Interesting Ideas For Cherry Grove Organizations

Here's a shot of one of the beautiful beaches of Southern Brazil that I took back in February. Our cruise took us from Buenos Aires to Rio DeJaniero with stops along the coast on the way North. We have a beautiful beach here in Cherry Grove, one of the finest I've seen in the world, but the mountains that serve as the backdrop for the beaches of Brazil certainly add a spectacular backdrop for beach goers to enjoy.

In regard to the financial and membership woes of the Cherry Grove Community Association and The Arts Project Of Cherry Grove, a reader writes:

I think some of the problems with the groups are developing into a situation of genuine urgency, and if left unsolved, I see them leading to a collapse of the organizations primarily caused by the inability of the groups to sustain the cost of improving, and even merely maintaining, the Community House....I think that the best way for the organizations to survive will be for them to merge into the following entities: CGPOA as a 501c(4) politically engaged force in both Cherry Grove and Brookhaven and the CGCAI and APCG as a single 501c(3) charitable organization that pools its membership and labor pool as well as property and financial resources and has several different committees: arts, finance, funding and fundraising, civic association, environmental, etc...I also think that the costs of maintaining a self-described "band aid clinic" (the Doctor's House) are disproportionate to the meager benefits derived therefrom... Healthcare is delivered substantially differently today from the way it was in 1957 (and on the island, the EMS and Suffolk County Marine Police with EMT's and rapid boats to the South Shore make redundant the clinic and its often hard-to-find physician)... (the Doctor's House) would be better used as a revenue-producing rental property for the CGPOA/CGCAI.

I think the writer makes some good points. On the Doctor's House, the community has been struggling for years to staff it with physicians and to come up with the funds to maintain it. While it might be convenient to get first aid for minor medical woes here on the island, I agree with my reader that the cost of maintaining the facility is out of proportion to the benefits of having it.

I also like this reader's idea of "circling the wagons" by combining the two major community organizations. That is a suggestion that makes great sense in the face of a dwindling local pool of both people willing to volunteer and financial resources.

Maintenance and preservation of our Cherry Grove Community House (a separate structure from the Doctor's House) should be of paramount importance to our community organizations. I am concerned that the focus of some of our movers and shakers seems to be shifting to the fate of a commercial structure downtown, the Top Of The Bay structure, which is vacant. I have heard about a proposal to float a bond to purchase it, which would increase our taxes. I suspect that we will have our hands full just keeping the Community House afloat. I would prefer to focus on our own Community House and let the bank who owns Top Of The Bay or the Cherry Grove business community sort out the disposition of this private commercial property. If our taxes have to go up to support revitalization, let's insure that the residents reap the benefits.

Jim