PRIORITIES FOR 2007

Priorities for 2007

Like the Palo Alto City Council, we strive to be more effective by focusing our efforts.
Therefore, for 2007, we developed key areas of concentration based on input from Midtown residents. They include:

Emergency Preparedness
Developments Impacting Midtown, including Alma Plaza
Crime Watch
Midtown Center
Additional areas include Traffic, Welcoming New Neighbors, the History of Midtown, Completion of Greer Park and Art in Midtown.

Emergency Preparedness
(Chair: Annette Ashton)
Our focus on Safety and Community Building will start by encouraging Midtown residents to attend PANDA and Red Cross training, establishing block coordinators, and organizing several pilot blocks to be independent in case of an emergency.

Traffic
(Chair, Pam Radin)
Areas of focus include the shopping areas, truck traffic on Oregon and in the neighborhoods, traffic impacts from new development, and pedestrian and bicycle safety.
Traffic Reports

Building Community
(Chair, Karen Lawrence)
The Midtown Residents Association is focusing on "building community" this year. Many of the standing committees will emphasize aspects of building community -- Membership, Welcome New Residents, the Midtown History Book, and the School Liaison committees. MRA will work to connect everyone to Midtown who wants to participate, at whatever their level of interest. We will expand our electronic coverage of the neighborhood in both enews and on the MRA website, and further build our communication on key city issues and emergency preparation.
Committee members: Adam Atito, Bill Burns, Diane Churchill, Liz Cowie, Nancy Rhea, Peggy Kenny, Megan Swezey Fogarty, Robin Susoeff, Ursula Bujanovich, and Karen Lawrence.

Completion of Greer Park
(Chair, Annette Ashton)
We will work hard to get this last corner of this park developed. The January Parks and Recreation Commission recommended the formation of a task force to study “what is the community need for this corner of the park” and find a way to fund it.

Midtown Center
(Chair, Bill Burns)
Our focus will be to see that all Midtown shopping areas, Middlefield businesses as well as Alma Plaza, conform to the MRA Goals of Neighborhood Serving Retail which are: Local Scale, Pedestrian/Bicycle/Vehicle Safety, and Retail Variety/Convenience.

History of Midtown
(Chair, Stepheny McGraw)
Places are just dots on the map, spots down the street, until we connect them with people who bring them to life and give them significance. In our series on notable people in the MRA News, we connect these people to the places we pass every day and show how our neighborhood has evolved. Current histories include those for Greg Brown, Jean and Charles Scott, Alvie and Martha Hartsog, Mike Wallau and Gary Burke, Roxy Rapp, Tom Foy, Anne Cribbs, Elaine Goldman, and Jim the Irishman.
See Midtown History.

Return to the
MRA Home Page

	Emergency Preparedness (Chair: Annette Ashton) Our focus on Safety and Community Building will start by encouraging Midtown residents to attend PANDA and Red Cross training, establishing block coordinators, and organizing several pilot blocks to be independent in case of an emergency.

	Traffic (Chair, Pam Radin) Areas of focus include the shopping areas, truck traffic on Oregon and in the neighborhoods, traffic impacts from new development, and pedestrian and bicycle safety. Traffic Reports

	Completion of Greer Park (Chair, Annette Ashton) We will work hard to get this last corner of this park developed. The January Parks and Recreation Commission recommended the formation of a task force to study “what is the community need for this corner of the park” and find a way to fund it.

	Midtown Center (Chair, Bill Burns) Our focus will be to see that all Midtown shopping areas, Middlefield businesses as well as Alma Plaza, conform to the MRA Goals of Neighborhood Serving Retail which are: Local Scale, Pedestrian/Bicycle/Vehicle Safety, and Retail Variety/Convenience.