As I write this message I'm reminded of the old "good news, bad news" adage. For the past month or so, wherever you tried to drive in Waterbury, you found your way blocked by construction equipment and work crews; that's the bad news. The good news, of course, is the new curbs and repaved streets. And still to come are sidewalk repairs wherever you see the orange arrows. All this is the result of Waterbury partnering with the City under the Neighborhood Revitalization Program. I would like to publicly recognize Kyle Larson and Dave Dunn from the City staff who helped us through this process. As a direct result of this planning process, the Association Board has commissioned a preliminary study by Kirk Blunck's architectural firm of options to provide safer access across Grand Avenue to Greenwood Park from our neighborhood. We have also gone on record as wanting to work with the School Board to develop a community playground at Merrill Middle School similar to what has been done at Brody on the south side. Both of these are goals of the just-completed Strategic Plan.
Perhaps you've noticed the new trees planted along many neighborhood streets. Thanks to grants from Polk County and Trees Forever, the Waterbury Foundation has planted as many as twenty new trees on private property. Due to an overwhelming request for trees, the Foundation will be exploring other sources of funding to assist with additional planting requests.
Finally, as I noted in our last newsletter, we would like to increase our membership in the neighborhood association. Of some 1,100 addresses to whom we mail this newsletter, about 25% are association members. The higher our level of participation, the more notice we receive at City Hall to neighborhood concerns and issues. It's the Board's job to find a way to increase membership and we are considering a membership drive.
We are most critically in need of volunteers to work at our 2007 Holiday Tour of Homes in early December. Proceeds from ticket sales go to endow our Perpetual Care Fund which provides funding to maintain the community gardens. We have six wonderful homes for this year's tour. If you would like to volunteer, contact Daneille Slifka at slifkad@msn.com.
Bill Green
As many of you have noticed, there is a lot of activity in the Waterbury Neighborhood as the City has started the infrastructure phase of our Neighborhood Revitalization Program (NRP) consisting of curb replacements, street overlays, and sidewalk repairs.