Info – Page 35 – Emerson-Garfield Community

Submit Your Traffic-Calming and Sidewalk Requests

February 6, 2014 Emerson Garfield

It’s time to make your annual neighborhood traffic-calming and sidewalk requests.

Here are the sort of problems you can address:

A stretch of sidewalk in Emerson-Garfield that is missing or in need of repair
An arterial or residential street in Emerson-Garfield where drivers speed, accidents occur frequently, and/or the safety of pedestrians is endangered.

To see the boundaries of Emerson-Garfield, check this handy map.

And here are the sort of solutions you can propose:

Curb bump-outs
Signage
Roundabouts/traffic circles
Chicanes
Improved visibility
Crosswalks
Private mini-copters to ferry you to/from the destination of your choosing

Once you submit these requests, they’ll be reviewed by the Emerson-Garfield Neighborhood Council (which you can be a part of if you’re not already), prioritized according to urgency, then passed on to the City of Spokane for analysis and implementation. Most, if not all of the money for these projects comes from sources such as Photo Red dollars and federal Community Development Block Grant funding.

The council welcomes any and all requests, but please be aware that at some point you might have to collect supporting signatures from some residents in the affected area, especially for traffic-calming projects. Though it might take an afternoon or two (less if other neighbors pitch in), signature-gathering is a straightforward and usually pleasant process. If that sounds daunting, the council is happy to assist with advice or even a bit of legwork.

It’s important to remember that your requests have real impact. Every year sidewalks are installed or replaced throughout the entire city as a direct result of these efforts, and Emerson-Garfield (specifically, Montgomery Ave between Monroe and NW Blvd) is the future site of an ambitious residential roundabout project thanks to resident-led traffic-calming requests.

Our deadline is March 7, so please send your requests ASAP. In fact, it’s best if we have them in hand prior to our upcoming neighborhood council meeting on Wednesday, February 12. Submit them through our easy-to-use online contact form — just be sure to select “Traffic Calming/Sidewalks” from the drop-down menu.

Building Stronger Neighborhoods Meeting (Jan 27)

January 26, 2014 Emerson Garfield

Building Stronger Neighborhoods — a subcommittee of the Community Assembly dedicated to raising awareness about and increasing participating in neighborhood councils — will be holding its first meeting of the new year on Monday, January 27 from 5-6pm at Fire Station 4 (1515 W Riverside Ave). Please note that the meeting has been moved to a new time, as the 11:30am lunchtime meetings had limited people’s ability to attend.

The Building Stronger Neighborhoods committee had a productive 2013 and is looking to build on that foundation with a number of goals for 2014. These include alerting neighborhoods to events in the Hot Topic Training series (which has included workshops on nonprofit status, social media and community outreach) and working more closely with area schools to maintain updated neighborhood websites.

You don’t necessarily have to be involved with your neighborhood council to take part in BSN, but it does help for long-term involvement, since one of the committee’s aims is to develop a closer connection between Spokane residents and their respective neighborhood councils. But in the end all it takes to participate is a bit of neighborhood pride.

For more information on Building Stronger Neighborhoods, get in touch with Jackie Caro at (509) 625-6733 or jcaro@spokanecity.org.

COPS Call for Volunteers/Block Watch

January 25, 2014 Emerson Garfield

Spokane COPS is recruiting volunteers. They’re looking for anyone over the age of 18 to help out with front desk operations, flyer distribution, fingerprinting, Operation Family ID, Block Watch coordination, and lots more.

If you’re interested, get in touch with your nearest COPS substation (in Emerson-Garfield, that’s COPS North Central) or call the COPS main office at (509) 835-4572. Keep in mind that you’ll have to pass a criminal background check (natch).

They’re also encouraging apartment residents to form Block Watch groups for their buildings or complexes.

Block Watch really just organizes and extends what you are probably already doing on an informal basis. We tend to know and watch out for our closest neighbors, but a group of neighbors at one end of the building or on another floor may not know the group of neighbors in another part of the building. Organizing a Block Watch for your building makes this attitude of watchfulness more systematic, and provides a map with neighbors’ names, telephone numbers and e-mails that can be used in case of an emergency.

Block Watch is simple to begin and can improve the security of your building while increasing your sense of community. It doesn’t require you to perform any special tasks, go to a lot of meetings, or take on extra responsibilities. You don’t have to patrol the neighborhood, or tell your neighbors every aspect of your business. Block Watch just involves being alert as a part of your everyday life. You and your neighbors should be familiar enough with each other to know who belongs in the building and who doesn’t, which cars are a part of your community and which aren’t, and to recognize when something suspicious is going on and being a little more observant of changes in your surroundings.

Independent studies have shown that an active crime prevention program, which includes a Crime Watch, can reduce the likelihood of residential burglary by up to 60%.

Just complete a Block Watch Representative Application, pass a background check and you’re on your way. For more information on a Block Watch for your apartment property, please visit the dedicated page on the Spokane COPS website.

Community Assembly 2013 Report/2014 Goals

January 3, 2014 Emerson Garfield

The Spokesman-Review just published a bite-sized overview of the Community Assembly’s accomplishments over the past year and its goals for 2014. It’s a good chance to see what these volunteer representatives have been doing for their respective neighborhoods when it comes to public safety, land use, pedestrian and traffic improvements, and raising neighborhood awareness.

The story also features a graphic that illustrates how the Community Assembly/neighborhood council process works alongside direct citizen engagement to ensure that our individual voices are heard with collective force at the city level. For handy reference, we’ve included it below.

Give a Tree for Christmas

December 12, 2013 Emerson Garfield

Pressure of holiday shopping got you down? The City of Spokane Urban Forestry program has a unique gift idea for any of your hard-to-please family members or eco-minded friends: a tree!

For $350, Spokane Urban Forestry’s Team Lorax will plant a tree in a Spokane city park in honor of any person, family, group or business of your choosing. It’s cheaper than a statue and has the potential to grow as large as a monument. Plus it helps improve air quality — how many urban landmarks can you say that about?