News~Sep07

September 2007

Graffiti Update Annual Potluck NENA Membership & Board Roosevelt Time Garden Walkability Issues

Grafitti Update
Coming soon! A team is forming to document incidents of graffiti in our neighborhood and remove it as soon as possible. We are working with the Olympia Police Department to track what the tags look like and where they were found to help pinpoint their source.

Annual Potluck
Well over 100 friends and neighbors joined us for our annual fall potluck on Wednesday, September 12, from 5:30 to 7:30 at Friendly Grove Park. We enjoyed live music provided by Fiddlehead, face painting by Emma Guttchen, wonderful food, and lots of clapping as many, many friends of our neighborhood were honored for their contributions.

NENA Membership and Board

Our next NENA board meeting will be on Wednesday, October 15, 7 pm, at 2013 Bethel Street. If you're interested in specific issues affecting our neighborhood, would like to help NENA accomplish current goals, or lead NENA in new directions, please consider joining us! Yearly dues are just $10.00. However, those who can afford it are welcome to contribute more. If you'd like to join, make a contribution or learn more about NENA, please download our membership letter and brochure then send your completed sign-up form and dues to:

Northeast Neighborhood Association

1910 E. 4th Ave, PMB #2

Olympia, WA 98506

Roosevelt Time Garden

Our garden was the starting point for the 2007 Garden Rhapsodies Tour! We've installed the engraved bricks and are watching our garden grow. Curious about the details of this year-long effort? Check out the timeline, the sign I've posted in the garden, and our Project Summary (revised August 14) that details real vs. reimbursed expenditures. Thanks to the generosity of our school families, we built a $50,000 garden for just under $6,000!

Walkability Issues

Northeast Olympia Walkaround Guide!

Do you have a favorite walking route in our corner of town? What special features bring you back time & time again? We’d like your ideas about interesting places to walk for our budding Northeast Olympia Walkaround Guide!

Please tell us where your walks take you!

Roosevelt School Walking Route Map

We prepared a school walking route map based on feedback from parents who completed the School Walking Route Survey last October. However, the Olympia School District did not let us know if we had permission to copy and distribute the map to all Roosevelt students before our Healthy Steps grant period closed, so we will not be able to get that map out to you this year.

Roosevelt's participation in International Walk to School Day, October 3, 2007

The Olympia School District did not let us know if we had permission to participate in this event before our Healthy Steps grant period closed, so we will not be participating this year.

Roosevelt Elementary Parking Lot Proposal
At the July 16 meeting of the Olympia School District Board of Directors, NENA received permission to proceed with plans to implement changes to our parking lot so it is safer for pedestrians and less frustrating for parents and bus drivers. We are currently working with Parametrix to finalize engineering drawings and preparing funding requests.

A unique partnership between NENA, Roosevelt staff, the City of Olympia, and the Olympia School District to improve the traffic flow at Roosevelt is working to make it safer for students to get to school by separating school buses, cars, bicycles and pedestrians. The work of this team is supported in part by a grant from the Thurston County Health Dept.'s STEPS program, a program that funds community efforts to prevent and reduce obesity, diabetes and asthma.

Please note that we've changed the travel route for the large buses.

To avoid having to lay new asphalt for a bus turn-around area, we are now proposing that the large buses enter the school grounds through the current driveway on Garrison, let the students off at the play shed, then exit the school grounds through a new driveway on Garrison, located on the north end of the unused bus pullout on Garrison. This change is NOT reflected in the Roosevelt parking lot concept. Details of the proposal are provided in this newsletter article.

Howard Avenue Neighborhood Connector

We're moving ahead with trail design and funding requests to construct the Howard Ave. trail, which will provide a safe alternative for students and neighbors who walk between East Bay Drive and Reeves Middle School. This work is being supported by our Healthy Steps Active Communities grant from the Thurston County Department of Health.