Residents Share Plans, Complaints At Forum
Nevada-Lidgerwood neighbors were anxious to talk about their past successes and future dreams during a recent neighborhood council forum with city managers.
“We’re here to better improve our partnership” said city manager Bill Pupo.
But they also wanted to express their concerns, mostly about traffic.
Complaints ranged from semitrucks parking on neighborhood streets to speeders racing through the community to avoid crowded arterials. Drivers tearing through red lights on Division Street are also a concern.
City staff said traffic complaints are a frequently-heard concern in most neighborhoods and offered to find solutions. They also suggested the traffic issue might be one for the city’s new neighborhood assembly to address.
Nevada-Lidgerwood chairman Al French read a long list of recent neighborhood accomplishments and projects including their nearlyfinished COPS shop and the Hands On Model Environment (HOME) day-care project which cares for toddlers and instructs day-care providers.
French and Linda Crabtree, from Holy Family Hospital, have been invited to join a panel in Seattle on healthy communities, to talk about the HOME project.
The North Spokane neighborhood is also working with Lilac Plaza Retirement Home. The home is buying computers that neighborhood volunteers will help train them to use. In exchange for the training, the Lilac residents have offered to maintain the Nevada-Lidgerwood neighborhood database.
Other projects include a planned community garden with Holy Family Hospital and continued work on a proposal to relocate the NorthPointe Sports Complex.
The neighborhood’s wish-list is also long. It includes a library, a pedestrian overpass across Division Street and a community center.
“This isn’t a neighborhood that sits around and talks,” noted Pupo. “We’ll take this to staff and try to find solutions.”
Pupo also mentioned that in the future, staff will take budget plans out to the neighborhoods.
“So we can have a dialogue about how we spend our resources,” he said.
“Our goal should be to leave our community a better place for our young people than it was left for us,” said Pupo. “We want to start finding solutions and partnerships.” , DataTimes MEMO: This sidebar appeared with the story: MEETINGS PLANNED Nevada-Lidgerwood neighbors, together with Holy Family Hospital, are planning a community garden. The nearly block-long garden patch is east of Astor Street and south of Dalke Avenue. A meeting to plan and design the garden is set for 7 p.m. today at Holy Family Hospital in Health Education Rooms 2 and 3 in the basement. Child-care is available by calling 323-1465. For more information on the community garden, call 323-1465. A meeting on the NorthPointe Sports complex is scheduled for 7 p.m. April 15 at Shiloh Hills Elementary School, 505 E. Stonewall.