Community Relations Board - Regular Meeting

301 p.m. Chair David Carr.

Here.

Vice Chair Joanna Katz. Here. Board Member Kayla Azari-Garmizo. Here. Board Member Rita Regev. Regev. Regev.

I'm sorry to say it like everybody else. Regev Specter.

Regev. Here. Chair, you have a quorum.

Okay.

Thank you. Welcome to Rita was the original nine and Welcome back. Welcome back.

Thanks again.

And again, watch the attendance. It does count. Okay, Commissioner, your report. Yeah, my report will be a brief one.

I also wanted to welcome Board Member Rega Specter, who is, I'm proud to say, my appointment to the Board, so that's an extra plus. I think all, you know... Very little to report directly from the commission, except I must confess I had wanted at some point to bring up a topic that we discussed earlier briefly at the last meeting about came out of our discussion of the Surfside debate idea is sort of how to invigorate the part of the mission of the board that is really to sort of address the larger climate in town, the political atmosphere, among other things. That is a challenge, that remains a challenge. I have not had a good occasion to bring it before the commission and it's been a very busy month with personnel matters. So that remains a goal of mine and that's something that I'm always kind of eager to hear feedback about from the committee. Because I love the events that we do and the things that we create here. I've always seen them as sort of serving this larger goal of uniting the community and just making us a better community. And so I've been thinking about that. I'm not sure how to bring that forward. Maybe when we get to Item 6F we can discuss that with that specific focus. Otherwise, I'm happy to answer any questions from the board about the recent Commission work. I mean, one thing that did come up in the discussion prior to the meeting is that last night we, I think, took a big first step toward a renovation of the Paws Up dog park. We have a grant from County Commissioner Steinberg that can be used for parks. And so the Commission has green-lighted that, and I think we're going to be moving to some kind of informal design phase. Because we use that part for some of our activities and might use it for some other things like the lending library. I want everyone to know that that is potentially happening soon. Do they have a plan of what they want to do? I think now the manager will seek to make a plan. So I don't know. I was joking earlier, but I do imagine there are some people who specialize in design in dog parks. fun for our four-legged surf centers.

And how's the new town manager?

You know, so far I think we've been very pleased. We did actually discuss, I should mention this, you know, to the board too, apropos of the question, you know, he is a consultant currently and the acting town manager and we approved his month-to-month contract last night. One of the items in the contract that we discussed was his attendance at meetings. And he is required to attend planning and zoning, resort tax board and pension board. And we've allowed him to decide which other boards to attend So I hope he'll join us at some point. But we didn't want to overtax him. And I continue thinking that ultimately it will be nice to have an assistant town manager who can attend the other board meetings. Like this one in Parks and Rec, sustainability. It's a lot for one person. So I want you not to infer anything from his absence here.

We don't have any public comments. So I'll move on to minutes. Did anybody find anything that they wanted to correct in the minutes? Okay, I need a motion to approve them. I second the motion. And Kayla seconded it. All those in favor, say aye. Aye. Motion passes. And now we'll go on to discussion items. So the Singer Fest... is Sunday, so thank you to Frank and everybody for organizing and Gerardo for bringing this to us. Frank, you want to just tell us

Yeah, no, it should be really great. We're really excited for it. Of course, there's the two components. First, we have the book club sponsored by the sport. And that, of course, will be in the fishbowl room. And that will start at 5 p.m. And, you know, we circulated an announcement email with the limited books that were available. And, you know, they went pretty quickly. People came by to get them. We have a list of residents. And I have one person. left that somebody returned but um i'll take it yeah yeah you can Well, the one that's left is in Maya. Oh, okay. Those are all gone? I can get it to you, yeah. The ones that were, you know, in the part of the announcement were all taken. But yeah, it should be really great. We have, of course, Dr. Godesman joining us for that and he will, you know, lead the book club discussion. He's due to arrive on Saturday. And one thing to mention is the approval of the sponsorship for Isaac Pack, who is a member of the Youth Council. And he's also Sarah Liss's son. She's one of our popular event vendors. And he's really into museums. an exhibition so he thought of you know curating um some kind of a you know bashevis singer exhibition that can be um i guess displayed on a glass wall so initially he wanted to do it in the the back of the concession area at the community center, that circular kind of building. There's some windows there that are open and available, but that's going to be a little bit tucked away to the back. And then we're going to have a nice step and repeat backdrop for this event that we're going to put in front of where the vending machines are. So I think it'll be nicer if we can move him to a more visible spot. So at Monday's Resort Tax Board meeting, the board asked if we could ask Isaac to instead do it at the fishbowl panels, which I think would work just as well because people are going into the room anyway for the book club, so they'll be noticing that. And yeah, there's four big panels that are perfectly accessible and usable. I think you'll have no problem for that, but he is requesting $300 from the board to execute his vision, so I think we need a motion for that if you want to.

I haven't seen it.

He just sent me an email basically saying what he's going to do. There's not a whole...

He was supposed to send it to Lombardo and myself. Oh, okay.

And what is it again that's going to be displayed?

I'm not exactly sure how he's going to do it, but it's basically going to be an information display. I don't know what type of material he's going to use, but it's going to... He says he's going to make it look nice. Can you read the email?

I'm looking forward to it. because he said he was going to send us an proposal for our approval.

We spoke on the phone, so that's where he pitched it to me, and then we exchanged emails where I was like, oh, it's $300, where do you want to do it? So I don't have one that explains his vision, because that was on the phone. But I think it's a nice touch to add something by a member of the community and somebody who is young and interested in the topic.

I'm really, really sorry. I had the intent. I even blocked out this whole part of the afternoon for you all. But I have to run because I have some legal issues that we are trying to resolve, or at least get off the ground. So I really do apologize for those who have not met. My name is Mario Leoz. I'm the acting town manager. I'm on week number two officially right now. So I'm trying to catch up as quickly as I can. So please be patient. But I do look forward to working side by side with you all. Your commission liaison is absolutely amazing, and not because he's my boss, but he's absolutely amazing. Every conversation we have is about building our community and what we can do for our residents. So I am excited and I do apologize for not being able to sit, but I have to get back into my issues. I'm still me. This works perfectly. Absolutely. Thank you so much. I'll be here for the next one. Great.

