Reflections on 2017: Transitions

The passing of Bertha Sanchez late in 2016 was a huge loss for HANCSM. But out of this loss came opportunity. HANCSM welcomed new Board members Robert Harker, Amourence Lee, Adam Loraine, and Amy and Binh Thai, who offered fresh perspectives and more hands to sift through city plans to find items affecting our neighborhood, and opened new avenues for communicating with our neighbors.

This year, we welcome two new Board members, Bennito Angeles and Noelia Corzo. Wes Taoka and I also make way for fresh leadership, as Wes steps down as Secretary and I rotate off the board. HANCSM’s new officers will be formally appointed after the February General Meeting (Amourence Lee as President, Binh Thai as Vice President and Adam Lorraine as Secretary) and join Treasurer Joanne Bennett to lead the rest of the board. I’d like to thank all the HANCSM board members; you made my duties much easier than they could have been this past year, and your efforts are much appreciated.

But this is not a complete good-bye for me. I’m still an active HANCSM member, and I look forward to seeing even more of our neighbors become involved with our association. North Central is San Mateo’s most densely populated and diverse neighborhood, and input from more people will help our association know what’s important to us, and if needed, speak in a unified voice to the city regarding projects that affect us.

So join me at HANCSM’s first 2018 general meeting on Thursday, the 22^nd of February at 6:30 pm at King Center. There is a small annual fee of $10 to be a voting member, but all are welcome to the meetings, and neighbors are encouraged to share what they think is important to our neighborhood.

You can also keep up with HANCSM via our Facebook page, website, and email updates, or by emailing specific questions or concerns.

Thank you all for a great 2017; here’s to an engaged 2018!

Tracey Kobayashi
Outgoing HANCSM Vice-President 2017