October 5, 2007

Unique collaboration leads to action in Evergreen

By Carol Rosen
Staff Writer

A unique collaboration between city staff and residents in Maint-enance District 18—Meadow-lands and Silverbridge, led to action last Tuesday when the City Council unanimously voted to approve a proposal voted on by residents in the area.

The collaboration came about when community members expressed displeasure over the landscaping the city was doing in the area. Community leaders worked together with the city staff to develop a survey for residents to find out what types of plants they wanted to see and the pace in which they thought the improvements should take place.

“We were having lots of problems with the landscaping. Plants were dying and needed replacement,” said Bonnie Mace, one of the community leaders.

City representatives and community leaders, which included Mace, Carl Vitale, Tai Quan and Jerry and Sharon Borden, spent time with the community to develop a package for them to support. The city also explained the assessment to residents.

Mace said 150 residents responded to the survey. “We got excellent feedback from the community. About 150 people responded to the survey,” she said.

Residents were provided ballots to vote on the assessment. These were counted at the Oct. 2 city council meeting and overwhelming, by 75 percent, approved the measure of an average of $212.64 per year for landscaping.

“The collaboration will continue,” said Mace, thus proving the success of a neighborhood and city working together. “Future neighborhood leaders will continue to work with the city to ensure they are doing what the community wants, and the landowners pay for the maintenance,” she added.

Vice Mayor Dave Cortese was instrumental in helping, she noted. “He ensured that the collaboration between the neighborhood community and the city worked well together,” she said.

The plan made everyone happy, she added, and “now there’s an on-going partnership to ensure that everybody gets what they want.”

In its vote, the city council approved the city engineer’s report, base assessment and annual adjustments to Maintenance District 18 as well as to impose the assessments on the properties within the district proposed by the engineers report.