President’s Letter

The Issues We All Care About

By Eleanor Ingersoll, QVNA President

Dear Queen Village,

For neighbors, our shared interests have always focused on community issues and their impact on each of us. Today, however, while issues about community safety, zoning, and parking remain, they’ve been joined now by global concerns about health, wellness, and smart environmental choices. And that’s why QVNA brings this breadth of topics to our public meetings and hosted events.

This year, QVNA hosted town halls with city leaders about our escalating safety concerns caused by illegal wheels. Our monthly zoning meetings to review applications for zoning code variances continue to consider the project’s potential impact on neighbors. Two community meetings invited a rare-disease immunologist to discussed and answer neighbor questions about the changing COVID landscape. We also hosted a hugely successful electronic recycling and document shredding event for Earth Day, which proved so popular that we’re hosting another on November 20—so save the date! (You’ll find all event details on the inside back cover.)

What’s important to Queen Villagers is important to QVNA because our board and committee members are neighbors who volunteer their time and energy on these issues we all care about.

For more than 50 years, QVNA has worked to adapt to community priorities. The association helped defeat plans to construct an expressway down South Street, stopped a casino from being built within community boundaries, and killed a project already underway for billboards along Front Street. QVNA will continue to stay relevant by recognizing what’s important to residents. After all, our founding documents state that this is why we exist.

Whether you read our digital News You Can Use, attend a zoning or community meeting, or applaud summer enrichment or male mentor programs at Courtyard Apartments, know that it is the work of an association that puts neighbors first.

Whether you bring electronic recyclables to our November event, deliver our quarterly magazine, clean your pocket park, or clear your storm drains, we celebrate your actions—and we’re happy to foster volunteer efforts that improve our collective quality of life. And if all of this sounds like something you want to get involved with, you’ve come to the right place. Please let us know at QVNA.org/volunteer.

In this issue's articles, you can learn about initiatives on South Street, hidden gem educational programs, and QVNA grants that helped preserve history and provided much-needed art supplies to kids at Courtyard Apartments. Read about QVNA’s November 17 board elections and learn what board members do on page 14.

Last but not least, QVNA’s office has temporarily gone virtual. Be among the first to find out about our new brick-and-mortar location when we announce it via eNews (bit.ly/Subscribe2eNews).

I look forward to seeing you this fall around the neighborhood.

Be safe and well,