in the meantime

No meetings in July and August for the East 79th Street Neighborhood Association so maybe a column on how meetings can really be swell — and what we can do in the meantime. Remember the “High Society” Frank, Bing and Grace song, “What a swell party that was!”?

Swell meetings, well, whatever kind, the talk will be shared. (“My Share,” the talk club, never did get off the ground — sigh). In swell civic groups, the public speaks first, tells the electeds, police and other policy makers just what is wrong, and what these designated fixer-uppers must do.

The really swell civic meeting shares the talk — one brief comment to a customer. The shy are urged to speak, ‘cause we think a whole lot. Responders (official fixer-uppers) must also be brief. Maybe revive “Get the hook!”

That great invention, the microphone, has just gotta be used. Another aside: The population is aging — hearing loss is ever more common, but so overlooked is what the hearing public can do to help. Speak a little LOUDER, ENUNCIATE, SLOW DOWN. So should we all. So no one is left out. So no one is left out.

What else makes a “swell” civic meeting? Well, monthly ones like the East 79th Street Neighborhood Association’s. To potentially help build more community interaction — more community — yes, less isolation.

As for Swell Civic Meetings’ primary needs, the electeds need reminding that government’s first duty is to protect public safety, which means all-out enforcement of the laws. Again, recalling those killed by traffic accidents, vehicular failure to yield at corners kills more pedestrians and causes more, often lasting injuries than all other city moving traffic violations.

And it’s not just high accident corners, remember how we’d never have known of Belle Moser’s fatal injury as she crossed 82nd and East End in July 2013 if her neighbor was not a friend of mine. This 90-year-old woman’s’ three-weeks of suffering before she perished at least received media coverage.

And the 79th Street Neighborhood Association meeting president has ever since asked why the elder driver who “was unable to see a woman with a walker in the crosswalk” still has a license to drive. But according to my scouts at the June 2017 meeting, the police officer speaker started off about dangerous jaywalkers.

And again the epidemic of killing off neighborhood places that build caring communities, needs to be stopped. The latest such lifeline, about which more will soon be said, is Gracie’s Cafe on 81st and York, shut down without any warning.

Heat, incidentally is a natural disaster killer and a caring society looks after its vulnerable citizens who also live in upper scale neighborhoods.

dewingbetter@aol.com