COMMITTEES

BVNA produces general membership meetings anchored around a rotating set of themes and topics of interest to members, in keeping with our core mission of facilitating a public discussion forum and connecting neighbors with city services, agencies, programs, and elected officials.

The committee seeks to identify content that is timely and relevant, secures speakers, handles facilities & arrangements, event promotion, and day-of logistics such as setup, breakdown, sign-in, A/V, and introducing speakers or moderating the panel. In the past, special guests have included various city and state elected officials, as well as representatives from the PWD, PGW, PPA, OPA, Dept of Revenue, Fire Department, OEM, MDO, OTIS/Transportation, Streets, L&I, OSHA, School District / Area School Principals, 9th St Market district, South Street Headhouse District, Victim Witness Services, DBHDIS, DAO, faith based and other local community partner groups.

The Events Committee has been producing the always-popular happy hours around the neighborhood, along with other community-building events — such as holiday cookie swaps, soup exchange, bowling nights, art tours, and meetups at area parks, coffee shops, and restaurants.   The Events and Programming Committee may work together to produce special events such as Night at the Phillies, benefit concerts, civic mixers, home and garden tours, Red Cross blood drives, and more.

BVNA transportation committee aims to make navigating Bella Vista safer and more accessible for people on foot, bike, bus, and car. The committee, in close partnership with the public safety committee, coordinates requests into various public/city agencies. The committee serves as the point of contact for traffic safety related concerns, transportation projects, and advocates for necessary transportation infrastructure and walkability improvements. Past projects included participation in two major complete streets repaving projects (11th and Washington Ave), Indego station installation, supporting slow zone applications, municipal lot renovation and meter introduction,  and designing and successfully advocating for the installation of 2 new crosswalks and stop signs near schools, and seeking funding for 6th/Passyunk & 7th/Passyunk curb extension, ADA ramps, crosswalks and/or pedestrian refuge.

BVNA Beautification committee aims to reduce litter and trash in our neighborhood, coordinates recycling, conducts weeding, and generally works to keep the Bella in Bella Vista. The committee coordinates volunteer spring and fall clean-ups, targeted spot clean-ups, distribution of recycling bins to all neighbors, Yard Tree Giveaway, and more. In 2018, we also launched our first-ever, donation funded, Sidewalk and Curb Sweeping!

The BVNA Communications Committee supports the effective and efficient flow of accurate information between BVNA and Bella Vista residents. The committee’s goal is to inform the community not only about BVNA activities and concerns, but also about partner neighborhood organizations. The Communications committee helps maintain the BVNA website, its social-media presence, and oversees production of our two newsletters. Sub-committees focus on the print and weekly e-news, respectively.

The Fundraising & Development Committee’s job is to keep BVNA financially viable in order to advance the organization’s mission of improving quality of life in Bella Vista. It makes the work of our other committees possible, allows us to continue to deliver services, produce annual events in partnership with the 3rd District, Parks, Schools, and Cultural Institutions, as well as helps keep the lights on by funding the various operating and administrative expenses such as insurance, website, email, print, and other systems.

The Zoning committee fulfills the RCO responsibilities under the city’s zoning code by moderating community presentations for variance requests, civic design review, PLCB liquor licenses, and sidewalk cafe applications. The committee provides feedback on the plans, helps near neighbors understand the nuances and potential impacts of new development or additions, flyers for upcoming meetings, and issues advisory letters. BVNA Zoning committee volunteers often include architects and other building trade professionals. To learn more about how the committee operates visit our Zoning page.

BVNA’s Public Safety Committee helps keep our neighborhood a safe place to live, and fosters police community partnership. To learn more about our crime prevention strategy, upcoming meetings, and access various safety resources, please visit our Public Safety Page.

The goal of the historic preservation committee is to proactively catalogue buildings in Bella Vista that follow stated significance criteria of the Historical Commission. Bella Vista has only a few properties on the city’s historic register, and it is up to volunteers to propose properties of significance, propose standards that preserve the character of materials, and otherwise advocate for responsible development that encourages adaptive reuse, sustainability, and tenant protection. Visit our Preservation page for more info.

The Bella Vista Neighborhood Association Climate Committee was established in the summer of 2022. Driven by community and neighborhood input and informed by the climate crisis, we are initially coalescing fragmented climate positive opportunities and programs in order to support implementing healthy decarbonization strategies both within our neighborhood and for our membership. Our public surveys have informed our initial goal of supporting residents' transition to cleaner, healthier and less fossil-fuel reliance of home energy and power inputs. Our end goal is to become a novel civic model of climate-related resilience and climate positive living through programs, education, collaboration, and incentives. Interested in learning more and getting involved in this volunteer committee? Contact our office to be put in touch with Jason, Climate & Sustainability Committee lead.