Thank you. I think we have the money. Does anyone else disagree that money was spent?

Well, I would like to see the proposal. I agree to approve this, but I think next time we'll need something more definitive. But let's see how he does. Yeah. And then we'll know for next time.

Sure. That sounds like a pretty good plan. Okay.

Who wants to make a motion to approve the 300?

I'll make a motion to approve 300. Is there a second? I'll second. Okay. And?

book covers that I have. Anything else on Singer Fest? So 5 o'clock, our committee will try to be there. We're sponsoring the first stop, right? And then the second hour is the tourists.

Yes. The 60M to close will be the resort text board reception. It'll be really nice. Yeah, we're going to set up, do the short film screening, set up the big screen, which might be a little too big. Apparently it's very big, but we'll find out if it works for next year.

The professor's from Texas, and everything's bigger in Texas.

Everything's bigger in Texas, yeah. So, you know. It'll match. But no, it should be really nice. We have Polish pierogies, you know, that are going to be available first come, first serve. Again, we're going to learn what kind of response we get this year in terms of attendance. But we had to pick, you know, a number for food and drink. So I think 150 was the number that the board picked.

And she was doing the food?

Sheru, yes, somebody that she got. That's kosher?

Everything's kosher.

Everything's going to be kosher, yeah. And are we paying for that? Are we jointly paying?

No, that's the tourist board, yeah. That'll be the resort tax board, and they're also covering the klezmer band. So it'll be nice. It'll be nice. We'll get off cheap.

Thank you for all your work, Frank. Sure. Thank you. Yes, of course. Do you need anything? We need to be there to help with anything.

I mean, if you want to, I'm trying to get some of the team volunteers because they typically let me know right before, so I don't exactly know who or how many I'm going to have. But, you know, if I call you on event day, just answer the phone. No, but we should be okay because we have, you know, staff members from parks that are saying to help with the screen because it's pretty specialized, so they'll be around to help. Call me. Okay. Okay.

Okay, 6B, Combination of Ends. So there's been a change to this. Do you know anything? Do you want me to share what I know?

Yeah, I spoke to Hillary briefly, but I don't have the full picture.

Okay, so they really don't want the, they want this as stand-alone gun violence, stand-alone by themselves. So they don't want our wishing tree, our community resource there with it. if a brick was funded for Daria Gray. So they're supposed to look for it. If not, that was going to be our contribution. So we might want to just approve But if we want to approve that, we can do that. Sorry? Yeah, please.

I did check with the family. They do already have a brick there. Did they confirm that they didn't?

No, Hillary just talked to someone, and they were supposed to find out.

I did talk to the family. And there is one? Yeah, I texted his brother. He said yes.

We can make a donation to the gun violence prevention education in her name.

Through the chair? Yes. Your next meeting is December 18th, and the event is December 11th.

Okay, so instead of buying the brick, what do you think about making a donation? $50? Or how much of the bricks? Anybody know how much of the bricks are? Okay.

How much the bricks would cost?

No, I just... But these are the bricks, I'm sorry, where? Not at the community center? Are they the ones at the community center? I thought those were... No, I know that there is one at the community center for Aira.

That I know, but... Let me just look at what I got from Zoya. Hurry up. One second. I have to go back. Oh yeah, I said, does she have a brick at the community center? Yes, she does. I don't know if there's another place for bricks? Or another?

No, I just walk over them when I see them. So instead of doing the brick, maybe we can... Make a donation. Yeah, is there a motion to make a donation to gun violence prevention? We'll talk to Hillary who it would go to. So I'm going to make a motion with you all.

For $50. Okay.

For the gun violence prevention education.

For the gun violence prevention education.

And I'll find out where it needs to go.

Okay, seconded.

Okay, any discussion on that? Since we don't have to pay for the brick, which we were going to do last month, I think.

Did they say when they want to do their gun violence prevention education?

Pardon me?

Oh, it's on the 11th. December 11th, yeah. Okay.

December 11th. Which roughly coincides with her birthday.

I see.

Anybody could be, it's going to be at the new park.

Oh, okay.

Right, Frank? 96? It's going to be at the 96th park? I don't know, I wasn't in that meeting, so I don't know. Yeah, the police chief wants it over there.

I think that's what Hillary said, yes.

I believe so.

Okay. All right, so if anybody, So we have the motion to approve $50 and seconded. All those in favor say aye. Aye. Opposed? Motion passes. So at the next meeting I'll find out. Or do I call you, Frank, if I find out where I can go? Or who would I call?

I mean, you can let me know and I'll circulate that to whoever. Okay, that would be great.

I could.

I'll hold your hand. I'm not sure.

Do you know what time it is? Probably in the afternoon, though.

Let me see.

There's a voice coming. I don't know where that's coming from. Me.

Oh, okay. I'm doing a seminar. Okay, okay. I thought it was coming from the projector, so we were trying to figure it out. Oh, oh. Well, it's supposed to go until 3, but then because it didn't get started, it went until 3.50. And I can't turn down the volume, sorry. Okay, so...

Through the chair, sorry. It's going to be 5.30 to 7.30 p.m. on the 11th at the 96th Street Park. 5.30... To 7.30. 7.30...

Okay, I'll put that on.

And through the chair, regarding the other components of that event, like the resource fair and the wishing tree, is that something you're still interested in?

We'll bring that up now. Okay, so let's start with the resource fair. So, Joanne, I'll have you recap it for Rita.

We are planning to do a... We have different community organizations come in that can be resources for our community that people may not know are out there. And they can set up tables and they can talk about what they do and how they can be of assistance, give out literature, phone numbers.

So it's non-profits specifically?

Yeah, non-profits, exactly. Children's bereavement group.

Elderly care? Elderly care, exactly. So there's no, are they paid vendors?

