Jul 9 2024

Incorporating:

We have board members & officers and are now ready to file for incorporation: Gene Brin Jr. (President), Jonetta Darden-Hill (Treasurer), Sara Smollett (Secretary), Alyssa Roy, Matthew Hodge, Philip Spillane. We are hoping to officially be a non-profit in about a month.

Working groups:

We have a set of provisional working groups & volunteers: arboretum & plants, boats & watercraft, communications, community programming, traffic & accessibility, MBA relations, concessions & facilities, and trash. You can still sign up to volunteer here. We expect to initially focus on: communications (including launching a website & social media presence and sharing information about Magens Bay and Fairchild), boats & watercraft (especially keeping up with what, if anything, is happening with a moorings plan), and arboretum & plants (ideally partnering with MBA and building a positive working relationship there). We are also hoping to spin up community programming, starting with events for seniors. Many of the other groups will begin planning as well, but realistically we anticipate bandwidth and our lack of a past track record to keep them from taking on bigger projects at this time. I have set up WhatsApp groups for some of the working groups to coordinate and will continue doing so.

Website & social media:

We have a beautiful proposed logo – see below, feedback welcome. We also have a website ready to go next month, pending incorporation. The website includes information about Arthur Fairchild, links to past MBA meeting coverage, current boating regulations, and extensive photos of Magens facilities, disability access, and identified trees. If you would like to volunteer a couple hours to review the site and provide feedback before it launches, let me know.

We’re still seeking some additions for our website/social media launch. These include: a few quotes from individual Friends about why preserving the beach is important to us, information about Arthur Fairchild (beyond what is currently available on the web), photos you are willing to have posted of community events & activities held at Magens (Last Lap, King of the Wings, summer camps, swim lessons, etc), and/or historic photos of Magens/Drake’s Seat. If you can help with any of these, let me know.

MBA news:

The Source had a series of articles covering the May 28 (rescheduled from May 17) MBA board meeting: Magens Bay Board Votes to Collaborate With DPNR on Water Use Plan , Magens Bay Authority Prepares for Several Upcoming Events , and Magens Bay Authority Board Discusses Sunset Parties for Cruise Guests. The Daily News published a photo from the June 14 dedication of the Mac Davis Fitness Trail , and the Source published Building Dreams in the Sand on June 30. MBA met with taxi drivers on June 15. I haven’t seen any news coverage, but have heard that taxi drivers were informed to collect money from passengers before getting to the gate, and that MBA shared talking points with them about the beach rules & facilities.

The next MBA meeting is currently scheduled for Friday July 19 at 10AM. We will hold another Friends meeting, probably in late July. I will email again once we have a date; we will most likely stick to a Thu evening or Sat morning unless there are objections. In the meantime, please do make use of our mailing list.