As 2022 draws to a close, I’d like to draw your attention to two important events in December involving the Braddock District Council. The first is the annual Supervisor’s “Best of Braddock” awards ceremony on Wednesday, 7 December (reception at 6:30 p.m. followed by the announcement of this year’s recipients at 7:30). The BDC officers, along with Mike Perel (Oak Hill), assisted the supervisor’s staff in reviewing nominations submitted by individuals and community associations. I’m pleased to say that the number of nominations this year was higher than last year, but what really stood out was all the impressive and inspiring ways the nominees found to improve the quality of life in Braddock District in 2022. I encourage you to attend this important and enjoyable event (and pass the word to your association members to come as well) to recognize the award recipients. Light refreshments will be provided.
The second event is the quarterly BDC meeting on Wednesday, 21 December at 7 p.m. This will be a business meeting (no presentations) with two administrative items to take care of, namely, approving the September meeting minutes, and also confirming Susan DiMaina (Canterbury Woods) as the BDC Secretary. Article XI of our By-laws states that the presence of seven (7) representatives from associations in good standing constitutes a quorum necessary to conduct business. At present, we have 15 paid-up members, so it is important for representatives of these associations to be at this meeting. While we will have a couple of ideas to present to the membership, we will also want to hear directly from you about issues you think the Braddock District Council needs to address in 2023, as well as topics for presentations at future meetings.
Because the meeting date is on the shortest day of the year and fairly close to Christmas, when everyone is busy, we have decided to make it easy on members by holding a virtual meeting. You won’t have to drive to Braddock Hall in the dark for this one! The sign-in link is on the BDC website, and will also be posted on our Facebook page, the Walkinshaw Advisory, and direct e-mail in early December.
There are approximately 140 HOA/Community/Civic/Condo/Swimming Pool associations in Braddock District. To make the BDC work, we need a ‘critical mass’ of members. We have set an initial target of 25 associations as part of the BDC reboot, but clearly, the more members the better. We also want to encourage associations that are not clustered around the supervisor’s office along Braddock Road to join the Council. To be truly representative, we need active members from the western part of the district out along Route 29 and near the Government Center as well as those across the Beltway in Annandale. BDC officers will be doing direct outreach in the next couple of months to contact representatives of associations who are not currently paid up.
One last item: as a cost-saving measure, we are changing the e-mails of BDC officers from a purchased domain to free G-mail addresses. The new addresses will officially take effect at our quarterly BDC meeting in December, and can be found on our website as well.