Community Relations Board - Regular Meeting

Okay, I'd like to call this meeting to order for the Community Relations Board on September 18th at 4 o'clock. Thank you, everybody. Good to see everybody. A long summer, not one big future. You can call the roll, please.

Yes. Chair David Karp.

Here.

Vice Chair Joanna Katz. Here. Board member Kayla Azari-Garmizo. Here. Chair, you have a quorum. Thank you.

Thank you. Anybody have, what do we do, additions or things to add on now? I do have additions.

the agenda for for new business okay that would be under seven business okay all right and uh we'll wait for

Commissioner Jarrell, if he comes. He's coming.

He has a student until 4, and he's leaving his house at 4. So he's probably here any minute. Okay, great.

And then no public is here, so we'll skip that.

You wouldn't, if I made sure, you wouldn't need to make a motion to add the new business?

No. Okay. So, Kayla, if you'll make that.

Yes, I'll make a motion to add. And I'll second that.

All those in favor say aye.

Aye.

Motion passes. Do we need to state what the item is?

Yeah, I think you have to say exactly what.

I have two. The first one is a lending library for items that are useful that most of us don't have in our house. That was the most, I'll explain it more when we get to it. And the other one is I had a request from a few people to see if we could get a monthly book club going in the town. Every six weeks, yeah.

I think we have an item for book club under 6E. I'm not sure.

I think that might be the Isaac.

Okay, so it's separate. That could be the initiator. Exactly, exactly. Yeah, I think that's a good idea. I wrote it down.

okay okay so would you like to add it after the 60 or well it's no business okay and then can we have a motion to for that one as well a motion for um

Both of them? Or do you want each one for the lending library? Okay.

We got one for the lending library, and then we need one for the book club.

Okay, and we need somebody to make a motion for the monthly book club.

I'll make a motion for the monthly book club. Second.

Second. All those in favor, say aye. Aye. Motion passes. Okay. Anybody have any, so the last meeting we only had two for the approval of the minutes. So, anybody have any thing they wanted to revise?

I'm not prepared to add more, but I think it shows the distances.

okay okay so we have for this two months okay so uh we'll approve this one first okay so i need a motion to approve the july 17th minutes all those in favor say aye And now we need a motion to approve the August 21. All those in favor say aye.

Motion passes.

Hello, how are you?

How are you? You like that better? Sure. No? That warms it up a little. The answer is fine. As long as it's not the bright one. It's not perfect.

You can put it on. Yeah, that's nice. She'll play music for us. She's the vibes thing.

She's the vibes lady.

Okay, so let's go to the first item for discussion, 6A, pizza and palm fronds. Frank?

yeah i don't know that we have a whole lot to add but we did um determine the date let's see it's uh i printed some stuff i have to add the printer but october 5th was the date that we set on um here at the dog park and then three to six p.m does that seem like a good time or let me just is there a better time i'll be out of time but i don't like that we'll be back

When is Sukkot?

When is Sukkot? I think it starts the next day, the 6th and the 7th, Monday and Tuesday.

So Sukkot is the 6th and the 7th?

Maybe we should do it earlier in the day just because after 6 p.m. no one's maybe performing, I don't know.

I think this was up to the grounds company or the... October 5th is a Sunday.

Yeah, the park is available. I mean, the pizza.

What did we do last year?

It was on a Sunday. It was on a Sunday.

It was like a noon, right?

I think it was earlier. I think it was maybe like noon to 3.

It was like 12 to 3 or 1 to 4. Hello.

Hi, sorry to wake you up. If earlier, I mean, I'm good any time.

I'm good either way.

But do you think maybe folks find it easier to do it? I mean, I don't know.

You're Jewish, so you're... No, I'd rather just, I don't know, if you get the palms at six, maybe you just dump them on your lawn and take care of it the next day.

The earlier, because they want to make their sukkahs.

Right.

Yeah, the pizza and popcorns. I had three to six at the time, but we're talking about... Is it for the Wednesday, the first, and then...

I think sukkah is Monday.

The sixth is sukkah. But I won't be able to try it.

Is that going to be too late for people to pick up on Sunday?

Or do you think there's still a... Yeah, maybe. I feel like by that time you're probably ready to make sure you have it.

Well, we want people to use it. It isn't just Soka. It's also autumn.

So yes, it'll be the evening of Monday the 6th.

So this would be Sunday. Doesn't it have to do with the grounds department?

No, because they'll be instructed to have the fronds there, you know, by the time we start our event. I think it is listed as three to six in the Gazette. Okay. You know, I mean, okay, if it's better. Okay. All right. Thank you, Frank. Sure.

Are we over on 680? Yeah. Okay, sorry about that. We'll go back to you in a minute. Do you want to... We'll go back to Gerard. Do you want to do that now? Okay.

Yeah. No formal report today. I'm trying to think. I apologize. I came running from something else. I did... I have been... I have news about 6D and 6E, but that's more appropriately covered under those agenda items. I'm sort of doing a little bit of work on those. As far as the commission goes, I'm trying to think of anything of special importance for this committee. And I cannot at the moment, so I'm just happy to be here.

Nice to see you. Thank you very much. Okay, so we'll move on to 6B, luncheon recognition for public works, right?

Yep, so the luncheon for public works, it's best if we do it at the end of this month. That way we can use the money that will expire at the end of this month of the year. So we're looking at different dates and the best date to be able to hold it at the community center where it would be most comfortable would be next Friday the 26th. So let me know if you all are okay with that. We will schedule it for like 1230 in the fishbowl room at the community center and that way we don't disrupt the operation in the main room and it's close enough that the crew over here can just go across the street. Everybody can do it together. 1230 to what? Maybe 1.30, I mean, I don't think they can break for that long. They all take a lunch at the same time? Yeah, they'll arrange it that day so that everyone can do it at the same time, but probably around an hour, you know, hour and a half we can say, but they will probably take around an hour. And you'll do the invitation to them? Yeah, I'll sign a little something and send it on your behalf. And then send it to us. Yes, of course. One thing to ask is, should we invite the commission and if they want to participate, are we getting their food? They're welcome. Okay. We'll make it available to the elected. And we will lock in the 26th. Okay. Okay, and then all the food that's behind is still? Well, the food is going to be Flanagan's, so we're going to do individual orders, so I'll have Andre just organize all the different orders, and then we'll figure out how we're going to get it all back and forth.

