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Garfield Elementary Culture & Community Night, May 16

Garfield Elementary Culture & Community Night, May 16

Garfield Elementary is holding its seventh annual Culture & Community Night this Friday, May 16 from 6 to 8pm.

The event is like a mini Unity in the Community, with booths showcasing cultures from all over the world. There will be free snacks, bingo games, fun craft activities, exciting performers, art education (including learning how to write your name in Japanese) and lots more. Reverend Happy Watkins will also be returning this year to speak.

Culture and Community Night

And parents, there’s lots more than kids’ activities. The local C.O.P.S. Shop will be on hand to provide safety IDs for children.

The Emerson-Garfield Neighborhood Council will be tabling a booth there too. Volunteers will be on hand to talk to you about how to request free street trees in front of your house, how to get sidewalks repaired or replaced, our ambitious Neighborhood Planning effort, this year’s Concerts in the Park series, the Emerson-Garfield Farmers’ Market and the role of the neighborhood council in improving the quality of life here in E-G.

If you have questions about the Culture & Community Night, call Dee Dee on (509) 324-2700.

Block Watch Forum (April 3)

Block Watch Forum (April 3)

Spokane C.O.P.S. in partnership with neighborhood councils across Spokane will be hosting a free Block Watch forum on Thursday, April 3. It will be held at All Saints Lutheran Church (314 S Spruce St) and run from 6 to 8pm.

At the forum you’ll learn about the Block Watch program — such as how to start one or where to join an existing one — as well as practical steps you can take to help prevent crime and address graffiti in your neighborhood. It will also put you in touch with other residents in your neighborhood who are interested in doing the same.

Block Watch April 2014

Representatives from organizations such as the Spokane Police, the Department of Neighborhood Services and the Department of Corrections will speak about current crime trends and proven prevention methods.

For more information, contact Maurece Vulcano at mvulcano@spokanepolice.org or (509) 835-4572.

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!

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.