Randy Young, TLIA President
Notes from the Neighborhood;
May 2016
Over the last few weeks, a conversation arose between neighbors about how well we maintain our neighborhood. This took on a very personal vein when I viewed it from a TLIA perspective.
This past weekend, our spring cleanup was the very best cleanup activity I have witnessed in my fifteen years in Tower Lakes. It was a true representation of Tower Lakes as a holistic community. I propose a hardy “Well Done” and toast everyone who came out to show what we, as a community, can do when we join together. Cheers and thank you.
Now don’t get me wrong. Many of the recent comments in the neighborhood exchange came from a foundation of fact. Some of our residents have fallen short on their obligations to us as a community. Individuality is encouraged, but disrespect to our neighborhood and ourselves is intolerable.
Our village is a very desirable mix of traditional, comfortable, and most importantly, a divine collection of eclectic. We all know “Judge not, lest you be judged.” I hope that we would not review each other harshly or with malice. How is that in any way a motivator for improvement? No two or us are alike and no one of us is better than the other.
Just as we did this past weekend with our spring cleanup, TLIA has always approached neighborhood improvement as a community effort done together to benefit the whole. I would hope that this spirit would carry to the individual effort as well.
We are not a neighborhood of manicured lawns, perfect mirror images, or cookie cutter mediocrity. We are not a “majestic” neighborhood made of “little boxes on the hillside that all look just the same” and thank goodness we are not! But we can and should do better in consideration of our neighbors. That is our true value and one that should be embraced.
We are a unique collection of individuals. I believe we can improve our mutual home while maintaining our idiosyncratic nature of brilliance. Heck, we should scream that value from each of our less than perfect rooftops!
Our property values are a driving force within which we should unite and work together to improve. They are our only true material bond. We should all embrace the challenge of improvement. That is the factual portion of the discussion I read last week.
As we celebrated last Fourth of July, we are “Tower Lakes Proud.” Living that belief and embracing that spirit, we all win!