nothin Do Your Civic Duty— & Win Dinner! | New Haven Independent

Do Your Civic Duty— & Win Dinner!

Allan Appel Photo

Andy Ross found an alternative to moaning about how people don’t show up for neighborhood meetings: Offer them short meetings — and a shot at winning a free three-figure meal at Zinc.

Like many other organizers of New Haven’s 10 management teams” — groups formed to bring citizens together with cops and other public figures in the city’s 10 community-policing districts — Ross (pictured) was having trouble luring people to meetings.

He decided to get creative. As a result, as management teams across the city struggle with low attendance, Ross’s Downtown/Wooster Square team is drawing, if not big crowds.

It drew 35 people to the most recent monthly meeting, held Tuesday night at Project Storefronts on Chapel Street.

The management team was nearly moribund when Ross took it over in July 2011. Now it regularly sees turnouts like Tuesday night’s — along with serious discussion with city decision-makers about urgent district matters (as at this April conclave).

For 20 years the group’s meeting place was ensconced in City Hall on the second floor. After my first 6 months I was ready to disband. I only had two or five people showing up. I knew I had to do something to change it up and shake it up a bit,” Ross recalled.

For starters, he decided to vary the meeting place. Ross has held meetings at the Bourse, Luck and Levity, the Grove, Project Storefronts this month, and last month at Salon LULU, which attracted 75 people.

Having the meeting in other interesting locations would serve a two-fold purpose. One, [it] helps a business or organization show off their space; and second [it] gets members interested to come out and see those places and hear more about them,” Ross stated.

He relies on more than venue changes to draw the crowd. Each gathering features pizza, prizes — and a guarantee to be out in 60 minutes.

Ross pays for most of these goodies himself, just as he has personally subsidized the art work and dog posters that are livening up the Comcast and Firestone Tire building facades on Chapel Street.

I hesitate to ask for money just yet. I think once the organization is on its feet I can ask for contributions,” he concluded.

Tuesday night. Ross added a new lure: sizable door prizes that he solicited from local merchants: $100 gift certificate at Zinc, a $75 certificate from Raggs Men’s Clothing, and lunch for two at Atticus.

All you had to do was stay till the end of the meeting for the drawing.

In the interim, Ross, a realtor by profession, conducted the meeting a bit like a host on a late-night TV show. With low-keyed charm and deferential aplomb, he introduced his many speakers — and enforced tight time limits.

LiveWorkLearnPlay’s Max Reim had 14 minutes to cover his vision for the Coliseum.

As attendees sat on white chairs amid art on the walls of Project Storefronts, they heard the crime report from the local beat cops (ten minutes); a review of Project Storefronts (six minutes); an update from Town Green Special Services District (nine minutes); an update on the East Shore sewer plant upgrade and the perils of rate increase (13 minutes); and new plans for redeveloping the Coliseum site (14 minutes tops, at which point Ross gave the gentle hook).

During these proceedings he also passed out six-inch pie-sized cardboard discs. (Ross is famous locally for baking small cherry pies to raise money for Wooster Square’s Cherry Blossom Festival, which he also co-chairs.)

Ross asked people to write their names on the discs for the prize drawing.

After the concluding talk and apologies for abridging presentations and invitations for folks to linger and ask questions of his presenters, the moment arrived:

Ross with prizewinners Hausladen and Goode.

Environmental activist Aaron Goode won the hundred bucks worth of food delights from Zinc. Downtown Alderman Douglas Hausladen will augment his wardrobe with $75 at Raggs Men’s Clothing; and Ninth Square resident Maureen Franco nabbled lunch for two at Atticus.

I do admit that I use food and an occasional surprise prize drawing to entice people to come and stay,” Ross said.

Ross isn’t resting on laurels. Next month we will be holding our meeting in Wooster Square Park,” he revealed, where we will have an old- fashioned community cookout.”

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