Veterans Park Neighborhood Association

VPNA’s annual meeting will be at Taft Elementary (note different location than last few years).

Click here for a map

Monday, March 19, 2012 from 6-8pm

An open house will begin at 6pm. A few presentations and elections will occur between 6:30-7:30pm. Keep an eye out for a full agenda in the next couple weeks.

 Consider Joining the Board:

 We are drumming up interest in vacancies before the meeting. The Veteran’s Park area is divided into 9 neighborhoods (click here to see a map), currently there are many vacancies. Some neighborhoods don’t even have representation; these include Veteran’s Point,  Quail Glen and Independence Park.

 The time commitment of being a board member is mostly up to the individual. At a minimum we’d like new members to attend most monthly board meetings (held the 3rd Monday of each month at Idaho River Sports from 6:30-8pm). If you choose to get involved outside of board meetings, what you do is also left open to personal choice. Some possibilities and past examples include:

 If you are interested in becoming a board member please send us an email at vpnaboise@gmail.com

 Matt Ciranni
VPNA President

Boise Parks and Recreation will be discussing plans for Esther Simplot Park, as well as, taking comments at a public meeting: 5:30pm, Thursday December 1 at Whittier Elementary School, 301 N. 29th Street.

If you are unable to attend you can submit your comments, send them to Wendy Larimore at Boise Parks and Recreation: wlarimore@cityofboise.org, or call 608-7636.

VPNA November board meeting minutes are now available under the documents tab at vpnaboise.org. These also discuss VPNA’s input to the project.

Thanks to Stan and Jo at Idaho River Sports for their continued support of VPNA. Click on the image below for more information about a special sale/fundraiser for us…

Everyone is invited to a “Construction Party” being hosted by McAlvain Construction, the City of Boise, and Idaho River Sports this Saturday (11/12/11). This is a celebration of Phase 1 construction of the Boise River Recreation Park.

Location: Idaho River Sports
Time: 10 am to 2 pm.

Walter McBrier, the McAlvain Construction project manager, will be there in the morning to give tours and answer questions about project and the construction. Since it is a construction site, anyone taking the tour is required to wear closed toe shoes and a limited number of hardhats and vests will be available for each tour. Come early to make sure you get on a tour of the site! If you haven’t seen it the construction site is truly something, the Boise River has been diverted through Quinn’s Pond leaving the river channel dry and under construction.

You will also have the opportunity to see the “waveshapper model” built by Centennial High School students, which demonstrates how the waveshapper will provide water to irrigators while also providing an adjustable wave for playing on the river in kayaks, surf boards, canoes and inner tubes. Walt, Friends of the River Park, and Boise City Park and Rec Staff will be on hand to discuss this exciting project. Idaho River sports will be providing hot chili and hot apple cider to warm you up after the tour. Call 336-4844 for more information.

Parks and Rec has 3 groups to “sweep” the area near the ponds and river so VPNA is going to shift our clean-up effort to in-land areas. We’ll be focusing on alleys and school grounds instead.

Meet at Idaho River Sports lot at 10am September 17^th (this Saturday) till noon.  Please bring a few trash bags and a pair of gloves. Thanks.

In conjunction with the Boise River Sweep VPNA is planning a river/pong cleanup on September 17^th (Saturday) starting at 10 am till noon.  We are meeting at the Idaho River Sports lot at 10am.  We’ll focus on cleaning up of the river and Quinn’s Pond area. Please bring a few trash bags and a pair of gloves.

Come join a new neighborhood playgroup at Fairview Park and help you kids make neighborhood friends. All ages welcome.

Mondays: 5 – 8pm bring a picnic if you like 

Wednesdays: 10am – noon (starting this week 8/17) 

Location: Fairview Park corner of 24th and Bannock

Please pass the word along to others who may not be subscribed to the VPNA website.

As part of the Walking Trail project VPNA is organizing a training workshop “ How to conduct effective oral history interviews” led by Brandi Burns, Boise City Historian.

When:        Thursday July 21^st from 7-8:30pm

Where:       2400 West Bannock Street

Who:          Anyone interested in learning the story of our neighborhood can attend

Cost:          Free

In August and September we will be coordinating small backyard potlucks/BBQs where neighbors will have the chance to learn the story of their street, block, etc… Oral histories could be done with longtime residents, refugees, a church/mosque, a business owner, etc… The interviews will be recorded and hopefully portions of them will add human interest to the interpretive walking trail. We’re especially interested in learning from people in all parts of the 30^th Street Neighborhood (see map of proposed trail for area of interest). We want to keep these events intimate so they will be by invitation of the host on whatever date works best.

We need your help to make this work.

Please contact us if you’d like to host an interview or if you know of someone we need to interview or if you have historical information or photos.  email: vpnaboise@gmail.com or call Jeff Anderson at 608-2385

Don’t forget!  This weekend is the 30th Annual Greek Food Festival. Admission is only $1 donation and children under 12 years old get in free. Plus, the best part is that they have an awesome food and dessert menu along with church tours, Greek music and dancing for entertainment, and free Greek dancing lessons.

Please follow the link to learn more about the event and plan your weekend:  http://www.boisegreekfestival.com/

This event is also a great opportunity for the Neighborhood Association members to gather and socialize and recruit more people to be involved with all the new developments in our neighborhood.