AUGUST 2019 EDITION

S E P T E M B E R N E I G H B O R H O O D M E E T I N G

In this issue:• Sep. Meeting Location• 1st Annual Festival • Park Name Change• Newsletter Ads Update• Annual Election Results• McLoughlin Update• Message From the

Chair

chocolate pecan pie!

The Festival was a hit among attendees, who had a chance to get to know each other in a fun, inviting way, while enjoying some free lunch. When asked, the response from many neigh-bors was that they are looking forward to next year’s event.

Due to the demolition and reconstruction of King Elementary, the neighbors at the Van-couver Bahá’í Centre have generously offered to host our September 4th meeting. The meet-ing will be held at 7pm at 4016 E 13th St, di-rectly across the street from St. Helen’s Park. This month’s free raffle will be for a refillable growler and $15 gift card to Fortside Brewery.

1 S T A N N U A L F E S T I V A L I N T H E P A R KOn Saturday, July 13th, neighbors came together to host Harney Heights Neighbor-hood Association’s 1st Annual Festival in the Park at St Helens Park. This fun event includ-ed community vendors, nonprofit groups, and city officials. The Neighborhood collected secret election ballots, while offering free hotdogs, chips, and drinks. The event lasted from 10am until 2pm, ending with the Neigh-borhood Association’s bimonthly meeting.

Special recognition goes to the Presenting Sponsor, the neighborhood’s own Blind Onion Pizza, who donated $250 toward the event, Sunny F. and Ca-sey H. who had shown up bright and early to help obtain the City’s barbecue grill and set up for the festival, and Thora and Van C. who volunteered to hand out buns, chips, and drinks. In total, 88 hotdogs, and drinks went to neighbors. Mayor Anne McEnerny – Ogle had provided a surprise desert: Her homemade

P O S S I B L E P A R K N A M E C H A N G EDuring the July Neighborhood Association meeting, neigh-bors voted to further the discussion of a possible park name change to the Neatha LaFevre Park, by means of a survey. If the majority of respondents to the survey are in favor of changing the name of the park, the discussion will carry on to the September meeting, with a possible vote.

The topic first arose when one of the residents hadpassed in April of 2018, and it was suggested that the park be named in her honor. Upon initial inquiries, the City had said that before a park could be named posthumously in someone’s honor, five years must pass from the date of death. However, upon reviewing city policies on the matter, there was no mention of any waiting period. There were, however, two specific conditions.

The first condition to be met for such a name change is that a living relative of the deceased must agree to it. The second condition is that there must, of course, be a neighborhood vote. According to the Harney Heights bylaws, a quorum of 10 people must be present to vote. Because the park is not listed within the bylaws, it is not considered a bylaw change, and therefore, only a simple majority of the quorum must vote in favor of the change for it to take place. If the neighbors vote in favor of the change, then the City will change it. There are no provisions in the policy stating that the neighborhood has to pay for it or share costs.

Neatha had taken an active part in the neighborhood. Having been elected as the Secretary Treasurer the Neighborhood Association, she was part of a team that helped with numerous projects over the years. She was an environmental activist who opposed the proposed oil train terminal, and fiercely supported students and teachers. But more than that, she loved the neighborhood park, where she would often spend time walking and enjoying the beauty that it holds. At the time off her passing, she was working with Jennifer Hawks – Conright and the City to update the playground equipment and help make it a place that could be a positive and calming experience for children with Autism.

In preparation for a possible motion to vote on a name change, the Neigh-borhood Association has reached out to her son. Mr. LeFevre wholeheartedly supports the name change, as he knows that his mother held a special place in her heart for the park. Please take a moment to either fill out and drop off the attached survey into the red, HHNA mailbox at 3802 E McLoughlin Blvd, or take the survey online at https://www.surveymonkey.com/r/2JCPJ3W .

If you need assistance, please do not hesitate to call James Conright, Chair of the Harney Heights Neighborhood Association at (360) 852 – 0372, or to email him at HHNA.Chair@gmail.com.

A N N U A L E L E C T I O N S

Chair, James ConrightCo-Chair, Marylynn Cunningham

Secretary / Treasurer, Jennifer Hawks - Conright

This July saw another Neighborhood Association election. The incumbents were unchallenged, and will retain their positions, with the exception of Newsletter Editor. That seat will remain unfilled until a neighbor who is at least 18 years of age runs for it in a special election. The positions that have been retained are as follows:

N E W S L E T T E R A D V E R T I S M E N T S

This edition of the newsletter is a little lighter than expected because there are no advertisements. When the neighbors had voted to include advertise-ments in the newsletters, it was with the condition that all advertising spots be filled. Unfortunately, the Neighborhood Association Board was not able to fill all of the spots for this edition. As both the First Annual Festival in the Park and the Neighborhood

Cleanup have been completed, the board members will be able to concentrate their efforts on filling the advertisements for the October 2019 edition.

E M C L O U G H L I N P R O J E C T A R E A S A F E T Y P R O J E C T U P D A T E

For over a year now, the Harney Heights Neighborhood has been discussing the E McLoughlin Project. At the center of the discussion was the removal of all street park-ing along the neighborhood’s stretch of the McLoughlin corridor from Grand to Brandt, and the addition of a double, protected bicycle lane. The reactions were mixed.

While everyone agreed that bicyclist safety was paramount, the majority of the neighbors felt that the

removal of parking was too invasive for a number of reasons. After multiple surveys and meetings, the neighbors voted for Neighborhood Association Chair, James Conright, to represent the neighborhood in opposition to that aspect of the project.

(Cont.)

