POLL #15

Hey Folks
As you have probably heard, there is discussion going on to consolidate police services between Spokane's Police Department and the Sheriff's Department, with the hope there will be a cost savings for all and improved services. The police chief, Ann Kirkpatrick, will be stepping down next month and Sheriff Ozzie Knezovich has offered to step in and be the new chief as well as still be the sheriff. You can read about it in a recent Spokesman Review article.

So I have created a new poll: Should Police Agencies in Spokane Be Combined?

Sheriff Ozzie Knezovich will be our guest at our January 20th meeting.

On a separate note, Murphy Brothers has been selected to rebuild Francis from Freya to Havana starting in April. You can read about it in the most recent edition of the Journal of Business.  Eldon Brown is scheduled to be our guest speaker at our February 16th meeting. I'm hoping to also have someone from the WDOT there so residents can ask about the Francis reconstruction rebuilds and the Francis bridge project.

POLL #14: Initiative 1183: Privatization of Liquor

On November 8th we will be voting on Initiative 1183. This is the Costco backed effort to get Washington State out of the liquor business. If voters pass this initiative, it will allow all larger business to purchase hard alcohol directly from manufacturers and sell to the public or another retail merchant at maybe lower prices. This is similar to laws in other states.  The usual laws about minimum drinking age and checking ID still apply. And the state would still get it's tax revenue on all sales. Poll question is: do you support ending Washington State's monopoly on the sale of 'spirits'?

I have finally created a new poll. It's about the demonstrations spreading across the USA called 'Occupy Wall Street'. They're even here in Spokane holding down the intersection of Monroe & Riverside. Their purpose to call attention to the financial giants on Wall Street, blaming them for the economic hardship sweeping the country, including home foreclosures. They're  upset with the lack of jobs, the unwillingness of institutions to loan out the money taxpayers loaned them so small businesses could expand. They're also upset with tax rates of higher earners and corporate influence in politics.


What are your thoughts? Do you feel they're right on? Or do you think these are mostly uninformed people who just like to complain? Do the poll.

Weekend Over, August Meeting Coming Up

Hey Folks,

The weekend is about over. It’s been a fun-filled but lots of work week for me. The Hillyard Festival was all last weekend and the Hispanic Festival was yesterday. There’s a lot involved in setting up and taking down of stuff. But it’s a lot of fun for me when I get to chat with people. Never know what you may find out.

I’ve finally uploaded photos of our neighborhood yard sale last month. I’m not a yard saler by nature, but from what I’ve heard it’s the best yet. There were a lot of other residents who had unannounced sales that weekend, taking advantage of the signs we posted. I also uploaded some additional pictures the the  Historic Hillyard folder.

I talked to the sheriff, Ozzie Knezovich, yesterday. He said he’d like to maybe visit our meetings twice a year. He also said he’s planning to assign someone to visit our monthly meetings maybe every other month. They’ll be there to gather your input on things happening around you. Take advantage of it.

Also, speaking of meetings, our next meeting is this coming Thursday at 6:30pm at the fire station. We don’t have a guest speaker scheduled, but if you’ve never been to one, this would be a great time to come and let us get to know you.

Duke

Morgan Acres Photos

I've added pictures from last weekend's neighborhood wide yard sale event. Click here to see them. If you have any others you took and would like to share send them my way.

POLL #12: Hillyard & Hispanic Festivals

As many of you are aware, the Hillyard Festival is coming up on August 5th and the Hispanic Festival August 13th. So I thought I'd ask: are you planning to go to either event? There will be a little bit more news of these events at our next neighborhood meet this coming Thursday (July 21st).

New Poll: Happy 4th of July

Hey Folks! Happy 4th of July. In celebration of our national holiday I've created a new poll, in fun, to see what you think should be our national anthem. I've chosen a few songs. There could maybe be others that would qualify, but these will be the choices. Click on the song to listen to the video. One video was chosen because of the comments I read below the video on YouTube. Your comments are always welcome.

America the Beautiful
God Bless the USA!
Star Spangled Banner
My Country Tis of Thee

Do the poll!

Upcoming Neighborhood Yard Sale

Folks, if you're planning to host a yard sale the weekend of July 8th thru 10th and would like your address listed on the blog in the upper left hand corner under 'Yard Sale', send me an email, morganacres@gmail.com and I'll add it to the list.

Hillyard Hobo 4.20.2011

I've uploaded the April 20th edition of the Hillyard Hobo. Feel free to click on the link and read or download it.

Duke

POLL #10: Neighborhood Watch?

Are you a little worried about crime on your block? A potential upcoming guest is Simone Ramel, Spokane County Neighborhood Watch Coordinator and SCOPE Program Assistant. Have you thought of having a 'block watch' on your block? Would you be willing to help put one together? Do you know if any of your neighbors are interested? Do the poll and give us some feedback.

