. Your birthday's this year? Huh? That's my dad's. My dad's birthday as well. That was one of his birthdays. Next full moon, total lunar eclipse.

In the diagonal in the west. I haven't heard of that. So the crescent moon, two above, two below.

So May 1st is the flower moon. That's interesting. May 31st is Blue Moon. I think she could, or we'll get someone to. I think we just pick a date, and then either we get someone. Yeah, okay. I just didn't know all of these moons had names.

We've been talking about doing more with them. Mm-hmm. I love the idea of it being on the beach. Right.

I like that idea. Just letting you know that September 26th is corn moon.

Okay, let's start with, so the March one can't be done because we haven't planned.

Kayla's the instructor or there is another instructor. We'll pick a date. We could do this maybe the next meeting since it's probably not going to be for a few months. We could invite the other two, three, three, one, five, four towns. And we can do something with our budget, like maybe yoga mats for everybody to take home.

So we'll ask her anyway. The teacher is to be determined. The date is to be determined.

So there was May 1st. Flower moon. Flower moon. And after that, since it's going to start getting hotter, May 31st is blue moon.

All right, I'll put those two down. All right, and her second thing was game night.

I feel like this is going to be super fun. And one of the things we could do, there's a new game club over the bridge where you can join. And it's mostly Mahjong and Canasta. But she has our coffee and stuff. And she has teachers there. But maybe we can ask her to, in order for her to drum up some business stuff, she could come lead. game night and sort of bring her experts. And Rummikub. Rummikub. We could do all different things. Rummikub and anything. Scrabble, we could put out. Yes. We could put out card tables. Rented card tables. Twister. Twister, sure. Twister.

Pictionary. I mean, there's a million things.

Your mode and yoga collaboration, we all liked it. Yay. So if you could find the both of you. Mary's going to find somebody to do an instructor. Yes.

ask how much, you know, if they want a stipend for this or gratuity.

Is that the guy who did the Valentine party? Yeah, but I mean, if you've already talked to him about this yoga. Have you already talked to him?

Two weeks? We have May 1st. Well, we won't be able to get. Oh, we can't do that. Because you said April 1st is Passover, and then March. Yes, so the date we would be looking at would be May 1st around that day, even if it's not. You can have the waxing one, too.

They work multiple places, you know. That won't work. Friday, May 1st won't work.

Is it still full moon? What time do you usually do this? Like when the full moon comes up?

It's about to be ending later, right? In May.

I'm sorry, my son graduates college on May 2nd. I won't be there, though. That's exciting.

So May 1st isn't good. It's Shabbat. And May 2nd, we could try. The moon's gone already. It's not full anymore. Yeah, but it's a waxing one, so there'll just be a little bite out of it. Okay. So that would be Saturday? Would you come? It would come after Shabbat? Okay. May 2nd. And then the 31st is Memorial Day is the week before. May 31st is a Sunday.

Well, is there a motion to start the planning? Do we need a motion just to start planning, like for the May 2nd and May 31st? That way we could ask, like I could ask Jorge, you could ask your person, you could ask your person. And somebody could ask Bell Harbor and Bay Harbor.

Why don't we just take ownership and put it at, put it Surfside hosted first.

Well, I like the community only because we have the restrooms. Yeah, and it's central. Everybody knows what the community is.

Yes, if it is your event. Okay, so let me talk to Jorge about having yoga on the beach

Mary's going to check with somebody, and Caleb will check with somebody.

Okay, because like if we could have two, one could go around like Rita said. Okay, and if someone pulls out, we'll still have one. Okay, and then Rita, you want to talk to... Who will we talk to?

We wouldn't go through the mayor for this, would we?

Yeah, Bay Harbor is Adrian Bell Harbor is Should we approach them like I'm trying to have so that our next meeting we can get this going because we have I think first let's find out about the hours just So I guess you all are gonna have to decide based on what I could send you an email and Angie and you could put it out and then she could go ahead and

But if she talked to Bay and Bar... and came to the next meeting and said, yes, they are open for those jobs. Yeah, we can talk to them.

Joanna thinks our committee might have a good chance of staying on, but I know I was stripped right away from the tourist board.

You want to ask that woman? I will definitely contact that woman. What's her name? I don't recall. But I know how... I think we can all sort of... contribute with our own games we have in our house. And where does that happen? We could either do it at the Fish Bowl or at the 96th Street Park upstairs. Where's the Fish Bowl? At the community center.

So I think those are two places we could have it and just set up foldable card tables and if people if we know people in town who can teach things like canasta if this one can't do it because i'm trying to learn I haven't started yet. And Mahjong? Mahjong, I feel like we know a million people who teach that. Everybody, no, please, Mahjong. I don't. I don't either. But it's come back big. Wow. We'll start with this woman and see if she'll, what she, because she might be able to do the whole thing, you know, really bring the tables. Yeah, we can all bring Scrabble and Rummikub.

So we'll talk about that next month and then pick a date. Yeah, I wasn't, I was concerned about the number of people coming to the Ana Menendez, but nobody worried. You know, because the parking always bothers me there. Most people walked. Yeah. I think I was the only one who drove. And Ana Menendez rode her bike and then she took some dinner home and she put it in her basket on her back. Wow. Like Dorothy. Okay, while I'm I forgot to thank the parks and rec guys for helping us out that night. They were great.

We need to, yeah, but maybe. And they had a power, they had a projector ready just in case. It was just like a very nice evening. She was fascinating.

We could also start thinking about the next book.

and read it, just bring it up, and if you're not going to be here next month, just, Gerardo probably knows people too, and we'll have to see if that Ricardo Blanco's here in Maine. Okay, anything else?

Can I, through the chair? I just did an art thing with a bunch of young breast cancer people under 40, and what we did, which actually, this reminds me of this, is we had an artist there who started a painting, and then the women all came in and sort of did things, and it's a beautiful painting that they all did made together. Maybe if we were to do that as a community relations board, We have an artist there to help us, but we have the community come and paint the turtle.

And we also had that art class. They did a painting class over here at the Fish Bowl.

it will happen so this is a possible turtle turtle donation right then it wouldn't be us either way to to execute because we wouldn't be part of the board but it would be planning and yeah it's this isn't something that you can do quickly sorry like like again it's taking us almost a year to install these other two but i'll put it on And even if we don't get on, you can come to the meetings like our friend here. And you could bring that up. I'd like to ask, could you come up with an activity to bring the community together to paint a turtle?

Okay. They better put us on. We'll need a whole other year for this agenda. Yeah. All right. So here's what I have for the next agenda, Frank and Angie. Discussion about having Ana Menendez's writing workshop. What was my wording? A recap of the community resource fair and the wishing tree. Bike safety day planning. A recap of the walk. the elderly care project that Gerardo wants to do, the beach cleanup that Mary wants to do, the paddle-topian clothing swap, and the community home beautification pilot. I'm not done? You're such a go-getter. The mood yoga collaboration. Planning. I'll ask Jorg

All right, so we'll check that out. And then 12, a possible turtle donation from the committee.

No, no more, no more. Frank said this, but he had these figures of that. She has carpal tile on the line. Okay. I'll see you, hopefully we'll see you tonight, some of you tonight, and then March 10th.

You know, some people said, yeah, for sure. A lot of people ask me, how do you get on? I said, well, get someone to sponsor you.

All those in favor? Aye. Thank you, everybody. This was very good.