No, I don't think any of them will be paid vendors at all. I think the idea is just to have it be, they come for free. I did something like this at Beach High, it was mental and physical wellness. There were some at this one that had the ability to, you know, they were therapists who came in that you could eventually, I guess, pay to see, but it was not, no one paid to be there and no one got paid to be there. Yeah, exactly. And I think this, we can, if you have any ideas, we're kind of collecting right now who you think would be a good resource for the community.

Jewish Family Services, where they provide free counseling, therapy. When I'm thinking elder care, it would be the paid vendors like assisted living facilities, things like that, where children of aging parents can consult with somebody right there, book a tour, that kind of thing. Then it starts a whole other financial spreadsheet. Alzheimer's Association would be good. So, yeah, through the Federation, the Jewish Family Services, they do general therapy and also specifically Holocaust survivors, which are dwindling, but they provide housekeeping and counseling and visits.

Great. Yeah, all of these. So we want to figure out when we're going to do it and then compile the list of who we want to invite and take it from there, I guess. Yeah.

Are you spoke to Tamara?

Yes, Tamara has her list.

Did she give you the number of the lady?

No, she doesn't give me the list yet.

She told me that she can't get the list. She can't get the list? No, but that she has a number for you to call the main lady and that it would work better to work with them directly because the list does well updates and if they know that we want to use them, maybe it will be an ongoing thing and we can help each other. Cool.

Since this is kind of your field, do you, I mean, it's adjacent. I'm happy to offer my services, too. Yeah. But if you want to.

They're cash paid for now.

Yeah. If you want to just coordinate with the, since you talked to tomorrow.

Sure, yeah. I didn't want to overstep. No, definitely. Please overstep. Yeah, that's great.

Is there a date set for it? No, maybe we have a date. Okay.

So do we want to incorporate the wishing? what what about our next month we go over the list mm-hmm we compile the list actually here okay I'll work on it okay because and Frank if you know anybody so we'll just compile the list with the phone numbers so Frank can make the context next okay we can bring to the next meeting for Kayla the different

phone numbers, contacts we have that we think would be good for the event, then you can come by.

Do you have some also, Joanna?

Yes, I've contacted Children's Bereavement and a few other possible ones. I don't know how big we want to make it. We only have so much space, so we have to be a little bit smaller. And this is, where is it? I think we talked about it at the community center.

On 96th Street?

They do tabling with local non-profits around the concession area up toward the 93 Ocean side and back. And that's a pretty good space for that.

It's shaded too.

Great.

So we'll compile.

I can't remember if I might have missed the last time you spoke about this. Are you leaning toward any... dates or date range?

Well, we originally, the last meeting, talking about doing it in December, coordinating with the gun violence people, but they did not want to do that, so now we have to kind of start again with the dates.

What about a new year, you know, January, January?

The transition is always in February, right?

We did it last year in February because it was Chinese New Year, so we could do February, we could do January. Okay.

Is there a particular date where the wishing tree makes the most sense? I think I checked.

I believe it is sort of vaguely tied to the Lunar New Year event and I think that's February 17th. you know, we'll be in a New Year's kind of vibe.

There has been a new event that the tourist board is going to be doing at the community center on the weekend of January 31st and February 1st, so Saturday and Sunday. It's a big new, probably annual event. It's going to be called Snow Moon Soiree, and it's going to have, like, sandcastles and mermaids and a white party. So just not that weekend, but another weekend.

Are we still allowed to do white parties? Diddy? No relation, absolutely no relation.

We are going to make those parties.

Okay. So when is Lunar New Year? February. My phone is slow, but I believe it's February 17th. I have this date in my hand. I'm trying to confirm that. Okay. Well, so we have to get this plan in December and January to be ready for February.

I think February is the right... Yeah, Lunar New Year is Tuesday, February 17th.

So maybe the Sunday before that.

That's presidency.

Sunday after that.

Well, that would be good, too, because there's a lot of people. I don't think I'm here that weekend. Well, I don't need to be. Yeah, you do.

The 15th or the 22nd.

No, it's the 14th through the 16th. So maybe tentative 22nd of February?

That would be good. George Washington. Yeah. Yeah, the 22nd, unless we find out it's not available at the community center.

Okay. Okay.

All right, so everybody try to brainstorm, even if you don't know the number, just think and we can look it up.

Oh, I'll get the number at the gym tomorrow.

And did we say Kayla's collecting suggestions too?

Yeah, and if you have any, I'll read them.

Maybe I'll just get Hillary to do gun violence, but they have a table too. They should definitely be part of it. Okay. All right, very good. 6C, lending libraries for books and pet items. What did we, I can't remember what we decided.

Well, maybe now that we're going to renovate the whole park, maybe we can make a whole space.

Oh, the dog park.

I think it would be maybe a nice thing to have the the dog lending library and maybe a lending library where people, if they're sitting there with their dog, they could grab a book to read, I don't know, could do both.

And if they're renovating, we could ask, see if they can construct that little case for books.

Yeah, so you have a cover and some sides and then like an enclosure so you can close it. Look at that little butterfly garden. Does anybody go there?

I walk sometimes, but there's like a few books in there. They haven't been changed at all.

And for the dogs, they just put some balls and sticks. There's no room for like a dog... Yeah. Well, you could probably leave a note in there. Like, I have a whole bunch of stuff at my house. Call me. Come and get it. So there's a bulletin board attached to the bookcase or something. Yeah.

Well, a bulletin board in the park would be nice for the Surfside events and stuff. There's nothing there.

And also maybe a bulletin board on the side of the pet library. We have one here. But there should be more around the community. Yeah.

central to that. So should we wait until they start? Did you pass the renovation, the commission?

We are going to I believe the direction we gave the manager was to reach out to Commissioner Steinberg's office to express our interest in applying for this grant for this park. And then I think the manager was also going to look into design. So actually, maybe we either this meeting or next is if you want to make any recommendations to the manager through a motion or two.

We can make the motion now and then who would talk to the manager? Is there a motion to ask the Commission to incorporate a lending library and a dog toy library and a bulletin board in their design?

I actually think we should wait a little bit. I don't know why, but I just feel like let's hear what they, you know, we can maybe... Since it seems like it's in the infancy, I feel like I could be wrong, but maybe it's a little jumping the gun.