Okay.

And then you'll order for us, too?

Yes.

Okay. Chicken. Chicken.

Yeah, I'll reach out with your selection. Okay.

Did you want to come?

I mean, I don't have to. I didn't think that we were invited to come. Are you going to go? Well, I mean, it was your item.

I thought that the idea was that you all would. I don't mind if I show up.

It's not necessary to put a meal for me, but I could come and just say hi. Yeah, wonderful. Can we order something? If I could order curly fries, I'll put them.

Yeah, I mean, if you want us to order something from somewhere else. No, no, no.

I eat in fun.

Okay. right yeah just i don't need all of you you're all welcome wonderful great okay very nice oh thank you john yeah that's nice that's great okay succeed community resource banner and i think on that one chair we were just gonna have the committee members make recommendations uh for organizations and then again discuss the timing

So through the chair, I did reach out to Tamara Oppenheimer, who used to be a Surfside resident, and she lives in Miami Beach. social worker for maine beach high school and novelist and she has a list that i can get from her she's she's got a lot of resources and she's the one who put me in touch with the bereavement children's bereavement and some other people so i would love to just if that works for you get her list and we can narrow down what she has to what

So that would be for the October meeting, and could we pull it together for November? Sure. Thankful for our community. Should we wait to get a date, or do you have any dates available?

Well, you guys can make some suggestions. I mean, I have a calendar of some, you know, what's going on in town, so we can talk about different options, just because there is a lot going on.

Where do you envision this to be?

Me? I don't know. I think we can discuss.

Do we want the backyard like we did the ribbon tie?

Yeah, the green space. I think that that would be a nice spot for it. And then if it rains, could we have a fishbowl if we didn't? Yeah, if it rains, it can probably be moved indoors. Okay. Yeah. The good thing about winter season is hopefully less of a chance of rain and pleasant outside.

Okay, yeah, along that path because people go back and forth. Yeah. And what time? And what month?

Well, November would be nice, because that's around Thanksgiving, and then December is good. So for November, we could do, the 16th is going to be the Isaac Bashevis, so we will rule out that weekend, and then we have... Do we have anything in December? No. I'll check in a second. We do have the 9th, I think, open of November 9th. November the 23rd, I am away. And that's at Thanksgiving. Yeah, exactly. So we have the 9th open, and then December, let me check. Okay, the 7th is the Christmas tree lighting. The 14th, we may do a film screening. Unless you want to maybe do like November 30th? No, actually no, that's not a good date for me. December looks tricky because first two weeks or first two Sundays are taken and then the third one is almost, you know, the 20th. So November 9th? Would you be able to get the list?

I'm in Austin, Texas. I mean, I don't have to be here necessarily. Sorry, my travel is crazy.

Would you be able to get the list to us early?

Yeah, I'm working on it right now.

And then we'd be ready when we come at the October meeting.

We should definitely have...

Can we just, if you send us a list, can we just say this all looks good and ask Frank to start calling? Unless you want to do it in January?

January might be better, just give me time, I feel like.

Also, the weather's amazing in January.

Yeah, I think January might be better. New year, new...

There isn't so much going on in the calendar in that month, whereas we have a lot in October and November.

Actually, you could... It's not a bad day to combine it if we do the wishing tree event again. Oh, that's a great idea. I love that idea. They're not competing, you know, actually. And there's space for complementary. I think that's a great idea. Yeah.

Very good. Yeah, that's a great idea.

It creates, like, sort of a festive thing in the middle of the day. Why don't we get our date in before everybody else?

So last year we did the wishing tree in February, but, I mean, it could be, I think, January or February.

There was a certain... I don't know that it has to coincide, but there was a certain, it kind of goes with or rhymes with the Lunar New Year. A cosmic event, I was going to say. Well, with the Chinese New Year, which is like, you know.

You can have a little fortune. Green tea. Okay, do you have dates in January?

And, uh, dates in January... Yeah, we'll do New Year's, February 17th, but we don't have that right now. So, January... January's pretty open. I mean, we have a third Thursday scheduled, obviously, on that third Thursday, but nothing on a weekend... Wait, um, do you want to check when Family Fun Day is? Because that one is in... That one is in January. Let me have a quick check.

Are you going to do a Sunday?

I think that's best. Yeah, I think Sunday.

Maybe like the 11th?

Okay, Family Fund is the 25th, so any other weekend. Okay, of course people are still coming back from travel.

11th or the 18th, I think.

Okay, do we need to pick a date or you'll check? Let's see, there's also a Martin Luther King weekend. Should we check when that is?

That is the 18th. Yeah, the 19th.

Can we do it on the first one then?

The 11th or the 4th, do you think people are still on? I think the 11th. Yeah, I think the 11th. I'm just going to put in the 11th.

And that will give us time to look at your list. Did I send you a couple, Frank? You might have. I'll have to check. Great. do we have to make a motion for the 11th and a budget Or we have to wait for our new monies? When do the new monies come in?

October 1st. I guess we're going to discuss it again, so I think maybe we can circle back to the budget.

Oh, we'd love to talk about the budget today.

We'll have to have that. The budget for this in particular?

Where we are now with what we spent.

Oh, well, that has been in the news.

I'm sure it's been there, and I just missed it.

It may not be in this agenda, knowing the one before, it's the same figure. It was like 80, it was like 8,500 or something like that at least. Yeah, I mean, I know it's more than 8,000.

Okay, great.

So we'll use obviously some for the luncheon. But yeah, I mean, we have a lot of money, so it's good to ask for more than what you need.

Sure.

And then the wishing tree, too.

Yeah, so that would be together. And do we have a time recommendation?

I feel like we did it in the afternoon last time, I believe.

12 to 3 sounds good. That works.

It's good to have the date locked in because they do birthday parties in the winter when it's nice, so it's good to just get it in the calendar.

All right. Thank you. Okay, 6D, the debate.

Yeah, so George has been doing some great work in researching.

Some late-leg work.

I think what we want to lock down are a few specifics in terms of what our real skeleton plan is, so that I know that we have in the... people are going to contact me and I want to know what we can tell them is not a full understanding of what's going to go on but a general understanding so I think we need to lock down how we see it happening and more importantly how we see it sort of being portrayed to the community so people understand that this is a positive thing that's going to bring about open discussion in a really positive way. And this is not to get people to debate in a negative way. This is to show people how to debate in a mature, adult, positive way. So I think that's part of our goal is to really make sure the PR behind it is understood, that this is all about positive communication. So let's discuss through the chair.

