Post-Cleanup News

Hello Garden Tract Neighbors!

What a beautiful weekend we had before this storm! We had a small, but strong turnout for our cleanup this past Saturday, Oct. 10th. There were 14 adults, 2 infants, and my 2 kids, ages 5 and 2 whose sharp eyes didn't miss a single cigarette butt! The RPD picked up our loot and reported it weighed 220 lbs. So there you have it, our neighborhood is 220 lbs cleaner! Here are a few photos.

We had a very pleasant potluck in my driveway afterward and discussed some neighborhood news. We presented Gil Murray with an honorary certificate for helping to refurbish all 14 of the Crime Watch signs in the neighborhood and saving us lots of money! We also discussed the idea of a neighborhood planting theme. Wouldn't it be fun to have the whole neighborhood, or just random lots of those participating, sprout up with daffodils in the spring? We are looking into having OSH give our neighborhood a discount for bulbs to encourage this effort. It would be great to use our "Garden" theme and make our name more known in the Redding community. We gave out 3 raffle prizes (daffodil bulbs).

The idea actually came about after Jim Kennedy and I met with Randy Smith, Commissioner, to discuss the possibility of traffic calming measures in the neighborhood. He pointed out that any pedestrian or traffic counts, any hard data will all have to be recollected and evaluated once both bridges are completed, which is 2 years out. In the meantime, art or gardening may visually attract motorists and slow them down. Our thoughts are 1) even if it doesn't slow down motorists, we can show our community spirit by using our garden theme and 2) in this way, we can start setting ourselves up for pursuing traffic calming measures and encouraging pedestrian activity in the neighborhood. Mr. Smith also suggested we look into commissioning a "mosaic ball" like those at City Hall and in the Parkview Neighborhood. We'll see if this is affordable, feasible, and where we could place it if everything else might work out.

Jim Kennedy and I also discussed the issue of foreclosures in the neighborhood and what can be done to improve appearances of unoccupied lots. He suggested we learn more about the City code enforcement standards and that pursuing these issues will also count in our favor down the road if we hope to pursue traffic calming measures.

Our next general meeting will be on Monday, November 2nd, 7 pm, Cypress Elementary School. We will complete a survey to develop our Mission Statement. We want your input, so please try to attend this one! We may also have a speaker on the Highway 44 Bridge project.

Hope to see you in November!

Sincerely,

Monique Gaido

795 Lincoln St

moniquegaido@gmail.com

October 9th, 2009

Hello Neighbors!

Our October 5th meeting had an unusually small turnout, most likely because I forgot to send out a group email to remind people. (Also there was an event at the Cascade that drew several neighbors.) We had planned to conduct a survey to help us derive a mission statement for our group, but we decided to postpone this until the next meeting in hope of a bigger turnout. So mark your calendars for November 2nd! To make it very easy and painless, we want to spend about 15-20 minutes on the survey, collect your ideas, and then compile a mission statement to vote on and fine-tune wording at the following meeting. The mission statement will allow us to focus our energy where you all would like to see it happen!

Our second Neighborhood Cleanup Day is tomorrow, Saturday, October 10th! Those who are available and able, meet in my driveway - 795 Lincoln St at 10 am with some gloves. We'll provide bags, maps, and pickers. It will not be strenuous! The idea is to walk the neighborhood, greet people and invite them to our potluck and get to know each other. It's also nice to pick up a little litter along the way, of course! Please encourage everyone to join us for the potluck at 1 pm. We're keeping it simple and there will be some raffle prizes! Grab a neighbor and join us! - 795 Lincoln St.

I'll update you with a photo of our potluck group next week! Thanks for your interest, support, and enthusiasm. It keeps me going and it has been so wonderful to get to know more of you. We have a great community and it has even more potential. It is and will be what we want it to be!

Stay tuned!

Monique

September 2009

Hello Garden Tract Neighbors!

I want to share what happened at another good meeting on August 31st. We had 43 neighbors present, began with a slide show of our past meetings and activities, and thanked Cypress School for their partnership and support. Teacher Molly Stimpel told us about her progress on the school garden and said they have managed without utilizing the neighborhood help we have offered. She does still hope to call the names on her list when the next big push comes - possibly in the spring.

