Thanks to the legwork and support of engaged residents, one of the corners of our neighborhood that has become a priority for the Emerson-Garfield Neighborhood Council is the Maple Street area — specifically, the two-block stretch where it curves and splits into a residential/arterial street.
The oddly shaped (shoestring-thin in the middle, bulbed at either end) piece of land that divides the residential stretch from the arterial is a problem for a number of reasons. It’s untended and generates dust. It doesn’t offer a contiguous pedestrian pathway. It is a frequent accident site on account of speeding and adverse weather conditions. And it’s ugly as sin.
The proposed tree-planting site in all its dusty glory.
To start addressing some of those problems immediately, we’ve recently arranged to have street trees planted on the strip. The proposed locations and tree varieties (e.g., ponderosa pine, lilac, wireless Zelkova, tuliptree) are pictured below. These will help root some of the dust and provide a natural sound and sight buffer between traffic and the nearby homes.
Proposed varieties and locations for street tree planting on Maple Street. Click for a larger view.
The next step will be to have some native grasses or flowers planted and sidewalks installed. Later we’d like to see a pedestrian crosswalk across Maple and Ash in line with Euclid. This is a tricky spot, though, so we have met with city engineers and are working with them to figure out the optimal solution for vehicles, residents and pedestrians.
It’s taken the involvement of quite a few organizations and individuals just to get this far: Maple Street residents, the EGNC, Spokane Urban Forestry, the city traffic department and the Office of Neighborhood Services. The EGNC alone is contributing about $3500 from its Community Development Block Grant street-tree fund to help things along. The reassuring news is that, ever since the project gathered steam, it has seen very rapid progress.
As things stand, the site will be prepped for planting on April 17 or 18, and then the trees will be planted by neighborhood volunteers on Saturday, April 19 under the supervision of a certified arborist. This will be kinda sorta part of the wider Spokane Gives initiative.
If you’re interested in learning more about this neighborhood improvement or you’d like to lend a hand during tree planting, please leave a comment below or attend the next Emerson-Garfield Neighborhood Council meeting on Wednesday, April 9. And we not only welcome but encourage similar proposals from residents all over Emerson-Garfield.
Building Stronger Neighborhoods — a subcommittee of the Community Assembly dedicated to raising awareness about and increasing participating in neighborhood councils — will be holding its first meeting of the new year on Monday, January 27 from 5-6pm at Fire Station 4 (1515 W Riverside Ave). Please note that the meeting has been moved to a new time, as the 11:30am lunchtime meetings had limited people’s ability to attend.
The Building Stronger Neighborhoods committee had a productive 2013 and is looking to build on that foundation with a number of goals for 2014. These include alerting neighborhoods to events in the Hot Topic Training series (which has included workshops on nonprofit status, social media and community outreach) and working more closely with area schools to maintain updated neighborhood websites.
You don’t necessarily have to be involved with your neighborhood council to take part in BSN, but it does help for long-term involvement, since one of the committee’s aims is to develop a closer connection between Spokane residents and their respective neighborhood councils. But in the end all it takes to participate is a bit of neighborhood pride.
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.
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.
We have a number of really exciting upcoming neighborhood events, and we could use your help in spreading the word.
Like most all-volunteer organizations, we’re limited by funds and manpower. We can’t afford to print enough flyers to reach everyone — and even if we did, we don’t have enough members to make sure that a copy is delivered to everyone in the neighborhood.
E-G Farmers’ Market flyer 2013
COHBC Parking Lot Party 2013
August 2013 EGNC potluck flyer
So please download the flyers below (they’re standard PDFs) and print out a copy or two for your neighbors, church, or workplace. It would lift some of the load from our shoulders, and it would make sure that more and more people hear about these great neighborhood events.
The 2-up/4-up ones will need to be cropped accordingly. Or you can click on the icons above to access 1-up versions of all the flyers.
Thanks on behalf of the Emerson-Garfield Neighborhood Council for any help you’re able to offer! And if you have time, please leave some info in the comments about where you’ll be flyering — we naturally don’t want to cover the same area twice.
