www.alabamahillassociation.com http://alabamahillasswwwociation.

com/
July 31, 2013 Volume 6, Issue 3

Alabama Hill
Association Newsletter

Chairman:
Dean Haskins 733-2800

Its Picnic Time Once Again!

Tuesday August 6th St. Clair Park 6 PM

Vice Chair:
Doug Bestle 734-2271

Secretary:
- vacant -

Treasurer:
Jim McLeod 734-5127

Past Chairman:
Larry Nicholas 647-2315

MNAC Rep:
Dean Haskins 733-2800 AHA Area North Rep Michael Eisenberg 734-3615 AHA Area South Rep Jeff Braimes 733-3014 Special Interest Articles:
August Meeting Announcement Car/Home Safety Tips Summer Recipe MNAC Report City beat

AHA Annual Bar-B-Q at the Park

Come one and all to our Park Picnic, brought to you by the Alabama Hill Neighborhood Association. AHA will supply the entres Salmon Burgers Hot Dogs - Soda. As is our tradition, we ask neighbors to possibly bring a pot luck dish to share, This fun and informal park meeting is a great opportunity to informally meet and mingle with your neighbors. We ask folks to bring their plates and cutlery as well to help us keep our costs down. This meeting is also part of the National Night Out Against Crime being celebrated in Bellingham Neighborhoods all over Bellingham. National Night Out Against Crime is held on the first Tuesday of August each year and it is a time for communities to come together, build relationships, and stand united against crime. All neighborhoods are encouraged to have an outside event that evening. A going away party for the criminals... if you will! The focus is making

National Night Out Against Crime

Individual Highlights:
MNAC Report AHA Membership Form

Next AHA Qtly Meeting is Tues August 6th 6 PM St. Clair Park

Bellingham a safer place to live. National Night Out is designed to heighten crime and drug prevention awareness, generate support for and participation in local anti-crime programs, strengthen neighborhood spirit and police-community partnerships, and send a message to criminals the neighborhoods are organized and fighting back! Volunteers are always needed to help in a variety of ways including, set up and breakdown. Please call or e-mail Chair Dean Haskins, or any Board Member if you have a Barbeque to loan out for a few hours or desire to volunteer in any way. Please do your best to come on down to St. Clair Park starting at 6 PM. Hope to see you there!

MNAC News
JUNE/JULY REPORT

Alabama Hill Association

Page 2

From Dean Haskins our MNAC Rep

MNAC Meeting Notes

Community gardens presentation from James King, Bellingham Parks and Rec Department James King presented on the findings of the parks department in their meetings with the community regarding community gardens. The Dept is looking for efficiencies across the parks department, as well as examining the best way to manage the gardens. They have looked at examples from around the state and found a variety of models. The department has held various community meetings to discuss some of these models, including how to better partner with gardeners to manage communications, maintenance, pathways, and compost. King said that this is a year of review and nothing will change until next year. Some of the tasks the city will likely do in future years include collecting fees, paying for water, providing insurance, mowing perimeter and maintaining water systems, and in general create a stronger partnership with the neighbors. Presentation from Mark Young, Bellingham Police Department Mark Young is the manager of the Bellingham Crime Free Mulit-Housing Program. Part of Youngs job duties include talking with the public, teaching a course on de-escalation, media relations and rental property complaints. The CFRP program came about because of frustration in having to file civil complaints to parties at rental housing. A national program that focused on multi-housing units was used as a basis for Bellinghams program. The program is based on education, creating successful relationships, communication and creating harmony within a neighborhood. When the police are called to a rental house or unit, Authorities notify the landlords of the complaint. Often this is enough to solve the problem. Some of the issues that come to the police are noise complaints, litter violations, and vehicle complaints. Young encouraged the neighborhoods to call 911 if there is a complaint.

Neighborhood Roundtable Silver Beach: Its fairly quiet in Silver Beach. Theyve had a few complaints about the public beach and the fact that there are no restrooms or a place to park. Silver Beach is also participating in National Night Out in August. Alabama Hill: A recent daytime break in on St Clair Street. Apparently a few mail box thefts. Roosevelt: They are thankful for the city removing a house on Alabama that had several house fires. They have plans for a National Night Out event in Roosevelt Park. The Pickford Theater is also doing movies in the park this summer. They are also working to organize an exercise that will help neighbors prepare in case of a natural disaster. Barkley: Quiet quarterly meeting last month. A candidate for city council attended. The neighborhood is also looking for suggestion for how to talk with neighbors about maintaining lawns and cutting their weeds. There have been 12 cherry trees vandalized as you go up the hill, and also a home invasion last month. Cordata: A local developer is looking to extend the parkway up to Klein Road and came to talk with the neighborhood. The neighborhood is also concerned about the community gardens, especially what future water supplies for the garden. Sunnyland: They had their meeting last night, and theyre planning a picnic this summer. They would like to have a bathroom in Memorial Park. They are also interested in knowing more about the citys plans for infill. Silver Beach: They met last week and there was a surprise meeting from Officers. Another issue is how to recruit people to attend their meetings and also be on the boards. The Bellingham City Council gave final approval last month to a total ban on the sale and use of personal fireworks within city limits, beginning in one year. The years delay is required by state law.

