Dunbar Neighbours Start Talking

By Carol Volkart

The Dunbar fire. Potholed streets. The retail scene. Rezoning. Communications with the city.

Plenty of topics were on the table when Dunbar residents met at the community centre Friday morning to launch a conversation group about local issues.

“The idea is to give people in this community a chance to get together and talk about things they care about in Dunbar,” said longtime resident Carmen Smith, who recently announced plans for the group on the Dunbar mail list. “I have been so impressed with the enthusiastic response.”

Ten people showed up for the initial 10:30 a.m. get-together, but Smith said many more have emailed her to say they’re interested, but couldn’t make that time slot on that day, especially given the short notice for the meeting.

Smith said the idea for the group, tentatively called the Neighbours’ Café, came from another community member a few years ago, but it had to be shelved because of Covid. Noting that Dunbar is full of knowledgeable, interesting people, she said she hopes the group enables neighbours to connect, share ideas and learn from each other.

The first get-together was aimed at logistics — when, where, and how often to meet, and a list of potential topics for future meetings. The latter was the easiest part of the session, with suggestions for topics pouring forth, and participants having to be restrained from diving into them on the spot.

Among the hottest (ahem!) was the Dunbar fire, with participants talking about the impact it’s had on them, the lack of response and information they’ve had from the city, questions about the cause of the fire, and what’s happening at the site now.

Less easy was figuring out arrangements that would enable the most people to attend future sessions. For now, the plan is for 9 a.m. meetings once a month in a rented room at the Dunbar Community Centre. The topic of each meeting will be announced in advance, so people have a chance to think about it first.

The date of the next meeting and the topic haven’t been set yet, but will be announced on the Dunbar mail list.

If you would like to get involved, or have thoughts about the group, email carmengemmer2@gmail.com or reply to this story.