President's Report to the Friends of Springside Park for the 25th Anniversary Annual Meeting & Clean Up April

25! 2"#$
Greetings to all Friends of Springside, This weekend we gather for our annual Spring meeting and park clean up for the 25 th time since formally establishing as an organized nonprofit association. The Friends of Springside as an entity has its roots in olunteer park stewardship and ad ocacy efforts that stretch back se eral decades, including neighbor opposition to golf course proposals in !"5# and !"$2, and sporadic re italization and clean up efforts through the !"%&s, but it was in the Spring of !""& that that it formalized as an organization, in response to a third, more serious golf course proposal by a pri ate de eloper. Since then it has established itself as an important ongoing presence in the preser ation of the park, holding at least one ma'or clean up effort each Spring around (arth )ay, nature programs and e ents such as *inter Fest, and e+ecuted a wide ariety of impro ement pro'ects throughout the park. , -uarter century after its incorporation, this organization has again been gal anized to action by ma'or concerns, -uestions and issues impacting the park, such as the future of the Springside .ouse, the renewed proposal for a dog park, and the initiation of efforts for the first new comprehensi e park /aster 0lan in 5& years. 1t has been a busy and producti e year since our last annual meeting in ,pril 2&!2. The 2&!2 Spring clean up was one of the highest attended, with o er #5 people. ,round 2532& attended the more brisk fall clean up effort, typically a smaller e ent to tidy up before winter. 1n between, the Friends also collaborated with the .ebert ,rboretum on the highly successful Get 4utdoors at Springside for 5ational Get 4utdoors )ay, as well as e+panding community outreach at )isco er Tyler Street and 2rd Thursday e ents. 6eginning in September, some representati es of the Friends ha e begun meeting regularly as part of the Springside 7onser ancy ad hoc committee with the ,rboretum, the Springside Greenhouse Group, the /orningside 1nitiati e as well as *ard ! 7ity 7ouncilor 8isa Tully and 7ity 0arks /anager 9im /cGrath. Through this process, we will oice input to assist the city in de eloping the new /aster 0lan and collaborate in other ways such as cross3promotion. 1 olunteered to become interim president when prior president .oward 6ertram indicated he wished to acate this role this summer, and was elected by ote at a special meeting held 9une 2:. ,t the time it was my intention to carry out such duties as were necessary to transition the organization through the arious work and challenges of the past ten months until such time as perhaps another member might be interested in taking on the commitment for the following year. 1 remain open to that possibility, should any member hold a keen interest to undertake this role. 1f re3elected for the 2&!:32&!5 year, howe er, it is my intention to conduct this function in a manner more resembling that of a e+ecuti e director in a nonprofit, conducting the hands on, week to week and sometimes day to day work needed at this 'uncture in the history of the Friends, representing the organization in publicity and outreach to other organizations, as well as city departments and the 0arks 7ommission, represent and ote for the Friends as needed in the 7onser ancy committee, and generally implement and work to ad ance the consensus goals and ideals of the organization as informed by regular

input from its membership and other officers. 1n this approach, ma'or issues and decisions would be presented to the membership at 23: meetings per year, -uarterly or as warranted, presenting updates on my acti ities and coming to the officers and membership with proposals and action plans for the following period. 1t is my belief that this is the le el of administrati e in ol ement needed at this time, as the Friends embark on a 25th year that will represent another crucial turning point for Springside 0ark.

Sincerely, 9oe )urwin

1nterim 0resident, Springside 0ark