Committee hopes to get DeKalb residents talking

Thomas Graser, Watertown Daily Times, N.Y.
·2 min read

Mar. 23—DEKALB JUNCTION — When the COVID-19 pandemic brought Janice L. Brabaw back to her hometown of DeKalb, she found a changed community.

"It wasn't the community I grew up in," she said.

People weren't getting together as they used to, she said.

Ms. Brabaw worked behind the scenes in the film industry in New York City during the pandemic. She returned to live in her grandfather's house and worked remotely for the last few years.

Now, she hopes to bring some life back to her childhood home with the DeKalb Revitalization Committee.

The committee is holding its first community meeting at 7 p.m. on March 29 at the DeKalb Volunteer Fire Department at 4323 Route 11, DeKalb Junction.

The idea for the committee came from a Facebook page Ms. Brabaw started to get people in the town of DeKalb talking.

The page grew to about 400 members, and the conversation often turns to "the good old days," Ms. Brabaw said.

Ms. Brabaw aims to bring the spirit of the Facebook page to real life.

The first committee meeting will be held to "gather ideas from residents on what changes they'd like to see in their community including appearance, developing more retail options (and jobs!), improving and expanding infrastructure and public resources, and providing more recreation and activities for families," Ms. Brabaw wrote in a news release.

Ms. Brabaw said she has met with the town board who were receptive of the idea of a community committee.

"If anyone is going to fix it," Ms. Brabaw said,"it has to be us, in the community."

Ms. Brabaw said, since COVID, many of DeKalb's residents feel disconnected from each other.

"This committee seeks to create opportunities for neighbors to reconnect and work together to revitalize our town by capitalizing on our strengths — community pride, natural beauty, and location, location, location," she said.

The idea is not just centered on DeKalb Junction but on the entire town.

Situated between Canton and Gouverneur the town has slowly lost local amenities.

"We need a gas station, a community center, a bar," she said.

Ms. Brabaw said the committee will discuss ideas for events and townwide projects.

The March 29 meeting is open to everyone, she said.