About Clark County, WA

Under blue and sunny skies a group of Felida neighbors met for the dedication of the new Sgt. Brad Crawford Neighborhood Park. At 12:00 on Saturday, October 11, 2008, the crowd of approximately 200 consisted of the Crawford family, the Clark County Sheriff's Department complete with Color Guard, the Vancouver Police Department, the Pastor at New Heights Church, members from the Board of Clark Commissioners, the Commissioner from the Parks and Recreation Advisory Commission, members of the Felida Neighborhood Association and a large crowd of neighbors from the Felida neighborhood.

The festivities were as follows:

Clark County Sheriff's Office Color Guard
Pledge of Allegiance

"The Star-Spangled Banner" sung by Officer Rey Reynolds
Vancouver Police Department

Welcome
Chief Erin Nolan
Clark County Sheriff's Office

Invocation
Pastor Matt Hannan
New Heights Church

"Amazing Grace" sung by Officer Rey Reynolds
Vancouver Police Department

Sheriff Garry Lucas
Clark County Sheriff's Office

Paul Crawford
Crawford family representative

Betty Sue Morris, Chair
Board of Clark County Commissioners

Florence Wager, Commissioner
Parks and Recreation Advisory Commission

Jamie Allen, President
Felida Neighborhood Association

Ribbon-cutting Ceremony

It was a wonderful ceremony and this gorgeous new park is a fitting tribute to Sgt. Brad Crawford. It is located on NW 131^st at the intersection of NW 47^th Ave. in Vancouver WA 98685. Come on by to visit if you get the chance. Maybe I will see you there as I live just down the street.

When you choose us to handle your Vancouver Washington real estate needs, you choose a team of realtors® who care about you and your family. Buying or selling a home is always more enjoyable when you work with professionals who will listen to your needs and who will work together with you to achieve your objective. We are very familiar with all types a real estate in Clark County and we specialize in Vancouver, Ridgefield and Battle Ground. We are also very experienced with new home and custom home construction having assisted several local builders in selling new neighborhoods in the Vancouver Washington area. Additionally, we have helped numerous families build their own Vancouver Washington dream homes. We are dedicated to helping you make intelligent, informed decisions and to providing you with exceptional service. Go to www.ernw.org for more information. See our video here.

Walking Vancouver, Washington

Last month I was a volunteer 'trail counter' for Vancouver Parks and Recreation. It was a great experience, especially since the weather was great and my fellow volunteer is one of my personal local heroes. I spent a couple of hours learning more of her interesting life and talked to happy people doing healthy things - how great is that?

So, here's what the trail count reavealed (this was from multiple time periods, multiple locations):
Total Counted: 1003 Weekday Counted: 412 Weekend Counted: 591
Total Bikes: 439 Weekday Bikes: 132 Weekend Bikes: 307
Total Peds: 530 Weekday Peds: 264 Weekend Peds: 266
Total Others: 34 Weekday Others: 16 Weekend Others: 18

% Trail Usage By Time
Weekday Weekend
4-4:15 5% 12-12:15 11%
4:15-4:30 5% 12:15-12:30 7%
4:30-4:45 5% 12:30-12:45 9%
4:45-5 5% 12:45-1 7%
5-5:15 4% 1-1:15 8%
5:15-5:30 5% 1:15-1:30 6%
5:30-5:45 7% 1:30-1:45 5%
5:45-6 5% 1:45-2 5%

Numbers - I love the usefulness of numbers! - show that we have pretty level usage during the day, and slightly heavier on weekends. Most (92%) were out for exercise. The full report will be available through Vancouver Parks and Rec; I know that there are great plans for making the trails more connected so that you can actually get one place to another (even Ridgefield to Camas in a long view). Being a strong proponent of walkable communities, I'm really pleased to know the local government is interested in giving us more walkways. Now if we could just get the developers and zoning people to create more walkable and less car-dependent communities...

When you are ready to find 'walkable Vancouver', call me!

Lynn Krogseng

Six more homes in the Rose Village Neighborhood will get fresh paint on Saturday, October 11, as part of the 4^th Plain Corridor Revitalization Task Force Housing Coalition Paint-a-Thon.

The Rose Village Paint-a-Thon is the brainchild of Mark & Patti Maggiora. Inspired by a southeast Portland Paint-athon that gets hundreds of volunteers each year to help improve the homes of area senior citizens, the Rose Village Paint-a-Thon is expected to yield some 20+ freshly painted homes in just 4 weeks.

"In addition to the obvious benefit of making the area look nicer," says Patty Carroll, "The Paint-a-Thon is getting neighbors to interact with each other and unite in achieving a common goal that will benefit us all."

Once a popular neighborhood where many of the city's long-term residents were raised, Rosemere / Rose Village had more recently been perceived as a highly transient area with an elevated crime rate. The increase in property values seen in recent years, though, has drawn the attention of investors and value seeking home owners and many of the vintage and historic homes are benefiting from a renewed pride of ownership. The team of volunteers who support the Rose Village Paint-a-Thon have the vision of increasing these positive trends and restoring the neighborhood to its former splendor.

This weekend, activities will be focused on a 3 block section of L St in Vancouver between 33^rd Street and 37^th Street. Volunteers will start assembling at 8:00 a.m. on Saturday in front of Patty & Scott Carroll's recently renovated "church home" at 3409 L St, where they will get donuts and coffee before picking up their brushes and starting work on the 6 homes. Lunch will also be provided by Patty & Scott Carroll.

If you would like to have your home considered as a candidate for painting or if you would like to volunteer to help with the Paint-a-Thon project, please call Mark & Patti Maggiora at (360) 992-9969 or email mark@groupnw.net or patty@groupnw.net.

Patty & Scott Carroll - RE/MAX Equity Group, Vancouver WA

Green at what price?

How much more are you willing to pay to have a green certification for your home? Or to have a walkable location? Green and walkable?

Certainly if you're not green leaning the answer is nothing. But if you are concerned about having a less detrimental impact on the environment, or lower fuel and heating, or healthier indoor air quality, then what are you willing to pay if you have to pay more? Is it a percentage or a flat dollar fee?

I can take a stab at numbers - how much more are people actually paying for green certified homes, if they are paying more - but what I can't see is the buyer's actual motivation. Questions like 'did the buyers buy because they liked the floor plan and workmanship or did they buy because of the EA or Energy Star certification? Maybe they bought because of walkability...

There was a recent news article (in Portland Tribune) I read that suggested that homes that were within a couple of blocks of a New Seasons specialty store or a neighborhood theatre were commanding a 20% premium over similar homes without those businesses. Hmmm...something to think about. Frankly, I'd question whether it is just the store or theatre or is it a result of a myriad other factors of walkable community?

Unfortunately for Vancouver, Washington, the Whole Foods store here moved from a kind-of walkable location to a car-dependent location. I understand those eastsiders are probably more affluent and likely to buy, but the original location always seemed busy too. I wonder what that move might have done to the local home values? I wonder what the move suggests about changing demographics in our neighborhoods? So many questions, so much real estate!

Home Inspectors are not supposed to be deal breakers. A home inspection provider should be a asset to the real estate transaction process. Home inspectors are required to represent a client during a transaction, but it is a rare thing for them to cause a deal to fall apart because they over emotionalized an issue related to a repair or problem. Have you ever wanted to Kill a Home Inspector for Killing your deal? If you have, It is a worthy thing to share your wisdom with a home inspector that is determined to better this industry by sharing the information with inspector associations and local inspector groups. I know WE can do a better job!!! So... Tell me your story.... Go ahead and we can commiserate together to find solutions and prevent you from actually killing a home inspector.