YEAR IN REVIEW - IMPROVEMENTS IN THE COMMUNITY

This is a bit of long read but worth it.

We were able to setup a new website after our previous website went dark in mid January of this year without warning.

Extensive stone repair on the Monica entrance, pressure wash all the other pillars and paint all the lanterns. Remove all old dead and improper plants. Install new borders and mulch. All the beds are ready for plants.

We have a fundraising project in progress which has raised very close to $500. We have closed out the the GoFundMe account as the fees we fairly hefty. You can now donate when you pay your due our make a donation through the website or QR code. These donations make it possible for us to purchase plants without using our regular membership funds.

Thanks to Public works we have new school zone signs, schools bus location signs and new speed limit signs. They are currently working in our community to repair signs that were damaged during hurricane Ian. There are a number of signs that are down and some that are leaning or loose and wobbly. I have given them a list and they are working them in as they can.

Public works will be doing sidewalk repairs sometime in January. They still are having issues with getting cement. I know many of you will say I got cement however, the county has to get it from approved vendors and within their budget restrictions. This is much more of a challenge.

Public works trimmed all the trees in the right of ways and at the end of Gold Ave

They have also been in the community since hurricane Ian to either stake up trees that could be saved or remove trees that were damaged.

Public works also pressure washed all 4 bridges and painted the 3 cement bridge

Thanks to Deputy Karen Hicks we 7 new Citizen Patrol signs.

We have updated the Welcome Committee bags they are a small decorative brown bag with Welcome in gold letters on the front.

We reinstated the volunteer insurance as required by the county for anyone working on the right of way which is where our entrances are located. This also insures if anyone is injured while volunteering they are covered.

We have increased the number of active volunteers to 22 we thank each of you.

We listened to the community and added a QR code as a payment method making it easier to pay your membership dues.

We setup a traffic group and started collecting signatures for stop signs at Prudence Drive and Tee Road and also Prudence Drive and Ingot where the school crossing is with no crossing guard.

Through Keep Sarasota County Beautiful we adopted Monica Parkway and Prudence Drive. We did our first cleanup in September and it garnered a total of 12 bags of garbage and 6 bags of recycling. We had our second cleanup in December with a total of 6 bags of garbage and 4 bags of recycling.

Membership is at 200 which is higher than it has been in many years. This includes 34 investor / landlords thanks to our Treasurer, Kathy Jones, hard work. We thank each and everyone of you for paying your membership dues and making extra donations

Another feather in our Treasurers cap is through her diligence and hard work she was able to get our 501 C 4 Non Profit Status reinstated. Through an error in the early 2000's when the post office box was moved from the downtown post office to the Commons post office the renewal card was not forwarded. Unfortunately the new treasurer that year did not know about sending the renewal post card each year and after three years the Non Profit Status was recalled.

We brought back a popular event that the community asked for and not to mention really responded to. The Holiday Lights Contest was a big hit with the community. We had the most entrants we had ever had making it very difficult to chose the winners.

With increasing the membership we were also able to grow the social media audience. In January of 2022 the email list was just around 300 we have been able to grow it to just over 500. We have increased our Facebook views to right around 350. The website sees just over 100 visits per week.

We are developing a Business Directory for Kensington Park residents to advertise their businesses so residents can shop local. We hope to go live with in the first part of 2023.

It will be on the website and highlighted on our Facebook page through email blasts and in the newsletter. You must be a current Kensington Park member in order to join. Look for more details in the near future.

The Paver family has graciously donated two parcels of land to the Kensington Park Civic Association. They are located on the easement under the wires that run from Randa Blvd to Lockwood Ridge Ridge. We are currently working to get FPL off the property and out of the community. Once that happens we will be having events on the property. Things like craft fairs, garage sales, concerts, food truck rallies, and more.