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Neighborhood Council Elections and Call for Reps

Neighborhood Council Elections and Call for Reps

In April the Emerson-Garfield Neighborhood Council (EGNC) will be holding elections for the following officer positions:

  • Chair
  • Vice-chair
  • Secretary
  • Treasurer

These positions are all currently occupied but should not go uncontested. If you are interested in running, please put your name forward at the next neighborhood council meeting on Wednesday, March 12. Keep in mind that you must be a voting member to throw your hat into the ring — which means you will need to have attended three EGNC meetings in the past six months.

Emerson-Garfield is also looking for representatives to become involved in groups that are important to the neighborhood. These include:

All of these volunteer groups generally involve a nominal time commitment of just one meeting per month. Ideally you would also attend the monthly neighborhood council meeting to keep EGNC members apprised of relevant issues and opportunities.

If you’d like to be the neighborhood rep for any of these groups (or co-rep; there’s no reason why two or three people couldn’t share a single responsibility), please speak up at the next neighborhood council meeting or get in touch beforehand. If you’re already involved in one of them and you happen to work or reside in E-G, let us know that too!

These unelected positions are just as essential as the elected officer positions. It’s important for Emerson-Garfield to have a voice as these groups develop citywide plans and policy for the future, and it’s equally important for E-G residents to be kept informed of how those plans and policies are taking shape over time.

Materials for the February 12 EGNC Meeting

Materials for the February 12 EGNC Meeting

We know the snow is knee deep in places, but there are 101 (count ’em) reasons to brave the winter weather and make it to the Emerson-Garfield Neighborhood Council meeting on Wednesday, February 12. It starts promptly at 7pm in the Corbin Senior Center (827 W Cleveland).

At this meeting the EGNC will be taking sidewalk and traffic-calming requests. This means that if you have sidewalk that is missing or in need of repair outside your home, business, church or other property, you should be there to mark the spot on a map and help rank these proposals in terms of priority before submitting them to the city.

There will also be guest speakers with useful and interesting information on a variety of topics, including pedestrian and traffic studies on N. Monroe, energy-efficient home improvement options, news and thanks from the West Central Community Center, and a proposed law enforcement partnership to reduce underage drinking.

Plus there’s the usual slew of announcements and updates, reports on the significant progress among the Neighborhood Planning effort and how that will make the leap into implementation, check-ins from the Spokane Police and COPS, and news on changes to Community Development Block Grant (CDBG) eligibility.

Download the February 12 meeting materials for approval here:

We look forward to seeing you there!

Materials for the November 13 EGNC Meeting

Materials for the November 13 EGNC Meeting

The Emerson-Garfield Neighborhood Council meets tomorrow (Wednesday, November 13) at 7pm in the Corbin Senior Center. If you live, work or own property in Emerson-Garfield, please attend and take an active role in improving the neighborhood.

This meeting is a biggie. There will be one guest speaker, Jamie Borgan of Transitions, who will describe what their organization did with the Community Development Block Grant funding our neighborhood allocated to them last year.

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After Jamie’s presentation, we’ll get right down to the nitty gritty of allocating our 2014 Community Development Block Grants (CDBG). This funding totals $57,274 and can be used to fund sidewalks, home rehabilitation, capital development (i.e., brick-and-mortar) projects, and some nonprofits’ operations needs. Spokane is unique to the whole country in that the city relies on direct input from the individual neighborhoods on how this federal funding should be allocated. Let’s not take that opportunity for granted.

This year the EGNC has an additional $10,756.04 due to returned or redirected allocations from 2013. This is above and beyond the $57k mentioned above and can be used to fund a capital project of our choosing. Combined with some other money, it could result in a neighborhood gateway, a pedestrian crosswalk, or something else altogether.

Download the November 13 agenda and minutes for approval here:

And here’s the last reminder on this subject: In September the EGNC voted to end future monthly mailings to voting members. This means that you will no longer receive print copies of the materials in the post as has been customary in the past. Instead, you will have to download the agenda and minutes here on this blog or pick up one of the limited print copies that will be available at the meeting.

October Neighborhood Council Meeting Recap

October Neighborhood Council Meeting Recap

Mere days before the Emerson-Garfield Neighborhood Council convenes for its meeting on Wednesday, November 13 at 7pm in the Corbin Senior Center, we thought it a good time to bring everyone up to speed on what the EGNC did last month.

After the meeting kicked off in the usual manner shortly after 7pm, Matt West of the Lands Council gave a presentation about Spokane River toxins and eating fish caught there. One of the two more common toxins is PCBs/PBDEs (flame retardants). Exposure to these chemicals comes from eating fish caught in the river. The other toxin is heavy metals, which are remnants of a century of mining upstream. Exposure to heavy metals comes from ingesting dirt or contact with broken skin. More information is available through the Lands Council.

