January 27th Meet Your Neighbors Recap
Great seeing all the Fremont neighbors who came out to start a new year together! We use the first meeting of the year as an opportunity to get to know each other and hear what kind of community we want to build together.
Who are we in Fremont?
We started with a round of introductions. Who are you, what part of Fremont do you live in, and what is one of your favorite things about Fremont? We heard from long-time residents, younger people and newcomers, the District 6 Director, representatives of the Fremont Chamber of Commerce and the Fremont Arts Council, business owners, students, and a variety of people in the creative economy - but most importantly, people interested in their community and their neighbors.
A local sense of place. For where they live, many people identified with Upper Fremont, several with Lower Fremont, some from Frelard, also Stone Way and Woodland Park. Many others identified something they live near: The Troll. Lighthouse Coffee. George and Dragon. B.F. Day. The Powerhouse. Ross Park. Marketime.
Favorite things in or about Fremont. There were many mentions of walkability, sense of community, and local businesses. Pocket Desert. Canal. Bike paths. Charlie’s Books. Lighthouse. Dordlovfa. Karaoke at The Dock. Local Tide. Add-A-Ball. Wet Clay. Accidental Park. Stairways. Catwalks with cats. Rose garden at Woodland Park. Sunsets from Fremont Peak Park. Sea Wolf. 19 Gold. Nature, birds, hiking. Writers group and books. Experimental theater. Third places. Vibrant local businesses and collaborative community organizations. Walkable. Sense of community. Still Funky after 50 years. Fremont time, quirky and creative. Small town neighborhood feel. Creative community, artist encouragement.
What do we want in our community?
People split into groups around tables to discuss and write down on a large sheet of paper what they would like to see, and ideas about how to make it happen. Afterward, the sheets were placed on the wall. Each person used sticky notes to vote for their top three topics.
This list has topics organized with similar ones grouped together, most votes listed first and in descending order. There were a total of 109 votes (3 allowed per person, doesn’t break down exactly)
Mutual Aid - 14 (17 total)
Mutual Aid for neighbors: training and collaboration - 3
Small business support - break-ins, crime prevention - 9 (15 total)
Fewer break-ins at local establishments - 3
Crime preventions for local businesses and residents: Block watch - 3
Business closures - storefront vacancies - 7 (10 total)
Storefront vacancies - FCC? Dan Strauss? Pop-ups, temporary galleries - 2
Fewer vacant storefronts - 1
ICE watch - 6 (10 total)
ICE rapid response and CPR training - 4
Getting people connected: Potlucks, text threads - 9
Grocery store on Stone Way - 9
Homelessness - CARE team? Affordable housing - 6
Public Transit - 6
Community Center with Art space and studios - 5
Waterfront community space on Fremont Cut - 4
Katie Wilson - City officials - 4
B.F. Day dog park alternate solution - 3
Talk to Settle Parks about future park plans, micro parks - 2
Support service - 2
Roundabout at Bridge Way and 39th plus others - 2
Rezoning update from Dan Strauss and affordable housing costs - 2
FIFA planning with Arts Council - 1
Connect to B.F. Day and local schools - 1
Mayor Wilson need specific agenda items and more planning - 1
Other topics:
Creative District Collaboration: FNC, FAC, FCC
Disaster Hubs: Neighborhood preparedness and communication
Group activities: Clean-ups, group projects, local volunteering
Aurora Bridge – pedestrian experience, clean sidewalks
What’s going on with public Transit? Capital Hill to Fremont, Gondolas! More carpool lanes, street diets
Katie Wilson – housing affordability, group housing, social housing developer?
Day of Block Parties across Fremont with a map to find the one closest to you
6-story stacked flats perimeter block housing with shared backyards everywhere
Non-profits - folks experiencing homelessness - what is being done, what can be done
Free concerts
Trash cans
P-patches
SDOT pedestrian plan - crosswalks at Wet Clay
Light rail stop
Foxtail control
Increased awareness of dog body language
Senior outreach
Find it Fix it app
Public transit, Capitol Hill to Fremont, gondolas, carpool lanes, street diets
City Councilors Dan Strauss and Alexis Mercedes Rinck
Litter cleanups - by city, or community walks, Sparkling Wallingford
Pharmacy
How do we make this happen?
