December 30, 1998
Neighborhoods organize across the city
By Carol South
Herald contributing writer
With just a few days left in the holiday season, you still have time to enjoy some of the winning houses in the Old Town Neighborhood Association's first annual home decorating contest.
First place winner Elizabeth Murphy of 137 E. 10th Street chooses every year to decorate the outside of her house instead of having an indoor Christmas tree. This year she transformed her front porch and yard to resemble a lighted, glowing tree complete with draped pine boughs, lights, stars and angels. An avid gardener, Murphy considers her backyard like a neighborhood park, where other residents come to admire her handiwork and sit in her garden swing during the summer.
"This is a creative outlet for me," said Murphy, who won a downtown gift certificate for her efforts. "We're kind of a close neighborhood and I love doing this because people love it."
The other winners were Ron and Sandy VanWingerden at 525 Cass Street taking second prize and Deborah Barodet of 1016 Union taking third. Both these winners received a poinsettia plant. Cindy and Scott Hardy of Hibbard's Plantasia served as judges.
"We are pleased to win because it is a lot of work for my husband to get lights on the roof's 12-12 pitch, he really has to lean over," said Sandy VanWingerden, who has lived in the house for 20 years and expanded their decorating efforts every year. "We are pleased to drive around and see other people's efforts; there have been more lights up for the past five years around the neighborhood."
The Old Town Neighborhood Association formed late last summer. After years of wanting to get organized like residents of nearby Central neighborhood, Old Town residents were finally galvanized to action in March. The neighborhood includes Cass and Union Streets, which are two main north-south thoroughfares in the city with a high volume of traffic where drivers often ignores the 25 miles per hour posted speed limit. Busy intersections at junctions of these roads and 8th and 14th streets also worry residents.
Neighborhood resident Mary Pollock wrote a letter to the City Commission discussing traffic concerns along Cass Street. For years, she had watched worriedly and listened to neighbors' concerns about children crossing traffic on Cass to go to Central Grade School or St. Francis Elementary and High Schools.
"Paul Deering, owner of Deering's Market, has even left his store unattended to help kids cross," said Pollock at 18-year resident on East 10th Street.
Pollock decided that if other residents signed her letter it would have more impact. So she and her neighbor, Barb Rishel, went up and down Cass Street and gathered more than 60 signatures. From this venture, they also got enough people interested in meeting and creating an association.
The fledgling association invited Priscilla Holmes from Michigan State University, who facilitates for neighborhood groups wanting to organize, to come and help. Holmes facilitated three meetings for them, helping residents identify areas of concern and prioritize them.
"She started with the Traverse Heights neighborhood in May and we decided to jump on the bandwagon and have her help us," said Pollock, who is secretary of the Old Town Neighborhood Association and writes its monthly newsletter. "Traffic is the biggest concern we identified. Crime was not even mentioned."
While not yet officially incorporated, the Old Town Neighborhood Association has elected a temporary board and designated committees. Members meet monthly at the St. Francis Church and the group also distributes a newsletter each month to the more than 300 residents in the area between 8th and 14th and Locust and Lake Streets.
Fun, not just traffic issues, is also a goal. Members also want the chance to meet and socialize with their neighbors. That is why the association sponsored a decorating contest this year and members are thinking ahead to summer picnics and maybe even a cabin fever party in February.
"This is not just more than you ever wanted to know about curb cuts, we want to be social, too," Pollock said. "It's also a way to keep up with what's going on, like with the Boardman Lake Boulevard. The City Commission does listen more to neighborhoods that are organized because they speak with one voice."
Priscilla Holmes will be returning to Traverse City on January 13 to facilitate a meeting of all elected or appointed representatives of the organized neighborhoods in the city. To date, those neighborhoods are: Slabtown, Kids Creek, Boardman, Old Town, Traverse Heights, Oak Heights, Oak Park and Central. This meeting will be held at the Governmental Center at 7:00 p.m.
"Even though we all have different issues, we do have a lot of overlaps," said Pollock.