Kent Neighborhood Council a gem: Editor’s Note

Do you wonder who your neighbors are?

I ask this in all sincerity – I live in an apartment complex, and sometimes it’s hard to know, given the fluid living situations for the rental crowd. But I like to think we’re aware of each other. I know if I needed help, I’d get it from both neighbors on my floor.

But this is different from the days when I was growing up in an appreciably vaster neighborhood in the Long Island ‘burbs. We lived in nearly identical houses, with kids and even dogs in the same age range. From the get go, we had something in common, even if it was just catching the school bus together.

While I don’t miss everything about those days – it’s possible to know WAY too much about your friends’ parents – I do miss the familiarity of sharing the same yards, streets and sidewalks with people who seemed a lot like me.

That’s why I think Kent’s Neighborhood Council program is a gem.

I was fortunate enough to attend a neighborhood council meeting Saturday, and to meet people from all walks of life and ages. And I do mean all walks of life. I met a retired gentleman from Scotland who talked about mailbox vandalism, an older woman who had some great ideas about garbage trucks, a number of folks my age, and some really nice younger people who looked like they came to absorb what everybody else had to say.

In all, the crowd managed to comfortably fill a large meeting room at the Kent Senior Activity Center for most of the morning. And thanks to organizer Toni Azzola, a good part of the morning was spent just getting to know each other.

We played a bingo game that had us seeking out other guests who had done everything from hiking the Soos Creek Trail to attending the last Cornucopia Days. I’ve never been a big one for “ice-breaker” activities, but it was fun to figure out who had done what. And it didn’t hurt that there was a big table of refreshments, too, and decent coffee. It was like hanging out in someone’s kitchen, minus the bathrobe and curlers.

Kent’s Neighborhood Council program is a lot more than just a nice way to meet the neighbors, though.

It’s a sanctioned city program that has money for neighborhood-improvement projects and opportunities for everything from block parties to crime-watch activities.

At its heart, the Neighborhood Council Program is a ground-floor way for anyone in a neighborhood to get involved in city government. In other words, you can bend the ears of your elected local officials as an organized group, rather than one person with a gripe.

There is strength in numbers, and in a place like Kent, where our City Council positions are at-large (meaning not from a specific region of the city) it’s a lot more effective to make your voice heard when you are an established entity. We can’t expect our City Council members to be aware of the nuances of every neighborhood in Kent, but the Neighborhood Council Program sure seems like a good way to get instant recognition.

And there is grant money to be had, for all kinds of neighborhood improvements – everything from landscaped signage announcing the entrance to a neighborhood, to right-of-way beautification projects.

Those kinds of projects do more that just promote good feelings among neighbors: they make it clear to those of us who don’t know where everything is to immediately realize where we are (more than once I’ve happily encountered such a sign, and thought, “OH! So that’s where this place is! I keep reading about it in the paper.”)

They also, I am certain, make that neighborhood a more attractive place for the real estate market. And at a time when it’s murderously difficult to sell a home, a proudly landscaped neighborhood is a major plus.

The one thing this program seems like it could use, though, is more involvement. Several of the people I spoke to during the event raised concerns that more of their neighbors weren’t getting involved. Some seemed a bit frustrated by that fact, but added that wasn’t about to stop them from becoming involved for their own reasons. A heartening detail.

At this point, Kent has 18 such neighborhood councils. There is room for more, to any interested citizen who can get buy-in from their neighbors, and a commitment to have regular meetings.

To learn more about the Kent Neighborhood Council Program, go to the city’s Web site at www.ci.kent.wa.us/neighborhoods. Or call Azzola at 253-856-5708, or e-mail her at tazzola@ci.kent.wa.us.