2008 meeting schedule

The schedule for our upcoming Board of Directors meetings has now been set. All meetings will take place on Tuesday evenings at 7:00 as usual. The dates and locations are:

January 15th at Powell Drive Park
February 12th at the Kiwanis Center
March 18th at Powell Drive Park
April 15th at Powell Drive Park
May 20th at Powell Drive Park

Note that due to a scheduling conflict, the February meeting is at a different location (Kiwanis Center, not Powell Drive Park) and on a different week of the month (second Tuesday, not third) compared to the other meetings.

The Powell Drive Park facility is the same building we used for all our 2007 meetings. It's located at 740 Powell Drive, which runs southward from Western Boulevard just west of the Beltline. As many of you no doubt remember, space is tight at the small parking lot there, but there is lots of on-street parking available nearby.

The Kiwanis Center can be found at 2526 Noble Road, which is inside the Beltline and west of Wake Forest Road. There is some parking at the center itself and plenty more just next door at Joyner Elementary School.

Yes, it would have been nice if we could have gone back to using the Glen Eden Center as we did in the first half of this decade. Unfortunately, just like last year, that facility was unavailable to us due to a city-run dog obedience class. Likewise with most of the other large meeting centers run by the Raleigh Parks Department, which all seem to have prior reservations by various city-run classes and activities.

I'm worried about the long-term trend here. The city gets first dibs on its own facilities before they are made available for rental by the general public (that's us), and Raleigh has been growing in population and expanding its activity and adult education offerings faster than it can construct new community centers. As a result, it is getting more and more difficult for us to rent meeting space every year. If anyone has other suggestions for 2009 and beyond, please do comment below. Our meeting space criteria are:

• Reasonably central location
• Seats at least 75 (more is better, especially as TSA continues to grow)
• Inexpensive rates (Powell is $45/hour, Kiwanis is $55/hour, exclusive of damage deposits)

Something to think about...