Williston Park’s Civic Association is seeking new voices on its board.
“We’re trying to attract new leadership,” President Robert Mitchell said. “We have a core of people who are happy to pay their dues, but we are looking for fresh faces to take over.”
Mitchell said the civic’s main goal is to provide residents with an independent voice and inform the public of current events, developments and activities happening in the village.
He thinks new membership is critical for those goals to be accomplished.
“It’s important for people to join to ensure that there’s a voice beyond the official voice of the village,” Mitchell said. He works to attend every village board meeting he can, typically writing up a summary of events and posting it to the association’s social media or mailing list.
“Our focus is on educating and making the public aware of things going on in the village,” Mitchell continued. “Over the years, we have sponsored things like Meet the Candidates nights, particularly when there was competition in the mayoral and trustees races.”
He said the organization hosts candidates for all local offices up to the state level. In the past few years, his association has hosted the informational nights in conjunction with the Albertson Civic Association. The next one is set for Oct. 7.
Mitchell said he wants to see the civic association become more active again. He cited aging leadership, residents having less time to volunteer and residual issues from the COVID-19 pandemic as factors that have decreased the group’s capacity in recent years.
In the past, the organization has had a volunteer snow shoveling team that helped elderly residents after storms, as well as a community projects fund, where the civic asked for donations that supported residents who couldn’t afford certain things, like an annual pool membership.
“Our shrinking membership and lowered participation caused both to end,” Mitchell said, adding that he’d like to restart both programs.
Mitchell said attracting younger members and new leaders could help revitalize the group.
“I have been president since 2010…I’m looking for people to take over leadership roles,” Mitchell said. “We don’t want this to devolve into a senior citizen-only organization. We certainly aren’t anti-senior citizens, but some of the younger people we did have at one point did try to do more.”
Mitchell has served as the organization’s president for all but the first of its 16 years. It was formed in 2009 after Mitchell and other residents advocated against a failed village initiative to collect identification, including Social Security numbers, of everyone in rental housing in the village.
He said he’s looking for someone to fill his shoes, but doesn’t want to step down until someone who wants to take the reins is found.
“A lot of work was put into establishing this, and there are a lot of members who enjoy it, even though they may not do much,” Mitchell said. “People who are happy to see it be here, so I would not want to disappoint them by letting it disband.”
Currently, the association is pushing for safer streets by placing signage across the village asking people to “slow down” and watch out for pedestrians, as well as to be “more proactive” about potential safety issues by calling the police if they see something suspicious.
Mitchell said those interested in joining the association or finding out more about what it means to be on its board should reach out to the civic association at info@willistonparkcivic.org or (516)-345-0650.
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