We are your Watchdog, Your Newspaper
| It was yesterday, February 18th, 2022 that your Pelican Bay Foundation Board voted by a margin of 5 to 2 to proceed with Phase 1 of the Pelican Bay Community Center project. This was after being presented with a Pelican Bay Property Owners Association (PBPOA) sponsored survey that confirmed that 80+% of respondents preferred that the PB Foundation pause the project until further input and study could be done. (Please see link below for Survey Results.) It is important to remember that much of the Community Center project work and planning plus their communications with Pelican Bay owners was done during Covid when many people were not here or compromised if they were here. And the increasingly demanding Pickleball issue is still out there with no solution. In fairness to our hard working, volunteer Pelican Bay Foundation Board, this is not written to just criticize them. They will accurately tell you that they have studied countless alternatives and combinations of alternatives and have concluded that, at this time, the proposed solution is the best one. And this very well may be true and correct. This message is about us, the Pelican Bay Property Owners Association. The survey was designed by us. It was conceived and implemented within a short time frame. The result, 500+ respondents within hours, is impressive. But it is 500 plus respondents, not 1000, or 2500 or more which it should have been which brings me to a subject that I want you to tell us what you think the solution is. In every correspondence, we appeal to you, (Pelican Bay residents), to join our organization and support our efforts by paying a $50 annual fee. I worry that the role of the Pelican Bay Property Owners is confused with other Pelican Bay organizations like the Foundation and the Services District. I worry that Pelican Bay owners just assume that by being residents, they are automatically members of the PBPOA. I worry that our role within Pelican Bay is unclear or misunderstood. Over the past decade, as new members arrive and original Pelican Bay residents who remember how and why the Pelican Bay Property Owners Association came into being are lost, our membership roles have declined. We are forced to look at our perceived relevance. In reality, our role as watchdog over all other organizations that influence the quality of life in Pelican Bay is critical to maintaining our quality of life and property values. We monitor for you, the Collier County Council Meetings, the Pelican Bay Foundation Meetings, the Pelican Bay Services District Meeting, The Collier County Presidents’ Council, the Pelican Bay Presidents Association and all special meetings by any authority that can affect our life in our wonderful community. Yet some members of other Pelican Bay Boards are not members of the Pelican Bay Property Owners Association which I interpret as either they find us to be a threat to their actions or they consider us irrelevant. In reality, every Pelican Bay owner should be on our membership role and attend our meetings and events when possible. We exist for no other purpose than to serve you by monitoring your interests throughout our universe of potential influencers. The dues are $50 per year, modest by any measurement and probably too low. Few if any Pelican Bay owners will have to make any significant financial sacrifice to join or renew their Pelican Bay Property Owners Association membership. We are your newspaper, your watchdog, the conscience of Pelican Bay. Who will perform this function if we don’t? If you find this watchdog role that we perform unnecessary or irrelevant, we want to know that too. Our team spends many hours following and studying Pelican Bay issues. We view it as a privilege to serve you. When the Pelican Bay Property Owners Association was established in 1984, there was no E-mail and only the U. S. Mail was used to communicate with Pelican Bay residents. Now, E-mail is everything. We are handicapped by our inability to access any master list of Pelican Bay residents. We are dependent on you to read, respond to and forward our messages. It is our hope that you will find value in our correspondence and forward our messages to your friends and neighbors who will recognize and appreciate our mission, messages and efforts and will, themselves, join the PBPOA. If this message resonates with you, please do three things: 1) Share your comments about us and our work, good or bad. Be as critical as you wish. If we are not meeting your expectations, we need to know that; 2) Join or renew your membership if you haven’t already. See the link below. Your membership makes our work possible, and we work hard to earn your support; 3.) Please forward this e-blast to your PB friends and neighbors who may not belong to the PBPOA and encourage them to join. In the end, the future of the Pelican Bay Property Owners Association depends on these $50 memberships. Thank you for bearing with me. I am personally proud of our Organization, our Team and the work that we do. Best regards, Mark E. English, President for your Friends at the Pelican Bay Property Owners Association COMMUNITY CENTER EXPANSION SURVEY RESULTS CLICK HERE |
