Neighborhood Steering Committees Finish Budgets

North Side neighborhood improvements in 1997 will include a community garden for Hillyard, bathrooms in Emerson Park, new roofs on West Central homes, trees for Logan and better day care in Nevada-Lidgerwood.

North Side neighborhood steering committees recently finished their yearly budgeting for federal Community Development money, and their decisions are as diverse as the neighborhoods themselves.

Steering committee presidents say the allocations reflect neighborhoods priorities. “Our residents let us know what they want to see,” said Logan steering committee president Jeanette Harras.

The money - almost $600,000 for North Side neighborhoods - comes as block grants from the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development. It is intended to improve housing, infrastructure and social programs in low-income areas.

The neighborhood steering committees must follow strict guidelines in spending the money. Only 15 percent can go to social programs.

But the groups, made up of any neighborhood residents interested in voting, have wide latitude within the rules. The freedom has changed how some residents view government, says Mike Adolfae, director of the city Community Development office.

“Before Community Development, not a lot of people walked into City Hall like they do now,” said Adolfae. “It was the can opener to City Hall.”

Reflecting a trend in recent years, four of the five North Side steering committees had to turn down requests, particularly from social service programs.

“We try to put the dollars where they will be used the most,” said West Central steering committee president Paul Soper. “All the programs are worthy.”

But the neighborhood had to shut out the popular Project Joy, an entertainment and education program for the elderly. Project Joy administrators missed an application deadline, Soper said.

Many neighborhoods funded the same programs. All gave generously to neighborhood youth programs, such as the after school Satellite and Express programs.

Leadership Institutes in West Central and Hillyard, designed to teach citizens how to use government, received $3,180.

All funded tree replacement and sidewalk repair. All paid a stipend to a neighborhood resident who takes minutes and arranges steering committee meetings.

Here’s a quick look at neighborhood priorities:

West Central

The interdenominational Our Place center received the lion’s share of social service money.

Soper said the program is invaluable to the neighborhood, giving clothes, food, diapers and even bus fare to the poor.

“If that wasn’t here in the area, we would be really be hard-pressed,” said Soper.

The neighborhood also spent heavily on housing repair. The city matches money put up by the steering committees. Soper hopes dozens of homes will be repaired with the money.

Many families who get housing repair aid also get deferred loans from the Community Development office, delaying payments that could interrupt scarce cash flow, Adolfae said.

Nevada-Lidgerwood

A lack of day care in the neighborhood prompted the steering committee to give $15,000 to a new day care training facility.

The facility will offer everything from CPR training to accounting advice. A group headed by Holy Family Hospital is looking for a building.

The neighborhood, like others in Northeast Spokane, also gave to Community Connections, a Shaw Middle School program that includes a weekly open gym night and training in peer mediation.

Hillyard

With the largest Community Development block grant in the city, the neighborhood had the money to fund unusual projects.

The neighborhood set aside $58,000 for a future park near St. Patrick’s Church and school. The neighborhood and city have been slowly buying property on a block for 15 years. Just one homeowner is left; when they that owner sells, the entire 5600 E. Lacey block will become a park.

The neighborhood is also buying property north of Esmeralda Golf Course for a future park.

And $2,000 was set aside to string a water line to an empty lot near the community center to establish a community garden, according to steering committee president Joyce Harbison.

“I’m not sure how it’s going to work,” said Harbison. “We knew we had to get the water there first.”

The neighborhood still has a balance of $240,000 from past paving projects, and plans to spend some of the savings this year.

Emerson-Garfield

Continuing in the tradition of community development money, the steering committee is making improvements to the neighborhood park.

The neighborhood is adding $18,000 to a savings account for a new bathroom at Emerson Park. Cost of the new bathroom is about $38,000.

The existing bathroom is dilapidated and inadequate, said steering committee president Jay Cousins.

Logan

Almost a quarter of the steering committee’s money is going to the grand old trees that distinguish the neighborhood.

A tree-planting program completed in November was sabotaged by the ice storm. Neighborhood residents will check on each sapling to determine if it needs replacing.

Harras hopes a $10,000 allocation for tree replacement in Mission Park will be matched by the parks department.

“Trees are going to be very important this spring,” said Harras.

The neighborhood is also planning beautification programs, including sidewalk replacement and a neighborhood clean-up next summer.

, DataTimes MEMO: This sidebar appeared with the story: HOW THE MONEY FROM GRANTS IS BEING USED West Central, $101,700 West Central Girl Scouts, $755 West Central Community Center, $6,000 WCCC Leadership Institute, $1,000 Our Place Ministries, $7,500 New flooring at Sinto Senior Center, $7,500 Sidewalk repair, $20,000 Tree replacement, $10,000 Community Development neighborhood coordinator, $1,200 Housing Rehabilitation, $47,745

Nevada-Lidgerwood, $153,900 Community Connections, $1,000 Northeast Leadership Institute, $1,000 Madison Express, $1,500 Project Joy, $1,850 Satellite program, $6,300 COPS/PALS, $1,500 Housing rehabilitation, $33,450 Sidewalks replacement, $30,000 Sidewalk repair, 430,000 Family Care Resource facility, $15,000 Northeast Community Center, $52,050

Hillyard, $189,000 Satellite programs at Bemiss, Regal and Whitman elementaries, $16,095. Neighborhood clean-up, $5,805 Community Connections, $3,750 Project Joy, $1,700. Northeast Neighborhood Leadership Institute, $1,000. Land acquisition at St. Patrick’s, $58,000 Housing rehabilitation, $50,000 Water line, $2,000 Sidewalks replacement and repair, $33,000 Park land aquisisiton near Esmeralda Golf Course, $10,650 Communications, $5,000 Community Development neighborhood coordinator, $1,200

Emerson-Garfield, $95,400 Garfield Express, $3,080 West Central Community Center, $6,830 West Central Leadership Institute, $880 Single Parent Outreach, $2,200 COPS/PALS, $1,320 Community Development neighborhood coordinator, $1,200 Communications, $2,500 Neighborhood plan, $2,500 Tree replacement, $12,790 Sidewalk replacement and repair, $20,000 Emerson Park, $18,000 COP shop, $6,000 Housing rehabilitation, $18,000

Logan, $66,600 Satellite program, $6,300 Community Connections, $1,200 Northeast Leadership Institute, $300 Neighborhood clean-up, $2,190 Housing rehabilitation, $17,910 Tree replacement, $15,000 Sidewalk and curb repair and replacement, $12,500 Neighborhood parks, $10,000 Community Development neighborhood coordinator, $1,200