Monique Gaido, yours truly-and chairperson, mentioned there are some easy ways for us to support Cypress School with very little effort. 1) Save boxtops from cereals and other grocery products that say "Boxtops for Education." I keep a baggie on my bulletin board and bring them to the school office. Teachers can redeem them for classroom materials. 2) Escrip.com - go to this website and register your Safeway club card number to donate 10% (I believe) of your spending to the school of your choice. Cypress Elementary is registered and Sequoia's band and choir are registered. I do not carry my Safeway card and did not know the number. This problem is remedied by calling the 800 # on every Safeway receipt and giving them your phone number. They will give you your club card number. Please encourage your whole family and friends to register their cards. It's a one-time 15-minute project and all schools will benefit!

Next on the agenda, our neighborhood organization has won the attention of others in the community! The Churn Creek Bottom Homeowners Organization was represented by Mary Ocasion and Michele Schroeder. They spoke about their opposition to another potential commercial development near I-5 and Knighton Rd. This is potentially productive agricultural land and they do not wish to see it paved for a new Costco when so many empty warehouse buildings (Mervyn's, Gottschalks, etc) are available. Also the new development would apply its wastewater to another 6-10 acres, potentially impacting groundwater quality. Now I made it clear to our Churn Creek friends that our group is new and we would love to hear about their efforts and become more informed about the activities of other homeowner groups, but that we have not yet defined our voting structure and priorities. Several neighbors agreed we should establish our group's structure and priorities before endorsing efforts outside our neighborhood. These issues will be discussed at our next group meeting (October 5th).

Also in terms of community development issues, Shasta Forward is a group funded by Caltrans and the City to formulate 50-year development scenarios and encourage the community to vote on which priorities they would like to see in the regional development and planning. Ballots are available at the library, Turtle Bay, City Hall, among other key locations. Everyone must vote by September 30th. One neighbor informed us that KIXE runs a show that explains the Shasta Forward effort. This show is run quite often.

Jim Kennedy spoke for the Neighborhood Cleanup Committee about his and Gil Murray's efforts to improve our existing Neighborhood Watch signs. They have now all been refurbished and look great. Our next Neighborhood Cleanup Day is Saturday, October 10th. Meet at Monique's (795 Lincoln) at 10 am to get gloves and a walking route. This is first and foremost a laid-back, easy and fun event. We'll have prizes for the most unusual and most disgusting piece of garbage found, and above all, (after we all wash our hands thoroughly) we'll have a potluck in our driveway (795 Lincoln). Please join us for the potluck, even if you can't help earlier (12:30 pm). We will distribute flyers for this event sometime next week.

Crime Watch Groups: The crime throughout Redding has been a sad reality. There have been many day-time breakins all over our neighborhood, and all over Redding. The police advise us to report suspicious behavior and call 911 immediately if you see someone entering a home or backyard when you know your neighbor is out. Be a good neighbor and pick up mail or newspapers if your neighbors are out. Change your lighting, move your cars, keep a radio or TV on when you are not at home. Change your routine. Some neighbors felt there was a homeless camp along the canal. This has since been investigated and any folks sheltering their have been cleared out to the best of my knowledge.

Land Use committee - Our neighborhood traffic patterns are going to change. The Community Health Center on Placer and Continental is expanding, the new medical facility on Continental is in progress, the West Venture building may be leased by CalTrans in the near future, and a new Social Security office building is planned for the lot by the Dollar Store. These changes and potential increase in traffic flow through our neighborhood may give us an edge to push the City toward traffic calming solutions on South, Locust, and/of Garden Streets.

Thank you all for attending and caring about our community. We look forward to our next social event (the Cleanup day on October 10th) and to establishing our goals for the next 1-2 years at our next general meeting at Cypress School, on Monday evening, October 5th, at 7 pm.

Sincerely,

Monique Gaido
Chairperson

Don't forget our next meeting is Aug. 31st!

Hello Neighbors!

I hope you had an enjoyable summer and am excited to see you again at the Cypress Elementary School cafeteria on Monday evening, August 31st at 7 pm. We have a lot of great things on the agenda. If you cannot attend, a summary of the meeting will be posted on this blogsite and more formal minutes will follow in an email.

