Memorial Day is meant to be a time of reflection, remembrance, and gratitude for the brave men and women who gave their lives in service to our country. This year, the Snug Harbor Property Owners Association held a Memorial Day Salute to honor those fallen heroes, and for that, they deserve appreciation. Any effort to recognize the sacrifices made by our military service members should be respected.
Unfortunately, the event itself highlighted a much larger and ongoing problem within the Snug Harbor Property Owners Association — communication failure.
By most accounts, attendance was extremely low, with only an estimated six or seven people showing up. In a community the size of Snug Harbor, that number is embarrassing. Not because residents do not care about honoring veterans, but because many property owners likely never even knew the event was happening.
This is not a new issue. Residents and property owners have repeatedly voiced concerns about the Association’s inability — or unwillingness — to effectively communicate with the community. Relying almost entirely on Facebook posts is not a sufficient communication strategy in 2026. Many residents do not use Facebook at all. Others rarely check it. Some intentionally avoid social media altogether.
A Property Owners Association should understand that communication must reach everyone, not just the small percentage of people active on one platform.
The Association already has a website available, yet it continues to be severely underutilized. Instead of becoming a central hub for announcements, event calendars, newsletters, meeting minutes, emergency notices, and community updates, it sits largely neglected. The result is confusion, low participation, and growing frustration among residents.
At some point, the Board of Governors and those handling communications must accept responsibility for these repeated failures. Effective communication requires planning, consistency, and qualified individuals who understand how to engage a modern community. Simply posting something on Facebook and assuming everyone will see it is lazy and ineffective.
The Memorial Day Salute could have been a meaningful community gathering with strong attendance and participation. Instead, it became another example of missed opportunities caused by poor leadership and outdated communication practices.
Snug Harbor residents deserve better.
Memorial Day should have united the community in remembrance. Instead, the poor turnout served as another reminder that the Association continues to fail at keeping residents informed and engaged.
Honoring fallen service members matters. Making sure the community actually knows about those opportunities to honor them matters too.
Until the Snug Harbor Property Owners Association modernizes its communication efforts and places qualified people in charge of outreach, these kinds of failures will likely continue — and that is disappointing for the entire community.