Have you heard any responses from the Gazette notices? Not yet. I was thinking maybe we could make a little TV ad or something that could go on the local channel.

I'm happy to come speak at a commission meeting and talk about it and be positive about it in public comment if that's appropriate.

Unfortunately, our next commission meeting is October 27th. Oh, wow. Okay. Because of all the holidays in October. Right. And then it was going to be the 21st, and then we ended up for another reason moving it to the 22nd. So it'll be right before that. I do agree. There is a little bit of like... diplomacy to do on this. You know, I received a letter from one resident. I know that I was not at a meeting, but I think, Kayla, maybe you had some initial concerns, too.

So maybe, like, recreating our... I didn't want it to be centered on specific topics. Some people in this room wanted... What's that site you guys do? Nextdoor. Yeah, well, definitely, yeah. We can stay away from certain topics. That's all. I love to be here. I didn't want to make it about Nextdoor.

Awesome. There was one resident who was very thoughtful, and I still need to fully respond to their email, but they're like, Why are we having a debate that's so divisive and the whole idea, you know, to be like, well, because we want to have a channel disagreement into something civilized and constructive. And so how to spin that, I think, is important. And I do think that, you know, to be honest, there is, this gets at this kind of very interesting but also challenging issue with this committee. I sort of want the role of this committee to be to improve political discourse in the town, but it can be delicate because not everybody wants to approve it, and then also some people are very set in their ways, and so there's a way in which, like, if this committee is doing its work right, it's sort of... challenges the political culture a little bit, but at the same time we want it to be non-political and it's fair to thread that needle carefully, right? And I just want this to be something that is like not threatening to the rest of the Commission. I can think about how to package that. But as I craft my response to this one resident, I'm also thinking about how to sell it more generally. One thought, in addition to choosing the topic, it might make sense to try to keep current former elected officials and declared candidates out. Actually, from the main. The idea, I think, would be something a little more homespun. If it becomes a kind of forum for electoral politics, then I think it's going to become a flashpoint. And actually, maybe the kids, you know, we do have a lot of kids in Surfside who are on the debate team. Depending on what difficulty we have recruiting participants, we can ask high school debaters to come and do it. Right. They can model it. We have a lot who live in the city. We have a lot. And they can do a version of their format. So I'm kind of thinking that actually might be a way. We could have a mixed team. Exactly. Youth and grown-ups and the kids can lead the way. There's a way in which the more it's about them, well, they instinctively, if they're participating, they know how to behave properly. The grown-ups don't always know how to behave properly. So I feel like we could think about how to do that. I want to put that before the committee for consideration. And I do have, I met with, I've done a little bit of leg work In July, I had a lot of momentum, and I sat down with the debate coach, Russell Rywell, and we had coffee, and we talked about this, and he liked the idea. And he said, okay, I'll be ready to send something right when the school year starts. And then I dragged my feet a little bit. But I did recently reach out to the activities director at Beach High. and to a teacher who coordinates community service projects. And I'm told that there's another teacher, Nina Duvall, who also works with community service projects. And so I put out all this APB to all those people this week. As of right now, I have not heard back from... I thought she retired, but... Oh, really?

I don't know. It was Duvall, I thought. I could be wrong.

It might be. I wrote to, I don't know if you know the staff at Beach High, to the activities director, Gwen Delach, who happens to be my own high school classmate. And she was not there. I will nag her. So anyway, there's hope of getting people. I can check back in with Russell Rywell and see if he has students around who can participate. There's that. I have some idea of what a format can be. A kind of modified version of... what's called World Schools Debate, which is the format that Miami Beach High School competes the most in. And we could do something like that with short speeches. But it's sort of like, you might have two teams of three and they each give a four minute speech and then maybe the captain gives a two minute rebuttal so that the whole thing takes half an hour. That could be like, and we can play with it, it could be like four, four, four, four, four, four, four, and two people. And that would be a total of 14 minutes on every set.

And so one topic, or are we thinking of doing a few different topics?

That I'm open, right? I do think, I don't know, I mean, undergrounding does seem like a topic that is of interest, and it doesn't divide people in a... obvious way, you know what I mean? Like, you know, I like that, you know, it doesn't have a... And it's relevant. It's relevant, it's, you know, there's a factual component. So I feel like that one is... When's the election? When's the referendum on the Underground? November 3rd. So that, you know, there are other topics on the ballot that, you know, the other one that is also similar to Undergrounding in that it's kind of doesn't divide the community in any obvious way is the question about gating. But it's, I voted, I'll be honest, I voted against that, putting that item on the referendum because I thought there was no specificity at all to the proposal. It just says, do you favor the concept of gating? And so it's too open. It will be on the ballot. And that is the wording, do you favor the concept of gating, with no specifics. And so I think Debating something when there's no agreement on what we're disagreeing about, I think that can be bad.

Any thoughts on your end of something that would be interesting to debate?

I definitely, I guess, from our previous time speaking, not only about next year, but I definitely remember saying that I thought it should be adolescence, and that you mentioned this whole, like, scholarship through a school or something. I think it was Trojan something. Sober night, yeah. Something like that. Okay, sober night. And I just thought that something, like, some of the parents would be like, go, go, go today, go learn how to talk properly. Versus, like, I don't know what the adults are going to say to each other. That's not going to be... trying to be passive aggressive.

I think the adults need almost more work in how to debate than the young people do. I think that at this point, I have to give you an example is that right now I actually have somebody in our neighborhood who's been trolling me online. And it's been really, it's made me post less things. I'm usually pretty verbose about how I'm feeling. And so I really have this going on right now in my life where people are like, she posted about you again. And it's really, it's crazy. She's copying and pasting. my things and then puts them to make fun of me and it's like it's fair and this is an adult who lives in our neighborhood so i do think we do need to work on people understanding that i don't want to give it more fuel so i've just been kind of you know but it's a really strange feeling when you have somebody who's you know i think the kids do that as well but i feel like right now we're at a weird time where adults are you know, to get their point across, making other adults feel like they have to be smaller and quieter, and it's a strange time. So I would say, I think yes, that the teenagers actually mixed with adults might be a really good way to show how teenagers behave really well in these situations sometimes, and adults could maybe learn something.

