Director Cruea – April 2006

With the warm weather creeping in, everyone seems to be walking their dog more often. Walking in this neighborhood can certainly be a challenge if you leave from your door step and live on a main artery. Not always safe. The trails and parks are great and offer space and scenery minus the VIP residents who don’t believe the 25mph speed limit applies to them. However, it can still be a challenge to meet up with other dog walkers at times. Even upon meeting another dog walker with a friendly pooch, it isn’t often wise to let them run off a leash. Additionally, it seems, many dog walkers in the parks and on the trails don’t clean up after their pet. The scent of spring flowers should not be overwhelmed with the scent of dog poop. (sorry no glam way to say it, poop stinks).

I am curious if the majority of residents would support and make use of a dog park in Aquia Harbour. A dog park would offer dogs a fenced in area where they can run free without putting residents at risk, scaring toddlers, increasing liability etc. At the park we would have receptacles and disposable pooper scooper bags for dog owners to clean up after their pet. A dog park could be a great place to meet neighbors with other dogs, neighbors who you may not otherwise meet. There is some concern that residents may not want or utilize a dog park, and I certainly don’t want to support and lobby for this if I will be standing in the middle of the dog park with my dog all alone. So please let me know your thoughts. No, it won’t be in your back yard. No, I won’t have to raise dues to pay for it. Yes, I believe I have a way to fund it. Yes, there are several other issues to consider, but this is intended to begin a constructive dialog on this issue. J

Convincing residents to serve on a committee in Aquia Harbour has been my biggest challenge to date. If I had a quarter for every horrified “deer in the headlights” look I received, I would be sipping a cute drink in Tahiti right now. However, I am thrilled to report that the Communications Committee is made up of six residents who have never served on a committee in the Harbour before and one very experienced well seasoned returning member from last year. Together, they all have an incredible amount of energy and willingness to continue making headway towards improving communication within the community. Greg Stocksdale, a resident, emailed me with some of his concerns about communications in the Harbour after I published my first article. Today, he is the newly elected Chairman of the Communications Committee. Actually, the other 5 new members were also residents who emailed me about concerns they had about what they perceived as the lack of effective communications in our community. Greg wants to make it clear that every idea from each resident will be put on the table and discussed, that this is a team effort led by him only in terms of organization, not authority. I have a tremendous amount of confidence in the committee and I hope that you will all see the fruits of their labor and that of the previous committee members, soon. I believe this is the 3^rd year for the committee, this new team hopes to carry on and build upon all the hard work of past committee members/volunteers by moving forward in new directions. The Communications Committee currently meets the first Tuesday of every month at 7pm in the Business Office. You can contact Greg about your communication concerns at glstocksdale@msn.com.

No volunteer is more valuable than the next, but the effort of each resident leads to the success of the community as a whole. Everyone who takes the time to serve in a volunteer position contributes to the energy needed to make our community a better place to live, and that in turn has an increasingly positive impact on the residents who live here. If you haven’t served on a community committee before, consider doing so, so that you too can add to the colorful tapestry that makes Aquia Harbour unique. New ideas, new directions, new leadership, all three are essential to furthering the path paved by the volunteers who served before you. A clear example of individual contribution is one of the former volunteer webmasters, Stan Johnson, who put in countless hours and a tremendous amount of energy into the website. I’ve never spoken with Stan, but have learned about his efforts since my last article in the View. The hiring of a webmaster to me, is in part the result of Stan’s contributions as a volunteer. Moving forward, the website is going to require a lot of work if its going to succeed in the long run. However, the responsibility of a website isn’t on the shoulders of any webmaster, be it a paid or volunteer position, its on the shoulders of the community at large to provide updated information in a timely manner so that the community can be continually and consistently informed.

Please feel free to contact me anytime you have an issue you would like to discuss, 703-408-2293 or R.Cruea@verizon.net.