After watching crime rise, Vancouver woman takes lead on new neighborhood association

So Beardshear, who works at Clark Public Utilities and is running for the Position 3 seat on Vancouver City Council, went to her colleague and Vancouver City Councilor Bart Hansen and told him about the problem.

“He said, ‘You need to talk to your neighborhood association, that’s how you communicate with the city,’ ” Beardshear said.

“I said, ‘Well, we don’t have one.’

“He said, ‘Well, make one.’

And I said, ‘Well, OK.’ ”

One conversation, that’s all it took.

“I’m a leader to begin with,” Beardshear said. “I thought, if it needs to be done, I’m on it.”

She met with Judi Bailey, neighborhoods coordinator for the city of Vancouver, who explained how associations work and the benefits citizens get from their formation.

Neighborhood associations are organizations that act as communication points with residents who live in a specific areas and the city of Vancouver. Once a neighborhood is recognized, it can more easily take advantage of city programs such as traffic calming and clean-up projects. Each neighborhood is also assigned to one of four neighborhood police officers, who help address public safety issues.

The part of town that Beardshear lives in had never had a neighborhood association.

After learning of all the benefits, Beardshear rolled up her sleeves and got to work. Bailey helped her map out where the neighborhood association would be — establishing Hearthwood Boulevard as the western border and using the Countryside Woods and Hearthwood neighborhoods as the borders to the north.

She then drafted a letter that was sent to residents in that general area, letting them know about an informational meeting. The meeting, she said, was well attended.

“We got an overwhelming response from people that would be interested in putting this together,” she said. “It was so needed that everyone was ready to jump on board.”

There were a few detractors, however, but Beardshear said that was mostly due to confusion — some people came to the meeting with the understanding that she wanted to set up a homeowners association.

Donna Fitch, 62, was one of those people.

“I had a really bad attitude when I went the first time. I was very defensive,” she said. “I don’t like the term associations linked to my property. … I don’t like being told where you can put an RV or what can you plant.”

Once she heard Bailey explain what a neighborhood association was, Fitch did a 180 — not only was she in favor of the idea, she even joined in with helping to make sure the organization got up and running.

Fitch attended a meeting to help outline the bylaws, and even became co-chair. She wasn’t at the meeting where she was nominated, a fact she still jokes about to help persuade her neighbors to attend meetings.

“I tell people when I’m passing out fliers, ‘I missed a meeting, and this happened to me,’ ” she said with a laugh.

Fitch said she’s looking forward to all of the cool events that the neighborhood association is planning to put on — a summer picnic and an upcoming neighborhood-wide garage sale.

The neighborhood association was officially recognized by the city of Vancouver on June 5, so the group is just starting to get all of the benefits of being a partner to the city.

But so far Fitch and Beardshear both say they’re enjoying just getting to know their neighbors.

“Before I started this, I knew my neighbors directly across and to the right and left,” Beardshear said. “That’s who I considered my neighbors. Now, having been part of this association, my neighbors extend to 164th and to Hearthwood,” adding that knowing what happens in those areas is helpful.

As Beardshear gets comfortable with the reins of the East Mill Plain Neighborhood Association, she appreciates the fact that communicating with the people around her has helped bring to light and prioritize various ideas to improve the area.

For example, Beardshear lives on 157th Avenue, a cut-through street from Mill Plain Boulevard to First Street, a stretch of road where motorists regularly speed.

“It is like a drag strip,” she said.

Shortly after starting the formation of the neighborhood association, Beardshear learned from Bailey that Steve Kelley, who manages East Vancouver Self Storage on 157th Avenue, had been working for about a year and a half on getting speed bumps on the road.

Now, with a neighborhood association on his side, the Neighborhood Traffic Safety Alliance has indicated they should be able to get the project funded by the end of the year, Beardshear said.

“It was one man going against the world, but now that we’ve created a team and a partnership, there’s more like 1,200 presenting a plan to the city,” she said. “Going at life with a team on your side is so much easier than going at it alone.”