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Neighborhood cooperation accomplishes goal of new sign |
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Monday, 18 February 2008 |
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By Lynda Hollenbeck
Courier Staff Jeff Morrow was the driving force behind a neighborhood project, but he says it took the cooperation of many residents to accomplish the area’s goal.
That goal was to obtain a new sign at the entrance to Lynwood Acres subdivision, where Morrow and his family have resided for the past eight years.
The new sign has been up since Feb. 1 and everyone seems pleased, he said.
Lynnwood Acres is one of the city’s older subdivisions, but includes many attractive homes, picturesque lawns and congenial people, Morrow noted.
The entrance to the area wasn’t offering the best kind of invitation, he said.
“The wood was rotting in the back and had been up since the 1960s,” Morrow noted. “Neighbors had completed about it for a while. It was in horrible condition.”
Morrow, who recently returned from a six-month deployment to Iraq, decided to take matters into his own hands.
Conducting door-to-door encounters, he determined that there was sufficient interest in replacing the old sign.
“The new sign was done by Offutt Sign Co. and cost $1,186,” he said. “It is made out of cedar wood and the letters were sandblasted on it.
“People were very responsive when we asked for their help,” Morrow said. “Most of the residents of Lynnwood gave an average of $20 to pay for the new sign.”
The sign had to meet certain specifications, he explained. “The city required it to be a certain size and dimension, so as not to obscure traffic from the front and rear.”
The sign campaign has led to other neighborhood improvement projects, Morrow said.
“We’re putting more focus on trying to street repavement projects, particularly on Brookview and Cedarhurst, and litter pickup across Smithers Drive at the entrance to Lynnwood,” he said.
“We’re working with the city’s code enforcement department on the trash problem,” he said. “We;re hoping to get the trash picked up at least monthly.
“We’re also trying to get some four-way stop signs installed traffic to slow down along Lynnwood and Cedarhurst and Lynnwood and Brookview, where many children are present,” he said.
“I have collected over 45 e-mail addresses and plan to serve as the neighborhood contact to get these initiatives done in the near future,” he said. “Of course, it will require the city’s help and interest too.”
Morrow said one of the added benefits Morrow received from his door-to-door visits was getting to know the people in his subdivision.
“We love Benton,” he said, noting that he, his wife and their children moved here from Little Rock for a number of reasons.
“We’re transplants, but we like the small-town atmosphere and we like the schools,” he said. “We’re proud of our town and we want to see upgrades. It makes our neighborhoods more attractive and increases property values.”
He is employed at Axciom in Little Rock and his family are members of Benton’s First United Methodist Church.
Morrow said he learned “a big lesson” through the recent project. “If you show some initiative, people will get behind it.”
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