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Now, Where Do We Go from Here?

Now, Where Do We Go from Here?

Thanks to everyone who took the time to follow the story about The Hoods and our response to it, we’ve had hundreds of new visitors to this site over the past 48 hours. We hope that it won’t be a one-off and that many of you will return to stay abreast of much less incendiary news about neighborhood developments and events.

Whether you agree with our point about The Hoods or not, we want to invite everyone with a stake in Emerson-Garfield to participate in our ongoing efforts to improve the neighborhood from the bottom up. Contrary to stereotype, Emerson-Garfield’s neighborhood council and planning committee aren’t a cabal of grumpy old men griping about kids on their lawn — the groups are diverse, they’re vibrant, they’re active, and they’re always looking for ways to become more of all those things.

Some of the biggest challenges we’ve historically faced are ignorance and apathy, but The Hoods has shown that people can become informed very quickly if the incentive is there, and that those people are anything but apathetic about their neighborhood.

So, where do we go from here?

Don’t limit your concern to a single of outburst of controversy. Don’t limit your comments to a single blog post. Don’t sour on an issue because of criticism. Instead, show up to neighborhood council and planning meetings. Speak your mind. Offer your input. Make suggestions for improvement. Help with the legwork. Because neither the individual councils nor The Hoods are the sole arbiters of what our neighborhoods are or what they can be. That takes all of us working in concert.

Here in Emerson-Garfield, there are two meetings this week that would welcome new faces, new voices, and new ideas:

  • Neighborhood Planning, 6pm on Wednesday at Corbin Senior Center. This is an initiative that is working toward a documented vision that could guide the neighborhood for the next decade and beyond.
  • Emerson-Garfield Neighborhood Council, 7pm on Wednesday at Corbin Senior Center. This focuses on practical issues and improvements such as crime updates, new playground equipment in the parks, and event planning.

If you’re fired up and live, work, or own property anywhere in Emerson-Garfield, we hope to see you at one or both of these meetings.

Neighborhood Potluck Wrap-up

Neighborhood Potluck Wrap-up

The Emerson-Garfield Neighborhood Potluck took place last night at Emerson Park. There was a great turnout of people from all over the neighborhood and a ton of food that included great dishes like quinoa salsa, English shortbread, Asian peanut noodles with tofu, and seafood salad (in addition to the free hot dogs, of course).

City councilwoman (and current state senate candidate) Nancy McLaughlin took part, as did former councilman Steve Corker. Downtown’s Main Market Co-op was also on hand to help spread the word about affordable local food. As part of the market’s contribution to the potluck, they brought along a giant bowl of the popular kale salad from the deli.

During the meeting portion of the event, all the attendees were given a chance to introduce themselves and talk about what they wanted for the neighborhood. Their suggestions included more bike lanes on the residential streets, better collaboration between local businesses and residents, steps to reduce crime (although a city police officer noted that Emerson-Garfield actually has one of the lowest neighborhood crime rates in Spokane this summer), and more community-wide activities.

We also discussed and voted on park improvements. Several new pieces of playground equipment — possibly including a seesaw, a merry-go-round, swings, and a slide — will replace the single unit in Emerson-Park, and both Emerson and Corbin Parks will get new electrical hook-ups for things like live music. Corbin Park will also have a new set of swings put in.

At the end of the evening, we got the chance to find out about something else that’s going on in the neighborhood — SpoFlow, which takes place every Wednesday night at Emerson Park [map] during the summer. It’s a fun live music jam session with yoga and hula hoopers.

Night Out Against Crime Wrap-up

Night Out Against Crime Wrap-up

At yesterday evening’s Night Out Against Crime event in Corbin Park, Pizza Rita raised $242 from merchandise sales and donations for COPS North Central. That’s not bad, considering that they were charging just 50¢ for large slices and pop — and they were selling the remaining whole large pizzas for just $3 (or two for $5!) at the end.

There was music by the Liverwurst Lads and Zach Hval, and later in the evening there were fire dancers from Visual Vortex. Brian Dickmann, owner of our neighborhood Pizza Rita, was on hand (along with plenty of his staff) to help run the evening and promote the many items that were available for auction — like a snowboard and vibrant Hawaiian shirts.

