Our family is very fortunate that we live in the recently-christened Union Hill neighborhood. Talk about an involved, committed, hardworking group of individuals. For the past several years the residents of Union Hill have tackled head-on many collective improvement projects such as rain gardens and property cleanups via organized yard waste and garbage disposal. People living in our neighborhoods have taken it upon themselves to use the existing gardening tools they already have and their own labor to make over those small pockets and corners of overgrown, weed- encrusted areas so prevalent in many Bremerton neighborhoods. A little here and a little there, it all matters and it makes a difference.
Is there anything in your neighborhood you can help to clean up? Maybe just paying a little more attention to your own property this year could really help everyone on your street. Do you have neighbors that need assistance with some property cleanup or maintenance? Have you organized your neighbors for some common area improvements? Landlords, how do your properties look? Maybe now is the time to invest in improving how your property is viewed by this community.
The current economic times make it nearly impossible for the City of Bremerton to do anymore than what it is already doing. It is really up to us, the residents, to now shoulder more of the burden in taking care of our own neighborhoods. Most of it does not need to cost much at all beyond a significant amount of sweat equity and a few trips to the dump.
P-patch gardens are also becoming very common and very popular. We had such a fun time as a family with ours last year that we are now applying the lessons that we learned from it and expanding the garden to make it even larger this year. Do you have room for a P-patch? Does your neighborhood have an area that could be used as one?
Start thinking about possibilities now and try to get some sort of improvement project in your area going in the next 30 to 60 days. Bremerton appreciates it. We all appreciate it.
