MIDTOWN NEIGHBORHOOD NEWS
March 1996
Message from the President
Thanks to all of you for your get-well wishes which were conveyed to me. I know your good thoughts are helping me recover. I also want to commend all of you for your enthusiastic assistance in our various activities. YOU are what makes the association and as more and more of you become involved, our association can only grow stronger. Whatever your talent, we NEED it and you, so volunteer in any area which interests you.
Youth Jobs
Kathi Finfrock, Community Representative at John B. Wright School, has been doing an outstanding job as coordinator of our youth jobs program. At last count, Kathi had 18 young people placed in various job situations as sponsored by our Association.
Young people are currently working at Wright, Blenman Elementary, Doolen Middle School, the PanAsian Alliance office and Molly McKasson’s office. In addition, students worked on the recent treeplanting project.
Our Association feels that this is an outstanding program for us to support as its goal is to provide young people with some hand-on experience in the workplace in addition to allowing the student to earn a small amount of income and encourages good work habits, a sense of responsibility and a sense of community.
First Tree Planting
On Friday, February 23, fifteen neighborhood teenagers employed through Tucson Youth Development and fifteen neighborhood volunteers (including Tucson Botanical Gardens) helped plant eight trees as the corner of North and Isabel. In less than three hours the job was completed as people shared work, laughter, conversation, coffee and doughnuts. We will have photos of the planting at our March meeting.
A second tree planting is planned for this month (on a Saturday morning) when twenty trees are planned to be planted along Seneca on the north side of the Wright School playground. Our "tree coordinator", Margaret Leonard, is hard at work to get details worked out and will be giving us a report at our March meeting, so keep your Saturdays as flexible as possible so you can join in the fun of the next tree planting.
Margaret’s goal? 2000 trees by 2001. Her phone number is 323-5049 if you want to help.
Neighborhood Park Public Meeting
On Tuesday evening, February 13, City Council Member Molly McKasson hosted a meeting at Wright Elementary School to solicit neighborhood views on the development of a joint city school neighborhood park at John B. Wright School. The meeting was well attended and those attending endorsed the conceptual park plan presented. The plan provided a regular 200’ Little League field, a 300’ x 150’ soccer field, a natural environmental educational area, and an area for passive recreation with additional dense tree plantings for shade and street tree planting along the city right-of-way north of the school.
In addition, the conceptual plan provided space for two portable, modular buildings to serve as a neighborhood center. This issue drew some criticism from some in attendance since the buildings would impede visibility for supervision, take valuable space from the park and the temporary nature of the portable buildings would detract from the park. A permanent building was recommended in another location to serve the central area.
Parking presented another issue of concern. The park plan proposed 20 parallel parking spaces along Seneca Street to augment the 21 spaces in the parking area south of the new Head Start building. Neighbors living adjacent to the school site expressed concern for increased traffic and parallel parking on Seneca Street north of the school. The parking issue will need to be addressed. The school-park partnership for the area was endorsed by those attending.
Spin Program
Those of you in attendance at our meeting in December heard Connie Brannock of the SPIN Program make a presentation for our consideration as an association. SPIN is Supporting People in Neighborhoods and consists of a team from the National Guard which is assigned to a specific neighborhood for a period of six months to one year’s duration.
Our proposed request for assistance would be in these areas: Advice and training on obtaining monetary and/or other support from local businesses; assistance in surveying to identify neighbors who need our help with yard cleanup or maintenance; how do we organize an area-wide cleanup project; advice on how to pursue our goal for a mini-neighborhood center; help in organizing community-building projects for the area; and, help in addressing neighborhood safety concerns.
One of the requirements for applying for SPIN assistance is the pledging of volunteer hours by the neighborhood association. The program wants at least 40 volunteer hours per week from members of the association. We will be asking for volunteers to sign up at our March meeting. Remember, SPIN does not care how these hours are arrived at as long as our total is 40 per week.
Once again, our key word is YOU – the more neighbors are willing to give to each other, the more effective your association will become.
Speed Hump Project
The North Street "Hump" project is a great example of community cooperation, from those who signed the petition to slow traffic to those who were able to contribute to the cost of the project. The money has been raised – the project is successful! Our special thanks to Donna Malchow who spearheaded this project, and to all of you who helped in accomplishing this successful conclusion!
Meet your Neighbor
We want you to meet your neighbors, Kari and Ray Garcia. Kari and Ray have volunteered to ramrod the mailing to our quarterly newsletter – we have a wonderful group of volunteers who will meet to fold, stuff and mail for us.
Kari wants to urge all residents to attend at least one meeting of the Association which will enable you to meet your neighbors, show your support and find out what changes are occurring in your neighborhood.
The more we support each other, the safer and more pleasant our environment becomes for all of us.
Come and bring a neighbor!