Garbage Czar Karl Boldt noted that dump passes would be available after the meeting and on October 26 at the Corbin Senior Center.

Information concerning Photo Red funds was discussed next. Up until a recent decision by the City Council, all profits derived from red light fines — for context, $437,000 was raised in 2012 — were used to fund traffic-calming improvements like traffic circles and curb bump-outs. The recent vote by the City Council changed this allocation so that in the future, $100,000 of the total funds will go to the Spokane Police, $50,000 will go to the COPS program, and $20,000 will go to graffiti abatement. The rest will go for traffic calming. It should be noted that the EGNC, along with the Community Assembly and many other neighborhood councils voted (in an advisory capacity) to keep all funds collected through the Photo Red program strictly for traffic calming projects.

It was announced that Christ Clinic had successfully applied for a permit to allow them to use a house adjacent to their property for commercial use. It was previously zoned residential and a minor zone change was allowed.

Corbin Senior Center reported a successful Walk-Along at Corbin Park, which brought out more people than last year and raised $1,000. Harvard Park sponsored a Spaghetti Fundraiser, which brought in another $1,000. The Munch and Mingle Auction sold out the day before the event. Unfortunately, the Parks Department did not increase the contract funding amount for Corbin, even though a number of people (including representatives of the EGNC) wrote letters. Senator Andy Billig has offered to guide Corbin towards the possibility of maybe getting a grant for a new elevator. Corbin’s name will appear next month as we dole out Community Development Block Grant funds with a request for funds for a variety of needs.

The Emerson Community Garden is wrapping up its season, and there is a cleanup day scheduled for Sunday, October 20. Membership is just $20 a season and everyone shares in the harvest.

As of this meeting, there were two remaining Emerson-Garfield Farmers’ Markets for the season. Four raffles are set for the final gathering on Friday, October 18, and you must be present to win.

Megan Kennedy, who heads the Neighborhood Planning Committee, announced there is a big planning workshop meeting scheduled for the next evening (Thursday, October 10) from 6:30 to 8:30pm. Another meeting is scheduled for Thursday, November 14 at the same place and time. The more people who attend, the better and more inclusive the planning effort will be.

Lt. Dean Sprague gave the monthly crime report. Statistics show that neighborhood crime rates are down. Starting on the first of the year, the Spokane Police Department will be surveying itself regarding racial profiling. Currently, 88% of those arrested are white males. Officers will be filling out information detailing demographics after every arrest that will then a collated, synthesized and processed to see how they are doing.

The Community Assembly has a retreat scheduled for Saturday, October 12 where the focus will be reinventing Community Assembly and Neighborhood Councils. Sheriff Ozzie Knezovich will be the keynote speaker.

New playground equipment for Emerson Park was installed in July. Sidewalks are also complete for this year and many of the projects are just now being wrapped up.

Training seminars for Building Stronger Neighborhoods have been going on, and the next one will be on October 21 at Corbin Senior Center. It will address the pros, cons and how-tos of neighborhood councils forming nonprofit organizations

The meeting was adjourned at 8:12pm.

Materials for the Sept 11 EGNC Meeting

Materials for the Sept 11 EGNC Meeting

The Emerson-Garfield Neighborhood Council meets tonight (Wednesday, September 11) for its first regular meeting since June. (There was no meeting in July, and August was an informal potluck.)

This meeting departs from the usual format in that it’s a city-wide town hall with Mayor Condon (or his emissary) on the 2014 budget, so the EGNC agenda is relatively brief on account of the shortened meeting. A few items we will be considering:

  • The city has proposed changes in neighborhood council mailings due to — surprise! — funding shifts and cutbacks. As things stand the EGNC will have to decide between a monthly print mailing of meeting materials to all voting members (which is our status quo) or a bi-annual postcard mailing to the entire neighborhood.
  • The EGNC needs additional volunteers to sustain its current momentum in terms of neighborhood events (like the Concerts in the Park and the farmers’ market), outreach (like social media and flyers), and Neighborhood Planning. If your involvement is minimal, infrequent, or nonexistent, it’s time to help lighten the load on those who’re doing more than their fair share to make Emerson-Garfield better for everyone. A list of suggested volunteer niches will be posted online soon.
  • Fall dump passes will be available in October. We’ll divulge when and where at tonight’s meeting.
  • Emerson-Garfield Steering Committee (i.e., the voting members of the neighborhood council) has just over $57k in Community Development Block Grant funds to allocate for 2014. The application and allocation process is similar to last year’s heavily altered process, but there have been some changes based on community feedback. Those will be addressed briefly.

Save a tree — or prepare for the forthcoming mailing cutbacks — by downloading tonight’s agenda and minutes for approval here:

We look forward to seeing you tonight!