Maybe that's a good topic.

Yeah.

Online.

Online, yeah.

I don't know.

You know, you can do, sometimes you can have a debate over a proposition of value, like, that's a little bit abstracted, like, on balance, next door is a good thing for Surfside. And then, you know, it just kind of opens the, you know, and you can have a general proposition of value like that.

And that actually could be interesting.

You can sort of debate the merits and the merits of it or something. And the boating, too.

Right. It's hard to have a debate over whether bullying is okay or not, because most, so it has to be framed in a way of, you know, how to, is next door something positive?

Yeah, on balance, is it a positive thing for suicide? And, you know, you can have an interesting debate about that, they'll point to different things, and in the end, you know, that kind of topic can be nice and open, and it doesn't, And I can kind of think of a couple more resolutions like that.

So I think we're hearing maybe three and three, maybe one or two or three subjects, and try to do a mix of the three of both adults and adolescents.

We could even pare the format down, like, you know, sort of... In this kind of style of debate, each team has sort of like a, you know, I forget what they call them necessarily, but the prime minister and the leader of the opposition, and then there's two more. And so the prime minister goes first, and then the two members, and then the prime minister gives a short rebuttal at the end. And the leader of the opposition goes first, then the other two, and the leader gives a two-minute close. Did we pick a date?

I can't remember.

so yeah we need to circle back to that because we originally had the october 23rd um but by sure remember we spoke a couple of weeks ago when we missed um coral for the last meeting we didn't know if we were going to be able to get this one scheduled so we ended up kind of postponing it so what i put in the gazette is i think i either didn't mention a date or i mentioned november but i no longer set october 23rd just to give us more time is that okay

Yes, and I'm just going to give you a response. Sorry, I had texted, and Duval retired two years ago, but she's still working with the kids at school on essays with Salisbury. Oh, okay. And so she's still involved in the school, but she's not, maybe one of the reasons it was hard to get her. So Salisbury's the one that I wrote to.

Yeah, that's really the one that I talked to. And, okay, I want to, maybe afterwards, let me check this contact information, because I have. If we do it after the election, that sort of takes the undergrounding off as a topic. Is there any time in November?

i don't know i've asked the clerks they have to respond with what's available in the chambers i don't know yet i'm sure there is i just don't know and i'm sorry frank did you say the 23rd there was something in the chambers that was not the 23rd of november of october october um no october is still available that's for our original date

Oh, too soon. Yeah, that might be the issue.

So that maybe it doesn't happen before the debate. It's okay if it doesn't. Actually, that might actually lower the temperature a little bit.

Yeah, maybe the book happens and then we debate things.

Yeah, but I think we have some ideas there for possible... topics and I encourage you all to think. I can sort of help craft a debatey resolution, you know. Great.

And you two have all the rules?

He really is more the, but we can look them up and we can also work them to work for what we don't have, they don't have to be, you know, nationwide rules that we're falling under. State rules. State rules.

Yeah, exactly. Surfside rules. We're not going to Nashville. Um, yeah, and we can, uh, hopefully the team captain envisioning, like, can sort of be like, look, don't make it personal, don't do this, you know, and people will kind of know.

Absolutely. It's going to be crafted the way that it's being crafted, which is well thought out about, you know, using personal or, yeah.

I'm excited about that. Alright, let's, uh, if anybody has any, I'll just say, like, any, um, communication with anyone who's skeptical about it, but certainly any commissioners. I'd say, let's make the case for it. Let's sort of do some diplomacy in what we can. And I might mention that Israel isn't here, because I know that he does talk with some of the commissioners regularly. And I feel like he can be a good ambassador as well.

and now that we're pushing it off maybe when is the next commission meeting 27th okay it's a wednesday night all right so we're going to talk about this next month again okay

All right, move on. So it looks like 23rd is not it. Okay, thank you both. Sixie, the book club, and Isaac, the Shiva singer, November event. Frank?

There you go. Well, I can talk about our portion, which we're going to further discuss with the Resort Tax Board tonight. We have an item. And just so you know, Chad was going to do a presentation for the whole reception cocktail component on the green space. Churro. Yeah, churro. We've heard of Chad. Yeah, I've heard of Chad. Yeah, so she'll be presenting her idea for that, and hopefully we'll get it all approved. When is it? That's November 16th, Sunday. Okay, perfect.

Can I add something? One of the things I was thinking for this, but maybe you've already got this all worked out, is that we use, I don't know if tourism is going to use their money, but to buy... books for everybody to get this money.

Yeah, I mean, if we're open, you know, so the books, that's sort of like stressing me out, and I've written to, so this guy, he's a professor at UT Austin, we're flying him out, he's going to participate in both aspects of the event, the book club in the afternoon, and the sort of more festive, when he's giving a lecture, talk in the afternoon and evening, and the movie and the Klezmer concert. We have sort of picked at least, we're going to read at least two short stories for the book club. One is Gimple the Fool, which is Singer's most famous story, and it's like an old world story. And then one is called Alone, and it's a story set in Miami Beach. And then Dr. Grotesman was going to suggest one or two additional stories. So there's kind of like old world, new world, sort of religious, secular. It's trying to do a couple of, you know, bridge a bunch of divides. So then I'm... There is, there are at least a couple of available short story anthologies that have Gimple and Alone. And then we're just, I'm like, can we just pick a book and an edition and the stories? And then I'm like, and I'm trying to just nail that down so we can do the order. And he hasn't yet gotten back to me. He was on vacation. I'm going to nag him again tonight or tomorrow. But so I'm trying to just get that. And that's the part that has me the most worried right now because I want to Books and Books, I've emailed a bunch of different people. Books and Books is excited to help us out. I kind of imagined that they could stock the book in Bell Harbor. Maybe they might want to have a table at probably an evening event where they sell books of their choosing related to Singer, but they're interested in some aspect of that, they might help with publicity. I've been in touch with Livia Hasson at the Schul, and she wants to put it in their newsletter, so I need to get After her, the Jewish Museum academic director also wants to help publicize it, and we've been in contact with the book fair. I don't know if you heard back from your contact after the meeting yesterday.

Not yet, but our former PR is the PR for the book fair, and she was meeting with them yesterday, and she has the info in a circle.

The Miami Book Fair starts like that on this day, so it's kind of like perfect timing, and I'm hoping we can get it on their calendar.

