Eastside Neighborhood Council applauds upcoming Hillsdale Lumber cleanup efforts

The Eastside Neighborhood Council heard positive news about the Hillsdale Lumber property at last night's public board meeting.

Several community members have expressed concerns to the Eastside Neighborhood Council regarding the former Hillsdale Lumber site at 628 E 60th St., which has been abandoned and an eye sore for several years.

Tacoma Housing Authority is now the official owner of that land, and last night they announced that work will begin immediately on continually cleaning up the site until redevelopment of the property begins. This news was greeted with applause from the board and community members alike.

Tacoma Housing Authority is in the process of setting up their financing and creating a development plan for the site, which will include input from the Eastside Neighborhood Council since one of our board members serves on the steering committee for this project.

We'll keep you updated through Eastside Pride News on how this development is shaping up, along with the ways you can provide input during the process.

During the meeting, the Eastside Neighborhood Council also heard an update from Tacoma City Manager Eric Anderson on the City's nuisance code changes and that the City is working with the community to consider how City processes could improved related to rental units in Tacoma.
In addition, Metro Parks Tacoma described master plans to improve four of the Eastside's key parks and recreation areas: Stewart Heights, The Portland Avenue Community Center, McKinley Park and McKinley Playfield. These plans include a total of more than $4 million of improvements to and investment in these Eastside assets.

Through its own investment, the Eastside Neighborhood Council approved a $500 contribution to go toward a consultant that will work with the Eastside and the Tacoma Police Department to create an Alcohol Impact Area that spreads throughout our community. We need EVERY Eastsider to participate in the research that will occur over the next six months, and we'll provide information on how you can participate through Eastside Pride News.

Lastly, Habitat for Humanity offered information on two new Habitat communities that will go in at approximately 48th and Pipeline and East T and Gregory streets. Habitat will be in need of volunteers for these two projects and all of the others they coordinate. For more information, go to http://www.tpc-habitat.org/

Hearing this great news in person and interacting with the representatives from these organizations are excellent reasons to attend our Eastside Neighborhood Council meetings that take place on the third Monday of each month. For more information, go to http://www.eastsidetacoma.com/.