Society for a better beach
June 30, 2011 7:43 AM Subscribe
I would like to form a little group to improve my town's little beach. I know nothing about community organizing, and nothing about beach maintenance.
My town (a village of about 2k, amalgamated with some other towns for a population of 12k) has a pretty but scrubby and somewhat forgotten little beach. Since moving here four years ago I've been itching to rustle up a little 'Friends of the Beach' society and get going with fixing it up.
But I don't know anything about what I should know about to do this.
Can you recommend some books or sites I might want to read about community organizing? What do I want to know about asking people/government for money? How can I learn about what sort of improvements are possible for beaches?
Working in my favour: people are very involved in their community here, it is easy to 'get the word out' about something like this, and our village has no children's park and any proposal to throw a play structure in the direction of the beach would be met with enthusiasm, town's huge and bustling Horticultural Society could be hit up for landscaping guidance. Difficulties: suspicion that serious improvement here may be extremely expensive, also, fears that if people around here cared they would've fixed it up years ago...
It is an out-of-the way spot non-locals would never notice. The sand is a bit grotty, there're a lot of weeds (and thus a lot of mosquitoes), the only things telling you that it is indeed supposed to be a beach are a changing shack on the shore and a ratty rope floating in the water; there are no amenities besides the shack, no signage beyond a little thing tacked to the shack. I am not sure how one determines how ambitious one's community-improvement group should be? A little landscaping and a sign would be a good start, but dumping more sand and making a playground...yeah, nice, but that's a lot of bake sales.
Anyway, any advice, any anecdotes about this sort of activity in your own part of the world, welcomed.
My town (a village of about 2k, amalgamated with some other towns for a population of 12k) has a pretty but scrubby and somewhat forgotten little beach. Since moving here four years ago I've been itching to rustle up a little 'Friends of the Beach' society and get going with fixing it up.
But I don't know anything about what I should know about to do this.
Can you recommend some books or sites I might want to read about community organizing? What do I want to know about asking people/government for money? How can I learn about what sort of improvements are possible for beaches?
Working in my favour: people are very involved in their community here, it is easy to 'get the word out' about something like this, and our village has no children's park and any proposal to throw a play structure in the direction of the beach would be met with enthusiasm, town's huge and bustling Horticultural Society could be hit up for landscaping guidance. Difficulties: suspicion that serious improvement here may be extremely expensive, also, fears that if people around here cared they would've fixed it up years ago...
It is an out-of-the way spot non-locals would never notice. The sand is a bit grotty, there're a lot of weeds (and thus a lot of mosquitoes), the only things telling you that it is indeed supposed to be a beach are a changing shack on the shore and a ratty rope floating in the water; there are no amenities besides the shack, no signage beyond a little thing tacked to the shack. I am not sure how one determines how ambitious one's community-improvement group should be? A little landscaping and a sign would be a good start, but dumping more sand and making a playground...yeah, nice, but that's a lot of bake sales.
Anyway, any advice, any anecdotes about this sort of activity in your own part of the world, welcomed.
One thing you might consider before you get started is the ownership of the beach. Does the town actually own it? If it does not and the beach belongs instead to some private entity then the beach's decrepitude is their problem.
If it is public then you should talk with town officials to see if they already have plans to improve it or if they're willing to improve it with public funds.
Then post those flyers and have the meeting Empress describes above.
posted by mareli at 7:53 AM on June 30, 2011 [2 favorites]
If it is public then you should talk with town officials to see if they already have plans to improve it or if they're willing to improve it with public funds.
Then post those flyers and have the meeting Empress describes above.
posted by mareli at 7:53 AM on June 30, 2011 [2 favorites]
Heal the Bay and Surfrider Foundation should have some helpful resources, information and ideas.
posted by Room 641-A at 8:08 AM on June 30, 2011 [1 favorite]
posted by Room 641-A at 8:08 AM on June 30, 2011 [1 favorite]
i realize this is not a particularly helpful post but i wanted to point out a potential problem. i would make sure your purposed changes are legal before moving forward. i don't know what legal hurdles you will encounter in ontario, but much of what you purposed strikes me as potentially illegal. removing beach grass and dumping sand on the beach are both things that would not be allowed where i am from. to be clear, these are things that would not be allowed even if you were the owner of the property.
posted by phil at 8:30 AM on June 30, 2011
posted by phil at 8:30 AM on June 30, 2011
A lot of what has been said above is great advice.
