Arlington County Government, VA Here/Now, 4 Sep 2014

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From YouTube: Neighborhood Conservation Program

Description

The Neighborhood Conservation Program has been helping to improve and enhance Arlington neighborhoods for 50 years. When the program was created in 1964, the goal was to empower residents by having them come together to discuss and share ideas for improving their neighborhoods. Today, the program provides funding for a variety of improvements including: installation of sidewalks, curbs and gutters, streetlights, signs, park improvements, neighborhood art and beautification. This program empowers citizens to identify and plan projects in their own neighborhoods.

Communities participating in the Neighborhood Conservation program benefit from being involved in the process for improving their own neighborhoods and help get funds for important projects. It’s also a great way for neighborhoods to directly engage with Arlington County.
When a neighborhood participates in the Neighborhood Conservation program, it becomes part of a larger community known as the Neighborhood Conservation Advisory Committee (NCAC). The County Board relies on the NCAC to report on the issues of greatest concern to our community members. Neighborhood Conservation representatives serve on the NCAC and help to develop recommendations for improving the neighborhood conservation process and participate in implementing County bond funds.

to find out more about the program go to arlingtonva.us and search on "Neighborhood Conservation"

A

Arlington is a community of over 200,000 people. We have more than 50 civic associations, that's a lot of neighborhoods in each with their own particular needs and circumstances. So how does the county respond to all of them? Well, for the past half century they've used a unique process of civic participation, called the neighborhood conservation program, but 50.

B

Years ago some forward-thinking citizens went to the county staff and then went to the County Board and says how about we try this and the County Board said yeah, let's go do it and slowly but surely we went from three civic associations to 48.

A

When it was created in 1964, the goal was to empower resident by having them come together, to discuss and share ideas for improving their neighborhoods.

B

What the county board did was empowered us, the residents to say how can we, as individuals, collectively through neighborhood conservation, make a real difference in improving the county as a whole?.

C

Nc is the one body where you get dozens of activists every month sitting in the same room and the reason we're there is because we believe that we can bring change into our neighborhoods in a very tactical way and frankly, because we are spending our tax dollars and we're guiding that tax dollar spending now we're for only providing recommendations to the board. But the county board has put trust in its citizens to come up with recommendations that it can trust we get together and hear each other's concerns as neighborhoods and then twice a year.

C

We come to up with a funding package of projects that we as a body agree or the highest priority.

A

Over the years, the program has moved from beautification efforts to focus more on infrastructure needs, like installation of sidewalks curbs and gutters streetlights and park improvements. The program enables resident to identify and plan projects in their own neighborhood. The.

C

Nc program is really about bringing money into the neighborhoods at it. Literally at your feet. The park entrance over there has curbing that was worked through the NC program. We've got sidewalks over here that were completed into the park to the NC program. We've got a path. The NC program helped us build across the park to creat pedestrian access.

C

B

For instance, this Park we're standing in big walnut park about four years ago. It was nothing more than a rusty, Hulk and people would not come here with their kids because they were just going to cut by the rusty equipment.

D

A lot of neighborhood sort of felt like our street, was sort of the forgotten about Street. We had a lot of potholes it was. It was kind of a sad-looking little street I think everybody really wanted. You know the improvements to be really good quality, and this this was one of the ways to actually make sure it was really good quality. They dug out our street about two feet down and putting all new drainage for our street. Then they put in curbs and sidewalks on one side of our street.

D

They paved the street, and then we also got the the prettier Karl style light it's a lengthy process, but if the process does kind of make sure that everybody gets to make sure that their concerns are taken, care of.

A

Every neighborhood has its own specific needs. It may be traffic calming and pedestrian safety, bikeable streets, recreation facilities.

A

The neighborhood conservation program is working to build a new knock town center to preserve the community's heritage and revitalize its commercial core, while at Fort ethan allen park, it's helped bring the past to life and all at the behest of the people who lived on the block and.

C

To me, that's really the beauty of the NC program when it comes from the bottom up by the time this bulldozer is on the street. The residents are behind it. If.

B

You give them an opportunity. Their ideas may be very good. All of a sudden, you get like very strong and a very creative, powerful voice for the community.

A

A voice that's been making itself heard in Arlington for 50 years now,.