I have often compared asset mapping to baseball card collecting. Baseball cards contain only assets of each player and usually something unique about them. We all have those gifts, interests, skills and passions that make up our baseball cards. Our neighborhoods are also full of community All Stars from people, associations, groups, and businesses to places, history and even pets. As the start of the baseball season approaches I am remembering a group I met with recently in the Renfrew-Collingwood neighborhood of Vancouver, At the end of our community conversation a woman came to me and said they produce a series of cards each year in the neighborhood, called the Renfrew- Collingwood History Collector Cards.

They have done series on history, people, and places and yes this past year, a series on the pets in their community. The most popular card this past year in the pet series was her bunny “Rabbie.
As I settle into a new city, I am paying attention to the people, places, history, associations and even the pets that make up my neighborhood.