The Eliot Neighborhood Beautification Committee wants you to help us invite a neighborhood wide question:

What great ideas do you have for making Eliot more beautiful and safe?

In November 2012, a small group of residents began looking at ways to spend grant funds that are part of a new program. The Neighborhood Livability Partnership, between Eliot, the Trailblazers, and the Lloyd District Community approved of two projects that you may have seen already. Volunteers planted 14 trees at the end of Rodney and around the historic Baptist Church on 1st and Schyler. Nearby, on June 1st, dozens of neighbors spent hours of volunteer time together painting the street intersection, a design they came up with together. The Intersection Repair Street Painting on Rodney and Tillamook completed after four months of neighbors working together. Both projects brought in resources, a partnership with the Friends of Trees, who will be paid to water the trees, and yielded skills, relationships, and physical improvements.

Organizers and residents, Angela Kremer and Nancy Zimmermann, are looking for your involvement in the next phase. Do you have ideas for improving Eliot’s look and feel? Would you like to help design Street Caps for Eliot? Are you an artist who can imagine excellent public art to help slow traffic? What skills and abilities are you interested in offering for improving and meeting the project goals?

The focus of the Livability Partnership is improving the areas most impacted by sports related traffic but the committee will consider any ideas that can help meet the needs:

• Preservation and enhancement of adjacent residential communities including the unique character of the Eliot Historic Conservation District
• Enhancement of pedestrian, bike, and motorized vehicle access to and through the area
• Enhancement of the livability of each neighborhood
• Improvements to slow traffic for bikes, walkers and those disabled

RSVP to Angela (angelahkremer@gmail.com) for Tour of Ideas: a neighborhood walk. It will be tentatively held Saturday, September 7th, 11a.m. at 1907 NE Rodney Avenue.