The task was to plan a meeting around the topics. There were suggestions for city departments and agencies, elected representatives, property owners, businesses, other organizations and non-profits. The FNC Board will use this to plan future meetings. At meetings we get information, provide feedback, and get ideas for further actions…
…But Action requires people to remain interested and involved. A topic becomes a project; a project needs volunteers, organization, an organizer or perhaps a project manager, ongoing communication and planning. We had a few project flyers at the meeting intended to gauge interest and recruit volunteers, and to serve as a template for other projects people would like to initiate. If you want to coordinate projects through the FNC we have started a Projects page on our website. The 46th Street Mural restoration project is well underway! We also have B.F. Day Emergency Hub and Helen Tapp Memorial Bench projects, both suggested by community members.
If you have an idea for a project you would like to work on, or a speaker on a relevant topic you would like to invite to a meeting, send us an email at fremont.neighborhood.council@gmail.com. It may take a few days to get a reply, as we are an all-volunteer organization, but keep the faith!
Announcements
Colleen: We have projects that need volunteers: 46th Street Mural, Emergency Hub, check the flyers on the back table.
Aly: Soupocalypse is on Thursday through Sunday! Four days to eat soups, helps local small businesses.
Joel: Dan Srauss is having a Town Hall tomorrow 5:30 at Greenwood Library (and Dan has asked when he can get on the FNC schedule!)
Allison: Book Club at Ophelia’s Books. “The Master and Margarita” is the current book.
Eva: Wednesday February 12th Geekwire is having a live filming of their podcast at Fremont Brewing. Find out more on the FCC website fremont.com
Amber: February 15 celebrate Petit Troll at the Sunday Market. Brass band at 11am, mini-floats, PCC Market will have another band. Make your mini floats at the Powerhouse!
Caroline: 46th Street Mural needs stewards on call for rapid repairs, also need somewhere to store 15 cans of paint, need ladders, and people!
Tim: Luke Greenway is making a Chamber of Connection proposal for a Fremont scavenger hunt in June for the Best Day Ever program.
Brianna: Come to the show at the Neptune Theater on February 23rd!
Sidney: Pulley Press, an independent poetry press with a focus on rural poetry, is looking for manuscripts, pulleypress.com
Colleen: Next meeting is February 24th. Steve from the Secretary of State will be here to talk about how state legislation works. Also a representative from Pramila Jayapal’s office to talk about ICE, what they are doing, what we can do.
Evgeny: Don’t forget to join FNC or renew your membership!
Board Business:
November minutes approved.
Leo Griffin and Amanda Garza of Friends of the Troll’s Knoll outlined a proposal for large basalt stone benches and other work being done there. They have grant funding primarily for replacing the mushroom lanterns but will need additional funds for purchasing and moving and building the required concrete footings. It will take a couple of months for the city permits to be approved; they will come back with better cost estimates and request a grant from us then. In the meantime FNC will provide a letter of support for the project. Voted and approved.
Luke Greenway outlined a proposal for a grant from DON and Chamber of Connection for a Fremont Scavenger Hunt as part of the Best Day Ever program. We can pick any day, he suggested May. Luke has experience managing scavenger hunt projects and thinks Fremon would very cool place to hold one. There is a very short time frame as the application is due Thursday January 29th. The application would have FNC as the fiscal agent and Simone the named responsible party as Treasurer. Aly and Caroline volunteered to work with Luke on the application. Motion to apply for the grant with Luke as project manager voted and approved.
Simone now has full access to the accounts as Treasurer and submitted Treasurer reports dating from October. Motion to approve Treasurer reports from October to now voted and approved.
Detailed minutes of past meetings can be found here!
