Friday, September 17, 2010

Wilton Manors Main Street Party last night

That was fun! 

I'm a member on the board at Wilton Manors Main Street.  The group is here to help give ideas and feedback to the City of Wilton Manors and work with them, and everyone else in the city who lives, works, and plays here, as much constructive input on the way we see things should progress.

Being a Project Manager - I know this process as being "Gap Analysis".  We're here, we want to be there, how do we bridge the gap.

I'm not the only Project Manager type person on the Board, there are at least two others and a fascinating mix of political and business people who are on it as well.  The meetings are fascinating to witness.  There's such a broad scope of personalities and strengths that I find myself listening to some of the plans and hopes and wonder how I can help with what I know.  Then out of left field, Bang! There's the idea and we run with it.

Building anything is a series of steps.  You do that "Gap Analysis" and you start to look where you want to be in the future and form your plans to get there.  You simply can not do it all at once.  If someone sits you down at a table and gives you a toy model and says "build it", that is a very different thing than if that same person sat you at the table with a built model and said "Here, its yours".

One of the big steps was forced by the demolition of Old City Hall.  How do we manage to get ourselves established in a new home and proceed to do our work?  Let me tell you it took a lot of planning and a lot of hard work.  We now have a year in a really very beautiful office.  It was an empty shell when we were given it, so we ended up having to get it painted and furnished. 

Lets thank the Gables Residential company for the office space first off.  Prime commercial space right on the drive where we will be able to see first hand whether what we are doing works!

Then there's Doug Mc Clure who did the painting and headed up the team who finished the fitting of the space.

Once we got the place built, we found that Island City Traders gave us a generous donation of the furnishings in the space. 

So last night to thank the people who aren't on the board, and of course our contributors, we had a bit of a party.  Our best guess was that there were 250 people in and around the office enjoying each other's company and treated to some excellent food from Crema d'Roma just down the block at 2150 Wilton Drive. 

I have never had Roast Beef quite so good! We will be back!

We had our Ribbon Cutting Ceremony last night, dignitaries were there helping us christen the space and welcome everyone.  It was also a volunteer and membership drive and I was told that we did pick up some Corporate Sponsorship.  Once I get the details, that will get posted on the other blog that I contribute to - the Wilton Manors Main Street Blog.  I have a lot of pictures, and I will be putting them up through the next few days to let everyone see.

If you missed the party, I invite you to stop into the offices during the week.  They're almost always staffed weekdays, and sometimes on the weekends during the day as well.  I will be in there from time to time, so if you see me sprawled out there working on the laptop, feel free to pop in and say hi!

Wilton Manors Main Street offices are at
2164 Wilton Drive
Wilton Manors, FL, 33305

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