There's a new ordinance in town

There’s a new ordinance in town…and it’s coming to that junky house on your block

Some of us live on blocks where every neighbor keeps up their yard, but some of us live on a block where one person’s house stands out among all the others. Not only is it an eyesore, but it actually reduces our property value. Junk cars, abandoned refrigerators, couches, bags of garbage, blackberry bushes that could be entered in the Guinness Book of World Records, and enough graffiti to qualify as an art project are among the items this household collects.

To combat this blight, the city has provided an ordinance which sets minimum standards for how a house and yard needs to look, and there are various processes that they can use to encourage a violator into compliance. However, in the meantime, as this process can take 90 days (and 2 ½ years if the person wants to drag it out in court) the neighbors have to tolerate the eyesore.

NOT ANYMORE!

There’s a new ordinance in town, and though it is currently only being applied in the Community-Based Services (CBS) areas, it will soon be available throughout the city. The ordinance is great, a combined effort of city staff and community input, because it addresses the issue in a timely manner and leaves any legal hang-ups for another time.

This is how it works: someone (a neighbor, a city employee, etc.) notices a violation; they report the violation to Tacoma CARES (591-5001), who sends an inspector out to check out the complaint. If the complaint is valid, the inspector posts a warning on the house (and also sends one in the mail) and then the property owner has 20 days to clean up the mess or the city will contract someone to come onto the property and clean it up for them, after which the cost of this labor falls on the property owner (this can be added to a water bill, placed as a lien on their house, etc.).

We have other ordinances that we have worked with the city to create, but one never found a lead City Department to take ownership of it (so it has been underutilized) and the other has been tied up by one of our slum lords as he challenges the constitutionality of it. By tying up the application of this ordinance it has allowed this individual to leave his houses in deplorable condition for years. Now, there’s nothing to stop a property owner from taking the new ordinance to court, thereby embattling the city in the legal process, but in the meantime, the blighted situation gets cleaned up!

Code enforcement officer Nick Stephens reported about his preparation for the new ordinance at a recent neighborhood meeting. He has been driving two of the CBS areas for months, checking for violations that fit the criteria. He started in November, taking pictures of the problems and leaving one with a copy of the new rules and a note which said 'this is on your property, this is a picture of your property, clean it up, or else'. He knocked on doors, and talked to people directly if he can (after all the goal of this ordinance is to get people to clean up their yards, not to levy fines). He explained ‘this is what I see, next time I come around, it won’t be a warning’.

“Most people were not happy to get warned,” he told community members anxious to hear about the process, “but (they) were happy to learn that we’re doing something.” In those two months he posted 70 notices, 50% of those people cleaned up their properties by January 1, when the ordinance went into affect.

The city hopes to expand the application of this ordinance throughout the rest of the city in the near future, although they have warned us that it may be March (at the earliest) and probably could be June-July before areas outside of the CBS zones can utilize this wonderful tool. But the great thing is, the ordinance is coming for all of us, and it's available to four neighborhoods now. City leaders set aside $900,000 in the new budget for this project. If you want to know if you’re in a CBS area, go to the city web site and check out the boundaries at http://www.cityoftacoma.org/Page.aspx?nid=13

Government Leadership Institute 2007

The Government Leadershiop Institute, a cooperative effort between the City of Tacoma's Neighborhood Council Office and the Universioty of Washington Tacoma's Urban Studies Program, is again offering eight free public sessions from 4:30 to 6:45 p.m. @ UWT's Keystone Building-Carwein Auditorium, 1900 Commerce St.

Tyhe Government Leadership Institute seeks to educate and inform citizens on the basics of City of Tacoma government operations, services and public involvement opportunities.

This year's sessions are as follows:

Jan. 10- Urban politics, policy, and government- A history of urban government
Jan. 22, Looking forward: The future of Tacoma. A discussion on current and future plans for positive growth in Tacoma.
Jan. 29, Emphasizing the "local" in local development- Views from current leaders on economic development concerns and existing and potential development projects.
Feb. 5, Land use in Tacoma- A description on how land use policies and priorities are set and the impacts on residential and commercial conditions in the city.
Feb.12, No place like home: Housing affordability in Tacoma - A discussion on plans for securing and maintaining affordable housing in Tacoma.
Feb. 21, Finance in Tacoma - An exploration of the budgeting process in Tacoma.
Feb. 26, Safety on the streets of Tacoma - How public safety is secured in Tacoma, the local criminal justice system, and how justice is understood and maintained throughout the system.
MArch 5, Fit for living: Keeping Tacoma in good shape - Information on how city leaders go about maintaining and improving the urban infrastructure and environment in Tacoma.

