Edith & Carrie Neighborhood

Hola, my name is Yesenia Guevara and I am currently the neighborhood organizer in the Edith and Carrie area. It’s been great getting more familiarized with the neighborhood since I started in July. I have had the opportunity to work with some neighbors on a couple small projects and have got to know most of the kids from the area while they would hangout in the neighborhood park. We ended off 2011 with a great neighborhood Christmas party and are beginning the New Year getting ready for the new Infrastructure Repair and Replacement Plan project that will start be starting in the spring, as well as reprioritizing neighborhood goals to get maximum participation

Neighborhood History

C2C was about a year old as an organization when it first became involved with the Edith-Carrie Neighborhood (ECN). This isolated neighborhood is immediately adjacent to the Washington State Penitentiary, at the northwest edge of town. An industrial and commercial zone cut this neighborhood off from others; and it seemed as if drugs, crime and slum housing were the norm. The Police Department often dealt with complaints and code violations, while long-term residents stayed behind closed doors not bothering to get to know their next door neighbors.

The first neighborhood meeting was on March 16, 2006. Due to the nearly 50:50 mix of English and Spanish speaking neighbors in this neighborhood of eighty households, one neighbor acted as translator and helped both English and Spanish speaking folks to engage in conversation. One meeting led to many, and soon many neighbors came together to express their concerns. Neighbors agreed that the neighborhood lacked a park or a common gathering space, where children could play safely and where neighbors could enjoy each other's company.

"When you first asked me, 'What is my dream for my neighborhood?' I thought you guys were crazy. People like us don't dream. Now, I've changed my mind about that!"           

~ECN long-time neighbor

Happenings

Kid Focused Activities

During the summer kids were constantly looking for things to do so with their planning and support from a few adults they had their first car wash in the neighborhood park and their second neighborhood Halloween Party.

Reducing Speeding Traffic

While getting to know a lot of the neighbors and asking them what interest or issues they wanted to address in their neighborhood, a few expressed their concern over the speeding traffic that would pass by on both Edith and Carrie St. So as an attempt to increase awareness on safety for kids and to reduce the speed of passing traffic we created homemade speed signs and neighbors took responsibility for putting up and taking down them down daily.

Trash Clean Up

Neighborhood Cleanliness was a common theme amongst a lot of the neighbors I talked to throughout the summer. It was suggested by a couple that we have a second neighborhood trash clean up. The first one was done in the spring 2009. We got everything set up and had the second neighborhood trash clean-up in November. Neighbors worked together to clean up alley ways and get rid of personal trash. The Walla Walla Joint County Development Agency was also there as great support. They helped residents load their trash into big garbage bins that were provided, by the City of Walla Walla. They also talked to neighbors and answered questions about code enforcement.

Playground and Basketball Court

At the Edith and Carrie Neighborhood Park, neighbors, community volunteers, and C2C staff built a half size basketball court and playground equipment during the summer of 2010. This was made possible with a donation from the Walla Walla Noon Rotary Club and a neighborhood match fund grant from the Sherwood Trust.

Storage Shed

Since the fall of 2008, the Edith-Carrie neighbors have volunteered their time to maintain and beautify their park, located on Carrie St. and 9th Ave. At one of the neighborhood meetings in the spring of 2009, neighbors requested garden tools and a safe place to store them. C2C Outreach Organizers worked with the neighbors to assist in the development of an action plan. Neighbors built a 12’X16’ storage shed and also purchased garden maintenance tools, including a power mower.

Community Garden

The Edith-Carrie Neighborhood Garden grew from conversations with neighbors about the high cost of groceries. The idea of creating vegetable gardens percolated in the fall of 2008. After a snowy winter to mull over the possibility of a garden, twelve families from the neighborhood, along with the outreach organizer, created the community garden in the spring of 2009. Families have donated extra produce to the food pantries in town or to other residents. Blue Mountain Action Council owns the property where the community garden is located— Carrie St. and 11th Ave. Neighbors share a roto-tiller, hand tools, rakes and sprinklers. While neighbors prepared the site for the garden, Canoe Ridge Winery Crew volunteered to install a sturdy fence around the perimeter of the property, which, to date, has managed to keep the rabbits out.

Creation of Edith & Carrie Park

By July of 2007 the neighbors' concerns of the condition of properties in the Edith-Carrie Neighborhood (ECN) sparked an interest. With support from the Donald and Virginia Sherwood Trust, Blue Mountain Action Council (BMAC) purchased eleven dilapidated properties in the ECN. BMAC requested the help of a non-profit firm that specializes in creating common space, that incorporates community-oriented design, an emphasis on art, the environment, and ecology . This firm, Pomegranate Center, was involved in the first Community Forum in March 2004 that planted the seed that later became C2C. The Executive Director, Milenko Matanovic, was delighted to re-engage with Walla Walla. A second major neighborhood meeting was planned to incorporate neighborhood ideas of common space with Pomegranate's experience of designing function and form around ideas.

For more information about the Pomegranate Center please visit their website: www.pomegranate.org

Community Garden