Council Clout Neighborhood Organizations Give Citizens An Impact On Government

The Logan neighborhood has a problem.

Residents say it’s not the right spot for the city’s fleet maintenance complex. The city says it is.

The location of the “ops complex,” as it’s known, is the first issue being studied by the Community Assembly.

The assembly is a gathering of representatives from the city’s year-old neighborhood council program.

Like a tot taking baby steps, seven neighborhoods have come slowly to the table in the past year. Six more are ready to join the list.

The goal is to give neighborhoods better communication with the city and more clout when they come before the City Council.

“Neighborhoods that aren’t hooked into the process are going to lose,” said Molly Myers, the city’s Neighborhood Services director.

But from the first day it’s been difficult to convince neighborhoods to sign up.

“There was a huge mistrust of government,” Myers said.

The Emerson-Garfield area was the first neighborhood council.

Organizer Jay Cousins says it was a matter of self-preservation rather than support for the program.

“We thought it could easily be nothing more than something to derail the existing neighborhood structure,” said Cousins.

“We figured we could fight, scream and holler from the outside, or we could get in immediately and deal with it from the inside. We could kill it from the inside if it needed to be killed.

“So we joined,” he said.

Each time Myers and assistant Rod Minarik ventured into neighborhoods to talk about organizing councils, they encountered similar skepticism.

“It was a matter of establishing a level of trust,” said Minarik.

Yet, three neighborhoods quickly came on board: Emerson-Garfield and West Central on the North Side, Historic Cannon’s Addition on the South Side.

Others followed.

Most of the first year has been spent organizing. The strength of neighborhood councils still hasn’t been tested before the City Council.

The Logan neighborhood, backed by the community assembly, could be the first.

But Myers says if the process works right, most neighborhood issues will be resolved long before they reach the council.

Neighborhoods will be involved in issues early in the game and work with staff, developers and other resources.

Neighborhoods are no longer working in isolation.

“It’s not just neighborhood issues, we are broadening our horizons and seeing how it all fits together,” said Jeanette Harras, past chairman of the Logan neighborhood steering committee.

The efforts of the neighborhood assembly seem to defy predictions by some city staff members that the neighborhood council concept would create little kingdoms and fuel turf wars between neighborhoods.

“The most heartening thing in all of this is the absolute commitment and support neighborhoods have shown each other, ” said Myers.

The first neighborhood councils grew out of community development steering committees. The 20-year-old groups were initially brought together by funding opportunities for economically struggling neighborhoods.

In many cases so far, the steering committee and the council are directed by the same officers.

Five Mile Prairie was the first non-steering committee neighborhood to form a council. They held a meeting, approved bylaws and signed up for committees in a fast-paced two-hour meeting.

The Five Mile council is the first to include city and county residents.

The North Hill neighborhood, which stretches from Division Street to the Garland District, initially balked at the idea of a neighborhood council.

Now they are wading in slowly.

“It’s our conclusion that it’s important we be a part of the process,” said North Hill neighbor Sandy Gill. “Whatever is created in our neighborhood reflects who we are.”

For years the North Hill received community development funds, but were so successful in improving their neighborhood they “graduated” two years ago and are no longer eligible for the money.

But the steering committee stayed together to watch over projects in process.

A small core group is developing the neighborhood council bylaws.

“It is going to take us three or four months; so many groups are active with so many other projects,” Gill said.

Several other North Side neighborhoods haven’t signed on. The Indian Trail neighborhood held a lightly-attended information meeting but took no other action.

It was the same in Chief Garry Park.

“The neighborhood council people came here and talked about it,” said Jerry Shoemaker, chairman of the neighborhood steering committee. “Some people were really concerned about the benefits. They were concerned about repetition and more meetings.

“I asked for volunteers and no one came forward, so nothing happened,” he said.

But participating neighborhoods say it’s working.

Logan leader Jeanette Harras points to the assembly’s review of their neighborhood’s debate with the city.

Myers is also heartened by the first year. But, she said there is still plenty to accomplish.

A key goal is to give existing neighborhood councils more dimension by encouraging business people, school officials and other groups to become involved in the neighborhood council.

The other goal is for City Hall. Myers and Minarik are working to help city staff understand how to involve neighborhoods early in their process and why it’s important.

The building department is already encouraging developers to contact neighborhoods about pending projects. Having a neighborhood council organized makes it easier to arrange meetings.

The Spokane Regional Transportation Council recently called Myers to find out how to connect with the Logan neighborhood to talk about improvements to Hamilton Avenue.

“Gone are the days when we, as a public entity, could go in and say ‘live with it’ to a neighborhood,” Myers said.

And even Cousins, initially distrustful, has been convinced.

“The city couldn’t have found a better person for this than Molly Myers. She is sincere to the bone,” said Cousins.

“She is very efficient at getting with the department heads, she is committed to the internal education.

“I think we have made great strides,” he added. “Neighborhoods are getting a level of communication that is unprecedented here,” he said.

, DataTimes ILLUSTRATION: Color Photo