Introducing our new Board President: Ben Aylesworth
Dear West Towson Neighbors,
Recently the West Towson Neighborhood Association voted to elect me as the next President of the Board. I’m grateful for this vote of confidence from the Board and I’m looking forward to the challenge. I’m been lucky in having had the opportunity to learn from our current president, Bill Smith, who has shepherded our organization through a post-COVID revamp, a large turnover of the Board, and through some very thorny zoning topics. He’s done this all with an ear open for the best ideas and in a way that invites champions within our neighborhood to drive the work of our Board. I owe him a special debt of gratitude for the organization he is handing over and I only hope that I can continue this positive trajectory for the Board and neighborhood. I also want to thank the board members that I’ll be working along side who entrusted me with the additional responsibility of leading the organization.
By way of this note I’d like to share a bit about myself and the reasons that I’m looking forward to the extra responsibility. I’m a proud son of Baltimore. Like many neighbors, I lived in the the city after college and eventually made my way to West Towson to settle down. What may be different from many neighbors are stop offs in three different States and 2 other countries before making it to West Towson. When my family was looking to return to Maryland, we had a lot of flexibility due to the impact of COVID. Immediately, what made this neighborhood the right choice for us were:
how active the neighborhood was between kids playing in yards, dogwalkers exercising their dogs, and joggers; even more so was the bustle of the Dinosaur Park on the first sunny afternoon of Spring
the ability to walk to Towson for meals, shopping, and events like Feet on the Street or Springfest
the ability to get downtown for Ravens and Orioles games, events like First Thursdays and the lantern parade, and all the other cool stuff going on in the city
What I didn’t anticipate loving about moving to West Towson came into view over the first year or so. I surely missed it if northeast Baltimore City had 4th of July parades, community events like Santa on a Firetruck, or local festivals. As the years tick by I also recognize more and more people as I go about my life in West Towson. It’s these chance conversations that make me feel like a real part this vibrant community.
It’s no shock then that I was interested in learning more about the West Towson Neighborhood Association and for that reason I joined in the Winter of 2021. I was especially motivated to champion the launch the current version of the website. This has helped us build an maintain our email contact list, share more timely updates with neighbors, and process dues payments. The board’s role in organizing our marquee events was obvious in the beginning of my time on the board. Over time I learned more about the decades of work that has gone into to shaping this neighborhood into the community that is current is. It’s this mix of active community building through events along with the often invisible and thankless work of zoning work (think mobilizing neighbors for public hearings, attending meeting with developers) that’s the output of this Board.
We are fortunate that our board has multiple champions for Events and Zoning. This isn’t a given and for any organization like ours its lifeblood are the neighbors who step up to pitch in to help shape our community. During Bill’s term, four new neighbors joined the Board while other champions raised their hands to run events like Trunk or Treat. This has allowed five long tenured Board members to step back and watch the next iteration of the Board help shape the community.
Traditionally the Board winds down its activities in the summer months. As we ramp back up in September I look forward to hearing your ideas, concerns, and suggestions in my new role. What I have learned in my time on the board is that we can accomplish a lot together. However, our biggest constraint is the bandwidth of champions to take on topics (new and old); the smaller constraint is sufficient funds from dues to finance new ideas. The good news is that these constraints are addressed by neighbors raising their hands as champions and a broader cross-section of neighbors paying recurring dues.
Together, we can make West Towson an even better place to live, work, and raise our families. You can contact me through our association email at WestTowson@gmail.com or attend our monthly meetings to share your thoughts in person.
Let's work together to continue building a strong, well-connected West Towson community.
I’m looking forward to serving you,
Ben Aylesworth
President, West Towson Neighborhood Association
