News Release from: City of Beaverton
CITY OF BEAVERTON BEGINS NEIGHBORHOOD PRIDE PROGRAM TO ENHANCE LIVABILITY
Posted: July 12th, 2012 8:02 AM
The city of Beaverton has established Neighborhood Pride, a program to enhance livability, increase property values and improve community cohesiveness in Beaverton's neighborhoods.
The city of Beaverton is leading a team of public agencies to encourage safe, well-maintained properties. Partners include the Beaverton Police Department (BPD), Beaverton School District (BSD), Tualatin Valley Fire & Rescue (TVF&R), Waste Management, Inc., Portland State University, Community Action Organization, Community Partners for Affordable Housing, Kaiser Permanente, Tualatin Hills Park & Recreation District, Community Alliance of Tenants, and the Washington County Department of Health. City staff and partners will work with property owners and tenants to quickly complete any improvements.
"Through our award-winning Community Vision outreach program, we heard loud and clear that clean, connected neighborhoods are a priority for this community," said Mayor Denny Doyle. "Supporting our neighborhoods is essential to the long-term success of Beaverton."
Kicking-off the program is the Neighborhood Pride Pilot Project, which encourages residents and property owners in the Colony Lane and Southridge neighborhoods to work together to identify areas for enhancement. Residents and property owners are being surveyed to identify strengths, weaknesses and opportunities for improvements in the selected areas. After reviewing the survey results, field inspections will be conducted to identify code violations.
Those participating in the project will have a chance to nominate the best-maintained properties in their neighborhood, and receive a block party and an award of appreciation.
"The Neighborhood Pride program is an innovative way to work together with community members to find solutions that will work for all of us," said Beaverton Police Chief Geoff Spalding. "It should help residents feel more connected with their city, police department and other programs."
Other components of the Neighborhood Pride program include:
* BPD Neighborhood Response Team to focus on crime problems that are not easily addressed by patrol officers, but fall short of assigning detectives (quality of life issues);
* HUD-funded housing rehabilitation loan program catering to low-income homeowners to help pay for repairs deemed necessary to maintain livability;
* First Tier City data development and monitoring through Portland State University to create a continually-updated base of indicators to identify where neighborhood destabilization is occurring;
* Future application for HUD neighborhood stabilization grants and energy efficiency loans through the city's Community and Economic Development Department;
* BPD and TVF&R joint data sharing and analysis to identify areas where increased call activity is symptomatic of neighborhoods experiencing general decline.
For more information, please contact Jeff Salvon, Community and Economic Development Department, at 503-526-3725 or George Fetzer, Code Compliance, at 503-526-2271. For more information about the Neighborhood Pride Pilot project, including survey results, visit www.BeavertonOregon.gov/Pride.
ABOUT COLONY LANE AND SOUTHRIDGE NEIGHBORHOODS
The Colony Lane neighborhood is between SW 125th and SW 126th Streets, north of Center Street. The Southridge neighborhood is bounded by SW Longhorn Lane on the north and SW Conestoga on the south, and includes SW Prairie Terrace, SW Lookout Terrace, SW Spur Court, SW Gingham Lane, SW Calico Court, and SW Chaps Court. The two neighborhoods were chosen based off nearly 100 indicators such as the condition of physical attributes, crime data, emergency response calls, market characteristics, nuisance reporting, the condition of area housing, traffic features, and proximity to services.
ABOUT BEAVERTON
Beaverton enjoys one of the most diverse populations among Oregon cities. It was one of just four cities of its size recently recognized as a "Smarter City" energy leader by the Natural Resources Defense Council and one of the 100 Best Places to Live in America by Money magazine. In addition, Beaverton has been named one of the safest cities in the Pacific Northwest for three consecutive years, as one of the best places to raise kids by BusinessWeek magazine, an All-America City finalist, as one of the top 25 Suburbs for Retirement by Forbes.com, one of the 100 Best Walking Cities in America by Prevention magazine, the Recycler of the Year from the Association of Oregon Recyclers, a Tree City USA by the Arbor Day Foundation, a Bronze Award Bicycle Friendly Community designation by the League of American Bicyclists and as one of the Environmental Protection Agency's Green Power Communities. Most recently, the Beaverton Community Vision program was named Public Involvement Proj
ect of the Year--Best Planning Project by the International Association of Public Participation (IAP2) Cascade Chapter. For more information, visit www.BeavertonOregon.gov or follow us on Facebook at www.facebook.com/cityofbeaverton.
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