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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.

Spokesman-Review Profiles E-G Neighborhood Planning

Spokesman-Review Profiles E-G Neighborhood Planning

The Spokesman-Review Voices supplement just published a story on Emerson-Garfield’s Neighborhood Planning effort. Read about it here — and be sure to become a part of the story by taking part in the neighborhood-wide workshop on Thursday, November 14.

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!

E-G Neighborhood Planning Workshop TONIGHT (Oct 10)

E-G Neighborhood Planning Workshop TONIGHT (Oct 10)

This is an earnest, eleventh-hour reminder that the Emerson-Garfield Neighborhood Planning Workshop takes place tonight (Thursday, October 10) at the Corbin Senior Center starting at 6:30pm.

If you already intend to go, great! We can’t wait to see you there.

If you’re not doing everything you can to attend, you should be. And here’s why:

  • It’s a considerate, neighborly gesture. For months the all-volunteer Neighborhood Planning group has been devoting countless hours to unifying the planning effort and developing this workshop — all with the ultimate goal of making Emerson-Garfield a better place to live, work and play for everyone. Ultimately, however, the success of their efforts relies solely on your participation.
  • There’s strength — and fairness — in numbers. The more people who attend the workshop, the more feedback we have. The more feedback we have, the more broadly representative of the neighborhood the identified issues will be. The more representative those issues are, the better Emerson-Garfield can become for all its residents and businesses in the future.
  • This is a chance to turn words into action. Complaining about crime on the Spokane News Facebook page or grumbling about the state of North Monroe on NextDoor does absolutely nothing to improve either situation. Complaining about crime or the state of North Monroe at this event actually stands a chance of seeing something done about them.
  • It’s about the future. The Emerson-Garfield Neighborhood Council operates by looking about a year ahead — or sometimes just a few months. Planning takes a long-term view and creates a template that is good for the next ten, fifteen or even twenty years. Some of us might not be around to see the results of these efforts, but our children and future generations in Emerson-Garfield will be grateful for workshops like this.
  • Above all: There’s real efficacy to this event. It’s not a bunch of head-nodding and empty, feel-good chatter. These volunteers — who have already demonstrated a proven commitment to the neighborhood because they live and work here too — will take your feedback to heart, and that will directly impact how the Neighborhood Planning group and the Emerson-Garfield Neighborhood Council prioritize certain areas and certain issues.

Planning Workshop 1 Flyer

With that in mind, we hope we can count on seeing you this evening. It’ll be a fun, positive, relaxed event with light refreshments provided by neighborhood businesses — thanks, Yoke’s, Gluten Busters and Chairs!

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.