Baker Farm at Wythe Creek

Baker Farm at Wythe Creek

The Baker Farm Community

If you have information about the history of the neighborhood - or about what was here before the neighborhood was built - send it to a site coordinator and we'll post it in this section.

Our Neighborhood Community in Action

We have two volunteer groups that help make our neighborhood a better place to live. One is the Neighborhood Watch Program, and the other group is the Baker Farm Community Foundation.

Neighborhood Watch

The purpose of Neighborhood Watch is to keep our neighborhood safe by keeping residents aware of what's happening, reporting suspicious activity to the police, and informing each other about activities and events.

This is a purely volunteer effort and is recognized by the city of Hampton. The city posts a Neighborhood Watch sign at the entrance to the neighborhood to show that the group is active. In order to keep our status active with the city, and keep the sign posted, we have to hold two meetings a year to discuss neighborhood issues.

The Baker Farm Community Foundation

This volunteer group was created in 2006. Its primary purpose is to manage the maintenance and beautification of the front entrance to the neighborhood. A committee of several neighbors set up a non-profit organization, opened a bank account, and planned the front entrance improvements and maintenance.

Since we have no neighborhood association or dues of any kind, no one was taking care of the common areas of the front entrance. This entrance represents our neighborhood to all who enter or pass by, and many neighbors are concerned with the image it projects, as well as the impact it may have on property values.
 
In previous meetings, many neighbors agreed to help with the upkeep, either financially or with their own labor (or both). However, like the rest of us, these neighbors have their own yards to take care of and don't always have time to do the work.

A meeting was held August 14, 2006 to decide what to do about it. The general consensus was that it isn't right to expect a few to do all the work or spend their own money for something that benefits the entire neighborhood. Joan Perris and other neighbors got some estimates from landscaping companies, and determined that if each household in the neighborhood would contribute $50 annually, we would be able to hire professionals to take care of the enrance.

This contribution is strictly voluntary, as there is no way to enforce it without creating a governing entity of some kind, to which most neighbors are opposed. Therefore, a committe was formed to put this together as a purely volunteer group funded by voluntary contributions.

Most neighbors have expressed that $50 a year is a very reasonable amount. This breaks down to less than $1 a week per household. With about 120 homes in the neighborhood, that could result in having around $6000 availabe. So far, however, we have had much less support than that, so we have had to make do with what we do get.

Your help is needed to make this a success! Please chip in when the flyer comes around asking for contributions. If you can't manage $50, a smaller contribution will be gladly accepted.