Historic City ParkHagerstown Neighborhoods 1st Community

Reminder the meeting will start at 6:00PM tonight instead of 7:00PM. The meeting will be followed by the CTPED walkthrough. The meeting will be held at 513 Reynolds Avenue. See you then!

Our May meeting will be held tomorrow, May 5th @ 7:00PM at the Emmanuel Methodist Church. Topics to be discussed – Night of Lights, Fundraiser, CTPED.

Friday is the last day!

Today is the last day of our first spring fundraiser! So far we’ve raised $527  for our group with flower orders and donations! It’s not too late if you want to help us reach our goal by ordering something today! Click here to go directly to the fundraiser – http://www.flowerpowerfundraising.com/campaign?campaign_id=1989 and buy some flowers! I’ve already received mine and they are growing great!

Special Thanks to: Deb, Doris, Gertrude, Hans, Heather, Joyce, Joan H., JD,  Kenneth,  Laura,  Laurel,  Leanne,  Maria, Marissa,  Patty, Rosalie, Shelly, Stephanie, Suzan and Warring for making a purchase from our fundraiser! More Thanks to Allen, Andrew, Ashley, Charlie,  Dan, Deb, Fedora, Heather, Jeremy, Josh, Joan, Joe, Joyce, Laura and Laurel for passing out 5000 fliers! Way to go!    Also special thanks to WHAG and the Herald Mail for helping get the word out.

If you aren’t interested in flowers/plants but still want to donate, 100% of your money will go in to making the park safer and is tax deductible. Make checks payable to “The City of Hagerstown” with Historic City Park in the note and mail to:

City Park Neighborhoods 1st
c/o Heather Holman
1 E. Franklin Street
Room 401
Hagerstown, MD 21740

Businesses who would like to donate $50 or more to our cause will be listed on our website as sponsors!

Thanks again to all those who helped and participated!

It’s been a long cold winter and The Historic City Park Neighborhood’s 1st Group is ready for spring! Please help us raise money to clean up our neighborhood and bring pride back to Hagerstown! Help us reach our goal of $2000 to address our safety issues (click here for a list of safety issues) and support our beautification ideas (click here for a list of beautification ideas). So please purchase some flowers from our fundraiser site – http://www.flowerpowerfundraising.com/campaign?campaign_id=1989 and help support our newly formed group!

If you aren’t interested in purchasing flowers you may make a donation to our cause by contact Heather @ (240) 329-0547 or heather@historiccitypark.com.

Our fundraiser was recently shown on WHAG with the mayor talking about our group! Just to clarify WE ARENT MAKING ANY PROFIT OFF THIS 100% of the money we make goes to the neighborhood, the rest covers the cost of the flowers/plants and goes to the flower/plant company.

So PLEASE HELP US BY BUYING FLOWERS –>CLICK HERE TO SHOP ONLINE<– for the flowers, plants and bulbs!!!!!!!! If you would rather make your purchase in person please call Heather @ (240) 329-0547 or heather@historiccitypark.com. Let’s make Hagerstown the most beautiful city in Maryland!

The plants are 100% Guaranteed to grow or a replacement will be issued! They are shipped as bulbs, small plants and bare roots.

If you aren’t interested in flowers/plants but still want to donate, 100% of your money will go in to making the park safer and is tax deductible. Make checks payable to “The City of Hagerstown” with Historic City Park in the note and mail to:

City Park Neighborhoods 1st
c/o Heather Holman
1 E. Franklin Street
Room 401
Hagerstown, MD 21740

Businesses who would like to donate $50 or more to our cause will be listed on our website as sponsors!

Historic Park Neighborhood First

Ideas to encourage membership and participation

Becoming acquainted with one another:  make it fun and enticing

1.Name tags available at beginning of each meeting for attendees to fill out with name, and something each might wish to share to identify themselves – e.g. address, picture of house,

something depicting work, hobby, interest etc.

2. At least 15 minutes before each meeting, allow time to mingle and talk to one another

3. Offer simple refreshments at beginning of meeting during “mingling time”  These could be provided by members on a rotating basis

Encouraging residents to attend:

1. A list of several months’ meetings with topics and activities prepared, so that pairs of volunteers

in each block can go door to door with the list and encourage people to attend. List could be left if no one is at home.                   Could begin with notice of Safety Environmental walk scheduled for Spring.

2. Offer a small door prize at each meeting – provided by volunteer members – e.g. a bouquet of flowers from a garden, a supply of vegetables from someone’s garden (maybe not zucchini), a baked good, a craft item etc.

3. Hold a pot luck picnic in City Park and advertise it widely in neighborhood.  If held on a Sunday afternoon, could be tied in with band concert in City Park.  Municipal Band might recognize the group’s attendance.

4. Have a Neighborhood First group of mummers (especially children) participate in the Annual Mummers Parade.

5. After the bike lanes are available, hold a Neighborhood Bike Ride for resident children.

6. Hold a neighborhood yard sale similar to the one in the North End.  This would take some extra planning and permitting.  Maybe Church would allow use of parking lot?

7. Sponsor a Valentine making party for the Neighborhood’s children, and then distribute their Valentines to each household in the Neighborhood.