These session are available on a drop-in basis. For more information, contact Elton Gatewood, coordinator, Neighborhood Council Office, at egatewoo@cityoftacoma.org or (253)591-5229.

Titlow Pool

Titlow Pool: To all interested North, Central and Westenders, MetroParks is continuing its meetiings regarding the replacement/placement of the new Titlow Pool.

The information gained from meetings last month will be gone over and the top four choices will be brought forth for comment and discussion.

At this time, the top four are Titlow @ Titlow Park; Kandle Park, Franklin Park and Headquarters (beside MetroParks headquarters building); along with a fifth choice, TCC.

The next meeting- before taking presentations to the Board- will be the first part of March. To review materials reageding this project and/or to sign up for future information, visit MetroParks web site www.metroparkstacoma.org

Eastside Neighborhood Council of Tacoma

What is Eastside Neighborhood Advisory Council of Tacoma?

In September 1992 the Tacoma City Council passed an ordinance that established eight neighborhoods councils throughout the city to offer Tacoma residents a direct voice in their local government and a way to channel their issues and concerns. Even though the Eastside Neighborhood Advisory Council of Tacoma is connected to the City in this way, it acts independently in making recommendations about City actions, programs, and services that affect the Eastside. Eastside Neighborhood Advisory Council of Tacoma, along with other neighborhoods councils is supported by the City’s Neighborhood Council Office. Eastside Neighborhood Council of Tacoma is generally referred to as ENACT.

For more information or to nominate a board member in advance of the meeting, please call: Jesse Hart at (253) 473-0279

Eastside Tacoma consist of nine communities:
Hillsdale
Mary Lyon
McKinley
McKinley Hill
Pacific Hill
Roosevelt
Salishan
Stewart Heights
Swan Creek

It is located in the easterly portion of the City, south of Interstate 5, north of East 72nd Street , east of Pacific Avenue and west of the city limit.

Visit ENACT Online

Cleaning up your neighborhood

There are lots of ways to better your neighborhood, the most important thing is YOUR participation, and there are always ways for you to get involved. As I have worked with various groups both here in Tacoma and elsewhere, one central theme is clean-ups and beautification.

We're not talking about turning all the homes into Whisteria Lane, or communities with covenants, but the way your neighborhood looks sends a clear message to those who might be looking for a place to do criminal activity.

Anyone who's worked in crime prevention and community building for any period of time has heard about the "Broken Window Theory*" which in short means that a continued presence of blight will eventually bring crime. See the paragraph at the bottom of this post for a more detailed explanation.

It stands to reason...if you allow your neighborhood to look like no one cares about it, then criminals (and other people who don't care about their neighborhood) will believe it, and move right in.

Some areas have yearly cleanups, some areas do 'alley cleanups' where they schedule an alley to clean once each month (or week) and distribute fliers on that block (the idea is to get people from other blocks to help you clean up your block, then you help them clean up their block), for as we've heard our whole lives "Many hands make little work"

Some neighbors organize groups of young people to do litter cleanups, giving the children a stipends or some type of treat, which encourages the kids to get involved AND teaches them about the ramifications of littering. This has worked really well in areas around schools and parks as it makes the children aware of their surroundings. The point is, your block or neighborhood should do a tour of their area, and look for the areas that could use some sprucing up, then set to work on reclaiming them (or bringing them into compliance).

Sometimes the Blight is a house that's run down, or needs a paint job and some minor repairs, and the family that owns it hasn't kept up with those. There are lots of ways to approach this situation. If it's a senior without helpful children or a disabled person, your block could volunteer to chip in and help. Here in Tacoma (and in Pierce County, too) there are services that can help them. 1) Paint Tacoma-Pierce Beautiful (PTPB) which will supply paint and repair supplies if a 'team' can be found to do the volunteer labor (we've seen neighbors volunteer to paint a neighbors' house, and the experience brought the group together in a way that nothing else ever had),if you want to know more about PTPB click on this link: http://www.paintbeautiful.org/painthome.html 2) Metropolitan Development Council has a minor home repairs program (and even Weatherization upgrades) available to low income people, click on this URL to find out more: http://mdc-tacoma.org/home.asp?contentid=11, and there are other resources for those who don't have the funds, if nothing else, call the United Way Helpline (call 211 or toll free at 1-877-211-WASH) or Associated Ministries (383-3056) to see if they know of something or someone who helps in a given situation.