The only advice I have to offer you is to approach people in the community with skills needed for the job - don't wait for them to volunteer themselves. Ask them if they'd get involved.
Need to find out if something is kosher with the municipality, township, county or whatever? See if you can invite a rep to get involved in the meetings. They can advise, and make use of their networks to help the project move forward. Cleaning the beach? Is someone in your area an environmental scientist or who would have connections with one? They can suggest ways to clean the beach that won't destroy the ecosystem. There's bound to be a general carpenter, backhoe operator, or whatever, who will help when the time comes to put those skills to use. Rope in the PTA, the local cops, the local marina, canoe club, swimming club, whatever. Anyone who would have a stake in the beach and in its use.
Good luck!
posted by LN at 8:43 AM on June 30, 2011
The only advice I have to offer you is to approach people in the community with skills needed for the job - don't wait for them to volunteer themselves. Ask them if they'd get involved.
Need to find out if something is kosher with the municipality, township, county or whatever? See if you can invite a rep to get involved in the meetings. They can advise, and make use of their networks to help the project move forward. Cleaning the beach? Is someone in your area an environmental scientist or who would have connections with one? They can suggest ways to clean the beach that won't destroy the ecosystem. There's bound to be a general carpenter, backhoe operator, or whatever, who will help when the time comes to put those skills to use. Rope in the PTA, the local cops, the local marina, canoe club, swimming club, whatever. Anyone who would have a stake in the beach and in its use.
Good luck!
posted by LN at 8:43 AM on June 30, 2011
Ditto Mareli's answer that your first step is to figure out exactly who owns the property. Assuming it is publicly owned, there should be someone who can tell you something about the property--where I live, this would likely be the Parks department of the Village, Town, or County. From here you might be able to get a sense of what you're up against--it's possible the beach is slated for improvements already, as soon as the money/permit/contractor comes in (best case scenario).
Of course, you might find out that there's a reason the beach is more or less abandoned; sometimes, unfortunately, it's more of a headache for a municipality to manage a beach than it's worth. For example, there could be water quality issues that would require frequent testing if swimming is allowed here, or the beach might need a lifeguard, or a proper parking lot, security fencing, etc. Who knows, it might even be that the area has silted in and now the water is too shallow to be good for swimming. Once you have some idea what the hurdles are, you'll be better prepared to address them with a community group.
There are often sources of funding available for these types of projects, at least in my experience--they tend to be pretty localized, but you might find something if you look around. Good key words are riparian access and community stewardship; for example, here is one that groups in my area have used for similar projects. Is this beach along a river? Check to see if there's a group that protects or promotes that particular river or watershed.
Finally, I'd be a bad environmental regulator if I didn't second phil's point, above--it's entirely possible that any removal of vegetation, placement of sand, or repairs to the shack would require permits, so make sure you're in the clear before you get started with the actual work.
Good luck! It sounds like this could be a really worthwhile project.
posted by Jemstar at 8:58 AM on June 30, 2011
Of course, you might find out that there's a reason the beach is more or less abandoned; sometimes, unfortunately, it's more of a headache for a municipality to manage a beach than it's worth. For example, there could be water quality issues that would require frequent testing if swimming is allowed here, or the beach might need a lifeguard, or a proper parking lot, security fencing, etc. Who knows, it might even be that the area has silted in and now the water is too shallow to be good for swimming. Once you have some idea what the hurdles are, you'll be better prepared to address them with a community group.
There are often sources of funding available for these types of projects, at least in my experience--they tend to be pretty localized, but you might find something if you look around. Good key words are riparian access and community stewardship; for example, here is one that groups in my area have used for similar projects. Is this beach along a river? Check to see if there's a group that protects or promotes that particular river or watershed.
Finally, I'd be a bad environmental regulator if I didn't second phil's point, above--it's entirely possible that any removal of vegetation, placement of sand, or repairs to the shack would require permits, so make sure you're in the clear before you get started with the actual work.
Good luck! It sounds like this could be a really worthwhile project.
posted by Jemstar at 8:58 AM on June 30, 2011
Response by poster: ...sorry, I should have been clear: it's a municipal beach -- what signage exists is posted by the town. Part of the goal would of course be agitating for the local government to sink more time and money into it, and I did not realise that anybody would think I would be looking to do this on the sly...!
