How to call the shots in your neighborhood

Step 6 Listen and participate

The meeting is usually run by the board president. (By the way, it's usually easy to get on the board if you're interested. Just ask the president or one of the other board members, who are often introduced at the meeting.) That person's role is generally to facilitate the speakers and discussion, and not to impose her/his own opinions, but sometimes they stray.

Your city government really looks at these meetings as the voice of the community, so you'll often get a bunch of people from city government, including the mayor's office, as well as people representing institutions and stores doing business in the neighborhood, at the meeting. They're there to hear your opinions about their projects. Other notable guests usually include your elected officials, from city council member to state senate and sometimes congress, or their representative. Your city and state representatives make regular appearances to update you on their work and get feedback. So if you've never seen any of these people in person before, this is a good place to finally meet them and get their ear.

Meetings are generally designed for maximum participation, so there will definitely be an opportunity for you to speak up on whatever neighborhood issue is on your mind. Unfortunately, a lot of people only show up to meetings to speak against a proposed development on their block. Don't be that person. Successful neighborhood associations develop pro-active, constructive projects for improving the neighborhood and find volunteers to accomplish them. Unsuccessful, dying neighborhood associations simply monitor development and offer a forum for people to show up and say "no, I don't want that." If you find your neighborhood association trending to the reactive, negative condition, talk to the board president about changing the culture of the organization.

You'll notice immediately that most people at neighborhood association meetings are middle aged, own homes, own cars, and no longer have kids in the school system. Hence they often don't represent the typical resident in your neighborhood. Be aware of that in the discussion and don't be afraid to challenge them on their desire to be able to park all three of their cars right in front of their home whenever they want, for free, regardless of the impact on anyone else. I'm being snarky because parking is always a huge area of discussion; but the conversation often misses the bigger picture in the neighborhood and city. If you find yourself disagreeing with other people, do speak up. Just remember to stay calm and reasonable. You're more likely to win support that way. (It doesn't hurt to learn more about parking policy either.)

Some meetings require formal voting. Usually you can't vote unless you are a member of the neighborhood association. So do join.