Upcoming Meeting and Guest

Our regular monthly meeting is this coming Thursday at the fire station, 6606 N. Regal, at 6:30pm. Our guest speaker will be Karen Kearney. Karen feels the time has come to change the number of county commissioners from three to five. Under our current system, no two commissioners are supposed to be at any meeting or really be together at the same time because it may constitute a quorum and thus be illegal. By having five people on the commission then any two could discuss county business or attend a community event together legally. She has asked the commissioners to place this on the ballot. If they choose not to then she says she is prepared to begin a petition drive herself. What are your thoughts? Come listen to what she has to say and ask questions.

POLL #9: Neighborhood Involvement

Not sure how this poll will pan out. We sometimes wonder why more residents don't get more involved with us. Usually we come up with the same conclusions: people are too busy, they're pretty much satisfied with the way things are, they just want to be left alone, or they're not even aware of us. Some neighborhoods are more organized than us, some less or not at all. We know the world is made up of all kinds of people and not all can or want or should do the same thing. But there is strength in numbers, especially if those numbers are unified in vision and soul or purpose. So this poll is for those who don't usually participate with us. I guess I could have added a couple of more choices now that I think of it. Maybe later this summer I'll ask something similar but phrased a little different. Anyway, we're interested in any feedback.

POLL #8: Should Market St. Be Converted To 3 Lanes?

Back in September, 2008, we met with Chad Coles with the county engineers office and discussed some ideas for the future of our neighborhood. One of the ideas we had was to convert Market, from Francis north, from four lanes to three. The main reason was safety for those traveling thru our neighborhood and for those who live or work along that stretch. Chad seemed to like the idea and said studies show almost as much traffic can flow thru with three lanes as four lanes. The county may take a closer look at this in a couple of years after additional lanes are finished on the North Spokane Corridor. Question: do you like this idea or dislike it?

POLL #7: STA Tax?

As you may have read in the paper or heard on the news lately, the Spokane Transit System is undergoing a review of it's routes to make some cutbacks in expenses. They are planning to cut back on a number of routes and loose some drivers through attrition, and maybe some other personnel. As part of their route review process they have been looking for input from the public at large. Back around July, 2008, we invited Molly Meyers, STA Communications Manager, out to chat with us about the possibility of extending bus service north of Francis to serve more of our neighborhood. Shortly after that meeting the economy began to tank and, almost three years later, our hopes still have  not happened. As part of their current public input effort, I called Molly to again request, and make part of the public record, that the Crestline bus route extend north up to maybe the round-a-bout then back down to Francis with a minimal amount of stops to help serve the west side of our neighborhood and the east side of the Calkins Annexation area (all those apartments). I told her they could find the extra 5 minutes by eliminating some of the redundant stops on other parts of the current route. Anyway, it's part of the record now.


Back years ago I remember there was something like a $1 assessment placed on residences to help fund STA when there was another big dip. So my poll question is about whether or not you would be willing to be assessed again in this fashion to help keep a healthy mass transit system in Spokane. I will disclose here that I did make the leap on January 1st and now buy a monthly bus pass to get to work. And I have no regrets for doing this. Like someone at work once commented: "it keeps me grounded". Lots to see......

New Hillyard Hobo Bulletin

I have uploaded the latest Hillyard Hobo Bulletin for anyone to view or download. There is an article about Rogers high school and an interesting section about some former classmates who went on to become somewhat famous. Like Bob Briley of KHQ fame. Enjoy!

Photo Albums Page Added!

Hello Neighbors,
We have added a photos album page to the blog. So far the albums are:
     Morgan Acres Historical
     Hillyard Historical
     Daniel Morgan
     Horse Sense
     Our Best Friends
     Hall of Fame
If you want photos added of your horses, pets, family, or if you or someone you know has old photos of the Morgan Acres/Hillyard we'd like to post them. Check out the Morgan Acres Photos page.

POLL #6: A New Jail

I had to think on this question for a couple days. In Friday's Spokesman Review there was an article about the new jail Spokane County would like to build. At a meeting held in Medical Lake nobody was in favor of rezoning enough land for the new jail. If built, it will need 40 acres. I wondered about why they couldn't locate it near our area since we have a lot of land zoned light industrial already. Plus, once the freeway is completed there will be quick access to it from most parts of the county, city, and valley. And it will bring better paying jobs to our area. Would this be such a bad thing?


On the flip side, yes there will be more traffic. More police vehicles coming and going from the jail, as well as inmate representatives and family maybe. And simply the idea of inmates being warehoused in our neck of the woods might seem a little unsettling to some. What are your thoughts? Do the poll and sound off in the comments section of this post. The Greater Morgan Acres Neighborhood Association has never discussed this topic and has no opinion, for or against.

