WUNA Emailing List
I live in Urbana, specifically, the state streets. The neighborhood begins when you cross Lincoln Street. One one side of Lincoln is a busy college campus but as soon are you enter the state streets it is a quite residential area. Being in old Urbana the houses were built around 100 years ago and some of the streets are still made out of brick. Because it is so close to the University of Illinois many professors live there. This has given the neighborhood the nickname "the professors ghetto".
The neighborhood has an mailing list called, West Urbana Neighborhood Association, otherwise known as WUNA. To describe WUNA I asked a fellow resident Zona Hrnjak. She described WUNA as, "A bunch of anal 40 year old white intellectual parents who have nothing better to do then to spend their time on a NIMBY'st (Not In My BackYard) mailing list". The email list is mostly to ask questions or inform the community. Something that might be asked is "Can anyone recommend me a good Plummer?" or, "Does anyone know someone that could babysit my kids?". Residents might also post about an event happening in the community such as a festival or open house. While these are typical things for a neighborhood email list there are also posts that are not so normal. One time someone posted "Has anyone seen my swarm of bees? They escaped their hive and I can not find them", my family and had a pretty good laugh about this one.
Since the people on WUNA are "anal 40 year old white intellectual parents who have nothing better to do then to spend their time on a NIMBY'st mailing list" people also post random semi social justice concerns about semi important issues. For example, one resident made a post about VeoRide bikes. VeoRides are bright turquoise bikes that can be rented for short periods of time using an app. These bikes do not have to be left locked on a rack, they can be left anywhere. VeoRides were being left on the sidewalks of WUNA. The resident said that they violated an american disability law because the bikes were being left on sidewalks and they disrupted the ambiance of the neighborhood. It was a valid concern, except that the sidewalks are already destroyed enough to violate an american disability law. Another example is one year a resident made a post about Halloween. In the post they talked about the trick or treaters they received. What made this post so "WUNA" is the resident also felt the need to include the amount of trick or treaters and the amount of each race (white, black, asian, latinx, etc). The resident also said, "I noticed there were far more asian trick or treaters then last year". This comment opened a flood of replies criticizing the resident for their post. These replies got further and further away from the topic of the original post. This is pointless because WUNA residents are using an email list as a means to make a stand.
The neighborhood has an mailing list called, West Urbana Neighborhood Association, otherwise known as WUNA. To describe WUNA I asked a fellow resident Zona Hrnjak. She described WUNA as, "A bunch of anal 40 year old white intellectual parents who have nothing better to do then to spend their time on a NIMBY'st (Not In My BackYard) mailing list". The email list is mostly to ask questions or inform the community. Something that might be asked is "Can anyone recommend me a good Plummer?" or, "Does anyone know someone that could babysit my kids?". Residents might also post about an event happening in the community such as a festival or open house. While these are typical things for a neighborhood email list there are also posts that are not so normal. One time someone posted "Has anyone seen my swarm of bees? They escaped their hive and I can not find them", my family and had a pretty good laugh about this one.
Since the people on WUNA are "anal 40 year old white intellectual parents who have nothing better to do then to spend their time on a NIMBY'st mailing list" people also post random semi social justice concerns about semi important issues. For example, one resident made a post about VeoRide bikes. VeoRides are bright turquoise bikes that can be rented for short periods of time using an app. These bikes do not have to be left locked on a rack, they can be left anywhere. VeoRides were being left on the sidewalks of WUNA. The resident said that they violated an american disability law because the bikes were being left on sidewalks and they disrupted the ambiance of the neighborhood. It was a valid concern, except that the sidewalks are already destroyed enough to violate an american disability law. Another example is one year a resident made a post about Halloween. In the post they talked about the trick or treaters they received. What made this post so "WUNA" is the resident also felt the need to include the amount of trick or treaters and the amount of each race (white, black, asian, latinx, etc). The resident also said, "I noticed there were far more asian trick or treaters then last year". This comment opened a flood of replies criticizing the resident for their post. These replies got further and further away from the topic of the original post. This is pointless because WUNA residents are using an email list as a means to make a stand.
While I do not live in WUNA, somehow my dad ended up on the mailing list, and he likes to read the more ridiculous emails to me. It usually gives us a pretty good laugh on a week night. I remember the VeoRide one, but I feel like the most "Urbana" ones are about loose chickens or a lost pet bird. I think that Zona's description is 100% accurate and I also think that it perfectly encapsulates what Urbana and WUNA/the state streets are. Gotta love Urbana.
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