Hi, how are you?

What about the other synagogues? Can we notify them too? Yeah, absolutely.

Do you have that list, Frank? The other synagogues? No, but I think I know most of them. Six now?

Do you know those? I thought there were even more. More than six.

There might be more than six now, yeah.

that we know, seven, eight?

I'll try to figure it out. Yeah, we can just Google it. Okay. And maybe once we have a graphic or a we or something, we can... Me. We do. All right.

So the two stories are two different

There's at least one anthology. I have it somewhere. Is it on Amazon? It's on Amazon. I think it's out of print. I'm asking Godesman to confirm that they are both in there. I think it's called The Collected Stories of Isaac Bersheba Singer. It's a one-volume thing, just in case anybody doesn't need... There's also, I think it's called The Modern Library. three volume set of the stories. We don't want that. It's like a big hardcover thing. You just want like the long paperback.

I really do think that it would be nice if we can buy the book for people. I think that I don't, you know, we do have this money that needs to be sent by October. So maybe we can call Books and Books and say, hey, I don't know how many people are expecting to do the book club.

I believe that's it. But not the English and Yiddish edition. Unless somebody wants it. to have the Yiddish original, which somebody might. It's cool to have. I think Alone is originally written in English. Gimple, I think, is originally Yiddish. Somebody might want the dual language edition, but I think there's one that's Penguin. Anyway, I'm hoping that this is what I don't want. That's a lot. That's a big old thing. That's $115,000. There is a paperback, collected stories, that should be easy to get. And it may be out of print, but there's a lot of copies around. I think Books and Books should be able to just get us 50 copies.

And maybe they can give us a little bit of a break. And it's, you know, they can make a little bit of money, but it's, we're buying it for the books.

Yeah, and actually that sort of simplifies it because we just get the order in and, you know, we have time to stock it.

And they can still sell his other books at the... And anything they want related to...

That's a very cheap, $4.49 for the stories. Yeah, it's a matter of just getting the... How many would you want to... I want to make sure that's the right addition before we order anything.

What's our guess on how many people will participate in the book club? What do you think? I mean, Surfside's always weird that way. I think it's going to be hundreds, and then it's like 12 people, but we could buy for a certain amount, and then if it doesn't...

I don't know that more than, I honestly, I don't know. 40? 50? Yeah, I was going to say 40, 50.

I mean, it would be really nice. Right, and if you cast a wide enough net...

I don't think it's the end of the world if you bought 50 and we end up donating some and they don't get... We'll still give them that.

I wrote my October Gazette column about this. I would love it if this could become a kind of annual literary event.

We kind of called it Singerfest. That's cool.

It doesn't always have to be about Singer. You can come back to him every few years and do another author. Great.

I just was in a home the other day. And we have a local famous author who was on Byron. At least two? Oh, maybe three. Or maybe I think it was Byron. Emerson? Or maybe it was Emerson, yeah. It was the, I took a picture of him. Adam and Emerson. Yeah, Adam and Emerson. So we could do.

And we have Richard Blanco.

Oh, yeah.

He moved out of our building. Okay. I think he's somewhere.

So we could pick different. I would love it to be something that has that same power, and with an occasional return

into our hometown noble laureate. So I really, I'm gonna, I'll be nervous until Godesman gets back to me and says, yeah, this is the edition, get that, and then we can run with it.

I think once you have, once you identify exactly which one you want to purchase.

Do we need to approve this as a purchase through the chair?

Yeah, I think you should make a motion to purchase 50 copies of the .

I make a motion to purchase 50 copies once it's approved by the professor . All those in favor say aye. Aye.

You had a better price, I just went there too. If you were for something, it just went up to six.

I hope we also can get the purchase done prior to our money running out. Yes. If it's the end of the month, you should get back to me soon.

So we have the October meeting. Yes. Okay. Great. Maybe just put that on a credit card. Yeah. All right. Awesome. And then, so we, oh, we approve the monies. And then Sunday, ours is Sunday. Our event is Sunday. Both on Sunday. Oh, both?

Yeah.

Yeah, they're both together. They'll be back-to-back. And we think that that's best because, you know, you're not, you might lose audience if they have to go and break in between. So I think it's better if they segue from one thing to the other. We met with Charlotte and walked around and identified the green space. We're going to have the Klezmer band, really nice kind of mood lighting, a few high tables, rows of chairs with the inflatable screen for the movie. It'll look kind of nice. I think she has... pierogies or some nice food option savory and sweet some alcohol and then uh you know just invite some community partners like commissioner said the polish consulate as well and i do have um you know i just got the creative uh the draft of the creative i haven't you know reviewed it but this is more or less what kind of in the style of his um That's so cute.

Can you send that to me too? Yes.

So I have it on there. What's the time? So I think what we put, okay, 5 to 6 for the book club and then 6 to 7.30 for the short film and reception. Okay. and um is this at the park no this is at the community center so and uh and we'll do the fish bowl for the book um club and then we'll do the deck and the green space for the writers okay and kosher you have kosher we have plasma bound with kosher that's great so short of the students at the um the uh Yes, yes, but she's gonna, we're gonna, you know, present her proposal to our support tonight.

Great. The Polish consulate is very into, Polish government cultural divisions are very into Singer. There's something called the Shalom Foundation in Poland that does an annual event called Singers Warsaw, and it's kind of like a big event. in Warsaw, you know, so, you know, and, so there's, there's several avenues we can, but if anybody has ideas, once we have, like, we're really, really ready to roll out the publicity, and I think the book is just the last piece of it, um, until we have a design, then, you know, please, you know, think about how we can get the word out.

Great. Can't wait.

Yeah, it should be a really good one. I'm excited.

We have a showcase anywhere in this building. of his kids' books. So I was thinking if there was a way to display it, but I don't want to take it.

Other people might, if you have any, I think you could just put it like they do at the library. Can you say I have a display case?

I mean, with a glass?

No. Maybe they do have one for fliers, like their fliers and stuff.

Oh, we could just take a picture of your community-owned Beshiva's books.

Behind the front desk, right?

Yeah. And also out front, basically, before your office outside. You have that class information.

The bulletin board? Yeah.

In the community center?

Oh, no.

Yeah, it's right before you come into the gate to show your ID. Yeah, that's right.

Here or across?

Across.

