Project Hope Meet & Greet (Feb 13)

Project Hope Meet & Greet (Feb 13)

Project Hope, our neighborhood partner in the Emerson-Garfield Farmers’ Market, is hosting a meet and greet with James Kashork, the organization’s new executive director, on Thursday, February 13. It will start at 6pm at the Maxwell House Restaurant (1425 N. Ash).

James KashorkJames is a familiar face around Spokane, not least due to his involvement with a variety of faith-based organizations such as Spokane Urban Ministries and Holy Trinity Lutheran Church. As the new full-time executive director for Project Hope, he’s already hard at work at his desk in the nonprofit’s new offices in Salem Lutheran Church, where will be helping to coordinate Project Hope’s existing activities as well as build the donor and volunteer base for anticipated future growth.

Part of that future growth involves closer ties with Emerson-Garfield Neighborhood and its at-risk youth. With Project Hope, these youth will find a productive and positive channel for their free time that includes gardening, lawn care, market sales and more.

The Emerson-Garfield Farmers’ Market was Project Hope’s first “official” collaboration with Emerson-Garfield Neighborhood Council, and this year will see an even closer collaboration between the two organizations. For example, Project Hope’s Riverfront Farms will sell vegetables grown by its youth participants at the EGFM.

If you’re interested in meeting James, finding out more about Project Hope, or supporting the organization through donations or volunteering, we encourage you to attend the February 13 meet and greet. You can also reach out to James via e-mail at james@projecthopespokane.org.

Submit Your Traffic-Calming and Sidewalk Requests

Submit Your Traffic-Calming and Sidewalk Requests

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.

Mayor Condon’s State of the City Address Tonight

Mayor Condon’s State of the City Address Tonight

Mayor Condon will be giving his State of the City address tonight (Thursday, January 30) at 6pm in the North Central High School (1600 N. Howard) Skylight Room. The event is open to the public.

The mayor will be talking this evening about progress made in 2013 in priority areas such as public safety, streets and utilities He will also speak to the work that lies ahead this year and beyond.

Condon State of the City 2014

The festivities actually start an hour earlier (at 5pm), when you’ll have the chance to meet North Central STEM science students, learn about what they’re working on and mingle during an informal reception.

There will be time following the address for citizens to offer feedback in person. If you’d prefer, you can submit comments and questions via e-mail to Vision2020@spokanecity.org.

Building Stronger Neighborhoods Meeting (Jan 27)

Building Stronger Neighborhoods Meeting (Jan 27)

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.

Building Stronger Neighborhoods 2014

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

COPS Call for Volunteers/Block Watch

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.

COPS Block Watch flyer

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.