New Board elected at WHO annual meeting

The Woodland Heights Organization (WHO) held its annual meeting during its March monthly meeting, held at Scottish Rite Park.

State Senator Claire Celsi (D-Sen. Dist. 21)
addresses the WHO meeting attendees March 19, 2019

The meeting began with brief remarks from State Senator Claire Celsi (who represents Woodland Heights and other parts of the West side of Des Moines and parts of West Des Moines).  Senator Celsi noted that she is available for constituent questions and requests for assistance with state-level issues. 

NBSD Officer, Sgt. Scarlett reviews the monthly incident
report with attendees at the March 19, 2019 WHO meeting

As usual, Neighborhood-Based-Service-Delivery (NBSD) officer with the DMPD, Sergeant Scarlett reported on incidents and crime reports in the neighborhood.  She also followed up on traffic concerns around Ingersoll, High, 23rd, and 24th.

WHO Board of Directors, elected at the annual meeting March 19, 2019

The main item of business at the meeting was elections to the Board of Directors.  The following candidates were elected to serve for a term of 1 year:
President - Phil Kreznor
Vice President - William Strong
Secretary - Jeanne Astor
Treasurer - Ben Berger
(3) At-Large - Lyla Dozier, Ryan Francois, and Carol Lewis

After the election, the new leaders took time to listen to neighbors in attendance and hear what they had to say.  Attendees shared their thoughts, ideas, hopes, and concerns about the neighborhood. Here’s some of what they said:

1. Some like the educational opportunities provided at the monthly meetings.
2. Many want a safe community, and want the organization to help ensure safety.
3. An attendee who has been with the organization a long time, thinks it's great to see younger people get involved. Neighbors should call or otherwise contact leaders of the organization to let people know what’s going on. And also be encouraged to call city leaders like Councilman Josh Mandelbaum.
4. Some newer folks are looking forward to getting to know more about the neighborhood… both the good and the bad.
5. Some people are still here after all these years.
6. Some attendees enjoyed observing the proceedings.
7. Many were ready to be done with this tough Winter.
8. Several brought up communication, maybe focusing on door-to-door neighbor engagement to spread the word about the Woodland Heights Organization.
9. One neighbor will soon be celebrating 50 years or living in the neighborhood.
10. Some folks also work in the neighborhood. They want people feel welcome and safe. And want home values to stay strong. And have good architecture for new construction and rehabs. They want to see continued investment in the neighborhood and connections strengthened with commercial, business, and Ingersoll. Have more dialogue between residents and business.
11. Organization leaders are excited to help out and want to be accessible to membership.
12. Some think the neighborhood is great it’s interesting to see how the organization works.

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This post typed by Phil.

The Woodland Heights Organization (WHO) is the neighborhood association recognized by the city of Des Moines representing Woodland Heights.  Its purpose is is to stabilize, preserve, and revitalize area homes, enhance the quality of life in the neighborhood, and to promote community within our neighborhood amongst all residents and businesses.  WHO is a volunteer organization.

for more information email who50312@gmail.com; view past issues of the email newsletter and subscribe at bit.ly/whoemail; like us on Facebook at www.facebook.com/whodesmoines