Introduction
The City of Tempe Neighborhood Grant program is funded for $350,000 annually, with additional funds available for projects that meet water conservation criteria. Read more on the official Tempe city web page. Also read: What is a Neighborhood Association?
Our neighborhood (295 homes, shown on this map) can apply for $20,000 annually for projects that improve our neighborhood. We vote on which projects to move forward on, and we vote on specific aspects of those grants. For example, we recently voted on which artist to commission for a project at Selleh Park. Read more about that here: Vote for Selleh Park Artist
Even more importantly, we want to enhance communication within our neighborhood. This way, we can work together on matters that matter to all of us - things that we have already know about, and things we do not even know about yet, but which we will face in the future. These topics of concern include neighborhood safety, crime (including porch pirates), lost pets, feral cats, eliminating homelessness and more. And we simply want to strengthen the neighborhood by providing neighbors an opportunity to get to know each other better. Please use this form to indicate how you would prefer to receive messages from the elected neighborhood co-chairpersons, and from each other. You can specify preferences such as what type of messages you want to receive and how how frequently you want to receive messages, such as individually, or as daily or weekly digests.
After you sign up using this form, you will be provided with a username and password that you can use to log in and change your settings.
- Ellie Tieni and Preston Hunter, co-chairs of the McClintock Neighborhood Association
Q. What is a neighborhood association?
A neighborhood association is a voluntary organization of residents who work together to improve and maintain the quality of life in their neighborhood. Associations can form out of concern over a particular issue, or as a means of enhancing the "sense of community" in the neighborhood.
Q. Is a neighborhood association the same as a home-owners association?
No.
Q. Do I need to pay dues?
No.
Q. Why should I sign up for this list and provide my contact information?
We could list dozens of reasons why you will benefit by signing up for this list. Obviously one major reason is to be able to vote on leaders of the neighborhood association and to be able to vote on how neighborhood grant funds are spent. You will be able to vote on things that directly impact your neighborhood, maybe even your block. These things often include physical changes to the neighborhood, implemented by the city.
But there is so much more to it than that. As neighborhood leaders, we have seen how powerful a tool effective communication can be. We have seen how effective communication within a neighborhood leads to safer, happier, more prosperous neighborhoods. We can communicate and coordinate on issues such as public safety. We can interface directly with code enforcement officials, other city officials and police assigned to our neighborhood more effectively if we have a unified voice. We can have an a direct impact on how code enforcement and law enforcement are performed in our neighborhood.
We can help to prevent and eliminate homelessness in our area. We can communicate and share resources and ideas and refer people to needed resources so that people in the neighborhood do not become homeless. We can identify homeless people in our area and coordinate efforts to help get them off the street and into places where they can get help. If you are not personally comfortable providing information resources or transportation to a homeless person, you can contact people through the neighborhood communication system who are able to do those things.
If there is a lost child, lost elder, or lost pet, we can communicate instantly and effectively to enlist the help of everybody in the neighborhood.
There is no single place where neighborhood leaders or individual residents of the neighborhood can go to instantly communicate with everybody in the neighborhood. The closest thing we have is the postcards sent out by the city, and obviously those are not instant. They take many days to arrive and people's homes. And the postcards also cost the city money, and are limited to four times per year. So they are a limited resource.
With an effective communication system, which mainly means having as comprehensive a contact list as possible, we can do all kinds of things to maintain the quality of the neighborhood, and even improve it. The more that the neighborhood can come together and help each other and get to know each other, the safer it is for everybody.
One of the biggest reasons for doing this is so that we can work together to solve problems in the future - problems that we have not even thought of yet. Use your imagination. Are there things that have happened in other places, which you would like to prevent happening here? Would we be able to prevent or solve those problems if we could tap into the collective energy and ideas of everybody in the neighborhood?
Finally: It's fun! It is fun and enjoyable and rewarding to get to know one's neighbors.
