Fellow McCauley-ites, welcome to spring (almost) and the exciting beginning of door knocking for our Block to Block campaign. Starting in March, you’ll have some neighbours appearing on your doorstep. Don’t be afraid – we don’t bite and we won’t ask for money (well not much). We will be hitting you up for a league membership which will cost $5 for a whole year for your whole family.

I know you’re thinking, “$5 – that’s crazy. Those League fat cats will just be using that for things like printing flyers, holding meetings, changing City and Provincial policy, and paying for rink and soccer supplies. What’s in it for me?” Well, if joining and supporting our growing communication and neighbourhood building network isn’t enough, you also get great discounts at City of Edmonton recreation facilities including one free weekend afternoon access to the new Commonwealth Fitness and Aquatic Centre (details still coming so check our website for updates). As the year moves forward we are hoping to add a few more incentives to League membership with “top-secret” negotiations ongoing (more ideas and any proposals from local businesses are always welcome).

The McCauley Community League Facebook page is finally active and our communication team is slowly being populated with great neighbours, but we are always looking for a few more volunteers to help out. As we keep organizing and moving forward the more people we can get involved, even a tiny little bit, the lighter the workload for everyone and the more stable our organization becomes. Many hands really do make light work. Already, our slightly increased number of highly active volunteers is allowing us to rapidly expand capacity and implement strategies that we could only dabble in previously.

The theme of this issue is the arts, and as a neighbourhood organization I think we should draw some attention to a group of forgotten artists that design the buildings and neighbourhoods in which we all live, work, and play. Not commonly thought of as artists, the Urban Planners, Designers, and Architects among us use physical space, people, and construction as their canvas to create living breathing works that we directly interact with. The planning and building of space and place is a foundational art form in human society that impacts every aspect of every day of our lives. The interplay between technology, people, emotion, expression, and all the complex pieces of daily life can come together in magic and wonderful ways, creating active centers that are more than the sum of their individual pieces. As well, it can create buildings, blocks, and neighbourhoods that broaden and enliven the human experience and add to the world. Our neighbourhood is home to several of these broad canvas artists with a few being active League and Zoning committee members and I truly hope that others will step forward in the coming year and help build and envision our urban space for the future.

Help your neighbours make your neighbourhood a greater place to live, work, and play. Join the League and volunteer whatever time, energy, and expertise you can spare. Visit us at mccauley.info or on Facebook at “McCauley Community League.” Contact us via Facebook, at info@mccauley.info, or (780) 428-5332. We would love to meet you!