2012 Emerson-Garfield Picnic & Potluck, Aug 8

2012 Emerson-Garfield Picnic & Potluck, Aug 8

Lucky residents in Emerson-Garfield have already begun receiving their flyers for this year’s Emerson-Garfield Neighborhood Picnic & Potluck, which will be held Wednesday, August 8 from 6 to 8pm in Emerson Park [map].

Click either of the icons for a larger view:

The picnic/potluck is being organized by members of the Emerson-Garfield Neighborhood Council — an all-volunteer organization that’s dedicated to bringing improvements to the neighborhood and ensuring a better quality of life for residents and business owners alike.

This event will be a great chance to meet your neighbors from all over Emerson-Garfield neighborhood and to hear from EGNC members on things like:

  • Upcoming events
  • Crime reports
  • Initiatives by the City of Spokane
  • Neighborhood planning
  • Park improvements

Everyone who lives or does business in Emerson-Garfield is welcome to attend. Invite your closest neighbors! Invite members of your charity or congregation! Invite the postman! Invite the cashiers at Zips on NW Blvd and Pizza Rita on Indiana or the baristas at Caffe Delicio!

There will be free hot dogs and soda, but all participants are kindly asked to please bring a dish (seriously, folks, please bring a dish!) to ensure that we’ve got enough food and enough variety. It could be a bowl of your homemade potato salad, a bag of tortilla chips and a jar of salsa, or some fruit from a local grocer.

Costs for all the supplies are coming out of our own pockets, so if you’re feeling generous, here’s what else we could use:

  • Extra utensils
  • Extra cups
  • Additional hot dogs or burgers (and buns)
  • Juice

Please let us know if you’re bringing any of the above so we can plan accordingly. Leave a comment below, e-mail us, or call (509) 325-4340.

A neighborhood council meeting will follow the event, which means you can take part and decide if you’d like to become an active member.

We look forward to seeing you there!

July 11 Planning Meeting Wrap-up

July 11 Planning Meeting Wrap-up

Here are the main points of yesterday evening’s neighborhood planning meeting. The lingering questions — feel free to leave answers in the comments below — are in bold.

The October issues/solutions workshop will be two hours in length. In those two hours, it has to fulfill four goals:

  • explain to the public what exactly neighborhood planning is (in under 15 minutes)
  • highlight areas of consideration such as traffic, demographics, parks, economics
  • describe what our planning ideas look like so far
  • elicit feedback from neighborhood residents and business owners

To that last end, the workshop will pose the following questions to participants:

  • What do you like about Emerson-Garfield that should be preserved or enhanced?
  • What would you like to see done differently?
  • Are there things in other neighborhoods that you’d like to see in ours?
  • What do you see as our neighborhood’s priorities?

The exact date of the workshop is still undecided. Should we hold the workshop on the regular planning meeting date (i.e., Wednesday, October 10) or later in the month? Put another way: What’s the optimal date for holding the October workshop?

Holding it on October 10 would likely mean combining the workshop with the Emerson-Garfield Neighborhood Council meeting. That would ensure attendance but might result in less time for the EGNC to conduct its regular business. There might also be city functions that our planning consultants have to attend instead. Holding it later in October would give us extra time to plan and announce the workshop, but it would mean asking people to reserve yet another evening for neighborhood affairs.

Once the date is decided, we will probably be able to reserve the Women and Children’s Free Restaurant as a venue. There’s ample parking there, being on Monroe it’s easy to find, and there’s plenty of open space inside.

There are pros and cons to addressing the workshop participants as a large group or breaking them up into smaller groups. Given the workshop goals and questions listed above, what is the best way to both inform participants and encourage their feedback? Handouts? Information and input stations? A giant group brainstorm session? A mix of all of them?

But even the smoothest-run workshop is of no use if no one is there. How do we spread the word and encourage public participation? We need to reach out to local churches and organizations and use a variety of media (e.g., mailings, our two websites, Twitter, Facebook) to notify residents and businesses alike. (Direct mailings via the city will cost between $1,000 and $2,000 depending on scope and quality.)

All that is easier suggested than done, which is why we will undoubtedly need volunteers to canvass the neighborhood with door flyers and/or get in touch with heads of neighborhood organizations to inform their members. Short notice and limited reach has been a problem in the past, so it’s extremely important that any notification is memorable and timely.

A copy of the board notes from the meeting is available for download here.

Oh, and there is no planning meeting in August. Stakeholders are encouraged to attend the neighborhood potluck on August 8 at Emerson Park and eat, drink, and be merry.