Q. How do I know if I live in the McClintock Neighborhood Association?
Check this list of addresses. Or check this map.
Q. Is there anything on the official Tempe city website showing the official neighborhood association boundaries?
Yes. You can look at the interactive map here. Or the downloadable PDF file here.
Q. Am I required to belong to the neighborhood association?
If you live within the boundaries that the city has specified for a neighborhood association, then you "belong" to the neighborhood association. This simply means that you reside in the neighborhood. It doesn't mean you are "required" to do anything, such as attend meetings or vote for neighborhood association leaders or vote on funding issues.
Of course, we would love to have as many people as possible who live in the neighborhood participate in neighborhood association decisions and activities.
Q. Who are the leaders of the McClintock Neighborhood Association?
Ellie Tieni and Preston Hunter are the co-chairs.
Q. Is this an elected position?
Yes.
Q. Could I run for an office within the neighborhood association?
Yes. Any adult who resides within the association boundaries can run for any office.
Q. Is there information about all this on an official Tempe city website?
Yes. The best place to start is this page: https://www.tempe.gov/government/community-development/neighborhood-services/neighborhood-associations.
Q. Is the neighborhood association funded?
The city of Tempe has full-time staff who support the Neighborhood Associations program. These city employees help new or returning neighborhood associations get started. They help conduct meetings and votes. They prepare flyers and printed post cards which are sent to all homes within neighborhoods.
The City of Tempe Neighborhood Grant program is funded for $350,000 annually, with additional funds available for projects that meet water conservation criteria. Our neighborhood (295 homes, shown on the map below) can apply for $20,000 annually for projects that improve our neighborhood. We vote on which projects to move forward on, and we vote on specific aspects of those grants. For example, we recently voted on which artist to commission for a project at Selleh Park. Read more about that here: Vote for Selleh Park Artist.
Q. So our neighborhood can do neighborhood improvement projects, and we don't have to pay anything?
Yes, in a sense. You do not need to pay anything directly. The money comes from taxpayers throughout the city of Tempe. The money has already been set aside for neighborhood grants. If we don't use our neighborhood's grant money, the money will simply by used by other neighborhoods. We won't get a rebate on our taxes or anything like that.
Q. Who decides what projects are done?
Neighborhood association leaders and all residents of the neighborhood may propose projects. Members of the neighborhood vote on which projects to move forward with. Association leaders and members write grant proposals, which the city reviews. If a grant is approved, the city funds it and then the project is paid for and completed.
Q. You mentioned voting for neighborhood leaders, and voting on grants. But I don't remember seeing anything about these votes.
Well, that is a big part of why we are working hard to set up this new communication system and invite everybody to participate in it. The city of Tempe sends out physical postcards to everybody in the neighborhood. They will do that up to four times per year. These postcards can be used for a variety of purposes, but the most common purpose is to announce neighborhood association meetings. In the past, these meetings were always in-person meetings. With the advent of the Covid pandemic beginning in March 2021, these meetings were shifted to all being conducted online.
All neighborhood residents have been informed about meetings, and have been informed that votes were to take place at the meetings. But to be frank, the effectiveness of this has been decreasing. Most residents who live in the neighborhood have not been attending these meetings, and have thus not been participating in official votes and other consensus decision making that is the hallmark of an effective, productive neighborhood association. We do not want decisions about neighborhood leadership and neighborhood improvement projects and funding to be made by a small handful of people. We would prefer that everybody participate.
To achieve that goal, we are working hard to build up our communication tool and contact list. We want everybody in the neighborhood to be on the list. Technically everybody in the neighborhood ALREADY is on a contact list, which is the list that the city uses to send out physical postcards. But we have already found that electronic communications such as email and text messaging are more effective for communicating with the neighborhood, and for mobilizing the power of the community.
Q. Where can I learn more?
You can contact the leaders of the McClintock Neighborhood Association here: Contact Us.
The city of Tempe has a whole handbook available here.
