Zachary (Pullin) DeWolf, Vice President of the Capitol Hill Community Council, contributes to CHS about community civics and politics on a monthly basis. 

Joe stood confidently next to my family’s car, my young father sat intoxicated in the driver’s seat. Boisterous arguing pierced the flimsy windows that punctuated the walls of my room.

I ran outside to the Pontiac idling under that boundless Montana twilight to help Joe plead with my father to hand over the keys and come inside. Ultimately, my father refused. Joe, having called the sheriff, watched with satisfaction as flickering blue-and-red police lights arrived before my father could escape on the well-worn gravel road in front of our home. In the morning, my father called for a ride home from jail.

My father frequently refers to that night as the night that forever changed his life. He decided to quit drinking to serve as a positive role model for my sister and me, then only three and five years old, respectively.

Reflecting on this memory invites me to more deeply appreciate the fact that my father is still alive when, in all reality, his fate might have been different. Even more though, this memory invites me to more deeply appreciate a neighbor.

Joe Tobiness, part uncle – in the Native sense in which everyone is your aunt, your uncle, or your cousin – and equal part neighbor, felt deeply responsible for our family. His care and neighborliness moved him to act swiftly that night. He knew our family and looked out for us. He was the kind of neighbor who didn’t watch his neighbors, he saw us. And it helped our community grow stronger and safer.

In addition to my parents, my neighbors have left deep impressions on my values, passions, and ideals. From our neighbor Joe challenging my father in front of our home to our neighbor Mary Danielson who babysat us from 2nd grade through junior high while my mother finished law school and went through her divorce, our neighbors were our extended family.

***

Years later, we live among neighbors stacked neatly within apartment buildings. No more stoops, driveways, or front lawns to serve as community spaces for neighbors to engage.

On Capitol Hill, gentrification’s swift hand weaves into conversations about the state of our neighborhood. People move to our community in tremendous waves and it challenges our collective notion of community – how to build it together and how to practice neighborliness – especially as more multi-family projects are built, filling up with people from all over the world.

Our neighborhood increases its image as a nightlife and revelry magnet, encouraging tides of weekend partiers. Crimes against vulnerable people increase, too, especially LGBTQ people. Recently, former Stranger contributor Bret Fetzer, walking to the bus near the Rhino Room, suffered an assault with a beer bottle after his attacker aggressively called him “faggot.” Combine that with incidents of police misconduct, such as Officer Cynthia Whitlatch falsely arresting an older black man for walking with a golf club as a cane, begging the guideline that police officers should live within the city in which they patrol (most who patrol Capitol Hill live outside of the city). It is clear, we must be more neighborly and know each other more fully.

For Phinney Ridge neighborhood activist Judith Wood, appreciating those in her community – being more neighborly – inspired her 1995 suggestion to Mayor Norm Rice to designate a “special day to celebrate the goodness in those around us and to reach out and strengthen our bonds to each other.” He listened, proclaiming the Saturday before Valentine’s Day as Neighbor Appreciation Day.

At the Capitol Hill Community Council, we look forward to a year of programming that honors and appreciates our neighbors. We are compelled to create shared community so that we become more than the sum of our numbers with vibrancy, ingenuity, and human connection – and become a diverse and united “we.”

Please join us at The Capitol Hill Community Council [agenda] meeting as we share an exciting announcement about our partnership with the Capitol Hill Chamber of Commerce and Capitol Hill Housing (plus a bunch of other great agenda items!) We are continuing to translate the hopes and perspectives for the neighborhood into meaningful and informed change. Join us Thursday, February 19, 2015 at 6:30 p.m. to 8:00 p.m. at the Cal Anderson Park Shelter House to engage with your neighbors, hear from local groups and organizations involved in making Capitol Hill stronger and healthier, and get involved!

Special thanks to the support of my mentors and friends, Stacy Kitahata; Sara McCaslin; and, Jessica Trupin for helping with my column.