As the year comes to an end, one often reflects on events from the current year. This year has been an exciting and an amazing one for the Westside Neighborhood Betterment Association (WNBA). Our many hours of hard work, document preparation and meeting attendance has paid off with three major projects being completed.
Our first completed project is the Grand Street bridge. After several years and handing out 300 surveys door to door, the bridge was reconstructed. It now has sidewalks, a center turn lane, and a connection to the Jordan Creek trail. Our neighbors can now safely drive and walk Grand Street now. It is a beautiful bridge!
The “recharging” of Zagonyi Park is another great accomplishment this year. Over two years ago, WNBA submitted a proposal to the Neighborhood Works Program. The proposal was accepted for an inclusive playground, new drinking fountains, picnic shade structures and relocation of a Civil War monument. Although the shade structures are still a work in process, the playground is in place and kid approved. Besides the two new drinking fountains, the old stone ones were repaired and made usable. The University Club Civil War monument now resides in a beautiful circle flower garden with plants and flowers from our neighbors. Come by and check it out.
While it is in its finishing stages, the new Mt. Vernon Street bridge is a welcome improvement to our neighborhood. The new bridge, just west of Kansas Expressway, replaces the old ,crumbling and decaying one. This bridge is wider and it, also, has sidewalks on both sides. Work has also been done on Jordan Creek, which should help alleviate flooding during heavy rains. This work has helped highlight the hidden Jordan Creek walking trail. Access to the trail is now clearly marked and the trail is now a complete walk through to Grand Street
In between these projects, the WNBA has been busy sponsoring events to encourage neighborhood participation and betterment. Last December, 30 small “get to know WNBA” baskets were created and distributed to random homes. It was amazing to see expressions change from “who is knocking on my door bothering me” to ones of surprise, excitement, appreciation and WOW!!! The best result was the gaining of new members.
May was cleanup month. There were nine dumpsters of trash and two dumpsters of brush collected, which helped make our neighborhood cleaner. WNBA also participated in Westport’s Rock the Block end of school event – a fun ending to the month.
The following months continued with fun events. There was CPR training, Neighborhood Night Out and Trunk ‘r Treat. Our Neighborhood Night Out was a great success with over 200 neighbors coming for pizza, prizes and to access information about various agencies. Treating the Westport kids at Trunk ‘r Treat was a blast enjoyed by everyone. Finally, in November, WNBA participated in the Bass Pro Marathon with a cheering section with the theme of Route 66 Rockwood Motor Courts.
As you can see, it has been a busy and successful year for the WNBA. There are still many areas of concern in our neighborhood. It does take time and teamwork to make things happen. A recent post on the Zone 1 Facebook page had a picture of sign painted on a downtown building. The sign said “Every day is your chance to make this city a little better.”
One way to make your neighborhood and city better is to get involved. Join your neighborhood association to help determine the neighborhood strengths and weakness. Then work with your team to fix the problems. Because success does happen and problems do get fixed!