Hillyard Neighborhood Planning Block Party

A Hillyard neighborhood group is taking the Blockwatch National Night Out party seriously,

Volunteers in the Neighbor-to-Neighbor project, which includes 128 homes near Bemis Elementary in Hillyard, are planning a get-together that includes a catered picnic, a band and a clown.

National Night Out, with its take-back-your-neighborhood attitude, will be held in neighborhoods across the country Aug. 5. The event will be held at Courtland Park, near Glass and Cook, from 6-9 p.m.

The year-old neighborhood improvement project is funded through an annual $15,000 donation from Safeco Insurance. The project is in partnership with the Northeast Community Center.

Part of the grant has already been used to improve lighting in alleys, for spring cleanup, to replace sidewalks in parts of the neighborhood, and even to plant flowers.

“The goal is to make the area safer, cleaner, and get the neighbors involved,” said Linda Alban, one of the project coordinators.

“This project has really done a lot for our neighborhood, it has given us back our front porches, we are more involved, we are closer, and we feel safer,” she said.

“The saying is true, ‘You don’t have to move to live in a better neighborhood,’ that’s how we are all starting to feel,” said Alban.

“Little by little it is starting to change. I hope the Blockwatch National Night Out picnic will encourage even more people to get involved with their neighborhood,” she said.

, DataTimes