Well, I agree, but if he knows this is what we want, it won't be big, it's just a little box.

I think it's still a little bit unclear how exactly would it work, who's replenishing the toys, who's buying this stuff, so I think that logistically it's not quite... fully thought through. I've never seen one of these libraries for dogs, so I can't really speak to how you announce it.

It's not really a library. It was like somebody put some sticks so you could throw the stick. It was real low-key.

Well, the one that is in my mind, the one that's at the cave near my house, especially It's collars, it's balls, it's anything that's dog related. So I think it can be really something substantial-ish. I don't know if we want to concentrate more on that than the lending library because it seems like something that we already have one in town that maybe it's a little overdoing it if we tell them two demands we have, or not demands, but two requests we have. Maybe we want to just really concentrate on it and we can talk about whether we would say we would fund it if that's part of our request. Maybe that would be more something that would be interesting to them as well.

I agree, just keep it to the dogs.

Yeah.

But for example, say a dog passes from a resident, so what are they doing with the library? How are they engaging with it?

So it's really just a, looks almost like a dog house, the one I'm just thinking of in my mind that I know, and then it just has a door with a latch and you open it up and you put in the collar and you put in the toys and whatever else and, you know, we can sort of If something is in there that's gross, we can get rid of it. It's sort of self-sustained.

It's self-sustained. Like a community, you know. Yeah, totally self-sustained. It gives and takes and replenishes us. Exactly.

Organically. What about, not that everybody wants to get another WhatsApp chat, but doing a dog park, a suicide dog park chat group? for people that have stuff and it's like, please come and take, you know, and my garage is full of stuff and come and take it. Maybe that can help alleviate bringing it, physically bringing it there.

Sure.

The bigger stuff especially.

Yeah, people might have kennels or crates or things.

And is it exclusive to dogs or cats too?

No, it's a good idea actually. Cats can be a pet too. Pet lending.

I mean, that's an easy thing to do, you know, in terms of communicating it. We town staff, we don't have WhatsApp on our phone. So probably one of you may need to be like the moderator for that. But it's, you know, we did something similar last year with the business district. One of the businesses wanted to start like, you know, a group chat for the businesses. So they reached out to us and we helped, you know, announce that. But, you know, she, the business owner, managed it and got a good response. A lot of people joined in.

Cool. I'll join that. Is that still live?

Probably, although she moved her business, it was La Salon, so she moved to Bay Harbor.

So I don't know who's... Alright, so we want to wait until Gerardo tells us if they've hired someone to design it, or should we express our interest to incorporate it when you're, keep in mind when you're planning?

I mean, perhaps you could make a motion. So it's on the record that, you know, this board would like that feature to be considered as part of the renovation for the dog park. Perfectly said. Is there a second?

Yes. Who motions it?

He can't make a motion. I know. I'll make it. I can't make it.

I'll make a motion to add, to talk to the mayor, not the town manager, about adding the pet lending into the new dark park. Potentially. You know, by the CRD.

Okay, so if you'll take that.

Sorry, to the chair. Just about the WhatsApp group chat, that may cause issues if it's you guys communicating through there because of Sunshine Law. So I'm not sure.

That's a different topic. It would have to be one of us. Rita wants to be the person. She would do all the communicating.

Let's save that. Let's save that for new business. Okay. We could even fund the first, you know, the... I'll put that out for next month. Okay, good. So Frank, let us know next month what he says to that. Okay. The Lending Library for Miscellaneous Items. Joanna?

Yes. You want to first recap it? Yes, I'll recap Rita. brought this to the group. I think it's something that would be beneficial to our town. Most people have limited storage. Most people live in garages. It would be a lending sort of library of things, like let's say a pasta maker, a sewing machine, garden tools, whatever it is that you don't necessarily use every day, but you would like to use every once in a while. We've Talked about a few different places we could put it. I did talk to the vice mayor and she thought it might be a great idea when we do take over the house that we are renting out. That would be a good place to put it. It could be something that really mans itself when we do a little bit of the honor system. And people can check things out like a library for a week. They can extend it if they go through the process, and it can be as small or big as we want to make it, and I think it could be a little beneficial.

I mean, I love the idea. It cuts down on our personal visits to Home Depot, but if you're borrowing somebody's leaf blower, and it breaks, then what?

So it's really not going to be a person, it's going to be the towns, and we would have a sort of contract that, you know, if it's not misused, and it just breaks, if you can tell it's not, then it's just part of our cross of doing business. If something's been misused, obviously, or lost, then we would have to come up with some kind of penalty, or charge sort of like a library book. So, I think that's, I've done a little bit of research, but I can do more research. A lot of other municipalities are doing this, and we'll find out what they do. And so, it's a contract too, so people have to be respectful, you know, obviously believe

Another option could be something that you don't really need. Instead of putting it on offer up, I'm just thinking of a personal thing. We have some kind of saw thing that my son left in the garage and we're dying to get it out. And it's like a $200 thing. And that's something I would gladly, you know, this is my contribution, use it in good health. If it comes back, comes back. If it doesn't, that's fine.

I think it's a great idea.

Yeah, and then you have no liability.

I have so many things. My 10% tent. Exactly.

Brand new used ones.

I think we would have maybe Frank help us put into the Gazette something like we're starting this thing if you have useful items like maybe get some examples and then we can be a little bit selective too. But if it's useful I know I've mentioned it at book club people are like I have a toss machine I would love to you know so things like that I don't think we're going to have to buy everything because I think there will be things that for sure people and we can we can together come up with a list of things we would love to do and I think you're right like garden stuff I can't say how many times I bought something that has sat in my shed and a tent is a great idea people want to go camping they don't want to buy and I'm not going to throw it away I just have it yeah so I think the key the main thing is where to put it what where to

That's great, but I mean, that's how long Kushner's going to be there.

We don't know. We could start small if we wanted to just try it out with like five things, possibly at the 96th Street Park or something we could do. Are all of those sheds in the park full?

Do you know how they have those open on the side?

I don't know. Someone spent a lot of time over there. Do we want to hold this till the building is ready or do we want to get it started?

