Neighborhood needs your voice

Faith Dietz (at left) share what she loves about her neighborhood. (Photos submitted)

The Hamline Midway Coalition (HMC) has begun work on the 2020-2030 Neighborhood Plan, a roadmap for the next 10 years of transportation, development and environmental initiatives in Hamline Midway.

All community members are invited to share their thoughts and ideas for the future of the neighborhood at Newell Park on Saturday, March 21 from 10 to 11:30 a.m. Children are welcome and the working meeting will be followed by a light lunch and socializing.

HMC started work on the neighborhood plan in the fall of 2019 by establishing a committee and hiring an intern, Emma Kiley. She is in charge of implementing the ideas of a steering committee that includes Mike Reynolds, Christine Weeks, Garrett Backes, Steve Samuelson, Seema Kairam, Don Raleigh, HMC Director Kate Mudge and HMC Community Organizer Melissa Michener.

“We are committed to including as many community members as possible into a single vision for our neighborhood and we’ve been planning how best to do that,” said Mike Reynolds who is on the HMC Board of Directors.

So far, the committee has created lists of businesses and organizations to partner with, developed a plan and timeline for outreach events, and Kiley has created a toolkit to use to gather ideas from the community.

Kiley researched community engagement methods and compiled the most promising in a document that will be accompanied by the materials, such as markers and paper, to complete the toolkit. The toolkit will allow any member of HMC to obtain community input for the neighborhood plan.

Tachianna Charpenter shares what she loves about her neighborhood. (Photos submitted)

“The toolkit has options for all group sizes and ages of participants,” said Kiley.

The toolkit will debut at Newell Park (900 Fairview Ave N.,) on March 21 during the first of three community engagement events for the neighborhood planning process. Next up will be an online survey via the HMC webpage and a second meeting on Saturday, May 9 from 10 a.m. to 1 p.m. in Hamline University’s East Hall.

For more information about the neighborhood planning process please see the website: https://www.hamlinemidway.org/neighborhood-plan.