The Launch of VNT
By Tony Pelleriti
July has been a busy month for Vibrant Neighborhoods Tustin. It’s also the first official month of Vibrant Neighborhoods Tustin. That’s not to say that people weren’t already doing amazing advocacy work in our city already, maybe I just couldn’t find them.
About a year ago, after getting fed up with endless traffic and car-dependency I was ready to get involved and learn about changing that reality. I was disappointed to find that when I Googled “Tustin urbanism” I found nothing; No group to easily get plugged into.
Thankfully, months later I got connected to a group called Orange County for People-Oriented Places, where advocacy groups from across the county were already hard at work. The Tustin channel decided we should meet up in person and on July 5th at Arvida Book Co. we had our first official meeting. As fate would have it, a Tustin City Council member was in the area and stumbled into our meeting joining our 11 founding members.
After getting to know each other, we established our goals as a group and in the days since, we hit the ground running. Our members have been hard at work meeting with the Head of Public Works, attending city council meetings, getting this very website up, making interactive maps of Tustin, and we’re just getting started.
We also got our first taste of a win as city council approved the Old Town and Main Street Improvement Projects in a 5-0 vote, bringing pedestrian and cycling improvements like wider sidewalks, crosswalk enhancements, and bike lanes to our downtown core. Although the project was never in any real danger, a win is a win and our group can at least say that we played a minuscule part in making sure it passed.
Join us on Saturday, August 2nd at 3pm for our next meeting.
We’re still in the process of searching for a permanent meeting spot in Tustin, ideally an affordable space with tables, chairs, air conditioning and a fun outdoor area so that families with children can easily step outside. Parks may work in the interim. Make sure you are a part of our Discord channel and other social media channels like Instagram for the latest updates on the current month’s meeting location.
Vibrant Neighborhoods Tustin 