Two New Events!

Sunday, Jan 22 1-4pm - Pocket Park and Chicane Clean-up
Meet at the Northwest Neighborhood Pocket Park at 6th Avenue and Linden St. to pick up trash and weeds at the park, and then travel down Elm St. to clean trash and weeds from the chicanes, and educate fellow neighbors about our responsibility as a neighborhood to keep the chicanes clean and plants watered. We'll be distributing this flyer (attached) as we go. We'll meet back up at the Pocket Park around 3pm for food, music, and socializing. If you're able, please bring food or drink to share!

Saturday, Feb 18, 12:30-2pm - 4th Avenue Tree Pruning
Meet on 4th Ave between Lester and Linden. Dan will give a brief lesson on correct tree pruning practices, and we'll continue down the street providing some maintenance to our street trees. If you have them, please bring pruners, a saw, and/or gloves.

Pocket Park Cleanup

This is a friendly reminder to come out and on Saturday, August 27th at 9AM to the Pocket Park at Linden and 6th Ave for a cleanup day that includes weeding and general beatification of the area. The more the merrier! Come with gloves, small tools for weeding, raking etc. See you Saturday!


The Pocket Park has become a little more overgrown since its installation...

Monsoon Rains in Our Chicanes

These photos were taken by neighborhood residents on Sunday, July 24th during one of the larger monsoon storms. You can see that the stormwater running down the street easily fills up the chicanes and greenway easement. The idea is that the stormwater can be utilized to water the native plants in the chicanes.

August 2011 Meeting Overview

Here are some of the highlights of August 3rd's neighborhood meeting.

• A plan to discuss weeding and maintaining the chicanes on Elm St. was discussed, but since the Watershed Management Group training program hasn't started yet, we decided to table action until next month. The idea of "adopt a chicane" was brought up, and we were encouraged to do our own minor maintenance and trash clean up in the chicanes.

• We set a date to do a cleanup of the pocket park at Linden and 6th Ave. It will happen at 9AM on Saturday, August 27th. Bring tools and gloves for weeding, etc.

• We may participate in the fall National Night Out (in October) with Feldman's Neighborhood. More info to come.

• There are two more "Welcome to Northwest Neighborhood" signs to hang somewhere in the neighborhood. They will likely be placed near the Northeast corner and Southeast corner of our neighborhood boundaries.

• A celebration of the 5th Ave Greenway project will likely take place on September 10th or September 17th. More info to come.

• Richard Sanders at the Northwest Neighborhood Center needs 40 kids (ages 5-12) to sign up for KIDCO for the fall or the program will be canceled at the center. Center info and contact info for the center is HERE

Nine residents and Richard from the center were in attendance. TPD did not send a representative for the second month in a row. Despite all of the agenda topics, the meeting went fairly fast and wrapped up in about an hour. Please come to the next monthly meeting on September 7th at 6PM.

Neighborhood Sign Installation

On the evening of June 25th, 2011, Northwest Neighborhood Association held a work party to install a new neighborhood welcome sign. The sign is located at the Southeast corner of Linden Street and 6th Ave.

Neighbors came out in the early evening to help dig a hole for the sign post, mix some concrete, and place the sign post. Around 15 neighbors stopped by to help or hang out and have a snack or a slice of pizza. The work went fairly quickly with all the help. After the sign post is completely set, the worded sign will be attached to the post reading, "Welcome to Northwest Neighborhood"!

Thanks to all who came out on such a hot evening. It made things a lot more fun. Hope to see all of you at our next neighborhood event.

June Meeting Notes

UPDATE: THE DATE OF THE SIGN INSTALLATION HAS BEEN CHANGED TO JUNE 25TH.

The June meeting of the Northwest Neighborhood Association was held on June 1st at the Northwest Neighborhood Center. Here are the main points of interest. Minutes will be posted at a future time.

Officer Roberts gave the police report, saying that crime is down over the last month and things are starting to calm down a bit now that students are leaving for the summer.

We decided to postpone action regarding working with Watershed Management Group on a new program that trains neighborhood members on techniques and strategies for maintaining new street features such as chicanes. There is not a lot of information about the program yet and we would like to have some things clarified regarding the program before we make a decision on participation.

We are working on settling a date for a final celebration on our new 5th Ave. greenway and Elm St. chicanes. People from the county and the city will be in attendance at this event. It will happen in either late June or Early July. More information will be posted when a date and time is decided.

We discussed watering the pocket park during this very dry period. Many of the plants have died and we decided we would water every few weeks until the monsoon rains arrive.

Plants will also soon be placed in the new traffic circles on 4th Ave.

On Saturday, June 25th at 5PM we are having a work party to install our new neighborhood entry sign. The sign, which has been provided with money from county supervisor Richard Elías, say "Welcome to Northwest Neighborhood". The sign will be posted in the pocket park on the corner of 6th ave and Linden Street. We need to dig post holes, pour concrete and install the sign ourselves. This event is posted on our event calendar.

Bike Boulevard Under Construction

The 4th Ave/Fontana Bike Boulevard project is currently under construction. There have been several large changes to 4th ave and 6th ave in and near Northwest Neighborhood. The main changes are traffic calming devices along 4th Ave. Speed tables and roundabouts have been placed along 4th Ave between University and Grant Road. The stop signs at intersections have been changed to 4-way yield signs. Plants will be put in the roundabouts, as well as along 4th Ave.

The intersection at Grant Road and 6th Ave has also been changed as of May 20th, 2011. Northbound motor traffic can no longer go straight down Fontana. Cars must either turn right or left onto Grant road. Cyclists can still head north at this intersection. Green painted "bike boxes" are meant to signify a bicycle specific area.

5th Avenue Greenway

The 5th Ave Greenway was constructed from the fall of 2010 through the spring of 2011. The greenway narrows 5th Ave to calm traffic. A wide pedestrian path was installed on the west side of the road and runs from Lee Street to Linden Street. The greenway and chicanes allow stormwater to flow in and feed the native vegetation that has been planted. On the north side of the Bronx Wash there is a path called the Mansfield Park Corridor that connects pedestrians to Mansfield Park. The last step in completing the greenway will be a pedestrian bridge that connects the greenway to the walking path.

Elm Street Chicanes

As part of our neighborhood improvement projects we recently had chicanes installed along Elm Street between 1st and 6th Ave. These chicanes narrow the road and help to calm traffic for pedestrians and cyclists. Plants and rock work have been placed inside of the chicanes. These chicanes utilize passive water harvesting design to allow stormwater to feed the native trees and plants.

You can see pictures from our chicane planting event HERE