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October Neighborhood Planning Workshop Recap

October Neighborhood Planning Workshop Recap

On behalf of the Emerson-Garfield Neighborhood Planning committee, we’d like to give a big shout out to everyone who participated in last night’s important workshop!

WORKSHOP_PANO

We had a very spirited crowd of about 50 neighbors and a few business owners, who came together to contribute their unique perspective to creating the vision for our neighborhood and what issues need our attention to attain that vision! It was an incredibly valuable and inspiring evening, and we hope even more neighbors will plan on participating in the follow-up workshop on Thursday, November 14.

Our youngest planner
Our youngest planner in action!

We left the night with a healthy amount of data reflecting areas of the neighborhood in need of attention, and a strong voice to what our priorities should be as we move ahead with planning.

Beautification of North Monroe was a common theme, as was better support for alternative modes of transportation (including bus shelters and bike routes), incentives for desirable businesses to occupy currently vacant buildings, more neighborhood events and improved methods of crime prevention (such as better lighting, more organized Neighborhood Watch, and awareness training).

In collaboration with our planning firm, AHBL, and the City of Spokane, your planning committee will be hard at work organizing this data and preparing for our next workshop, which will focus on brainstorming and prioritizing solutions to the issues that were identified last night.

Please, plan on joining us and help us create a plan that is as representative of your voice and the voice of our neighborhood as possible!

September Neighborhood Council Meeting Recap

September Neighborhood Council Meeting Recap

This is a quick recap of what took place at the Emerson-Garfield Neighborhood Council meeting on September 11, 2013. As always, the full (and much more amusing) minutes for recent meetings are available on our Downloads page.

The meeting started at 7:01pm with introductions. The meeting minutes from June and August were approved.

The issue of neighborhood mailings was dealt with next. Emerson-Garfield is among the few remaining neighborhoods that has monthly minutes and agendas mailed to voting members. The option was presented to continue the monthly mailings or go to a mailing four times a year. This would save the Office of Neighborhood Services some money and allow for more focused mailings.

After a discussion, a motion was made to move to postcard mailings to the entire neighborhood four times a year instead of the current process of mailing the meeting materials to EGNC voting members each month. The vote was 11 for and three against, so the motion was approved. Monthly minutes and agendas will continue to be available online and there will be some print copies available at each meeting.

A call was made for more participation from everyone concerning volunteer positions — whether it’s helping out with the Farmers’ Market, Neighborhood Planning, assisting Karl the Garbage Czar, or even bringing a treat to monthly neighborhood council meetings.

Jay Cousins announced that there will be a Community Assembly Retreat on Saturday, October 12 from 8am to 2pm at Youth for Christ (1309 N Ash) [map]. The theme will be “Reinventing Community Assembly and Neighborhood Councils.” They will be looking at different ways to do what we’ve been doing and hopefully doing it better. RSVP to communityassembly@gmail.com.

Laura Schlangen gave a report concerning the activities at Corbin Senior Center. They conducted lots of tours this summer, the most popular being Moon Pass and Coulee Dam. Lots of classes are starting soon, and as usual, the Balance Class is looking like it will fill up. There will be was a Walk-Along at Corbin Park on September 19 from 8am to noon. The Munch and Mingle is coming took place on September 21.

The Emerson Community Garden continues to flourish and an autumn work day is planned but no date is set yet.

The Emerson-Garfield Farmers’ Market has turned out to be a very successful outreach tool for our council. Lots of people are learning about the Neighborhood Council by showing up at the market. Sales are steady but could be better. Lots of people still don’t even know about it.

Neighborhood Planning is enjoying some stronger participation but more bodies are always welcome. There are two public planning workshops coming at Corbin Senior Center. On October 10, people are welcome to come and discuss the issues they think are important for planning in our neighborhood. On November 14, the discussion will center on solutions to the issues brought up at the previous meeting. Have I mentioned what you, yes you should do? I think I have!

Lt. Dean Sprague talked about crime. Car prowling and property crimes are the big issues in our area. The Spokane Police Dept is issuing E-lerts through the COPS Shops about crime trends and hot spots. You can sign up for E-lert e-mails through the COPS Shops or on the Spokane Police website.

The Hillyard Meet & Eat will start took place at 6pm, Monday, September 24 at Gateway Church (5201 N. Market).

Fall dump passes will be available at the end of the October EGNC meeting and again at Corbin Senior Center on October 26. Saturday, May 10, 2014 is the tentative date set for the Spring Clean Up day. Volunteers are needed for that.

City Administrator Theresa Sanders then took the floor to present the City of Spokane Budget Report. You can find out all about it online at www.myspokanebudget.org.

The four priorities set forth in the 2014 budget report are:

  • Drive down crime
  • Improve streets
  • Make the river cleaner, faster
  • Create multiple impacts: getting the most out of each dollar

The presentation took about 25 minutes, and the meeting was closed at 8:20pm.

Photos Needed for 2014 Spokane Neighborhood Calendar

Photos Needed for 2014 Spokane Neighborhood Calendar

This is your last chance to submit photos for the 2014 Community Assembly Spokane Neighborhood Calendar!

The Office of Neighborhood Services is still looking for more photographs for next year’s calendar, but they need them submitted by Tuesday, October 1. This call is open to anyone who would like to submit a photo.

Requirements for Photos:

  • Photos must be neighborhood-centric (no iconic Spokane pictures such as Riverfront Park, Monroe St. Bridge, etc.). This calendar aims to represent the different neighborhoods that exist in the City of Spokane.
  • Photos must be 3300×2550 DPI and taken with a camera with no fewer than 8 megapixels.
  • The image may be digitally enhanced/created by the photographer.
  • Please no cellphone photos unless it is 8 megapixels or more.
  • Hard copy photos must be submitted at the size of 5×7 inch, no smaller.

If you are taking a photo of a specific person and would like a permission form, one can be provided to you. If you are taking a photo in a public place and people are in it, it is not necessary to get permission from the persons in the photo.

Digital photos can be e-mailed to jayc@spkn.net. For info on how and where to submit a hard copy photo, please send a request to the same e-mail address.

Neighborhood Training: Event Planning, Oct 7

Neighborhood Training: Event Planning, Oct 7

The Office of Neighborhood Services will be holding the third event in its training series on Monday, September 30 Monday, October 7 from 6-7pm at the Southside Senior Activity Center (3151 E 27th) [map].

This event will show how you can help build community in your neighborhood through event planning. Information will be presented on how to work with the City of Spokane and your neighborhood to create a great event. You’ll also learn about the costs and effects of such events and how to navigate the City’s Special Events permitting process.

Neighborhood Event PlanningOCT

If you’d like to attend, please RSVP immediately to Jackie Caro at (509) 625-6733 or jcaro@spokanecity.org.

Previous events in the ONS Neighborhood Training series focused on the topics of social media and community engagement. (Both are links to the PDF presentations from those sessions.)

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!