E M C L O U G H L I N P R O J E C T A R E A S A F E T Y P R O J E C T U P D A T E ( c o n t . )

Through the course of the project, Mr. Conright had written multiple emails and letters, held phone calls and meetings, and contacted outside, interested parties. Eventually, the City compromised by redesigning the project into a pilot program, in which they would remove only the north side of the street parking in favor of bicycle lanes for a test period of one year.

Recently, Mr. Conright had contacted the City to find exact dates of the expected construc-tion. To his surprise, he found that the removal of parking would not take place during the pilot project. There was one simple, surprising reason. With the addition of a double bicycle lane, residents along the north side of the affected area would have had their individual mail boxes replaced with shared, locking mail boxes by the United States Postal Service. However, once the USPS found that this was to be part of a pilot program, and that the mailbox replacement was potentially temporary, they had decided not proceed, and the City was left without the option of installing bicycle lanes.

The City is continuing with the pilot program’s other areas. Speed cushions and crosswalks will still be installed, and over the course of the next year, bicycle counts and traffic calming measures will be evaluated. Should the City feel as though these measures were not enough to comply with their Complete Streets vision, they may determine that bicycle lanes are needed.

M E S S A G E F R O M T H E C H A I R

As summer is winding down, the clouds are rolling in, signaling a change from warmer weather to the blustery days of autumn. The neighborhood kids are still playing outside, trying to ignore the loom-ing shadows of school and homework that they will have to face. Local candidates’ signs are slowly disappearing from the side of our roads as we’ve passed through the primaries and are headed toward the general election. For many of us, these next few months mean that changes are coming.

My message is simple. Everyone is dealing with changes, but not everyone deals with them well. I urge you to remember that you never

truly know what others are going through. Some of us have neighbors who are less than friendly. Some of us have coworkers who seem concerned with only themselves. Regardless of who the difficult people are in our lives, it is important to remember that they each have their own stories. They each have their own problems. They each have changes to deal with, whether it’s making their own changes, or adjusting to the changes happening around them.

Take a moment to reach out to your neighbors. Say hello, and ask how they are doing. Sometimes, just a moment of genuine caring can help someone who is having a difficult time adjusting to changes. If you’re having a difficult time, reach out to someone. If you don’t have anyone but need to talk, reach out to me. After all, we’re neighbors.

James ConrightChairhhna.chair@gmail.com

Ryan LopossaNeighborhood LiaisonCity of Vancouver Public Works360.487.8406ryan.lopossa@cityofvancouver.us

F I N D U S O N L I N E

Instagramharneyheightsneighborhood

Twitter@HarneyHeights

FacebookHarneyHeightsNA

NextdoorHarneyHeights

Visit our NEW website:Tinyrurl.com/harneyheights

Questions? Comments?hhna.comment@gmail.com

MaryLynn CunninghamCo-Chair

Jennifer Hawks-Conright Secretary / Treasurer hhna.sec@gmail.com

Sammy AbdalaNeighborhood Police OfficerCity of Vancouver NPO District 2360.487.7359vpdnpod2@cityofvancouver.us

When: Wednesday, September 4th at 7:00pmWhere: Bahá’í Centre, 4016 E 13th St Free Raffle Prize: Refillable Growler & $15 Gift Card to Fortside Brewery

Meeting Agenda:

• Update from Neighborhood Police Officer• Update from Neighborhood Liaison• E McLoughlin Blvd Pilot Project Discussion• Possible Park Name Change Discussion / Vote• New Items• Free Raffle

The Housing Rehabilitation Program provides financial assistance through 3% loans with no payments required until the house is sold of up to $25,000 to qualified low income homeowners to complete basic home repairs.

https://www.cityofvancouver.us/ced/page/housing-rehabilitation-loan-program

U P C O M I N G E V E N T SAugust 30, 6:30 pm

Musician’s Open Jam

Barberton Grange

September 3, 2:30 pm

International Folk Dance

Marshall Center

Free for newcomersand visitors

September 7, 11 am

Fourth Plain Multicultural Festival

Evergreen Park

September 4, 7 pm

Neighborhood Association Meeting

Vancouver Bahá’í Centre4016 E 13th St

September 11, 7 pm

Science on Tap - The Microbiome: Fecal

Transplant And Microbial Ecology

Kiggins Theatre

September 21, 10 am

Now Hiring Fall Career Fair - SW Washington

Hilton Vancouver

September 21

Sturgeon Festival

Vancouver Water Re-source Education Center

4600 SE Columbia Way

September 28

Taco Fest Vancouver

610 Esther St

October 5

Cascadia Food Festival

Fort Vancouver Historic Hangar

$35 - $125

October 5

Old Apple Tree Festival

Old Apple Tree Park

October 27

Last day of Vancouver Farmer’s Market for the

season

October 31

Halloween

The City of Vancouver supports the Neighborhood Associations in their effort to share vital information with residents in order to o create a more informed public. However, the information provided and the opinions and views expressed in Neighborhood Association newsletters or other documents do not necessarily represent the position of the City of Vancouver, nor does the City determine whether the information published is accurate or appropriate. Printed by the City of Vancouver Office of Neighborhoods.

P O S S I B L E P A R K N A M E C H A N G E S U R V E Y

During the July Neighborhood Association meeting, neighbors voted to further the discussion of a possible park name change to the Neatha LaFever Park, in honor of one of our neighbors who was very active in the neighborhood at the time of her passing, by means of a survey. If the majority of respondents to this survey are in favor of changing the name of the park, the discussion will carry on to the September meeting, with a possible vote.

Please take a moment to either fill out and drop off this survey into the red, HHNA mailbox at 3802 E McLoughlin Blvd, or take the survey online at https://www.surveymonkey.com/r/2JCPJ3W (or scan the QR code).

S U R V E Y Q U E S T I O NDo you support changing the name of the neighborhood park from St Helens Park to

Neatha LaFever Park?

___ YES ___ NO