https://mndaily.com/285559/city/east-ba ... ty-voting/
https://mndaily.com/286039/city/east-ba ... on-merger/
You can read a summary of the plan here: https://drive.google.com/file/d/1TYEduJ ... LbGYO/view
Here's a snippet from NIEBNA's website:
Following the vote, the current associations tweeted out a logo indicating the public facing name of the merged organization will be "East Bank District", which is better than the working name "East Bank Neighborhoods Partnership". "East Bank District" is a solid name for the merged organization, but it won't necessarily be pushed as a name for the Downtown Northeast/CenHen/Old Town/Old St. Anthony (Main) business district, which still seems to be officially unnamed despite this guy pushing hard for "Old Town": https://www.oldtownmpls.com/about.Merging Organizations, Not Neighborhoods
The boards of the Nicollet Island-East Bank Neighborhood Association (NIEBNA), the Marcy-Holmes Neighborhood Association (MHNA), and the Southeast Como Improvement Association (SECIA) have recognized that as their neighborhoods continue to evolve, the effectiveness and sustainability of neighborhood organizations has become increasingly critical. These three associations have long served their neighborhoods well; however, the time has come to merge into a single, more robust organization. The East Bank Neighborhoods Partnership will enhance resource allocation, strengthen advocacy, streamline operations, and ultimately result in a more unified and effective voice for the communities they represent.
My take: East Bank and Marcy Holmes working as a single organization just makes sense, especially considering the many-named business district gets split right down the current boundary line of Central Avenue. Now at least the entire business district is contained within a single neighborhood organization. Adding Como (which also includes Mid-City Industrial) into the mix makes a lot of sense too. Now the entire greater University area (except Prospect Park) and inner NE/SE will have a professionally-run neighborhood organization on the scale of Longfellow Community Council.
As for the business district name, I didn't love "Old Town" at first, but that website makes a strong case for it. Apparently NIEBNA voted on officially adopting "Old Town" and the motion failed by a single vote. Of course, Old Town (or DTNE or CenHen or whatever you call it) will now be just one business district within the greater East Bank District, which also contains Dinkytown and Como.
Lastly, a fun little map nerd fact: all three neighborhoods contain streets with both NE and SE directionals.