Newsletter | Rose Park Neighborhood Association

A couple of weeks ago Step Up Step Out hosted a 2 mile walk starting (and ending) at Rose Park. Along the way we found a couple of dozen people out walking with or without dogs. Alone or in pairs. It was active, vibrant and personable. All the guest walkers to our space said as much!

And then this past Tuesday we hosted one of two National Night Outs in the RP Neighborhood – the other one on 5th/Junipero at Casa Lopez. Both places had plenty of games and chances to greet others. At Rose Park, just adjacent to the Gazebo RPNA offered life size tic tac toe, a badminton court, bounce the ball into the bucket game, and adults trying to make glow stick art. We were visited by 3 teams from LBPD – First on site was Commander O’Dowd who graciously ‘lost’ a game of bean bag toss!!! Followed by other LBPD staff and then sometime later by a whole crew of Senior Police Partners that made the kids shriek with joy with their blue cape giveaways. “This may be the best park in the city”.

Yes it is historic and pretty – but it was all the people. Those just walking through the park, hanging out with friends or exercising their dogs. We have challenges and we work to resolve them – Commander O’Dowd and RPNA President Gretchen Swanson discussed strategies for the periodic human trash issue. Both agreed to work on this. Let’s stay in touch! info@rpna.org

Secret caves? Hidden skeletons? Gold Doubloons? What is beneath Rose Park Neighborhood is the underpinning of coastal life in Southern California where hundreds of thousands of people have gone before. Holding on and steering forward gets re-calibrated every August. The neighborhood association is thrilled with hosting this year’s kick-off Board meeting with: Emily Stevens, Brooke Baker, Dave Clement, Jessica Truesdell and Gretchen Swanson. And as ex officio board members Danielle Dague Potter, Darick Simpson and Dawn Mendelson.

The board meets monthly and from Sept. through June each year meets at St. Matthews. Please email info@rpna.org if you want to be placed on the agenda. It’s 90 minutes of speed fun and focus. In August we sketch out the year’s calendar and assign the portfolios (more to come in successive emails). Every two years in September we review our values set based on verifiable data specific to Rose Park. In November we review our annual budget and prepare for all our non-profit corporate filings. And along the way we initiate, organize and coordinate actions, meetings and events.

These year we have two locations for National Night Out! Always the first Tuesday in August.

The historic Rose Park neighborhood is located in the City of Long Beach, California