Champion Great Neighborhoods November 2019 | Page 3

Updates
Arlington’s New Neighborhood Enhancement Team Partnering With Residents to
Make a Difference
The City of Arlington’s new Neighborhood Enhancement
Team is partnering with residents to improve curb appeal,
protect home values and build community pride in
neighborhoods across The American Dream City.
The Arlington City Council approved the creation of the
Neighborhood Enhancement Team, which launched
in January, as part of its priority to Champion Great
Neighborhoods. The team, which includes city employees
from code compliance, police, fire, strategic initiatives, and
library, uses data such as the volume of code compliance
complaints to strategically select neighborhoods where
additional city resources and assistance will be offered.
“The information helps us identify neighborhoods where
this innovative collaboration is most likely to provide an
immediate and lasting change for the better,” Mayor Jeff
Williams said. “By proactively engaging with our residents and
providing these targeted city resources, we are continuing our
efforts to keep Arlington beautiful and create safe, stable and
attractive neighborhoods that our families are proud to make
their home.”
Recently, the Neighborhood Enhancement Team collaborated
with residents to host a cleanup day in the Phillips Park
neighborhood, which is part of the Heart of Arlington
Neighborhood Association in Downtown. Property owners,
volunteers from the nearby Greater Community Missionary
Baptist Church, the Heart of Arlington Neighborhood
Association, and city employees worked together to
improve the appearance and quality of life in the Phillips
Park neighborhood. Republic Services provided two large
dumpsters for residents to dispose of trash, old furniture,
fence panels, tree limbs and other household items cluttering
their properties. City employees from code compliance,
library and police also assisted five residents in cleaning up
their yards.
Afterward, participants celebrated the results of their hard
work. The City brought the Block Party Trailer with tables,
chairs, games and other items needed to host a lunch for
about 30 residents who helped in the cleanup. Greater
Community Missionary Baptist Church provided bounce houses for the neighborhood children.
“This is a great way to connect with your neighbors while taking advantage of the resources provided by the
City and community partners to cleanup your property and neighborhood,” said Neal Lucas, Code Compliance
Services field operations manager.
The Neighborhood Enhancement Team, headed up by NET Officers Curtis Jones and Sergio Erazo, will
continue visiting Phillips Park property owners over the coming months. Planned outreach efforts include
providing educational resources and materials to residents, working with property owners to promptly
address new code issues, and developing relationships with Phillips Park residents.
The collaboration is already producing positive results. Initially in July, NET officers found that 158, or 60
percent, of the 264 properties in the Phillips Park neighborhood had code violations, Lucas said. After weeks of
face-to-face communication and proactive outreach by phone and mail, NET officers found that the number of
remaining code issues had been voluntarily reduced by the residents to only 28 percent by the end of August.