I mean, Town Hall obviously has the bulletin board, but those are only for clerk's office things, right? Or is there any extra space in those?

Well... Yeah, I think it is only for clerks, but I can find out.

Patricia, I mean Patricia, Priscilla used to guard that thing very, I would have to like, you know, bribe her to at least supply that flyer, but I think the next generation is a little more open.

But obviously space permitting and stuff, yeah.

Okay, so be great, very good. Alright, good luck. Do you need me to talk to Russ or anything? I'll see him at Russia Shaman next week.

Oh, right. Yeah.

Oh, yeah. Just remind him. Oh, no, that's for the debate.

For the debate, yeah.

If I see him, I'll get him.

Yeah, yeah, I forgot that you might be on their connection, too.

I saw him at Whole Foods, but I couldn't remember what I needed to talk to him about. Okay. All right. Very good. Very good. Okay. And then... Sixth, a promotion of Hatzalah. This was not me, this was going to be Mark.

Yeah, I don't think he has anything new. I asked him last week. Okay, so I'm going to remove this from... You know, I pretty much said, when you have something regarding Hatzalah, let me, you know, let us know. Maybe not another resource. Yeah, that for sure.

I mean, that's... All right. Could you put them on your list? Yes. And just make sure there's no conflict. That's what I was checking on. I'm going to take it off. Okay. All right. And now, so that was all in the discussion items. New business, Joanna. Okay. Lending library.

Yes. So at my library in Massachusetts, right at the house, something that's there that I'm just always so in awe of and I think that we could really use here is a lending library. library of useful things around the house. And many municipalities are doing this, and I think we are a prime one to do it because we have no storage in our homes. And it's basically for things that you don't use often, but you would like to use. And you check it out like it's a book. So the one at my library in Massachusetts, there's a pasta maker, there's a sewing machine, there's some tools, things that you don't want to buy, use once. and you don't have any room to keep it. So it's just something that I think we could really be a prime town for. It's basically, you check it out, you sign a few things, you have to return it to the same condition it came in. If things break, they break. Naturally, we have to return them clean. I can show you some examples of other towns that are doing it, but I think it's just something that would be really useful here.

I just need to take a break for a minute. Let me run out. Talk about your summaries.

Did we lose Cora? Let's talk tennis. Yeah, let's talk tennis.

Let's talk about... Let's see.

If anyone... Can I show you Shadow's presentation? But I emailed it to you, so you can check it out.

The beach around was really nice. It was really lovely.

The water looks incredible. All the seaweed is gone. It's just very narrow, but the beach itself looks great.

I brought this new couple that I'm working with right now, who they're moving from New York. And they came and they were like, this place is such magic. How does this town exist? I can't believe it. They were like, what is happening? Where they're there with their kids going like, this is... And you guys drink cocktails?

They were like, this is... From tacos and cocktails.

I could not believe it. They just were in awe that this place exists. So they're new surfsliders. Are we fighting for them? No, they are sold. They send their kids to Posnack. It's two men. They were in Tarrytown. What is the town called? I'm glad you know the name of the town of Westchester. And they were starting to feel like it was not working for them anymore. And so they started to piece it together. And they found this... But they're like, I can't believe this exists. That's what they kept saying. I can't believe this all is reality. They're also shocked by the price tags. That's the part that everybody when they first get here, they're like, wait, what? And I'm like, believe me, I'd be priced out right now if I had to buy and sort of decide it's crazy. But they're thrilled, and they really could not believe the event.

Yeah, no, when we get out of towners as well, I remember Barbara, one time Barbara Cohen, she had one of Lou's daughters, and she was coming from Utah to one of the Thursdays, but she was blown away. She was like, wait, you guys do this every month for a whole season? And, you know, we get so used to it.

Yeah, exactly. and like when my kids were little like the halloween event like all these things and it's like you just kind of get used to them and you forget that those towns don't do what we do right it's amazing yeah we're lucky a lot of perks to offset the expensive it is of life i i'm like we get our trash picked up almost every day like things that really you don't find those places welcome back my body is still getting used to the jet lag

Okay, we'll resume.

Okay.

Kaylin, do you have any thoughts about... About the learning library?

I love the idea. I have stuff to contribute going out of my house.

Yeah. So I want to take out every once in a while. Right, we could get... Where is it... Like, where would you place it?

I mean, I have ideas of where they would be, but we are limited in space, so I think... And logistics, too, because, you know, who manages it, who oversees it, who are the employees, like, where is it kept?

So, I mean, one theory would be... your house no space um would be maybe at the 96th street park if there's like a i know there's some storage areas and maybe whoever's working there it's only during the times the park is open right and whoever's working there to make it as simple as possible we just have pictures of the things that are somewhere, and then you just say, I want to take this out, and they go and they get it, and they give it to you, and you sign, and that's it. Yeah, they're just sitting there. It could work, yeah. You can make it as small as you want. It doesn't have to be 50 items. It could start at six items, and if it's going well, you can up it. But I just think things like a sewing machine that people want to make curtains, but they don't want to keep a sewing machine for, you know, we can probably see if people want to donate from their house something that they would use a lot of.

I think it's a good idea. I would keep thinking about the logistics.

they are you know you've figured everything out you can you know i don't know either approach the town manager or maybe go to the parks and rec committee because they don't most likely involve them um but yeah i think that's a it's a solid idea maybe you start with some kind of um ad asking people to you know bring those strange kind of maybe one-time items that you don't want to store at home

I can ask them. The ones that I always, whenever I go by, I go, oh, that's such a great, like the sewing machine always for some reason sticks with me because a lot of people would love to hem or do something and they just don't want to keep it. The pasta machine was another one that stuck out to me. They had tools. I don't know if tools, you know, it maybe... We can kind of, we don't want to do like chainsaw, that's dangerous, but we could think of some other things. Scooters. What about starting out a little bit smaller, like,

there's library boxes you know where people put books in you know maybe um the grounds you know we maybe we could just start slow and if the grounds committee could like build us a couple i even saw something for dogs there is one there is one is there one there should be more i was going to test it i'm like this is so deep in by the water there should be maybe a few right we have one of these pieces for dogs people bring little colors I was just saying we started a little slower.

But then how would that work? Would you put your pasta maker into that box? No, no, no. This is just something separate.

Maybe after the book thing, we start a book thing, put a few more in town. Then we get the idea of people putting stuff in, and then we could roll out the bigger things.

