Meet Your New Community President: Jane Doe

Jane Doe took over as community president this month, after six years on the events committee and two as its chair. We sat down with her in the hall — between setting out chairs, which she insisted on finishing — to ask what she wants to do with the job.

Twelve years here

Jane and her family moved onto Cedar Row in 2013, which she is quick to point out makes her a relative newcomer. She started volunteering the first summer, on the gate at the picnic, “because it was the only job left and nobody explains what any of the others are.”

I did not set out to run anything. I set out to be useful for an afternoon, and then I kept being asked.

What she wants to change

Three things, in her order:

• Make it obvious how to help. Most people who want to volunteer never find out how; she wants a single page that says what needs doing this month.
• Fix the hall’s accessibility. The step at the side entrance has been on a list since 2019. It is now on a budget.
• Talk to the people who never come. About a third of households have never attended anything. She wants to know why, and thinks nobody has ever properly asked.

What she will not change

The picnic, the fair, and the cleanup days stay exactly as they are. “They work. The job is not to have new ideas about the things that already work.”

Getting in touch

Jane holds an open hour in the hall on the first Saturday of each month, and answers the community email address the rest of the time. If you have been meaning to raise something for a while, this is the moment.