Evergreen group is the new kid on the block

EVERETT – Meet Evergreen – its the new neighborhood in town.

Residents in the Beverly Lake area will meet for the first time as a new neighborhood association tonight.

And for a bit of a different reason.

The majority of neighborhood associations are forged with a hot topic – residents coming together to fight crime or an undesired development.

Based on initial meetings, though, Evergreen residents seem more interested in uniting for social and support reasons rather than for political ones, said Office of Neighborhoods coordinator Wendy McClure.

A handful of residents told her they would love to plan neighborly activities – barbecues, plant swaps, work parties and reading groups.

“It’s the kind of mutual support idea,” McClure said. “It’s what neighborhoods used to be like – more than they are now.”

Even those who attend neighborhood meetings only for the camaraderie may become interested in an issue, be it a cleanup project, traffic, a park restoration or getting involved in city government, city spokeswoman Kate Reardon said.

“There are many levels of participation” based on what people have time for or are comfortable with, she said.

With the absence of a major issue, the Evergreen folks seem to want to begin by getting to know one another, McClure said.

Evergreen is Everett’s 19th organized neighborhood, though it’s been on the city map for years.

In the early ’90s, Everett City Councilwoman Marian Krell worked hard to organize city residents on the neighborhood level. But in the Beverly Lake area, it didn’t jell.

“We just kind of gave up on it and said, ‘Well, we’ll get back to it,” Krell said. “In the meantime there were a number of other neighborhoods that wanted to start up.”

In the last few years, the Evergreen Neighborhood was “the only island left in Everett” left to formally organize.

“I certainly hope they can get it started,” Krell said. “It’s the type of neighborhood that I would think would be fairly open to organization.”

The Evergreen Neighborhood’s boundaries will be Evergreen Way to the east, Madison Street to the north, Sievers Duecy Boulevard and Hardeson Road to the west and Highway 526 to the south.

Mayor Ray Stephanson will kickoff the first meeting and speak about city budget cuts.

At future meetings, the residents will set their own agenda.

Normally at such meetings an Everett police officer will give a crime report of the area. Neighbors also discuss improvement projects, applications for city grants and upcoming events.

There’s often an expert guest speaker, too, perhaps about how to reduce clutter or attract backyard birds.

McClure credits Krell for shepherd the neighborhoods for years, urging neighbors to make connections and get involved.

“The whole point of this is to support neighbors fostering this connection and to reknit the fabric of community in this city,” McClure said.

McClure and Krell hope the city’s continued push for more cohesive neighborhoods will pay off.

“I just felt that it was really important to try to get back that feeling that we had when I was a child, where we used to walk everywhere and we knew everybody,” Krell said.

Reporter Jennifer Warnick: 425-339-3429 or jwarnick@heraldnet.com.