April Neighborhood Meeting Notes

The neighborhood meeting last night was very good! 14 people attended, which is among the higher numbers for events that don’t include food. 🙂

Here’s what we discussed, and what you might want to know:

April 25th: Spring Clean. 10am @ the “West Duwamish Greenbelt Walking Trails” sign at 20th & Genesee — Also known as our Emergency Hub location. Bring clippers and a garbage bag. Coffee provided.

May 9th, 5pm-10pm : There will be a Citywide Emergency Communication Drill. You can participate by going to Ercolini Park or Hiawatha Park during this time. It is great to prepare yourself by participating in this. No experience needed. Wade Harper is our new Pigeon Point Emergency Hub leader. Our Emergency Hub location is at 20th & Genesee. More info here: http://westseattlebeprepared.org/

June 8th: Our next meeting, at Pathfinder again, will be a City Council Position 1 Candidate Forum. We’ve got 7 city council hopefuls scheduled to come speak to us at this meeting. We’re inviting all of W.Seattle to this. Other neighborhood councils are in the process of doing the same. We will need questions from our neighborhood to the candidates. We’ll be asking you for those ahead of time.

July 18th: Street Painting–We’ve formed a painting committee (sounds so official), and we have an artist (or 3) who will be working to design the thing. July 18th is the day the city will shut down the intersection of 21st and Genesee so we can paint it. We will need many hands to come paint on that day — so save the date!

August 4th: City Night Out — This is an annual event that happens throughout the city. We shut the street down and have a potluck and bbq. Kids play, either the police or the firemen come and let the kids check out their car. It is a nice time, and usually very well attended.  If you would like to help plan some kids activities, or bring a toy to share, that would be appreciated. If you would like to lead an activity, that would be great. Please bring seating, food, and your own dishes.

Outreach: We discussed why more people don’t attend the meetings, and how we could make it more welcoming. We speculated that some may feel like the “Pigeon Point Neighborhood Council” is an organization that they don’t have access to, or can’t be a part of. This is so very untrue! Neighborhoods all over have “councils” — they are just a group of people who show up and help make their neighborhood more liveable. They can work together to make their neighborhood’s concern known to the city and its governing institutions. These meetings are a way to check in with upcoming events, hopes for our neighborhood, worries about our neighborhood. They are a place to ask for help and offer suggestions. And it is really, really good to know what your neighbors look like, and to have a few conversations under your belt. It makes this place home!

In an effort to help improve our attendance, we are planning to have a Survey Box at the City Night Out that asks something along the lines of: 1)Why don’t you show up for [more] meetings? 2)What are some solutions to this?