The local 'health unit' posts about water quality, the town 'opens' the beach (that is, puts out the little rope) each year and announces that it is open for unsupervised swimming each summer. It is indeed swimmable; I suspect it's neglected because adjacent towns have beaches with splash pads for the kiddies, snack bars, et cetera. We don't have the population for much, but a swingset and slide and some picnic tables and a little clean-up would be, I think, appreciated by enough people to make it worthwhile. Talking about it brings up that previous generations once took swimming lessons (!) at this beach; I suspect it used to be more popular until the neighbours got the splash pads and other fancies. Probably some good memories out there that could be tapped...
LN's advice is great. Any more tips on how to track down likely sources of likely, appropriate help (I am now musing on what other clubs are around and which are most likely to contain stuff like carpenters who like working for free, and the aquatically knowledgeable) appreciated, and I am still trying to figure out the best order for assorted steps -- approach people and then hold a meeting? Approach town and then hold a meeting? Hold a meeting and then... Yeah, no idea. I do think the interest will be out there and there are plenty of good meeting spots (again, high level of civic involvement here).
posted by kmennie at 9:23 AM on June 30, 2011
The local 'health unit' posts about water quality, the town 'opens' the beach (that is, puts out the little rope) each year and announces that it is open for unsupervised swimming each summer. It is indeed swimmable; I suspect it's neglected because adjacent towns have beaches with splash pads for the kiddies, snack bars, et cetera. We don't have the population for much, but a swingset and slide and some picnic tables and a little clean-up would be, I think, appreciated by enough people to make it worthwhile. Talking about it brings up that previous generations once took swimming lessons (!) at this beach; I suspect it used to be more popular until the neighbours got the splash pads and other fancies. Probably some good memories out there that could be tapped...
LN's advice is great. Any more tips on how to track down likely sources of likely, appropriate help (I am now musing on what other clubs are around and which are most likely to contain stuff like carpenters who like working for free, and the aquatically knowledgeable) appreciated, and I am still trying to figure out the best order for assorted steps -- approach people and then hold a meeting? Approach town and then hold a meeting? Hold a meeting and then... Yeah, no idea. I do think the interest will be out there and there are plenty of good meeting spots (again, high level of civic involvement here).
posted by kmennie at 9:23 AM on June 30, 2011
There is one possible major stumbling block that would guide my first steps. If your city workers are unionized the contract the city has with them may rule out volunteer labour on city property. So I'd meet with my representative first to make sure that won't be a problem.
Once you clear that hurdle I recruit at the local PAC/PTA and Habitat for Humanity. Also possibly with local fraternal groups like the Lions or Moose though beware if you want to keep control those groups might end up capturing it.
posted by Mitheral at 11:42 AM on June 30, 2011
Once you clear that hurdle I recruit at the local PAC/PTA and Habitat for Humanity. Also possibly with local fraternal groups like the Lions or Moose though beware if you want to keep control those groups might end up capturing it.
posted by Mitheral at 11:42 AM on June 30, 2011
Locals will have more information than we do. Go ahead and hold a preliminary meeting and get your feedback from there. Discuss desires, needs, tasks. Then enroll specific people for information gathering, hosting the next meeting, etc. Once you get the people together, you will have an overabundance of ideas and information (which you may have to rein in). If people are as interested as you think they are (and it sounds like a fabulous idea, btw), it will take on a life of it's own.
posted by Vaike at 12:29 PM on June 30, 2011
posted by Vaike at 12:29 PM on June 30, 2011
Definitely talk to the city first. Usually the people at the city *want* to do more than they are able to do given money and other resource constraints. They may be thrilled to find local volunteers to help them out and may already have thought about what they'd like to do there and have a lot of background on the beach that would be helpful to you. City people often do a lot of planning but then can't find the money to implement so finding people that can help with that is usually met with great excitement. At the very least it's a courtesy to talk to the city first since they manage it.
posted by otherwordlyglow at 1:09 PM on June 30, 2011
posted by otherwordlyglow at 1:09 PM on June 30, 2011
This thread is closed to new comments.
Among the people you'll probably attract will be people who know a little more about how to run an organization. Elect them the organizational people at the first meeting, and then you are free to just share a lot of your ideas. You'll probably have other people with other ideas, but the fact that you actually have ideas yourself is a good start, even if you don't know how to implement them (that's what the other people will be for).
posted by EmpressCallipygos at 7:50 AM on June 30, 2011