Our monthly meeting featured special guest Eileen Simmons from the Evergreen Arboretum and Gardens; and Sergeant Terpening from the Everett Police Department. We also had a council update from Paul Roberts, and a Port update from David Simpson. We closed with the soon to be new sign for Drew Nielsen Park, and our holiday lights plan for December 4.
I will add the video shortly. In the meantime, you may watch it on Facebook.
For the October meeting, we had a late change of guest from Mayor Franklin to Kimberly Shelton from Everett Parks. We heard more about the updates to the recreational and open space plan the city is working on. You can provide your feedback here. Also, we got an update on the Colby Trees (aka the London Planes), and various parks throughout the city.
Holly James provided an update on Drew Nielsen Park. We have a new partnership with Pilchuck Audubon Society to build our habitat friendly space.
Paul Roberts and Scott Murphy provided updates from City Council including future budget planning.
View the video here:
On September 16, we welcomed fall by gathering outside at Drew Nielsen Park on our standard Thursday at 6:30 pm. We got to meet some new neighbors, hear about our plans for the park and the information board, and be together. It was a nice time.
Our next meeting will be back on Zoom with guest speaker, Mayor Cassie Franklin, on Thursday, October 21 at 6:45pm. If you have questions you want to ask her, please email those in advance to Kari, who will forward them on to Nichole with the City.
The June 17 meeting focused on summer safety including a discussion about the racing and loud cars that hang out at the marina and cruise beyond the speed limit through our neighborhood streets. The short answer is to call 911 to get the incident logged. Patrols increase when we tell them that something is wrong. Don’t hesitate to make a report.
We also heard directly Mateo an RN and NW neighbor about the impact of one of the negotiating pieces – staff at Providence Hospital paying for parking. Likely, it would mean more cars on the street. Remember, blocks of residents can petition the city to have parking time limits on their blocks utilizing parking permits. It’s up to them to file for such a change. Email the neighborhood with any questions. You can pick up signs to support the healthcare staff at 1607 Rockerfeller Ave from Matt’s house.
We also had a spontaneous report from our State Senator June Robinson on the historic and productive legislative session.
We hear from Everett City Councilmember Paul Roberts about the budget, Rethink Housing and Transit updates, and progress on the Climate Change Action Plan including Electric Vehicle (EV) infrastructure.
Emily shared that there is a summer reading program with the library and netbooks and wifi/hotspots can be rented for three weeks at a time via the Everett Public Library. More information here.
Also, this was the last meeting until September. We’re taking the summer off!
Kari shared the various events happening in Northwest this summer and we hope to see people out and about, vaccinated and masked if needed for the environment.
June 23rd – ribbon cutting for new fishing dock near the Mukilteo Ferry Terminal.
Enjoy the summer! And, here’s the video replay:
Thanks to Tyler Chism with the City of Everett for sharing about summer events like Sorticulture, the Fourth of July, and more! We also welcomed our new Everett City Council Liaison, Brenda Stonecipher.
We chose a date for the first Mother of All Garage Sales committee meeting and we’re a go for 2021 on Saturday, August 7th! Registration information coming soon.
Our meeting was held Thursday, April 15 at 7pm. We held elections for our Northwest Neighborhood Association leadership.
The results of the elections are as follows:
Thank you to all of them for their service to Northwest Neighbors!
Kari reported on a successful Easter Egg Hunt at the three parks – Legion, Grand Avenue and Drew Nielsen. We may split it up for future years to keep the crowds down and enjoy our neighborhood.
Paul Roberts provided a city council update in place of Brenda Stonecipher. The work on the budget for 2022 has begun.
Kari shared that Jerry Smith had passed on April 4 (Easter Sunday) and we heard reflections from long time neighbors Holly, Jackie and Tim about Jerry’s influence and care of Joni.
Tim provided an update on the Council of Neighborhoods.
We heard lots of updates on upcoming events and brainstormed ideas for the next two meetings including mental health and an event update from the city. Kari will reach out to speakers.
Misha provided an educational update. Secondary school will be starting up next Monday! High school students will also return for hybrid learning.
Our March meeting was held on Thursday the 18th. We heard an update from Ryan Bisson on Rethink Transit and Commissioner Tom Stiger and Cat Soper from the Port of Everett. We also heard from Paul Roberts, who filled in for our City Council Liaison report, a Council of Neighborhoods update from Tim Knopf, and we went over plans for this spring and summer.
Slides from Cat Soper with the Port of Everett:
Links Shared:
Ryan Bisson : Online Survey: https://rethinket.participate.online/ Meeting: March 25th at 1pm, Director Tom Hinkston, and Roland Behee will be doing a Facebook Livestream about the transit plan. April 5th is the end of the survey collection.
