Oakcliff frustrated with lack of action on bridge. Residents of the Oakcliff area along Knoxville Avenue north of Lake Street say they’ve been waiting for more than a year for repairs to a deteriorating bridge on Oakcliff, plus removal of brush and debris there.

There are about 500 residents in that neighborhood, and their organization has appealed to the City and City Council representatives with little result.

“People are seeing red and ready to go postal,” said Oakcliff neighborhood Association president Dorian LaSaine. “It seems like the City just doesn’t care.”

Neighborhood cleanups start in April. City of Peoria Neighborhood Development Specialist Steve Fairbanks told The Community Word that one PDC dumpster is available for each neighborhood association – up to 20 dumpsters. For details, contact him by phoning 494-8250 or emailing sfairbanks@peoriagov.org.

All year – actually, from April 4 through Nov. 7 – Peoria’s neighborhoods will participate in Saturday morning cleanups, and dumpster request forms are available through Fairbanks’ office for those, too.

2015 Neighborhood Leadership Awards. The 2015 Neighborhood Leadership Awards Banquet on March 26 resulted in the recognition of three octogenarians, a teenager, and a not-for-profit business. Receiving awards at the events at the Hotel Pere Marquette were:

* Marilynn Trinder, a member of the Randolph-Roanoke Neighborhood Association, who won the Mayor’s Award, given to residents whose efforts over the years have resulted in a positive change physically or socially in the quality of life in their neighborhood. Trinder was awarded for her 50 years of community activism, which includes leading an effort in the 1970s to prevent a business from demolishing homes in her neighborhood to build a parking lot;

* Bernadine Nolan, a member of the Columbia Terrace North Neighborhood Association, honored with the Ted Bannon “Brick” Award, given to someone who engages civic leaders in the completion of specific neighborhood improvement projects. Nolan and her husband led the development of Day Spring Park;

* Herb Gress, a resident of the East Bluff, who won the Richard “Fuzzy” Lenz Award, which is given to a “quiet, behind-the-scenes person” who assists neighbors with no expectation of recognition or reward. Gress builds Little Free Libraries installed in the East Bluff to provide free books to children and adults;

* The Peoria Housing Authority, named Business Award winner for firms that demonstrate a commitment to improving the community. The PHA was recognized for 75 years of “providing affordable, quality housing and services, public benefits, educational programs and employment-related services”; and

* Madison Leigh Hall of the Columbia Terrace North Neighborhood Association won the Youth Award, given to a person under the age of 18 who has worked to improve their community. Hall is a leader of a community youth group and helps maintain a neighborhood park.