We will not distribute flyers for this meeting because the effort drains our energies, both in terms of cost and time. Please tell your neighbors about the meeting, especially if they are not on our email list. Our email distribution list is at 83 entries. We will distribute flyers for our next non-meeting event, which will be a Neighborhood Cleanup Day, complete with a Fiesta before your Siesta, on the first or second Saturday in October. (Details to be discussed on Aug. 31st!)

Our gatherings have won the attention of several groups in the community and I have been approached for endorsements and support of various projects. I look forward to sharing these with you and believe it is time that we draft a mission statement to keep help us stay focussed on our priorities. We will focus on the mission statement and our goals for the year at the October 5th meeting.

This is an exciting time to grow a neighborhood organization like ours. In a time of police force cutbacks and economic stress, our local crime watch groups and community-building efforts are more relevant than ever. We want to continue to support local businesses and among other things, would like to create a "Neighborhood Skills Bank," or a way for any interested neighbors to market their skills. The next time you need a plumber, you could call a guy down the street. This would be just another way to support our neighbors and get to know one another better.

We hope you can attend a meeting, or at least join our mailing list. If interested, please email me at moniquegaido@gmail.com or call me at 229-9348.

Sincerely,

Monique Gaido
Chairperson, Garden Tract Society

August 09

Hello Neighbors!

National Night Out was a great success! Gold St and Lincoln St had good neighbor turnouts and also enjoyed visits from the police, firemen, and City Council. Here are a few photos taken on Lincoln St.

Our next group meeting will be held at Cypress School in the gymnasium on Monday, August 31st, at 7 pm. We will discuss and plan our a Neighborhood Cleanup Day complete with a little fiesta before your siesta afterward and we will hear about Cypress School's garden project.

We will also meet on Monday, October 5th, same time and place, to outline our 1-2 year plan and mission statement, primarily focussing on building community (social events) and making our neighborhood a safer place both in terms of crime awareness and prevention and pedestrian/cycling safety, aka traffic control.

We would love to have your support and look forward to meeting more neighbors!

Sincerely,

Monique Gaido, Chairperson,
795 Lincoln St

JULY 13th UPDATE

Hello Garden Tracters! ...or should I spell that "Tractors"?

National Night Out is Tuesday August 4th. I am pleased to say we now have 8 unofficial or semi-official crime watch groups in our neighborhood. Could there be more that I don't know about yet? The Redding Police may have terminated their Crime Prevention Officer position and reassigned our friend, Mike Leonard, but he was as friendly and helpful as ever when I finally reached him.

There will be police units visiting crime watch groups on National Night Out, so please welcome them if they are in the neighborhood. We hope you can all stop by your nearest block party and say hello, even if you live on a block that does not have a crime watch group started yet. Gold, Lincoln, and Canal, possibly even Verda St may have block parties that evening. We are excited to see our neighbors out and about. Feel free to visit the Lincoln St group after 7 pm that Tuesday at 795 Lincoln.

The ice cream night was enjoyable. Approximately 15 neighbors joined us, more if we count the babies. I should have documented the event with a photo so I could post it here. I'm leaving room for improvement, as always!

Hope you're enjoying the summer!

Sincerely,
Monique Gaido

June 23rd, 2009 UPDATE

Our first Neighborhood Cleanup took place on Tuesday evening, June 16th. We had 12 neighbors attend, divided into several groups to cover different "zones" and picked up litter. Afterward we rendezvoused at Shelly's house for refreshments, thanks to our friendly neighborhood SAFEWAY! We shared stories and noted a few larger items and issues we may want to address in the future. It was the perfect way to end the evening.



We contacted the Public Works department and learned the City is responsible for trimming trees located between sidewalks and streets. We need only to provide a list of addresses for them to trim branches to make street signs/stop signs more visible and improve our head clearance on the sidewalks. You may see the City trimming trees soon.

Lastly, we are having an informal ICE CREAM SOCIAL on Friday, July 3rd from 5to 9 pm at the SHAMROCK Ice Cream Parlor on Athens. You can see it from the Subway by the Cypress Bridge. Invite a neighbor or a friend and walk, bike, or drive to the shop. It would be great to see a flood of support from the neighborhood. We hope you can make it!

Sincerely,
Monique Gaido
795 Lincoln St