Shiloh Hills neighborhood council looking for new members to help shape decisions

Sandy Hart and Shari Boyer love their Shiloh Hills neighborhood. They love that it has a country atmosphere located within the city. It has a diverse socio-economic population.

“I love my park,” Boyer said. “I’m close to Friendship, and she’s Hill ‘n Dale.”

That love of their neighborhood prompted them both to join their local neighborhood council.

The two had very different reasons for joining, but are united in what the council now needs – new members.

Once part of the former Neva-Wood council, Shiloh Hills formed its council in 2016 to help redistribute funding for its own particular needs.

Hart, the council chair, and Boyer, the secretary, have been on the council since then, but finding people interested in attending meetings has proved to be a challenge. Only three or four members, including themselves, are regularly attending.

The two said they are hoping to get funding for traffic calming projects along Lincoln Road, but don’t know if that is something their neighbors want.

“Without members, we don’t know what to focus on,” Boyer said.

“That’s what we need,” Hart said. “We need the members. What’s important for them?”

Lincoln Road between Dakota and Colton streets is a busy street. Dakota is a popular route for pedestrians going north, Boyer said, but there are no sidewalks, and with its many twists and turns visibility is often tricky.

Along Lincoln Road, Boyer said, schoolchildren often cross to go to school, and drivers regularly speed.

“It’s a racetrack,” she said. “We’d like to make the neighborhood more pedestrian friendly.”

They hope for crosswalks, islands, traffic circles or even road diets – anything to get drivers to slow down.

The council can get funding for projects like these.

Hart said she thinks there are probably people interested in joining but might worry she would recruit them into an officer position. There is only one officer spot open right now – the community assembly representative. Once the council fills that spot, members can just join to get their voice heard.

“It’s a great community organization to get involved in,” Hart said. There are many city and federal grants the neighborhood can use to spruce it up, and the neighbors need to use their voice.

“You won’t know unless you attend the meetings.”