Morgan Acres Article @ HistoryLink.org

I came across a nice article about Morgan Acres at HistoryLink. It gives some background of the area before the first settlers arrived, why the area was slow to develop, and about the founder of of our neighborhood, Daniel Morgan. It was written by Stephen Emerson of EWU, who also wrote about our history in our subarea plan.

2010 Morgan Acres Survey Now Online

Hey Folks. Do you remember the 2010 Morgan Acres Survey  we passed around in some emails and, to some degree, door to door? I've now posted it online for you to view or print. It's not meant to be scientific by any stretch of the imagination. Only an opportunity for residents' input. While compiling results I tried to keep residents comments as close to their actual wording as possible.

POLL #5: Safety in Morgan Acres

This week's poll question is directly about our neighborhood. We often hear about crime in other neighborhoods and usually go 'ho-hum'. But this question asks about how safe YOU feel, as a resident, living in the Morgan Acres neighborhood. Do you ever wonder how your neighbors feel? Do you feel safe walking the streets at night? Do you have a problem with prowlers? How about a drug house close by? Maybe you have a neighbor who is rude to you or seems to attract the type of friends that make you feel uncomfortable. Perhaps you are able to talk to all of your neighbors and feel you have the best neighbors one can ask for. As usual, we welcome comments on this post and welcome your participation and/or input in these polls. Also, remember that our neighborhood stretches from Crestline to just beyond Havana, and from Francis to Magnesium Road, along with the area just east of the Hillyard Neighborhood. 

Hillyard Hobo Bulletin Available For Download

I have uploaded all of the Hillyard Hobos except one, which I can't find. I'll get another copy and upload it. You'll find them under the 'Documents' page. Also, I've uploaded all of our past minutes that I have available. If anyone has any other old copies I'd love to scan them and put them up. 
Duke

POLL #4: How Many County Commissioners Should We Have?

In the news this week...... former Spokane City Council candidate Karen Karney is preparing a petition to put to voters giving them the opportunity to raise the current number of commissioners from three to five. We started out with a three member commission in 1884 when Spokane was just getting started. We now have almost 500,000 souls residing within Spokane County's boarders. Radio station KQNT reported on air (if I remember right) that each additional commissioner would cost county taxpayers $100,000. They also reported that currently two commissioners cannot be together outside formal meetings because it would constitute a quorum. With a five member commission any two could debate publicly without it being considered a quorum. So the question is: Is now the time to make the change from three county commissioners to five? Also, feel free to leave a comment!

Read more on KQNT's website.

POLL #3

This week's poll is about the possible addition of a photo album (yes, I messed up the question in the poll again, but hey, it's my day off). The poll only allows for one vote. I couldn't get it to let people choose multiple votes. So if you want to choose additional answers you'll have to vote again. I know, it's sort of lame, but hopefully I'll figure it out someday. If you want to expand or add to any of the answers, click on the word 'comments' below this post. You can log in as 'anonymous' if you'd like.

Morgan Acres Now On Facebook

Hello,
Elaine has started a Facebook page for us! Thanks Elaine. We would welcome any of you on Facebook to 'Like' us. This will give us one more tool in our toolbox helping Morgan Acres residents to keep in touch with each other. To get there, click on the link below:

http://www.facebook.com/pages/Morgan-Acres-Neighborhood-Association/113578105383635

POLL #2: Should Marijuana Be Legalized?

At our October 21, 2010 monthly meeting Sheriff Ozzie Knezovich was our guest. He said he was told to get ready for the legalization of marijuana. In Friday's (02.11.2011) Spokesman Review there was an editorial about this very subject. It states that there is a voter initiative and a couple of bills in the works for this year. Their aim is to legalize pot in some form or fashion. And the editorial calls on the US Congress to modernize federal laws and 'clear the air' about marijuana prescriptions, 13 years after Washington State voters endorsed it's use for 'quelling nausea and stimulating hunger in chemotherapy and AIDS patients and lowering eye pressure in glaucoma patients'. What are your thoughts? The poll will be up till next Sunday morning.

Note: The Greater Morgan Acres Neighborhood Association does not endorse either side of this issue, nor has it ever been discussed except during the October 21st meeting.

New Page! Documents for Morgan Acres

I have started a page with links to some of our documents. Links include our SubArea Plan and past minutes for 2010. I didn't think anyone would be interested in minutes going back five or six years. I will post additional documents to this page as they become available.

New Page! Arial Map of Morgan Acres With Boundary

OK. I've added a page today with an arial map I had Spokane County make of our neighborhood. It shows an overlay of our neighborhood boundary and an overlay of the new freeway. If you click on the photo you'll get the full version of it. If you'd like to have a copy of it for your own use, just right click on the larger photo and click 'save as'. Then choose where you want to save the map to. Comments are welcome.