We don't know when it's going to be open.

There's shelves and people can just put their items on.

Part of me thinks we should maybe see if we can get it started in a small way somewhere, and then once the building is available, then we pitch that we want a whole wall and we can expand it, but just to see how it works and work out the kink. Sure.

Just so we all can understand it.

If we have to buy a scanner or if we have a little... Once this idea is fully thought through, we have to get the manager's approval and also Parks and Recreation. And so we do need the logistical, like how is it going to work? Who's looking after this stuff? Who's signing it in and out? They're going to ask... about the whole upper implementation plan for it. So maybe we can come up with that at the next meeting.

So think about how, like, if you were in charge, how you vision this being, you know, someone coming to get a vacuum, what would happen next and how would we get it back? So think about that and then we'll make a protocol, we'll make that. Yeah. So we can, okay.

Put it together and then that way we can go back.

I think a lot of it will depend on if it's somewhere where there is actual staff or not. And if, you know, without staff, I think it's just completely honor system. Maybe there's a camera. And it's basically, it's like a notebook almost. And you do a little paperwork and you sign and you write what you're taking out. And then it's... That's just very honor system because I'm assuming they're not going to have a staffing placement.

All right, so we'll do old style and then electronic. Over at that tennis center, like I was there for the veterans, did they use that whole, I mean, I just saw a desk and a bathroom in there. That might be our starting place. They do. Even inside, then someone's manning it, right?

Yeah, I mean, through the chair, my son worked that tennis center for years in high school, and there's really not a lot to do. He did a lot of homework, so it might be a good thing to start.

I don't know if staff is always there, or if sometimes it's closed and people just go to the course. Well, that's okay. Monday, Tuesday, Thursday.

Sometimes it's closed and you can just go to the course, but then you can't get, you can't borrow anything. Right, right.

But yeah, but it is staffed some of the time, so maybe those could be the hours.

Who's Parks and Rec now?

Parks and Rec, Rudy is the new director. Do you want me to go ask him? No, I can talk to him. I mean, he's next to me.

He's next to me. I'll talk to him. Okay, so next month will be a little longer. We're going to flesh this out. We'll do old style, just sign in a notebook, and then we'll do one if we get one of those digital things. So be ready to think about how you, and then we'll just come up.

But we all should be in agreement.

So if we, whoever has to explain it to somebody, we're all have the same ways. Okay. So we'll do that. And then we'll also talk about, we'll compile the list.

I think we're definitely I had my book club last night in my backyard and I can tell you that it is such a community building thing to be able to get together I think it should be encouraged to be very co-ed because I think book clubs tend to for some reason be mostly women I don't know why that's been the case but I think we can really have a great opportunity here to bring the community together for something that's so wonderful, just talking about books. And I believe if we want to try to partner with Books and Books, maybe they can get us something at a discount. We could purchase the books or get a discount for our community. We could pick books that are relevant to all different topics. I've read a book that took place in Tehran and someone in my book club was Iranian so she was really a useful person to be able to give us the Persian point of view on everything and so I think we can have people from the community maybe come up and talk about things they know about it could really be a great way to you know we could partner with food and do some food from different things that coordinate with books so there's as we know books are such an opportunity to build community so I'd like to piggyback on this event I Friday Sunday

other Surfside operas, or even Miami-Dade or Florida. Sure, that's great. That way, because I think that's what the interest here, that's why hopefully we'll have a lot of people, but it made it more exciting because he lived here. Yeah. And your family, did your family? And we might have you introduce or say a few words. Barbara Cohen said she had to pick him up up in New York for something. That's funny. So there's all these links.

That's great.

So maybe we'll send it around.

We have a few authors who live here. Oh, yeah.

That would be great. There was one that was going to join the committee. What's his name? When Fred Glanson came to another. Oh, Camilo Dino. Yeah.

I think it's a great idea to have maybe Surfside authors, especially for the first few.

And then Miami-Dade, and then Florida. Sure.

books. Oh, okay.

Carl has. Oh, yeah, he's awesome. Is he still living?

I think so.

Okay, so I'll put that on for next. So think about how we want to start.

And we would do this at the community center or people's homes?

We'd love to say eventually we have that house. It's another great opportunity to do the book club there. But in the meantime, we could do it at the community center.

If it's not going to be a gym and it's going to be a heritage house, yes. What about planning it?

Cheers recently where they had a book club in the back, you know, full robe.

It went over very well.

That would be cool because then we're supporting local businesses too.

I think we could start with researching if Books and Books wants to in some way partner with us and help us. Either we procure the books or we get a discount for people to get the books. And the other thing would just be to start deciding who the first author would be and when it's going to be.

And do you envision this like once a month or once every six weeks?

Maybe I feel like we could do four weeks, but that can be six weeks to read a book.

Yeah.

Yeah. Get out of the scrolling.

So do we want to talk about it again, or do we want to pick a date? Let's see how Sunday goes.

We can maybe introduce it on Sunday, say in six weeks we're going to have our first talk. That's a good idea. Let's work for Frank. A mystery author. We'll just say the mystery author.

And we can talk about the different authors. We have Camilo. And we have the woman that I blanked on her name. Ana Menendez. And we have... Who's the second one?

Ana Menendez.

I like her name. She lives here? Why don't we just start with those two and then we'll come up with a third.

Is there... He wrote for Elvis and who else? I don't know. He wrote a lot of Elvis' songs. He lived on Irving. I want to say Byron. I lived on Irving.

Oh, on Irving.

I was good friends with his granddaughter. I think it's S-I-D Tepper. Warren Tepper. I mean, I knew the kid. Warren and Jackie and

They run the water on Irving. And then 89th Street is sort of dedicated there. 89th and Hawthorne is a sign. But he's gone.

So Anna, she has a collection of short stories. In Cuba, I was a German shepherd.

Her book, The Apartment, came out relatively recently, like in the last two years.

Yeah, I think that's, yeah. She has a lot, so... Maybe we start with her. She seems really well accomplished and something that we can... Yeah, accessible.

