We held our annual elections, and after five years of service, Kari Quaas stepped down as chair. Here is the new leadership for Northwest.
Chair: Holly James
Vice Chair: Shelley Whitkop
Treasurer: Russ Kasselman
Treasurer Intern: Kari Quaas
Council of Neighborhood Rep #1: Tim Knopf
Council of Neighborhood Rep #2: Brian Hennessy
Council of Neighborhood Alternate: Holly James
Then, Neil Anderson gave a wonderful presentation on the History of the Mills. Lots of good memory stirring slides, and some surprises. Watch the video above for his presentation.
Finally, Mary Fosse, City Councilmember from District 1 provided an update.
On Saturday, April 16, 2022, we hosted an Easter Egg Hunt at all three parks – Grand Avenue, Drew Nielsen, and Legion. We started at 10am and at least for Legion Park, we were done finding eggs and handing out prizes by 10:18am! The weather was nice, the kiddos were cute with bunny ears and festive baskets. And, the parents got a chance to catch up. Thanks for joining us and we’ll do it again next year!
March 17, 2022 meeting with Deputy Mayor Nick Harper
This may have been our last Zoom meeting after two years of the pandemic. It is our plan to gather at Everett Community College in our old haunt, Whitehorse Hall Room 105 on Thursday, April 21. We are glad to have been invited back by John Olson from the college.
Kari thanked the volunteer crew for putting up the signs at Drew Nielsen Park on Saturday, March 12, 2022, and then welcomed our guests, Nick Harper, and elected official David Simpson. Port of Everett Commissioner.
Tim Knopf, Jeff Hardy, Kari Quaas, and Joni Smith after the sign installation honoring Drew Nielsen — March 12, 2022
There was a robust discussion of current events, finances, and plans for the new year.
Citizens are welcomed to attend or watch the State of Everett presentation with Mayor Cassie Franklin on Thursday, March 31, 2022. It will be held in person at Angel of the Winds Arena.
The annual matching amount has been reduced from $2000 to $1000. Applications are due March 7th. The Steering Committee will work out the numbers.
It was decided that we will send a formal letter to the City to express our frustration at the reduction of services, and opportunity, for the neighborhood system to function.
Treasurer’s Report
We have $10,500 in the bank, and $400 in PayPal. We are grateful to our donors who help us maintain things like Zoom, Constant Contact, storage, and provide money so that we can do projects that better our neighborhood, and grow community.
January 20, 2022 – First meeting of the new year started with chit chat at 6:45pm. Our official meeting began at 7pm, and featured the following updates.
Everett City Council Update from Mary Fosse, District 1
Brian Doyle from Snohomish STEM on partnerships with Everett School District, mentoring opportunities, and internships
Misha Hann talked about the Everett School District Levy. Votes are due Tuesday, February 8 for a levy, and capital improvement.
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.
Thanks to our secret judge for going out and choosing the best of the best. We are proud to announce the winners of our 2021 Halloween contest. The yard signs will show up soon. 🙂
Best Daytime: 2408 6th St.
2408 6th Street
Best Nighttime: 1427 Hoyt
Best Overall: 1821, 1823 and 1825 Rockefeller, as a group.
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.
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.
About 28 folks gathered this night, including a youngster, and a few dogs, too. We mainly discussed the park planting and clean up event set for Saturday, October 2 from 9am to 1pm led by Holly. Also, Tim gave an update on the park information board featuring descriptions of Drew Nielsen, the park’s namesake, and the Northwest Neighborhood.
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.
