Whispering Heights & Collingwood Community Association Website

WELCOME

Welcome to the Whispering Heights & Collingwood Community Association (WHCCA) website. WHCCA represents an extended neighborhood consisting of several adjacent developments with nearly 500 households, situated in Bellevue, Washington. This web site was created to help promote enjoyment and enhancement of the neighborhood, and to facilitate communication between neighbors. It is also intended to allow prospective residents to gain insight into the fabric and quality of life in our community.

We are always looking for more neighbors to join the board! Please contact WHCCA board president Will Hargreaves for our next meeting date and location!

Neighborhood Events & Activities for 2012

Event	Date
Egg hunt	April 7th (Sat.), Lattawood Park, 10am sharp!
Crime Night at the Park	April 16th (Mon.), Lewis Creek Park Visitor Center, 630-830pm
Spring Cleanup	April 21 (Sat.), probably 9am start, look for signs marking work sites
Spring Coffee Social	May 16th (Wed.), Lewis Creek Park Visitor Center, 7-830pm
4th of July Bike Parade and Picnic	July 4th (Wed.), Collingwood Park
Garage Sale	September?
WHCCA Annual Meeting	November, date TBD, Lewis Creek Park Visitor Center

Event details

Spring Coffee Social (May 16, Wednesday, 7-9pm)
This year the event at Lewis Creek Park Visitor Center features a visit from at least one member of the Bellevue School Board and an opportunity to share perspectives and discuss the potential boundary changes being evaluated for the Bellevue School District. For anyone with school-age children or who cares about the potential impact of changes on our property values, please plan to attend, share your views, and learn about the school board's objectives and perspectives.

Whispers newsletters for 2012
Editor Janet Fleck plans for three more issues of our neighborhood newsletter in 2012. The first will appear in March, following by a Summer issue in June and a Fall issue in September or October. If you have topics or news, or even a rant or rave to suggest, please email the editor.

Dues payees
Thank you to the 137 residents who paid their voluntary dues in 2011. Many of your paid more than the suggested $30, and that is appreciated too. Check the payee list to see if you are listed. Dues for 2012 may be sent to the WHCCA mail box.

NEIGHBORHOOD CURRENTS

Block Captain program update
All but one block now has an active captain and the website page for block watch and block captains has beeen updated (see map).

The goals behind invigorating our Block Captain network are to strengthen WHCCA community connections, provide residents with contact information for neighbors in their block (in case of emergency and for Block Watch purposes), and to establish a way to communicate with neighbors on a block basis. Block Captains also serve as a vital link of communication between the WHCCA Board and residents, providing a way to disseminate important information on a more timely basis than the Whispers Newsletter, if necessary.

Your designated Block Captains have been or will be reaching out to block residents to gather contact information to be shared amongst your neighbors within your block. The Board will be working with Block Captains who have collected neighbor contact information to produce Block Maps with neighbor listings. These maps will be disseminated to block residents by the Block Captain.

A few Block Captains have completed the task of asking for and collecting neighbor contact information, and others will be doing so soon. Please appreciate the volunteer work your Block Captain is doing and be open to sharing whatever information you would like with him or her as we promote community and neighborhood engagement within WHCCA.

Volunteering in the neighborhood
If you have an interest in helping with or an idea for improving WHCCA activities, please call or email the WHCCA board's President. New board members are still needed to replace those who have retired or will be retiring at the end of this year.

Eastside Babysitting Coop
Do you need occasional childcare during the days, evenings or weekends by someone reliable, nearby, and on short notice? Join the Eastside Babysitting Coop, serving Whispering Heights and Collingwood, and neighbors from Lakemont to Somerset. More info.

Be prepared for emergencies!
Click on the Extreme Weather Button on the City�s website at www.bellevuewa.gov for tips on how to prepare for rain and snow storms and other emergencies. Sign up for email alerts so you�ll know when the page is updated during extreme weather. Call Bellevue Utilities 24-hour emergency response number 425-452-7840 to report flooding, hazardous roads, damaged stop or yield signs, or water and sewer emergencies. Report power outages by calling Puget Sound Energy at 1-888-225-5773. Check on local school closures at http://www.bsd405.org/ (this article was excerpted from Bellevue's monthly newsletter, Neighborhood News, which can be found at http://www.bellevuewa.gov/neighborhood_news.htm.