I mean, I know... Do you feel like her now? Sure. Mystery, mystery author, you show up in your head. So, one of my classmates is a Harvard professor and a writer. And he's on TV all the time. Thayne Rosenbaum. He's written many, many books. And one of them was How Sweet It Is about Miami in the 70s. That was Jackie Gleason's line. He might come down from New York. He's a friend of my friends. He's a good political analyst. He was our temple, speaking. Which one?

Beth Sholem, a couple years ago.

Oh, really?

Okay. Well, let's start with, why don't we approach Anna. And then, so let's pick a date so we can announce it.

What's the format? What's the venue? Yeah.

So I think until the house is ready, that's where I think we all envision it eventually for now. It would be probably in the fishbowl, I think.

I mean, basically it's just chairs.

It's really just talking about... If the author can be there, that would be great.

Do you have a question? Like, before you do the book club, you say... Email. Go ahead.

Yeah, if the author's there, we'll let them sort of direct the way. Sometimes the back of the book has questions. We can have someone interviewing them, but yeah, if the author's not there, then we can just look up.

And really quick, what time do you think would be good? Just trying to think of community center hours. I think they close at 8. This one, for us, it starts at 5 o'clock. 5.

On a Sunday?

5 on a Sunday, sure.

On a Sunday, I think they still close at 8.

It won't be two events like this one on Sunday. It'll just be this.

We can just have light refreshments before dinner.

And if you don't read the book, still come and listen to the author?

Yes, and then be encouraged to read the book.

I'm not getting a signal, but I think it closes at 8, so that should be fine.

5 o'clock, what's six weeks go?

Are you in January or December?

It seems like Christmas is... We're going to need next month. We're going to need December to get this further organized.

Maybe mid-January. Yeah. January 18th.

Maybe something for the new year, like you could, you know, just a new initiative. A new year, a new book.

That would be like in two months, January 18th. Nice presidency.

Do you want to skip to a Sunday? Presidents is the 16th? January? February. Yeah, we're in January.

Okay, isn't there, what's, Martin Luther King's?

Martin Luther is usually the 11th or something, it's like a Monday.

January or February?

January. It's actually the 19th. Yeah, January the 19th.

What about January 11th?

Didn't we just say that we were going to do the resource fair in January 11th? I had it as... No, resource fair will be February. That was our old date. Sorry. Let me take that out. I have an old date. All right, so let's maybe do it then, January 11th. January 11th. I'm just going to put book club.

Okay, wait.

And who's got it, Sarah?

I don't. I do a little bit. Do you want to read it? Yeah, I think she may be there. I mean, I should talk to her before then.

She may be there someday.

We'll announce it. It could be our district author. I'd be happy to tell her that the board has expressed interest in it. We could even have some of her books, you know, and people could buy, you know, we could ask Camille about them.

And in the meantime, look for other authors.

Other what? Other authors. Yeah. What if we do this every six weeks?

What's the one you mentioned to me? They just mentioned from New York. Yeah.

That would be further down. Once we get this going, he would need a few months in advance.

We'd have to pay for his flight and everything.

I could talk to him about if he bundled it, if he's coming to visit anyway because he has friends here and stuff. Yeah. I mean, what is our budget as a committee? Do we have a budget? Frank? 10,000 a year. 10,000 a year, yeah. Uh-huh.

Okay. Mm-hmm.

If you think it's a big draw, I mean, I know that a lot of people outside of Surfside will come to see him, because he did a book signing at Books and Books, and it was all Beach High reunion people.

Sorry, I missed who it was. Who is it?

Thayne Rosenbaum.

Thayne Rosenbaum.

Yeah, you'll see him on MSNBC and Fox News, and he's a commentator. He does a lot of political stuff. He's a professor at Harvard, and... or was a professor, and he runs a program at the, in New York, it's the Y, the big place, it's a place where they have all kinds of political discussion with big names and some celebrities, something, I think the Y,

All right, and do we want to, do we need to approve a budget for that now, or can we wait until next month? We can wait, we can wait, Tony. All right, so Gerardo will approach her, and we'll announce it, and then we'll plan on it. Do you want, we'll wait for books and books to see if she says yes, right? Mm-hmm, okay. Okay, and if not, try again. And they carry the books?

different places on the web I think thriftbooks.com was one of them and some through Amazon I mean I was just using Google Shopping and whatever was out there yeah some books are only on Amazon and not in bookstores Isaac Sheva Singer was out of print so I think her book is still out of print maybe she has some to donate to

Okay, very good. All right, I'll put that on for next, January 11th. Okay, great. Debate.

Yeah, well, it would be nice to present the idea to Rita and see. So, you know, the idea had been, I mean, and I don't know that I'm the best person to present it, because I didn't... board had been talking about doing something with local teenagers like from the Miami Beach High debate team to kind of model how they debate issues and it would be to have an event where community members would sort of maybe get coached by high school debaters and there would be like a topic or two and then there would be an event and they would you know do a debate in a sort of high school format on some topic of local interest. And I should confess, I feel like I have dropped the ball a little bit on this. I made some initial inquiries over the summer with the current coach of the Beach High team and wrote to a couple of people that haven't followed up. I think I was, you know, I forget how exactly it came up, but at one of the commission meetings, a couple of the commissioners was to make it a non-divisive exercise. It's not a way to let the kids lead the way sort of thing. Is there some kind of structure of what they're going to be debating? Well, we're talking about possible topics. Like if the timing had been different, like something like the undergrounding ballot question might have made an interesting topic. I think it's complicated too now by the fact that we wanted to get members of the community to participate. As we get into sort of election season, it gets a little more complicated, I think. We might be sort of in the shadow of that. I think so. And it's going to be hard to... We could put it off at this point.

I have no question to say that.

Yeah. But I really like the idea, and it's something that... As an exercise for the kids, I think it's great.

Yeah. Modeling. Yeah, and I can just say, you know, for me, like, I was a member of the Beachside Debate team, and it was a transformative life experience, and a lot of the... things I learned there I still use as an adult. And so I feel like it would be a really nice resource and also a nice opportunity for the local kids who are on it to show their skills and to, you know. So I love the idea. I'm afraid that we might be getting into sort of the buzzsaw of the election season. Let's reflect on that.

