A BRIEF HISTORY OF THE NEIGHBORHOOD ASSOCIATION
PROGRAM IN BEND, OREGON, AND THE FIRST IN A SERIES OF
MONTHLY "SPOTLIGHT ON A NEIGHBORHOOD ASSOCIATION",
PRESENTED TO THE BEND CITY COUNCIL, ON WEDNESDAY
DECEMBER 7, 2005.
The groundwork for the neighborhood program started in late 1999 or 2000, with a contract facilitator and notices were put out to the general public. I got involved in the process by attending a beginning meeting at the Bend-LaPine School Administration Office. I believe the first facilitator was Sharon Leighty, with about 20 to 25 people showing up. That was a good start. I won't try to mention all the names of those present, for fear of leaving someone out. As we progressed, more people came on board. A large number of them are still involved in the program today, in one form or another. We assimilated a vast amount of information from associations around the state, including visits from neighborhood officers and city officials.
Along the way, the Bend City Council decided to create the Office of Neighborhood Associations. It started with a contract organizer by the name of Dianne Crampton, and we were "off and running". The City Council provided funding to get the associations started and provides a stipend for communication with the association members and residents. Each association area is marked with distinctive purple and gold street signs, as part of the city's signage program for special interest areas. By the end of December 2005, we will have eleven neighborhood associations.
At the end of Dianne's tenure, after eight start ups, ONA direction was shifted to the City Communications Manager. First with Laura Rumpler, and now with Andrea McCollough. Diane Ross was brought on board to coordinate the forming of the remaining associations. Hoping I have the proper sequence, the first association to be accepted by the City Council was; Southwest Bend, December 19, 2001; River West, April, 17, 2002; Orchard District, June 5, 2002; Old Bend, October 6, 2002; Southern Crossing, February 19, 2003; Old Farm District, June 18, 2003; Boyd Acres, July 16, 2003; Mountain View, February ??, 2003; Larkspur, January 19, 2005; Century West, July 20, 2005; and the latest, Awbrey Butte, hopefully, December 7, 2005. There is still one area in the southeast corner of the city that needs an association. As our city grows, some of the existing association areas may split off and start anew due to size, character, or commonality. Our associations have a variety of goals, interests, and activities. One common strength is a sense of community and a collaborative voice with city government.
As I mentioned, Southwest Bend Neighborhood Association (SBNA),
was the first association to be accepted by the City
Council.
Our first "acting" slate of elected officers were; President,
Jim Clinton; Vice President, Mike Lovely; Secretary, Kelly Ann
Litton; Treasurer, Libby Rice; Board Members, Joe Barry and
Chet Matwich; and Temporary Board Member, Judy Clinton. In
April 2002, at a General Membership Meeting to maintain
rotating election cycle, Libby, Joe and Kathleen were re
elected to the Board. Newly elected Board Member was Bill
Crampton. Shortly thereafter, Nathan Hovecamp was appointed to
the Board. Joe and Mike are still on board.
It has been a busy four years! We are a corporation with the State of Oregon, have a P O Box, a checking/bank account, an IRS Tax ID number.
After lunch and conversation with Mike Schmidt, the NEW Chamber CEO, I have been involved in getting our other associations to be able to join the Bend Chamber of Commerce. Orchard District has already been a member for a time. I am working with several other NA's to get the paper work ready to file for tax exempt status, (501 ( c ) ( 3 ), with the IRS.
SBNA has two General Membership meetings annually, in the Spring and the Fall, monthly board meetings, and we have a lot of information on the City Website. www.bendneighborhoods.org/swassoc . Presently, there are over 2300 tax lots in our area. We have over 400 registered members, and we maintain contact via email with those that have it.
Since Elk Meadow used to be the crown jewel in our "neck of the woods", we have as our logo for our letterhead and forms, a drawing of an elk in a meadow, drawn by an artist friend of mine, Bill Friday. We are involved in a number of activities. There is the Mrs. Santa Party, Holiday Hullabaloo, craft fair, ice cream social, seed and plant exchange, have participated in the citywide weed pull, helped clean up an old homesite next to the Deschutes River, SBNA formed a Median Committee that was successful in removing experimental median "Astroturf" on Brookswood Blvd., and will continue to work with the City on more natural median landscaping. We also respond to many inquiries of our neighbors and members.
SBNA is active in the land use arena, as a result of the vast influx of homes in our area. We were involved in the process of getting an ordinance passed to include the neighborhood associations in the subdivision, zone change, building permit process. We respond to all notices the we receive. I was a member of the Lighting Ordinance Advisory Committee.
Our largest and most recent effort is the Murphy Crossing Refinement Study Area, which is in the southeast corner of our neighborhood. This has been a large collaborative effort between our neighbors, the public, landowners, developers, the City, and ODOT. We hope to make this an area of our neighborhood that we all can be proud of. It is a slow process, so stay tuned!
SBNA also made a proposal to the Metropolitan Planning Organization, to continue the frontage road from Murphy Crossing to Baker Road. This will improve traffic movement and safety. SBNA has a lot of future ideas, goals, ambitions, and projects. We need more of our neighbor's participation to bring these to fruition. As the Council is well aware, I attend all of their Council meetings from my vantage point over in the corner, to stay abreast of what is going on in our community.
This is our story and if anyone has any questions, I will be happy to answer them. Thank you.
By Mike Lovely