Red Cross Homes Made Safer info: https://www.redcross.org/local/washington/about-us/our-work/home-fire-campaign.html
Cat Soper - Port of Everett : Thank you all - my contact info here if you ever have Port questions - catherines@portofeverett.com or 425.388.0680
Patrick Hall : www.downtowneverettwa.org/donate
We voted to donate $250 to the downtown Everett planter program.
We did a straw poll for the Mother of All Garage Sales and people are interested in making it happen for August 7, 2021.
Finally, we will be doing a modified Easter Egg Hunt at all three of our parks – Grand Avenue, The Bluff at Legion and Drew Nielsen. Details here – https://northwesteverett.org/events/
After many months without, we welcomed Lt. Ryan Dalberg to join us for a Everett Police Report. He covered some statistics related to property crimes and theft, which is typical for our part of town. He also answered questions tied to numbers of officers (steady, but many lateral additions in the last 6 months), whether or not social workers are still going out on patrols (yes!), if COVID-19 has affected many officers (yes and no – usually tied to childcare – they can get the vaccine so many have been illness-free). There was kudos for the quick and professional service, too. And, there was an attempt to learn what would happen if people decided to attach locks to the Grand Avenue Park Bridge to settle a marital dispute. You’ll have to watch the video for the full answer (see below), but in short, in could be crime.
There was also a question tied to the insurrection in D.C. and how Everett PD is handling it. The answer from both Lt. Dalberg and Councilmember Paul Roberts was that Everett has been ahead of the training on de-escalation and no tolerance for that kind of behavior. If you have further questions, you could certainly reach out to Lt. Dalberg or Police Chief Dan Templeman.
We then heard from Councilmember Paul Roberts, who was filling in for our official liaison, Councilmember Scott Murphy. He referenced the 6 comprehensive strategies that came out of their council retreat in the first part of February 2021. See image below.
Paul also covered the votes the previous evening at the council meeting regarding the pallet shelter grant and subsequent amendments. You can view the meeting here and view about the project here.
Next, Misha Hann from Whittier PTA gave us an update on who is actually in school. Currently, Kindergarten and First Grade are able to do a hybrid schedule, at the parent’s comfort level, to have them be in school for two days, and then home doing asynchronous work on the other three. There is a plan for Second and Third Graders to go back around March 1 and possible Fourth and Fifth Graders by later in March.
Separately, she covered the fundraiser that Whittier PTA is doing to help all of the Fifth Graders be able to attend camp in the fall. You can buy See’s Candy to help raise money here, or simply connect with Whittier PTA to make a donation. Email them with questions – ptawhittierelementary@gmail.com.
We also heard from Tim Knopf regarding the refurbishment plan that he and Holly James have worked up for the Information Board at Drew Nielsen Neighborhood Park.
Russ Kasselman, our Treasurer, provided a visual update of our finances, which total $5966 in our three accounts.
We closed with other questions, announcement and met a new neighbor. Great stuff.
Video from Tonight’s Meeting:
Respectfully submitted,
Kari Quaas, NWN Chair
We’ll began our regular year with a meeting on Thursday, January 21, 2021! Our guests were Bob Leonard and Cory Rettenmier from Everett Parks to speak about the trees on Colby from 10th to 19th, which are scheduled for maintenance and some for removal. Thanks for those who showed up to discuss ideas and learn more about the SYCAMORE trees, of which there are 76 and they were planted in 1972!
There was a robust discussion and perhaps more people happy to see the trees managed or removed due to some known issues. For example, one is Sycamore anthracnose, a fungal disease that can cause leaf drop, twig dieback, cankers and the sudden death of more than 90% of a tree’s new shoot growth.
Parks is looking to replace trees that are removed and will be discussing that at their February 3, 2021 meeting at 4:45pm.
We also heard from Star Nayea who left the notes on your porches if you had holiday lights. She has an inspired idea to support our community with light. Her next steps will be to talk with Laura Zorick from the Snohomish County PUD to acquire LED lights.
Scott Murphy, our neighborhood council liaison, provided a summary of items from the Everett City Council inlcuding the following 8 topics:
Lastly, we talked about projects for 2021 that will be supported by the City of Everett Matching Grant Program. Likely the list will include the following:
Treasurer’s Report by Russ – $6100 in the bank.
On June 18, 2020, we utilized our Zoom Meeting space during our typical meeting slot to honor a great person, Wendy McClure. Wendy has left the City of Everett. She was a constant and supportive resource for citizens and neighbors across the city. We will miss her!!
Here’s a report from Councilmember Scott Murphy for June 2020.
https://drive.google.com/drive/folders/1HcUkuEIWZx5x_4CPPliq9TNG86vEW8YR?usp=sharing
