newrainiervista.com

Come out and help make our neighborhood look good. Mingle with your neighbors, too. This is a great way for students to earn their community service hours. And Free Coffee and Donuts!

Saturday 03/6/2010
10:00 A.M.
Central Park

Please bring gloves, other supplies will be provided. Everyone Welcome!

Save the date for a Neighborhood Survey and Garden Design Meeting and Dinner.

March 3, 2010
6pm - 8:30pm
Boys & Girls Club

Bring the family and have a say in the design, use and programs of the new Urban Farm going in at the north end of New Rainier Vista. Plans currently include giving gardens, seed saving, and a youth garden. What else would help you benefit most from our farm?

The January sky lightens up a bit, and thoughts turn toward spring. With the help of the Department of Neighborhoods, the Seattle Housing Authority, and other community partners, LettuceLink is working to transform half an acre in the New Rainier Vista neighborhood into a giving and teaching garden. This garden will be located at the north end of NRV, between Andover and Yancey and next to the Habitat site.

click on the image above to see a larger version.

Modeled after Marra Farm, the Seattle Community Farm will be a space for low-income residents of Rainier Valley to grow food for themselves and to share with the Rainier Valley Food Bank. While the garden will focus on food production, there will be many chances for gathering, celebrating, and learning. Garden education opportunities will be available throughout the growing season—seed saving, children’s gardening, and food preparation workshops are all being considered.

Jamie Robinson and Leslie Heimer of Solid Ground and Lettuce Link are coordinating outreach activities in and around New Rainier Vista: asking neighbors what they would like to grow, how they would like the garden to look, and how they will be involved. They are particularly interested in hearing ideas for celebrations and community gatherings that can take place in the garden. When neighbors come together to break bread (or chard or broccoli for that matter), strong communities can take shape.

If you are interested in being involved in the Seattle Community Farm, please contact Jamie Robinson at jamier@solid-ground.org, or Leslie Heimer at leslieh@solid-ground.org. There will be many opportunities to share your ideas, or just get your hands dirty.

The December meeting of the HOA Board will be this Tuesday, Dec. 8, at 7pm at the McBride Court Community Room. All homeowners should have received a copy of the budget for 2010. If anyone wants to reject the budget, you must attend this meeting (or send a proxy form - you should have received one of those, too).

Other important topics that are on the agenda for Tuesday’s meeting include proposed changes to the Rules and Regulations and Bylaws documents, including protected trees, garbage can locations, board officer term lengths, and several other procedural provisions. There will also be a review of the Landscaping service contract with Impact.

Come make your voice heard.

It’s NRV Neighborhood Cleanup Time Again. November 7th will be a good time to pick up after the Halloween Trick R’ Treat Night. If you can volunteer for an hour or so, please show up with gloves, if you have them. We’ll have some gloves if you don’t have them, and we’ll have coffee and donuts. Come on out and join your neighbors. Questions? Please contact Patti Quinn at pquinn@seanet.com or Brett Hartman at bthartman@comcast.net.

You are invited to join your community forest stewards for a day of tree planting and park restoration!

Saturday, November 7th; 10 AM - 2PM (rain or shine)
Cheasty Greenspace (our greenbelt) and many other forested locations across Seattle. See more information on other locations.

Green Seattle Day is a fun opportunity for you and your family to help keep Seattle green by planting native trees and shrubs in a park near you.

Plan to come out and help! Register here today (it’s free!)

Questions? Please contact info@greenseattle.org or 206-905-6906

Group Health Credit Union has generously donated five fruit trees to our community. Please come out and join your neighbors in planting these trees!

Please join us at the Dakota Park P-Patch near 29th Avenue South & Dakota Street on Saturday, October 3rd from 10:00 a.m. to 12:00 p.m. Tools will be provided, but please bring your own gloves. Refreshments will be provided! Adults and Children are welcome!!!

If you have questions, please call Naomi Chang at 722-4010 ext. 2

Impact will begin applying an organic turf fertilizer around noon today (9/16) in the parks.  Homeowner and rental turf areas will be done on Thursday, continuing into Friday as necessary.  This is just fertilizer - no weed control.  The fertilizer is organic and will come with a noticeable smell, which should fade overnight.

Impact has previously indicated that they planned to fertilize the turf and lawn areas of our community the week of Sept. 14 (next Monday).  Having not received any information to the contrary, we are making this announcement so individuals who have any concern can avoid turf areas until it rains.

There’s work afoot to transform part of the Cheasty Greenspace into a real City Park (across Columbian/Alaska) from NRV). The folks working on it have been doing clean up and reforestation for a while. Now, they are submitting a proposal for the Dept of Neighborhood’s Small and Simple Grant to hire a landscape architect to design a trail system over 10 acres and create a beautified park entrance at the dead end of S. Alaska Place.

These grants require “match” volunteer hours dedicated to this design phase. These volunteers would attend design review meetings, community review meetings, set up meetings, canvas the neighborhood with promotional information and the likes. If awarded the grant, these activities would take place from January-June 2010.

Would you be willing to dedicate volunteer hours to these efforts? If so or if you want info on the forest restoration work, please contact Mary DeJong via Tom Phillips (tomphillips6@msn.com) with your name, address, phone number, pledged number of hours and for what specific task. This is what the City is looking for for a competitive grant application.