The Town of Irondequoit has been encouraging residents to form new neighborhood associations.
Over the summer, hundreds of people attended a series of meetings in response to that effort. Town supervisor Dave Seeley says 11 new neighborhood groups have now formed, or are in the process of forming.
"It really was a remarkable thing happening at least every other night in Irondequoit." Seeley said. "At the very least, I think people appreciated the fact that it was bringing them together. You're in a neighborhood of a couple thousand people. You may people on your block, but people a street away, there's not enough to bring people together now, so you might not know who lives hundreds of feet from you."
He says there had been a gradual disappearance of established neighborhood associations in recent years.
"We've probably built silos over the years that are just natural.” Seeley said. “There are a lot of things working against people banding together. Technology allows you to go into a Facebook group where you can comment, but never actually meet the person."
Each new neighborhood group has submitted proposals to the town's Neighborhood Enhancement Program. $100,000 collected in fines against the former owner of the Medley Centre will be used to fund improvements such as new street signs, plantings, and pocket libraries.
Seeley says the town board will review the proposals next month. He believes most of them can be covered through the fund, and those that can't, may be considered through other capital improvement projects.