8. Hold walking tours of each of the Neighbor Hood sections, led by Section Team leaders.  Residents could be encouraged to be home and available to greet walkers, and perhaps say something about their home.

9. Organize  Neighborhood  First charity drives  – e.g. at different meetings,  bring food donations for the Food Bank , or used items for Good Will, Salvation Army etc,

10.  Collect useful items from the neighborhood, and pack shoe boxes for the troops in Iraq and Afghanistan,  and/or collect shoe boxes for the church groups that fill them to send to needy countries.

10.  Organize volunteers for a Neighborhood First snow angel service, emergency transportation service, etc.

Other ideas????????????????????????????????????????????????????????

Committee members: Dan and Deborah Agee

Jamie Harbaugh

Dick and Mary Mallery

Joe Marschner

Laurel Menard

The grant finally came through for the City to plant trees! Urban Greening Grant is funding the city to play 160 trees in between the curb and the sidewalks and 80 trees in private yards. I’d like to get us together and pick which trees we like and try to get our neighbors involved and plant matching trees down our streets. The deadline for applying for them from the city is the 22nd of March so we have to move quickly if we are going to get any of these trees! Here are the types they are thinking of planting between the curbs and sidewalks. I personally like the Accolade Flowering Cherry.

Accolade Flowering Cherry

American Hornbeam

Thornless Honeylocust

Ivory Silk Japanese Lilac

Golden Raintree

Please fill out the tree application if you would like a tree! I will try to bring copies to the next meeting and motion that we try to get our neighbors involved.

Tree Application

An opportunity to learn about the organization, operations and services of city government,
the Hagerstown Neighborhood College is sponsored by the City of Hagerstown as part of its
Neighborhoods 1st program. Over the course of 9 sessions every Monday beginning in March
college participants will receive a wealth of information in order to further empower them in
leadership roles.

Schedule and Curriculum

Hagerstown Neighborhood College Spring Session 2010 will begin Monday, March 8, 2010.
Classes start at 6:30 p.m. at municipal facilities throughout the city. Transportation is the
responsibility of participants. Light refreshments will be provided. The curriculum includes the
following subjects:

• Introduction to City Governance Utility Department
• City Hall Departments Parks and Recreation
• Police Department Public Works
• Fire Department
• Presentations of Participants’ Projects
• Eligibility Criteria

To be considered for Hagerstown Neighborhood College, an applicant must Commit to attending at least 7 of the 9 sessions

Selection Process

Space in each session of Hagerstown Neighborhood College is limited to 20 participants.
Applications will be selected to create a diverse participant population from as many Hagerstown
neighborhoods as possible. Applicants who are not selected for a particular session will be put on a
waiting list with weighted consideration for future sessions. Applications received by February 26,
2010 will be given priority consideration; applications received after this date will be accepted as
space is available.
How to Apply
Applications are available through the City of Hagerstown’s Community Development
Department on the fourth floor of City Hall, or may be downloaded from the Neighborhood’s 1st
website at www.neighborhoods1st.net.
For more information, please contact the Community Development Department at
301-766-4055 or email cblackstock@hagerstownmd.org.

Download Application

The monthly traffic meeting has been canceled this month due to inclement weather. The next meeting will be held March 11th at 4pm on the 3rd floor of city hall. Our intersection of Reynolds and Summit issue will be brought up at the march meeting. This gives us more time if anyone else wanted to write a letter about their experiences of speeding and accidents on Summit.

Project Guidelines

Traffic Issues

• Determine the area (street, intersection, etc.) of concern.  Create a written document outlining both specific problem and the chosen solution or goal of the group.
• Gather documentation
  • Request the use of the speed board to collect necessary data
    • Use Engineering Department as POC
  • Inquire about police reports
• Invite staff from Engineering to discuss data and share information about requirements for traffic signals or changes in the current traffic control and possible options
• Include other departments in discussion if project requires their expertise or lies within the scope of their responsibility
• Have the group discuss what method/ change they would like to pursue
  • Ensure that the project is supported by the majority of the entire group
    • City staff must guarantee that any change to affect the neighborhood is well advertised and endorsed by those residents
      • The use of flyers and letters is common
• Investigate both cost and funding
• Have item placed on the Board of Traffic and Parking agenda
  • Have several neighborhood members present to show strength in numbers
• Request improvement at Mayor and Council session
  • This may or may not have the recommendation of the Board of T & P
  • Again, have several neighborhood residents present for the session

Beautification Projects

• Have the group discuss and decide what amenity they would like work toward
• Develop the details: materials, location and cost
• Involve the appropriate City departments: i.e.: Engineering, Public Works, CDBG, HPD
  • Seek assistance in determining that project will not effect traffic, right of way, site distance or create any inconvenience to residents
• When all questions are resolved request improvement at Mayor & Council session

Additional comments:

• Advise the City’s Community Development Coordinator of projects prior to their inception.
• For maximum efficiency have one point of contact within each department that is involved and maintain that individual as your contact throughout the life of the project.

Helpful contact info:

Cindy Blackstock, Community Development, cblackstock@hagerstownmd.org

Tim Young, Engineering, tyoung@hagerstownmd.org