WANTED:
AHA Association is looking for a Secretary for our board. Call Dean or Doug if interested. Were also looking for a Treasurer for next year as well. We need your help.

Summer Recipe
No Bake Chocolate Peanut Butter Cookies
provided by Dean Haskins

City+ Beat

Page 3 of 4

Visit www.cob.org for up to date info like this

Ingredients: 2 cups white sugar cup cocoa powder (I like unsweetened if possible) cup milk cup butter/margarine 1 teaspoon Vanilla Extract 1 pinch salt cup Peanut Butter (I like chunky) 3 cups oats (quick cooking) Directions: In saucepan over medium heat, combine sugar, cocoa, milk & butter. Bring to boil, stirring occasionally. After 1 minute, remove from heat and stir in Vanilla, salt, oats & peanut Butter. Drop by rounded spoonfuls onto waxed paper. Now the hardest part: Allow to cool for at least an hour. Store in an airtight container. They look strange but taste great! Lock Your Vehicles & Homes For Safety!
I just wanted to pass on some important information just forwarded on to me to share with our neighborhood from Sergent Ahlmer of the Bellingham Police Dept. For the month of July, there has been an increase in property crimes/criminal activity within the Roosevelt & Alabama Hill Neighborhoods. From July 3rd through this past weekend, ten vehicle prowls and two residential burglaries were reported within the same area of 2400 block of Claudia, 2100 Yew St, 2200 Michigan and 2100 Iowa. No force was used in these crimes where all but one were unlocked. Further analysis is pending. Please remember to tell friends and family to lock their vehicles and homes and to keep valuables out of sight, especially in their vehicles! Anything we can do to make our vehicles and homes less of a crime of opportunity goes a long way! Our Community Outreach Program officers have been informed of the recent crime trend as well. Similarly related: My wife contacted Police last week regarding a person walking with a backpack in the 2100 block of Huron St. crossing the street numerous times to view in to parked vehicle. After the officer sent him on his way, he confirmed with us that the man was a convicted felon with a lengthy criminal record. Stay safe and hope to see you Tuesday at St Clair Park!

As warm summer weather starts to kick in, so does the increase in outdoor water use. To reduce demand on our drinking water for non-drinking water uses, the City of Bellingham reminds water customers of the many ways you can save your time, your money, and our drinking water: Let your lawn get a tan, too! Lawns around our area go dormant with the heat and sunshine. If you don't use your lawn, consider not watering this summer and letting it return to its green color in the fall. Install a rainwater harvesting system. Typically, our area gets about 5" of rain from May to September. If you have a 1,000 square-foot roof surface to collect rainfall, you could potentially collect and store up to 3,000 gallons of FREE rainwater for outdoor use. Mulch, mulch, mulch. Mulch holds water in the soil, moderates soil temperature, and limits weed growth. It's easy and effective. Install a drip irrigation system. These are water efficient, low cost, easy to install, and easy to use. Install a free water hose timer. Using a timer helps prevent overwatering, water waste, and an excessive water bill. Email waterconservation@cob.org or call 778-7700 for pick-up times and locations. Water in the morning between 7-10 a.m. (and use your new free hose timer!). This will reduce evaporation loss when watering at other times of the day, and help minimize disease potential. Water 1-inch per week or less. Watering less frequently allows your lawn to grow deeper roots that are better able to withstand dry weather and requires less maintenance. Follow the Voluntary Outdoor Watering Schedule. From June 1 to September 15, the City of Bellingham and other Whatcom Water Alliance members request residents with odd-numbered street addresses to limit outdoor watering to Wednesdays, Fridays and Sundays. Residents with even-numbered street addresses water on Tuesdays, Thursdays and Saturdays. Mondays are non-watering days to allow reservoirs to recharge after the weekend.
Alabama Hill Residents

Dean

ALABAMA HILL ASSOCIATION

PO Box 29902 Bellingham, 98228

ALABAMA HILL ASSOCIATION

PO Box 29902 Bellingham, 98228

NEXT Meeting Tues, Aug 6th 6:00 PM St. Clair Park Bring a neighbor & join us!

The Alabama Hill Association is a neighborhood association open to all residents within the boundaries of Alabama Hill. If you are receiving this newsletter, you are a member. An annual $20 donation per family is suggested. The year of your last donation appears after your name on your address label. The monies collected are used to pay for mailings and the entre at the annual picnic held in August. Those of you who have attended know it is a good deal! Meetings are held quarterly starting at 7:00 PM. (1 Tuesday - Feb, May, Aug, Nov) Come join us and meet your neighbors.
st

ALABAMA HILL ASSOCIATION YEARLY MEMBERSHIP $20/FAMILY

NAME:__________________________________________________E-MAIL: ________________________________ MAILING ADDRESS:______________________________________________________ ZIPCODE_______________ Home PHONE: _______________________________ Cell PHONE: _______________________________________
VOLUNTEER? ___________ ISSUES OF INTEREST: __________________________________________________ ______________________________________________________________________________________________

Please Join

Make checks payable to: ALABAMA HILL ASSOCIATION PO Box 29902, Bellingham, 98228