June 2019 – Mt. Washington Jessica Neighborhood

20 Jun

Jessica Triangle Work Party Sunday 6/30/19

Jessica Triangle Work Party 2016

HAPPY SUMMER!

Join us Sunday, June 30, from 10 am – 12 noon to help pull weeds and beautify our little pocket park. The extra rain this winter has created a very lush collection of weeds! Bring your favorite tools (gloves, clippers, rakes) – we’ll have trash bags, water and Paula to guide us!

Jessica Triangle is the landmark at the intersection of Jessica Drive and Cleland Avenue. Beginning in the late 90′s, local residents helped transform the triangle from a litter-strewn patch of asphalt to a beautifully landscaped drought-tolerant pocket park. You can read the inspiring story in Highland Park-Mount Washington Patch.

Please consider donating 30 minutes of your time or $10 from your pocket. Walk-by and drive-by cash donations accepted, or online at mtwashingtonjessica.org/donate/.

Also note our other beautification effort, the Oneonta -Olancha Stairs – we are collecting donations to pay for new murals at the bottom of the stairs. Find out more here and consider a dontation to that project too!

12 Jun

Public Art in Mt.Washington Jessica Neighborhood

Stairs leading down to Oneonta Drive, with mural by Mike Schelly

Clean up has already begun to prepare the stairs for a new mural, to be painted by Mike Schelly, the artist who originally painted the stairs in the early 90’s in a neighborhood effort supported by then Councilmember, Jackie Goldberg.

Oneonta-Olancha Stairs (bottom) 2019

The area we want to paint has been a target of taggers over the years, in part due to the drought killing off the original vine that covered the concrete wall near the base.

“The stairs and the triangle are wonderful neighborhood assets. The triangle makes a lovely entrance to our neighborhood. The stairs are a wonderful place to exercise, meet other people, and see the view. The stairs act as a public meeting place in the same way that a square or park does in other cities. Both places also offer an opportunity for neighbors to get involved in a community project that directly affects them, and for which they can see tangible results.” Al Winn, The Eastsider – 2010

Donations Cheerfully Accepted!

We are seeking city approval to add murals on the side and middle panels. We are requesting donations from the community. A total of $2500 is needed for this project. Donations can be made here. Please note on the form that you wish your donation to go toward the Stairs Beautification project. MWJN is a 501 (c)(3) nonprofit and your donation is tax deductible to the full extent allowed by law.

Find out more about what our organization does with beautification.

Like our Oneonta-Olancha Stairs page on Facebook

11 Jun

Map Your Neighborhood Facilitator Traning 6/24

Map Your Neighborhood Workshop

Monday, June 24 from 7-9pm at the Coptic Church – a Map Your Neighborhood Facilitator Training Class will be taught by Ben Park, a Red Cross certified trainer. Ben has systematically brought MYN to much of our area. If you are tired of waiting for Ben to have time to come facilitate a meeting in your block, take this class and learn from the best how to do it yourself. Then you can bring it to more of your neighbors.

Map Your Neighborhood (MYN) connects individual preparedness with preparedness on your block. Know who your neighbors are, who might need special assistance, and who might have special skills or equipment to help your neighbors in a disaster. When the emergency responders are overwhelmed, we will only have each other to rely on.

The 9-Step program is easy and covers what to do both at home and then on your block in the first 60 minutes after disaster strikes. Practicing makes it even easier.

LuAn Johnson, PhD with Ben Park

The “Map Your Neighborhood” program was developed by LuAn Johnson, PhD of SPAN Disaster Services in Seattle. It is endorsed and promoted by the American Red Cross. The program is in use throughout the US including Los Angeles as “Ready Your LA Neighborhood” . Map Your Neighborhood is also being integrated into the Los Angeles CERT Battalion 2 Master Plan. MYN is designed to bridge Community Emergency Response Team training (CERT) and individual preparedness.

MYN is implemented through an interactive meeting with 10-20 neighbors in one of their homes. A 9-step program is clearly laid out through informational videos that are watched and paused to develop simple maps and invaluable lists on the spot.

Everyone leaves with a custom booklet to keep under the bed for emergencies. The entire process takes only about 2 1/2 hours and participants leave both more prepared and better knowing their neighbors.

MWJN has 13 organized MYN blocks. To find out what block you’re in or to start a new block, contact us at info@mtwashingtonjessica.org.

Map Your Neighborhood program has taught us personally what social science research concludes: the more people in a neighborhood know each other’s first names, the stronger the neighborhood will be. So start getting prepared by coming to our potluck on Saturday, June 15!
Find out more.