Can we dedicate one with the rest of our money? to make another Lend-A-Few? Dedicated by the community to use up the rest of our funds?

Sure. That way town might think, okay, now people are putting books in and taking, and if we put the dog thing on the bottom, and then we can roll yours out, because we get the idea that people are, you know, you already gave out some books now, here's our next project. Sure.

I mean, I think they're slightly unrelated, but I do understand that they're also totally useful. And especially the dog one, I think is great because people don't know what to do with their dog. Wait, what is the dog thing? So we have one up at the Cape and it's basically, it looks like one of the lending libraries, but it's a little bit bigger and it has leashes and, dog bowls and sticks.

Like at the bottom there, the basket of sticks you can throw sticks.

Because after people lost dog side, they're like, what do I do with this stuff? I know. And we have a dog park. We have to put it at the dog park. I think it makes total sense to put it there. I love the idea of that.

Okay. So let's stick with Joanna's.

Well, we can keep throwing around.

Because we have to check who has right?

Is that you or one of us? No, I checked. I just need to be clear on how would it work because they're going to ask me every question. How does it work? What do you think?

I would see it. We maybe start with six things and those six things are on just like a piece of paper. There's a picture of it. a description of what it is and then a number and then they go to parks and rec covers working logan whoever and say hey logan can i take out number one which is across the maker and logan says sure and they take their surfside id or their regular id and they write down in a log that Joanna Hoffman took out the pasta machine on this date, and then it's like a library where you have one week to return it. You get a leave fee if it's late, and they signed something saying it's going to be returned in the same week.

Property tags. that, like, I don't know if Angie's laptop has one. I didn't see it. But, like, we could put a tag or barcode on things, you know, just, like, for scanning. But, like, mine has it on the front. So I guess because we're staff. Oh, yeah, it does right there. Like, we could do something like that.

And maybe eventually it can grow into more things like a power washer, things that really are big and take up a lot of space that maybe in this it just takes up one shelf in one room.

Just keep in mind because there's not a ton of storage space even at the park. They use that space, but okay. Clear on the process.

It is the kind of thing, I don't want to, like, the house at 1950 Harding, who knows where that's headed, but if we ever get it back and it sort of, like, does function in some of the ways we want it to work. That's a good location. No, no, that house is still in play, it's just, yeah, it's complicated.

It could be.

For now, if we could get them to say they'll give us one shelf, or like a big deep shelf, then we would just keep everything to that shelf and we would start with that.

Okay, yeah, I won't mention it to them as you know, they're kind of in transition and yeah But yeah, I mean talk to Cindy and the rest of the team Okay, and then the other item

was to piggyback off of the book club is to do maybe an every six week to every eight week town book club that we partner with Books and Books and we buy the books and we pick the books and it was something that was recommended to me by someone in the town and that I think it could bring community together. Again, since I moved here, it's like we've become my closest friends and we talk about everything under the sun. But this could be really a good way to just get together every however long we decide to talk about a book. It doesn't have to be surfside related to anything. What do you guys think?

One of those books that have that guide in the back. I really like the guide. Sure. Questions, you know.

It could be anything, really. It's just something to come up with. We were just sort of discussing this person in the company. I said, what a great way to... Could we have it here? It could be... In people's homes, yeah, it could be anywhere.

I mean, I think there's a few existing, you know, unofficial, obviously, book clubs for people in town. I don't know if you know any, but I know that Judy Martinez is the vice chair. I'm in one with her. Yeah, exactly. I know she's in one of them.

So I'm in two book clubs, one's with Judy and that group, and then the other one is like Lindsay LaCour and that group. Got it. Mm-hmm. Those, both those book clubs, I guess, I am already reading too many books.

But I... You have time to kick on.

But I definitely learned so much from being with, and it doesn't, part of the thing I think also, which is a shame, is that book clubs end up being often all women, and I think there's a lot of men who would love to be in book clubs, but they're not offered to them, so I think it would obviously be...

for the men i love the idea of being in people's homes or beer and books i love it philadelphia has a program called one book one philadelphia and it's an annual thing i was sort of like i remember it from when i was living there but yeah that's kind of the idea and yeah you know right it could also just be like it's the book for a year so then like Maybe people on their own are talking, you know, you run into your neighbor, oh, did you read the book this year? And then you have a conversation about it separate from the book club.

We could do it twice a year maybe. It doesn't have to be every month. It could be something much less of a commitment for people.

Can we base it off of that? One book, one search site.

One book, one search site, I love, yeah. We could do it yearly.

How does that work? So there's one where they all come together?

It used to be at the big library downtown and famous Philadelphians would come and do billboards for it. I'm trying to remember right before we moved here, I forget what the book was. It's like a big, yeah, and I was talking about it. It's like, it's a great, I love the one book.

And it's by the calendar year, so actually this is great timing because you could pick something and roll it out in January or February. Yeah. With an event whenever, you know. I love it. But it gives people lots of time to read it, you know.

Yeah, so we could do that instead of doing it every six weeks or eight weeks, a small thing. Maybe it's something bigger and with more people that the green space or...

It's less intimidating if it's just one bullet.

Mm-hmm. Okay. I need something to read. It's not like a... Yeah, there's no pressure.

Crab the week before.

No, the night before. All-nighter just to read it.

That could be the preview the day before we do an all-nighter where you can read it.

So, I like the idea. One book, one Surfside.

Should we do local? Are there enough local authors in the area? I mean, it wouldn't just have to be Surfside. It could be Miami, too, or Miami-related.

be anything. Yeah, I love the idea of it being like an inelated or sort of like... You know, that's interesting.

If I talk to the events people at Books and Books, they might be able to suggest something. They have a lot of author events there, so they kind of know... They might have a sense of what's buzzy and kind of relevant and has that kind of community appeal.

They're going to like the beer and books.

I think we should definitely do that. Maybe that could be the event. That way the men would come. Yeah, that's true.

We could have beer and books, but also... Sort of that Surfside and Hard South sort of thing. Yeah, that's actually...

It's a local beer. I don't know. Is there a local beer?

The Surfside drink?

The Surfside beer or drink, it's an iced tea with vodka, but I'll tell you the story was that a couple of people in Philly wanted to start an alcohol company, so they went through people's trash in Philly to see what people were drinking. They found that people were drinking sugary iced tea, like Turkey Hill was so common, so they were like, why don't we make an iced tea alcoholic beverage? That's how it came about. It's like a hairy buffalo in college but in a garbage, an old garbage bag.

