Saturday, Aug. 13 is the annual Union Hill Block Party. A section of Veneta Avenue in the 10th Street area will be blocked off for booths, vendors, music, fun and games for the kids.

The party starts at noon and runs until 6 p.m. Please bring your family and come join us for our party.

I am a very proud Union Hill resident. If you don’t know where Union Hill is, it is the area roughly between 11th and 6th streets and Naval and Warren avenues. What a great group of involved inspired people live in these neighborhoods. Union Hill is quite the success story when it comes to unique individual Bremerton neighborhoods taking stock within themselves, bringing their residents together and working to improve common areas.

In 2008, two small groups of residents along 10th Street applied for and were awarded a neighborhood grant by the City of Bremerton. The grant was used to plant trees and incorporate natural materials in sections of little used parking strips to make them more appealing.

Some of the other projects and events Union Hill residents have participated in and accomplished since 2008 are the 40th Anniversary of Earth Day that was a neighborhood cleanup day in partnership with Waste Management and the City of Bremerton. In 2010 volunteers from the neighborhood helped to replace what was flat asphalt surfaces along Veneta, with permeable surface rain gardens in an effort to reduce runoff pollutants that otherwise would have flowed unchecked into storm water drains.

Union Hill has also participated in Beautify Bremerton and marched in the Armed Forces Day parade.

Neighborhood picnics are common as well as City Council District meetings hosted by Greg Wheeler and Roy Runyon.

When you say Bremerton revitalization, most people immediately think of the downtown area but that is really only a small part of what is actually going on. In a quieter less flamboyant fashion a human revitalization is underway throughout the neighborhoods of Bremerton.

Residents and citizens looking to revitalize themselves and their own levels of participation and involvement in the areas that are the closest to their homes and matter the most to them personally.

It all comes down to neighborhoods building a better Bremerton from the inside out. Come to the Union Hill Block Party this Saturday.

Help to share in the continued success of our neighborhood efforts as we hope to share in all of yours. We will build a better Bremerton together.