The neighbourhood of Eastwood came together on Thursday, May 9, 2013 to celebrate the revitalization of a stretch of apartment buildings along 82nd Street. A mural created by a local artist and residents was dedicated to the community and placed on the west wall of the Mac’s Convenience Store on 120th Avenue and 82nd Street.
In 2009, the 118th Avenue Neighbourhood Empowerment Team (N.E.T.) began work around four low rise apartment buildings on 82nd Street in an effort to reduce police calls for service. Crime in and around the buildings, along with on-going tenant safety concerns, prompted the N.E.T. team to work with tenants, landlords and other community partners to renew the area.
In one building, Rutherford House, a single-day transformation took place—painting, carpentry, installation of blinds, and some outdoor gardening. Two winters in a row have seen a “Miracle on 82nd Street” when the back alleyway became a festive community gathering place with holiday lights. From building renovations to creative approaches such as the “Eyes on the Alley” project (reducing illegal dumping); these activities have brought people who live in the buildings closer to feeling safe where they live. Although N.E.T. has been involved in facilitating many of the above activities, tenants are now motivated and skilled at helping to keep their buildings safer.
“The building feels like a safer place. Safety has changed because we are a more connected community and work with one another to make it safe,” said Irene Peterson, tenant organizer at Rutherford House.
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Tagged as:
118 Avenue,
Neighbourhood empowerment
By: Kalen Anderson, Senior Planner, Urban Planning and Environment & Stephanie McCabe, General Supervisor, Transportation Planning
This last year has been an exciting and productive one for the Designing New Neighbourhoods and Complete Streets projects! In May 2012, Edmontonians joined the conversation about what they’d like to see their brand new suburban neighbourhoods and streets across the entire city deliver for them and their fellow residents. Widespread idea generation resulted in feedback on the building blocks of great new neighbourhoods and streets. Dialogue and contributions from the public and stakeholders over the course of the rest of the year led to the development of two draft guidelines documents. In January and February 2013 Edmontonians provided their feedback on these draft guidelines documents and refinements were made as a result. Thanks to this input, both projects will now move forward to Executive Committee on May 13, 2013. Members of the public are invited to register to speak and share their views at the May 13th Executive Committee meeting and the Committee report and guidelines are now available on-line.
These two projects both call for a change in design philosophy. They each focus on the effective integration of transportation and land use, the importance of making great places for people and mobility options for Edmontonians. They stress the importance of undertaking context sensitive design (one-size-does-not-fit-all), and the need to work together to implement innovative approaches and try new things over time to continually raise the bar for our community. These projects are also key implementation initiatives of The Way We Grow (Edmonton’s Municipal Development Plan) and The Way We Move (Edmonton’s Transportation Master Plan).
Thank-you so much to everyone who has participated in this project to date! We’ve appreciated hearing from you and value your contributions.
City of Edmonton guarantees neither the authenticity, accuracy, appropriateness nor security of the link, web site or content linked thereto.
Tagged as:
Complete Streets Guidelines,
Designing New Neighbourhoods,
feedback,
Neighbourhoods
