The WHNA Little League Team, posing with Coach Steve Rosenberger (upper left) and WHNA President Anne Prince (to his immediate right).In addition, although the WHNA is a non-profit organization, money from your dues is needed to carry out projects such as new plantings on the "island" between Glenwood Avenue and Prospect Street, printing of brochures promoting the neighborhood, and supplies for social events and meetings.
Below are some of the most important accomplishments of the WHNA over the past decade:
In partnership with the Township of Bloomfield, the WHNA received two Community Development Block Grants, which were used to revitalize the storefronts and streetscape on the corner of Carteret Street and Morse Avenue, and to upgrade the Glenwood Avenue corridor with new Belgian block curbs, sidewalks, trees and street repaving. A third CDBG grant has been received for upgrading Carteret Street where it extends from Glenwood Avenue to Prospect Street facing Watsessing School. We expect this work to take place in 2008.
The WHNA worked with Essex County to upgrade the playgrounds in Watsessing Park at Conger Street and the East Orange section of the park at Cleveland Terrace, as well as designing and adding an additional playground near the entrance to the park on Glenwood Avenue.
We created a tax-exempt sister organization, the Watsessing Park Conservancy, which was has received several Green Acres Grants in partnership with Essex County, which are being used to implement a myriad of improvements in Watsessing Park.
The WHNA and WPC were the driving force behind the creation of the Dog Park in Watsessing Park and worked with the County and NJDEP to design the facility, the first of its kind in Essex County. One of our members has also created a “Watsessing Dog Park” Forum (http://groups.yahoo.com/group/watsessingdogpark/) to enable dog owners to chat about the dog park.
The WHNA and WPC have jointly hosted park cleanups each year since 1998 in partnership with the County and the Passaic Valley Sewerage Commission.
The WHNA has promoted our neighborhood through publishing our own Watsessing Heights Newsletter (distributed to 1100 households in the neighborhood and mailed to over 200 officials, realtors and local businesses), as well as through publicity in local newspapers and other media outlets.
The WHNA has also publicized our neighborhood through our website at http://www.whna.org/ and the WHNA and WPC blogs, which were created in 2007 to encourage an interactive conversation among neighbors and expand our ability to keep the neighborhood informed of activities. (The WPC blog is linked at the sidebar).
The WHNA has held numerous social events during the past 10 years, including Evenings at the Theatre, Summer Socials in the park, the Holiday Socials at Felicity Tower, and annual “Trash to Cash” neighborhood garage sales.
Please join the WHNA for the year 2008. Let's continue to "make a difference" in our neighborhood!
