February 2009

  Neighborhood Resource Roundup

Good news! The City of Olympia recently updated information about neighborhood resources on their Neighborhood Programs web page!
Those resources and a few more that are not on the City's neighborhood page are listed here.
 
Animal Control
Contact Thurston County Animal Control Services to report stray or dangerous animals.
 
Block Watch~Olympia Police Department
The City’s website provides links to archived issues of the Block Watch newsletter, but does not tell you how to start your own Block Watch group. Contact Amy Stull at Olympia Police Department Community Programs, 360/753-8049 or astull@ci.olympia.wa.us. 
 
Coalition of Neighborhood Associations (CNA)
The mission of CNA is “to promote and enhance the quality of life in our neighborhoods by providing a forum to collaborate to achieve common goals.” This is a valuable body for addressing issues that affect every neighborhood.
 
Code Enforcement
Report problems such as trash, debris, overgrown vegetation encroaching the right-of-way, and inoperable and unlicensed vehicles on private property.
Graffiti Abatement
Have a problem with graffiti in your neighborhood? The Public Works Department provides free graffiti removal kits to recognized Neighborhood Associations & Block Watch neighborhoods. To request a kit, call (360) 753-8588, or email Public Works. 

 Neighborhood Crime Mapping Service
This free on-line crime mapping service will let you see police activity that has occurred in the City on a Google-style map. Enter a specific address and see what crime has happened in the vicinity of your neighborhood or pan the map to see activity City-wide.

Neighborhood Crossroads Program
This program encourages people to create a gathering space for their neighborhood, a place for community interaction and celebrations. An added benefit may be to slow down drivers, making the streets safer for everyone.
 
Neighborhood Matching Grants
The goal is to encourage projects that foster civic pride, enhance and beautify neighborhoods, expand citizen involvement, and promote the interests of the Olympia community. Olympia makes grant funds available to recognized neighborhood associations up to a 50/50 matching basis. 
 
Neighborhood Sustainability Grants
Sustainability grants are intended to encourage residents to work collaboratively and creatively to find ways to improve the environmental health of our neighborhoods, and ultimately, our community.
 
Neighborhood Traffic Management Program (NTMP)
NTMP helps residents address traffic concerns in their neighborhood. Neighbors nominate their street for speed control devices, and work with City staff to plan and build their devices.
 
NeighborWoods Program
The NeighborWoods Program encourages residents to plant and care for street trees in residential neighborhoods. The City gives free trees to residents, along with free training in the care of those trees, in exchange for planting and caring for the trees.
 
Schools: Olympia School District
The two public schools in our neighborhood are:
Roosevelt Elementary School
Reeves Middle School
Thurston GeoData Center
A great resource for looking up property values and records of home sales.

Transportation Programs and Projects

Great places to walk
Links to walking route brochures are provided here. The City has placed copies of our Walking Routes Through Northeast Olympia guide at the Olympia Center, City Hall, and the Smith Building, but this list has not been updated to include our guide, so get it here!
 
Sidewalk Projects
New sidewalks create, complete, and enhance recreational walking routes that link neighborhoods, parks, schools, and trails. The projects identified in the Parks and Pathways program are outlined in the City of Olympia Sidewalk Program Report.
©2009 by Olympia's Northeast Neighborhood Association.
Please contact Melinda Spencer with your comments or additions to this list.

NENA Board Meeting
The next meeting of the NENA board will be held on Wednesday, Feb. 18 from 7 to 9 pm at Peter's home.
Topics we'll discuss include:
Out of the Woods Family Shelter moving into the former Touchstone facility
Selena Kimoyer from the Out of the Woods Family Shelter will be joining us to discuss their plans to provide transitional housing for families with children in the Touchstone facilities. The property is owned by Community Youth Services and Out of the Woods together with the Family Support Center plan to lease the property from CYS. Peter met with Selena and a member of the church adjacent to the Touchstone property who are working together to move this project forward. They want to partner with the neighborhood and address any concerns we may have. Selena has drafted a summary of what they're proposing. Please come to the meeting with any questions and your ideas on how best to share this proposal with the neighborhood.
 
Re-energizing our neighborhood response to graffiti
We've noticed a dramatic increase in graffiti around Don's EZ Stop. Due to the gang-related implications of these tags, we asked that the City's Code Enforcement Officer notify the owners of their responsibility to paint over the tags as soon as possible to reduce the likelihood of the graffiti proliferating.
 
Roosevelt Elementary has also been hit with tagging. The Adrian family painted over the tags near Maki Field, and OSD has been doing a good job of cleaning up the other tags very quickly. We really appreciate these efforts!
 
This graffiti is not about art; it is coded language of Tacoma gangs who are trying to make inroads in our neighborhood. Peter Guttchen and Valerie Adrian met with Amy Stull from OPD last week to discuss ways to reinvigorate our Graffiti Busters effort and we've come up with a plan we'll share at the meeting tomorrow night. 
 
Amy suggested we talk with Community Youth Services about arranging volunteer work parties to cover graffiti on a regular schedule, similar to the agreement we had with Touchstone. The CYS folks are very excited about working with us. They have a number of young people in transitional housing that need to fulfill community service hours and this would provide them a regular opportunity to meet their community service commitment. We hope to kick this off in the next few weeks.
The NENA Board needs your help to keep going! For several years now, we have operated with a skeleton crew, yet have still accomplished amazing things to put our neighborhood on the map as a great place to live and grow. Will you be part of the next wave? We hope so! Check out these job descriptions to see where you can invest your talents and interests to best serve your community. Thank you!
We won a 2009 Neighborhood Association Matching Grant from the City of Olympia to build a community kiosk and welcome sign at the corner of Bethel and San Francisco! We will be getting the word out this spring to recruit a few good builders.
 
San Francisco St. Sidewalk Celebration
 A springtime community celebration is in the works. We'll provide details here as they become available. We hope we can hold this event on the same day as the Roosevelt Plant Sale and Love Your School Yard work party, which is scheduled for May 2.

 

 

 

 

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