Wellington Heights prepares action plan to change image

Improving an old, image-challenged neighborhood like Wellington Heights takes more than rolling out of bed or throwing darts at a board.

Some heavy lifting toward change already is taking place in the southeast Cedar Rapids neighborhood, and more is in the offing.

Last week, city officials convened public get-togethers over two days at St. Paul's United Methodist Church in the neighborhood for residents and those otherwise invested in the neighborhood to shape their thoughts into an action plan for the years ahead.

On Thursday, the second day of the public discussion, participants had identified these key issues to take on: vehicle traffic flow; personal safety; property maintenance and code enforcement; crime prevention; aesthetics like parks, lighting and litter; a lack of family-oriented activities and spaces; an imbalance of rental v. owner-occupied housing; and population density.

Terry Bilsland, the longtime president of the Wellington Heights Neighborhood Association who stepped down from the post in February, on Thursday said the planning exercise was a welcome addition to good things already happening in the neighborhood.

The most revolutionary of the neighborhood changes already under way, he noted, centers on the year-old initiative of Four Oaks and its Affordable Housing Network to buy 50-plus rundown properties, renovate them, convert some to homeownership and manage others as rental property.

"They're making a big difference," Bilsland said.

Bob Bembenek, a member of the neighborhood association's board of directors and a local Realtor, said Wellington Heights is faring better than it had been several years ago when he said drug dealing on certain corners was not uncommon. Even so, each time a new police incident happens in the neighborhood it reinforces a perception about Wellington Heights as a problem neighborhood, he said.

Part of the neighborhood effort is to change the perception, and Bembenek said small matters, like cleaning up litter, can provide a big help.

"We can't put a necktie on everybody … but if we could keep the place cleaned up. … It's an image problem," he said.

Jeff Capps, executive director of Cedar Valley Habitat for Humanity, on Thursday said his non-profit group is working in Wellington Heights in a program called "A Brush With Kindness." The program has improved the exteriors of 20 owner-occupied homes since 2010 and will provide fix-ups to exteriors of 20 more homes this summer.

Capps said better code enforcement, an improved sense of personal safety and a larger percentage of owner-occupied homes in the neighborhood will benefit the neighborhood.

Former Mayor Kay Halloran, a Wellington Heights resident, said the neighborhood is progressing, but the progress has been "slow."

"There's no point in throwing a bunch of money into what isn't going to work," Halloran said. But she said steps like the city's success some years ago in convincing Hy-Vee Food Stores to build a new grocery store on the edge of the neighborhood can help make a big difference.

Nadine Borngraeber on Thursday said she is helping her son, a recent Coe College graduate, who is fixing up a second foreclosed home in Wellington Heights in his spare time. He lives in one of the houses and is looking for a quality renter for the second.

Borngraeber, who recently moved to Cedar Rapids from Wisconsin with her husband, said Wellington Heights is an ideal place for revitalization because it is close to the city's new Medical District, close to downtown employers and downtown night life and has properties available to fix up and call home.

"If you're willing to put in some elbow grease, you're going to come out with a gem," she said. "Wellington Heights has seen its rough times, and it's on the verge …"