Public Comment

As Halcyon Neighborhood Association (HNA) celebrates its 15th anniversary, we’d like to share with the larger community the principles that have allowed us to achieve so much in our corner of south Berkeley. 

One of our foremost achievements has been creating a park, Halcyon Commons, where there was once a parking lot. The four-year process of envisioning, designing, and helping build and plant the park truly brought the neighborhood together. Our Steering Committee avoided polarization by inviting everyone to participate. We took the time to do extensive outreach to involve nearby neighbors. By asking people to share hopes and concerns rather than take premature pro or con positions, we encouraged neighbors to invest in and take ownership of the project. Anyone who so desired had an opportunity to participate in the evolution of park plans. 

We did surveys, held meetings, and conducted hands-on design workshops. We even held mock-up parties on-site. Concerns raised in response to questionnaires and at meetings were taken seriously and addressed in detail through research and modifications to the project. Subcommittees investigated everything from the decibel level of children playing (a concern raised by work-at-home residents in a nearby apartment building) to real parking needs and the potential impact on crime. Bruce Wicinas, one of the founders of HNA, artfully called this approach “preemptive concern addressing.” 

By the time we appeared before the Parks and Recreation Commission and City Council, 94 percent of neighbors had signed a petition supporting the project, and most of the rest weren’t opposed but simply didn’t like to sign anything. While one neighbor came to the commission meeting in opposition, once he heard the enthusiastic support of dozens of others he changed his mind. 

Since HNA was born out of our collaborative planning process for the park, it was natural for us to continue to take a collaborative approach to neighborhood organizing. While many of our Steering Committee members have been active politically as individuals, as a neighborhood association we do not take stands on controversial issues. Our Steering Committee and membership include neighbors from across Berkeley’s political spectrum, from Shirley Dean supporters to Don Jelinek or Tom Bates supporters, from those who favor the principles of new urbanism to those who are concerned about the effect of increased density on quality of life. Individuals have plenty of ways to participate in local politics, but we’ve come to appreciate an organization like HNA that offers an oasis from repeated struggles over divisive issues and allows us to work effectively on shared interests. 

HNA’s approach may be uncommon among neighborhood groups, but it has served us well and we hope it will spread, given the constructive changes it could bring to other neighborhoods as it has brought to ours. Over the past years, in addition to creating the park, we’ve held multiple work parties every year; we’ve planted over 100 street trees; we’ve held regular community-building potlucks; we’ve won a disaster supply cache from the city and a Chancellor’s Community Partnership Grant from UC for park improvements; and we’ve involved hundreds of residents in neighborhood watch through National Night Out Against Crime events, town hall meetings with the police and the Office of Emergency Services, and an evolving disaster preparedness plan.  

A neighborhood that once didn’t even have a name now provides a sense of place and enjoys a reputation for strong community. Our original printed newsletter has morphed into an electronic version that reaches over 340 immediate neighbors and another hundred-plus in the larger commun-ity, and we also keep people informed through flyers that reach close to a thousand. In focusing on our common interests, especially living in community and neighborliness, and working practically toward this end, we’ve enjoyed many accomplishments these past 15 years. 

In closing, we would like to share HNA’s Guiding Principles, which summarize what we’ve been cultivating here in our collective front yards: 

HNA is a community group dedicated to stewardship of the Halcyon Neighborhood in South Berkeley (bounded by Telegraph, Ashby, Adeline, and Woolsey). We encourage positive, proactive, partnership-oriented approaches to improving the well-being of our neighborhood, with an emphasis on the following goals: 

• Community building (such as regular potlucks, special events in the park, mutual support among neighbors, and multiblock yard sales). 

• Ongoing care of Halcyon Commons (a park conceived of and created by the neighbors who founded HNA) under the nonprofit umbrella provided by Berkeley Partners for Parks and in partnership with the City of Berkeley. 

• Continued greening and care of the neighborhood (planting trees, cleaning litter off streets, removing graffiti, and helping maintain public landscaped features). 

• Strengthening neighborhood watch (crime watch, community safety walks, emergency preparedness, and disaster supply cache). 

• Networking with the larger Berkeley community (nearby neighborhood groups, neighborhood businesses, city staff, and elected officials). 

• Sharing information and empowering residents to become proactive in addressing neighborhood needs and in expressing individual viewpoints regarding civic affairs (spreading news through meetings, flyers, and the HNA E-Newsletter, and providing contact information). 

To fulfill these goals, HNA provides a sanctuary from partisan politics so that neighbors with diverse viewpoints feel welcome to participate. Thus, HNA only takes stands on larger issues when there is near-unanimity among neighbors. By focusing on immediate local concerns, we find we can have a greater impact and get better results from the time we invest. 

Guided by these principles, HNA invites neighbors who are willing to work together in a spirit of partnership to participate at whatever level makes sense for them. Opportunities for serving on our volunteer Steering Committee and project-oriented committees are available to neighbors who are willing to roll up their sleeves and work together in a nonpartisan spirit. Neighbors are invited to step forward into leadership positions defined by the work they do in accordance with HNA’s primary goals and guiding principles. 

We invite other neighborhoods to borrow freely from these principles and goals and try them out. We believe you’ll find the results as fruitful and convivial as we have. 

Nancy Carleton and John Steere are the co-chairs of HNA, and Dawn Trygstad Rubin is HNA’s neighborhood watch coordinator.