I do like the idea of doing it for the kids, but not the adults.

I just feel like adults are more... Well, wasn't it open?

Because some adults wanted to be on it?

It's going to be a combination. So the teenagers are kind of leading the way, and the adults are learning how to behave like teenagers. Yeah.

No, I think that really puts it in, you know...

All right, so we'll table it till, see if we're on after lunch. Okay. Sukkah. So then you just, you go from sukkah to sukkah? Yeah, but that won't be till next week. We'll get on the table at 6 o'clock.

But I do think we should, right? I think so.

There is already one. Just broaden it out to the other, not just the show.

So for all on again after March, we'll need to bring it up in August so we can get it organized. You'll need to bring it up.

When it's the Jewish season.

Okay. What's this agenda deadline?

So I added that to the agenda. Basically, we just set up for each board and committee the deadline dates for the calendar year 2026. So it says your meeting date. It says the day that we post the agenda and distribute it. And then when the deadline for all of you to submit the items, and this case to Frank, who's your staff liaison. It shows you it's the third Thursday of the month, and then we post the agenda a week before. And then usually the Friday before we post the agenda, you should have submitted the items already. So we just did this to make sure that you adhere to it, which I know you guys do. And so I was looking for a motion to approve it. So to show that you guys acknowledge.

Is there a motion to approve? Make a motion to approve this. I second the motion.

All those in favor say aye. Aye.

No, I did it with the youth council too.

So question of the community relations board dates. So these are the dates for next year, 1 through 12. Do we stagger 3 o'clock and another time?

We stopped doing that. I believe we're just doing three, right?

Oh, just three. We've been doing 4 p.m. I think we did 3 p.m. because we changed the day of the meeting and then the town clerk was here and she suggested doing 3 p.m. I had to confirm with you. Usually it's 4 p.m. if we don't change it.

I'm not going to be here in December on December 18th.

So that's the next item.

Okay, so

You can talk about if you want to bring the yoga walk back.

It wasn't yoga. It was a walk. Early morning walk.

We would have to add it, like a motion to add the walk.

Okay. Is there a motion to discuss the beach walk? Beach walk.

Make a motion to discuss the beach walk. I'll second the motion.

All in favor say aye.

Okay, read that. Let's talk about the beach walk first. Oh, beach walk, okay. So we did have one. It was very nice. A small group, but it was impactful because there was a guy that came. He didn't know anybody in town. He was super lonely and he was able to get out and meet people and that led him to go on the tour, the Surfside tour with the historian and get out more. Really interesting story, back end story. So I'm thinking about how to spin it, how to market it, how to engage people to make them really want, oh yeah, I really want to do this. This is so awesome. Come out and meet my neighbors. Bring your dog, bring your stroller.

What if it ends in coffee or something that we pay for?

Absolutely, that we don't pay for, because I will get it for free. Okay, even better. And that segues into another thing. There's an advisory board for downtown Surfside, which I was put on by Mark a few minutes before he exited, so I don't know if that's effective, but I want to get the vendors of... downtown together as a unit and to engage us so that we patronize them. I spend thousands of dollars a month on food in Surfside. And I think it's nice that we get a little bit of reciprocity from them to repatriate the patrons. So we could definitely, Grove already said they'll give us coffee. All right, so let's start with this.

When would you... I actually like their coffee, too. Do we need that early morning, or can it be like a sunset? The sunsets have been very pretty.

That's a great idea, yeah. But then we would probably skip the coffee, though.

Switch off every other month, early morning, evening.

Yeah. So, yeah, sunset sounds like a great idea, like at 5 o'clock.

Do you have a Shabbat schedule when they do that? You're talking about like the Shabbat schedule?

No, like the weekday for the office. 532.

Yeah. I only know because... I mean, this could be a great idea.

I used to do this when my kids were little and I lived in Aventura. I would take them on the circle, around the circle, dinner, shower, knocked out. Let's knock your kids out. Yeah. Get them ready for bed. This is like a great pre-dinner walk with the kids. They're done with the homework. Bring your kids, bring your dog.

Mm-hmm.

We'd have to stay on the lower path for dogs.

Yeah, right.

Alright, is it too late? When's the next gazette come out?

Our next day is the 19th. Well, we have to get in the gazette. Well, the gazette deadline was Monday for us. I couldn't ask Cindy, but for our staff it was Monday, so I don't know, it might be closed. I believe it was closed. It's probably closed. So that's December, right?

We have everything from before.

Yeah, we have the, I mean, if it's the same information, you know, we can still put that on Nextdoor, social media, you know, the website that you asked. So should we do that?

We can probably post it.

Yeah. I think, was your phone included? No. What was that? But somebody was managing it. I made an app, I think. It was on WhatsApp. And again, we can't be on the WhatsApp, so it has to be for one of you members to manage.

I think it was you, but I don't know. Maybe it was. I think you were on there.

I think I was. Yeah.

I don't remember. Yeah, I'm totally okay with that, doing WhatsApp, being an administrator. If we want a co-administrator, you guys can join in. Do we need the app at all? Can't we just say, just show up? Well, maybe it's a good idea to get an idea. Be the friend that brings a friend. I know.

Hey, maybe Mary made that. What's that group? One of us did.

I don't remember. But I think it's good to have the group because what if it's only a few people and then somebody's sick and then they're not going to go. Oh, here. Surfside.

Yeah, we have it still there. Surfside Community Relation. Did you know that she was three? She was stuck in traffic. Oh, okay. Wait, was that three?

I don't know. It's switched a bunch. Yeah, we had James in the last meeting. You came at the best part.

We signed your name up for everything. You're in charge of everything. So, yeah, I think this

First, an accountability. I said I was going to come and I'm going to come. It's in my calendar. Not just like, we'll see. Oh, I forgot. Oh, I didn't write it down. We want it to be kind of like, you know, get some excitement behind it. And then if we have, you know, a low attendance, we have low attendance, but it would probably be lower without that. That's my thought.