So their logo is pretty similar to ours and they're involved in a pretty kind of nasty lawsuit with another company that has a logo that's also similar to ours but more similar to theirs and they subpoenaed us. and asked us all kinds, I had to respond and send all kinds of information. Not because it's the same logo, but they just, it was close enough where they still wanted information. Anyway, I had to provide all this information. Yeah, and the other place was a taco place in California somewhere, maybe in the Bay Area. Really pretty branding. Surfside Mexican or something. Very cute, I mean. But that's just... It's interesting.

He's only one suicide. Yeah. Okay.

All right, so we'll put that on the agenda. Did you want to go up to Books and Books? I've been in touch with them, so, you know, they're... You want me to go with you, I guess.

Oh, to go to Bell Harbor or to... Bell Harbor one. Yeah. Well, I like the other one.

Thank you. Just to see if they have ideas for books or one certain side, one book. Yeah. Okay, let me know. You have my number. Yeah, yeah. We'll take the bus now.

We'll make a field trip. Love it.

So then I understand it. And then after, you know, if we get that rolling, we can see if maybe somebody can make us a couple more box books for... for the neighborhoods?

Yeah, I think I love the idea of the dog park work.

Let's put that on the agenda for next month.

Can we just have Frank ask if those guys would build us? Do they have any spare plywood afterwards?

We'll feed them on Friday.

No, I think it's pre-fed. I think the one that we have here was self-built. Someone in public works or parts built it. So when we feed them, then we'll bring it up. What is the request? Sorry, I had to respond.

See if they'll build us something.

And then where would you want two places? One at the dog park. But that one's for the dog?

I think we could do both, by the way, where it's got the dog kind of thing and then also books.

I didn't even see what it looks like. But okay, but I will ask. I think it looks the same.

One here, too, and by the beach would be nice. Or by the...

I'll have to ask, let me see, it's not my staff, so it depends on... Alright, I'll put it on next month's agenda and get some pictures ready. Yeah, maybe.

Here's a picture of a dog, if anybody wants to see it. Okay.

What is that, what is it called? This is like a bigger one than the book one.

This is called the dog house.

It's a pretty big book one. If you can also send one. Terrify me. If you can send it to us also so we have it, just anything that's shown. I understand.

Let's see if I can get a couple more options. I'll put that on for next time. Frank, is it okay to ask Frank if we can ask him if they would build us either a book one or a dog one? Yes. And we'll just start with one. One each. All right. Thank you, John. Excellent ideas. That's what this committee is for. Okay, anybody else? Okay, so that's it for new business. Next meeting is October 16th at 4 o'clock. So your emails are still going to my junk. And that's been happening ever since I got on this committee. I know it's happening with LV. Can somebody in tech check out to see what's going on? And I've even, like, I think Cindy even helped me bookmark you, but it's still going up there, so I'm not getting any communications unless I look.

I'll talk to IT about it.

Yeah, that would be great, because I know Algie doesn't get them either. Because I always say, did you get it? Are you getting them on regular?

I know I get some things. It doesn't mean Genesis or you mess with me to get it, so I don't know. If there's anything else that I'm not seeing.

Sometimes I'll ask to send out a reminder.

But David, what kind of email do you have? AT&T. What's your email?

Mine is A. Alcala. I can spell it for you.

I don't know why it's not popping up.

Yeah, you're not popping up.

I'm having some issues. Okay. Let me see if it's been specified. Or just Angie. I did not think it said that. Oh, Angie.

Okay.

And I sent something by text.

I was just saving it to my calendar and it said send.

Thank you so much. Thank you.

Sorry, if we could keep it to one person at a time and then return back to the next meeting if possible.

All right, if you could check, that would be great.

Yes.

Okay, so that's all I have. So I'm going to go over the agenda for next month for Frank.

I'm sorry, Chair. Everyone was okay with the next meeting date?

Until you send the email. It's okay so far.

The 16th of October to Thursday, 4 p.m. Yeah.

We never know until you send it.

All right.

Okay. But sometimes, like the last time I sent out through Angie that we needed recommendations for community relations, I always send that to you. Or was it through Genesis?

Maybe it was Genesis. Okay. You can send it to me.

Sometimes I'll send out a reminder.

You can send it to me. Okay.

All right. So here's what I have for next month. The recap of the Frond Sunday and public work recognition events. Resource fair development. With the wishing tree. Resource fair and wishing tree planning. Debate planning. The Isaac Bashir, the singer event update. The lending library for big things. For what? For the items, not used items. And monthly book club discussion. And then also update on our book or dog library and or dog play. Okay, anybody have anything else they want for next month? Frank, can you think of anything?

No, I mean, I will recap the luncheon and I expect everything will be approved for SingerFest tonight. I think, yeah, I'll follow up on everything.

If you get something from that and they print out a flyer or print out information, could you send it to all of us?

SingerFest, yeah, it's going to be confirmed very soon. So as soon as I have it, I will share it with everybody so you all can help spread the word and I'll start seeing it posted.

Okay.

Anything else? Are we gonna offer community service hours for the teenagers if they do the debate?

Yeah.

Okay, great.

Who takes care of that, do you?

Mm-hmm.

I mean, sometimes the schools have forms that I just sign off on. If not, I can do a letter.

You're just using that as a carrot to get something. Yeah, for sure. For sure.

Yeah, well, absolutely we can. Oh, and you were going to check on all the synagogues for the sheep.

And I might have a different idea for something for next time, but I'll just write to you about it, and I'll get it on the agenda. Something else that came out of my conversation, if I will.

Okay. All right. Then I'll put it on. Okay. Great.

Commissioner, he just responded, but I think it's the same thing that you know, Professor, about the stories, which ones. He just sent it to me, although I don't remember asking him. So maybe he meant to respond to you, as he responded to me. I think that's what he did.

Yes. Okay, I'll just... Yeah, all right. Oh, good. Okay, so it is... You know, I want to make sure it's exactly the original. That's great.

All right, a motion to adjourn. I make a motion to adjourn.

i can drop you i have to go to bay harbor does sleep for a freebie can you schedule a time so everyone was if i made everyone was in favor of the most important yeah yeah we like each other's company all those in favor