Hough Neighborhood Association works to rebuild

The Hough Neighborhood Association endorsed three subcommittees to focus on homelessness and parking issues, as well as the neighborhood’s designation as a historic district.

“But there’s a huge overlap in each committee,” Danburg-Wyld said, which is how some of the communication with the city became muddy.

The communication problems appear to have started with an email thread between residents, some involved with the subcommittees, which was then forwarded to city employees, including Chad Eiken, community and economic development director for the city of Vancouver.

The email thread touched on several issues: the city potentially repealing the Human Services Facilities Siting ordinance — which regulates where services such as soup kitchens and day centers are allowed — and dispersal of services, parking in Uptown Village, and preserving the Hough neighborhood’s historic integrity.

City officials then sought clarification on whether the grievances were being voiced by private citizens or if they were the position of the neighborhood.

When association officers learned of the emails, some became concerned about subcommittees speaking directly with city officials rather than going through neighborhood meetings. Others felt the communication was appropriate and within the residents’ rights.

Danburg-Wyld said people weren’t necessarily disagreeing with the opinions shared with the city; they disagreed with how those opinions were not shared with the neighborhood first.

“A lot was happening without telling everyone in the neighborhood. Things were not being communicated correctly. If they were (communicated correctly) and that was the general opinion (of the neighborhood), then it would stand,” Hough Neighborhood Association Secretary Eileen Cowen said.

She said officers just wanted to know what was happening and being said to city officials, not halt communication. “We want to increase understanding,” she added.

But as the communication issues unfolded, the Hough Neighborhood Association co-chairs started to butt heads, prompting Tim North, who had been co-chair for about two years, to resign. The other co-chair, Ben Grobe-Heintz, who was elected in the fall, also resigned shortly after.

“It was my time to leave. I was already there longer than I was supposed to be,” North said in a phone interview. A change in the neighborhood association’s bylaws had required him to stay on longer as a way to stagger co-chair elections, he said.

North said he didn’t particularly enjoy trying to tackle some of the neighborhood issues.

“A lot of people feel very strongly about the work the neighborhood association does, but when you ask them to take part in it, they realize how much work it is,” North said. “It’s hard to come to a consensus.”

Even though he’s stepped away from the neighborhood association, North said he’s still interested in volunteering for Hough’s picnic and cleanups.

Efforts to reach Grobe-Heintz via email were unsuccessful. But in his resignation letter, he wrote that he had joined the neighborhood’s leadership to help the association fulfill its obligations to members under its bylaws and Vancouver Municipal Code. After North resigned, he said he felt that chance was eliminated.

Ultimately, it came down to a difference in expectations of what a neighborhood association does, Cowen said.

She and Danburg-Wyld have been reaching out to neighbors to see if they’re interested in volunteering. So far, no one has committed, but there has been interest.

“We feel confident we will have chairs by the April meeting so everything should be back to normal starting at the April meeting,” Danburg-Wyld said.

Cowen said that she hopes with new leadership there will be stronger communication, and everyone can “move forward in a productive manner.”

“The biggest takeaway is that we still have things to do, and we all still live here,” she said. “This is the community we live in, and no matter what, we have to make this work.”

The city will continue to support Hough, as it does all neighborhood associations, while its leadership is in transition, said Judi Bailey, neighborhoods coordinator for the city of Vancouver.

“Neighborhood associations have their ups and downs. Most of them usually figure out how to work through issues. Sometimes when neighbors want good things for their community, they don’t always see eye-to-eye, so this sometimes happens,” Bailey said.

The Hough Neighborhood Association has historically been active and strong, she said, and she anticipates it will continue to be.