Sometimes its a homeowner who just doesn't get around to it (occasionally, it's a homeowner who refuses to get around to it). In cases like that, we recommend a neighborhood representative contact them and let them know that their house needs to be worked on. This can be done tactfully and in a spirit of community. Of course, if that doesn't work, or there is a reason safety might be an issue, then the Code Enforcement division of Tacoma CARES has inspectors that can contact the homeowner, and work with them to get them on a schedule to correct the violations. The community has been working with the City for the past 6 years to improve the ordinances that impact blighted houses to provide the teeth they need to require homeowners bring their homes into compliance. Contact Tacoma CARES at 591-5001.

But whether it's thru cleanups or building renovation, making your neighborhood a clean, well-lit area will reduce crime AND build pride among your neighbors.

*James Q. Wilson and George Kelling developed the `broken windows' thesis to explain the signaling function of neighborhood characteristics. This thesis suggests that the following sequence of events can be expected in deteriorating neighborhoods. Evidence of decay (accumulated trash, broken windows, deteriorated building exteriors) remains in the neighborhood for a reasonably long period of time. People who live and work in the area feel more vulnerable and begin to withdraw. They become less willing to intervene to maintain public order (for example, to attempt to break up groups of rowdy teens loitering on street corners) or to address physical signs of deterioration. Sensing this, teens and other possible offenders become bolder and intensify their harassment and vandalism. Residents become yet more fearful and withdraw further from community involvement and upkeep. This atmosphere then attracts offenders from outside the area, who sense that it has become a vulnerable and less risky site for crime.

Connecting with your immediate neighborhood

Becoming involved with your neighborhood is one of the most rewarding things I've done in my life. Having grown up in Montana, we depended on neighbors when things were hard, or when we just needed a cup of something. When I moved to the City it seemed odd that so few people knew more than the neighbors on each side of them.

I set to work immediately trying to connect with my new neighborhood. Step One was a friendly jester. One of my tools is 'friendship bread' (or any bread that has to be baked on a regular basis) which I started handing out to my neighbors one house at a time. Now, I like to bake, maybe you crochet dishclothes, or grow flowers...each of us has a gift we can share. I 'borrowed' this idea from the old 'Welcome Wagon' approach, where new neighbors were greeted by neighborhood representatives with gifts from local businesses, etc. Some welcomed my neighborly contact, others looked at me the way one would if you threw them a set of car keys to a Jaguar and said "it's yours". But by the time I'd delivered one loaf of bread to each house twice, they were either very-welcoming or at least receptive to my presence.

Step Two was developing a Telephone Tree with as many phone numbers and names on it as possible. Phone Trees are very important for making your neighbors feel connected (the Tree allows them to know their neighbors' names and numbers, it also lets them know that their neighbors want them to know it). In my case, since I live on a double block, it means that I have 33 houses to 'connect'.

After explaining the uses for a Telephone Tree most people want to participate by providing their information. A 'Telephone Tree' or 'Phone Tree' is a list of names and phone numbers for every house on your block...they look really great if you put them in two columns with names for each side of the street on respective sides of the page or if you use an aerial photo from the City Website and put the names next to the house. I'll attach a sample of one with the aerial photo.

Telephone Trees can be used to warn neighbors if you witness something suspicious in their yard, they can be used to report crime (if you see a crime, but can't get a good angle on a license plate or other details, you can call your neighbor and ask them to take a look), they can even be used to alert emergency services (examples: police use reports of 'gunshots' to triangulate the location of the shooting so it's good when more than one person calls in to report the direction of the sound, and one call about a highly-suspicious car might not get a police response before the suspicious car is gone, but 2-5 calls often will, so call the police, then call a neighbor and ask them to call the police, they in turn notify the next neighbor on the tree, and ask them to call the police. They should not be used if you're having a sales-related party at your home or for other non-community related events.

One of the blocks in my area prepares a basket of goodies (with donations from several families on the block and local businesses) that they present to each new family on the block. People who know each other are more apt to look out for each others property. One clear thing we've learned as we've worked to make our neighborhood safer, is that the police alone can't safeguard your neighborhood, you must become an active participant, and the crime rate on 'active' blocks and 'inactive' blocks demonstrate that.

There are lots of ways to connect to your neighbors. I'll talk more about those and what to do once you connect the next time I write, I'll also talk about the great tools available for finding out information when there's trouble on your block. - Jeanie Peterson, Block Leader and Director of Community Initiatives, Hilltop Action Coalition