Yeah. And the WhatsApp group is still here. So once we have the flyer, we can also post it to the original members.

But these were only people who came to that first event.

So I'll text you. I could text you all like the new whenever I update tomorrow the flyer. And then, you know, you can take it.

You can update it.

Sure.

Because there was that code we had to put on there if they wanted to come. Isn't there a link? There was a link for the WhatsApp button?

I think, I mean, there's an invitation link. Once the link is created, you have to send an invitation link to get people to join.

Okay, is there a date you'd like, Rita? We'll leave it up to you.

Well, November's out, definitely, right? Because it's Thanksgiving. Hanukkah is the middle of December. Yeah, because people probably do, if we're going to do the evening, then you have candle lighting and all that. Does anybody know when Hanukkah starts? Yeah, 25th. No. December? No.

It's the middle. Tibet. Oh, I know. It's like 12.

Yeah.

Let's see. It's Hanukkah starts on the night of the 14th, I believe.

Okay. Right. I have 15th.

So probably the 14th at night. If it's the 15th, it's the first day.

Okay. We did the second week of December.

Right. Should we start on a Sunday, on a Monday, on a weekday? What day is good for you?

You could do the morning with the coffee.

I wonder if the 21st, maybe on a Sunday to start it. December 21st. And then in January we can try a morning one. December 21st. I think it's a great idea, whatever everybody's going to do. At 5 p.m.? And then we could do like a 9 o'clock also. And the fresh market is continuing all through the winter, Sunday, Saturday, Sunday? We could end there. Yeah, we could start at 89th Street and then walk down to the, oh, that's a great idea.

Okay, so I don't think we're going to have a meeting before that date. Or no, we do have a meeting, but we have to get it announced. So let's pick the date, December 21st, sunset. Oh yeah, we'll definitely miss the market. The market ends at 3. Okay, so you want 9 o'clock?

We should do the first one. The sunrise is 9 o'clock. Okay, 9 a.m.? December 21st, 9 a.m.? Yeah.

Okay. And we'll meet at 89th Street. 88th. It's 88th Square. Okay, 88th. 88th, because I don't have anything to add. Uh-huh. We could definitely meet that.

And what time is this? 9 a.m. 9 a.m. And the Farmers opens at 10. 9.30.

It's 6.30. I mean, do you want to start at 8? Yeah, let's do it. 8 a.m. Okay.

Okay, so is there anything we have to approve or we have to approve it?

Do we need to? I just have to update the flyer for you, essentially. But again, just to make sure, you want to start at 8, just know that the farmer's market starts at 9.30. Yeah, until everybody, I mean, we call it for 8. We start walking, some go slower, some go faster. All right, yep. Rita, I will send you that as soon as I have it updated. Okay.

And then let me know, and then I'll come and get it.

Yes, do that. Yeah, and do we have any swag, any Surfside swag, like a fanny pack or bottles? I have lots of fanny packs. Oh, I love those fanny packs. Oh, my God. When my guests come to stay with me, I give them a Surfside gift basket, and that's, like, That's the goats up there with candy, and they love it. Nice, yeah, I definitely have a lot, so I'll get you a nice set. And can we do little water bottles?

I don't have, so that you would have to approve, and we would have to order and look into it.

Yeah, we wouldn't want anyone getting hydrated.

Maybe people just bring their own water.

Yeah, bring your own water. Sustainable, just bring your own. And a coffee.

Yes.

All right, so I think we'll see.

Let's see how all this goes, and then we can bring in more things next time.

I have a whole list going on up here. We have an agenda item next time to have a kind of open discussion now that we have some new blood on the board. A discussion on new events. New events.

Okay, well done. Next meeting, the 18th? 18th, 4 p.m.?

Yeah, anybody have a problem? I'm going to change my flight from Phoenix to be here. Wow. We can always pick another day. I just want to make you feel better. No, no. Sorry, I'll be back on the 19th.

Is there anything, I don't see anything pressing. I don't see anything pressing for December. Let me give you, Frank, I'll give you my list. I don't want you changing the focus. No, I'm joking. I'm coming back the evening. Here's what we have so far. We just have the Singerfest recap, Arya Gray donation if we give it, so it's just a report. The community resource there is sort of important because we have to brainstorm, and we're going to do that Wishing Tree also on that day. We're just going to brainstorm, so if you know any groups that We can set up a table. Nonprofit. Nonprofit. We'll get a report about Frank talking about the dog park. We'll get a report on lending library for miscellaneous items. We can have it at the tennis center. The book club will need to plan. for Ana Menendez? And she said yes. If not, it would be Camilo Pino. So really just one item so far. The debates table, the circus table, the beach walk is all done. So who thinks they can make it on the 18th?

I can make it, but we can also move the date.

Is there a motion to move the date?

You can move the date if you would like.

Is there an option for Zoom?

No, I'm not allowed.

What about Erin, for you?

Yeah, I've literally just got the times confused because usually we do four, but yeah.

So you're going to be flying in?

No, no, I'm in the evening of the 17th, it's fine.

Okay, leave it at the 18th. Okay. And if you don't get a quorum, it's canceled.

18th is a Sunday.

December. No, it's Thursday. I have a Thursday.

Oh, I'm with you, Jamie. Yeah, yeah, I should be.

All right, let's leave it at the 18th at 4. Yes. Okay, did you get my items, Frank? Mm-hmm. Okay. All right, so going with Angie's schedule, I have everything scheduled. I already have the agenda to Frank. So if you want something, you have to adhere to this second, January 2nd. Is that the first thing?

That's starting in 2026. So I don't think it would apply.

Oh, so for December. Okay. So, but for January, usually I do the agenda before we leave.

That's great, too.

Okay, so that if you have any new items, but we can always bring up new items under new business, too, right? Yes.

So we're going to have to work on that as well. Okay.

Anything else? Good and well forever. Thank you for coming, Mary. And welcome, Rita. Thank you, Frank, for all the work.

Thank you for all the work.

So just to be clear, is it going to be 3 or 4 going forward? At 4 p.m. is the regular scheduled time.

Starting next week. Thank you, everybody.