Greg Roche’s survey of the neighborhood is not yet complete, but very close. To date he was able to provide us a new total count of homes in Woodland Heights. He reports counting 1967 homes, that’s down from 2167. That old number likely goes back to a decade or more. Over the years, the trend is that older and smaller homes get knocked down to make way for much larger homes. There are blocks were we thought we’d deliver 8 newsletters in the past, but in 2026 we actually only need 4 or 5! We use this count to determine how many newsletters each newsletter volunteer is signing up to deliver and how many streets we need to cover.
On a related note, some of you might have noticed that the last two times we’ve distributed printed WHCA newsletters they arrived in a thin plastic bag. I say some, since this was an initiative that Stella Espinosa came up with. Given the rain in late November 2025, she decided to bag those newsletters that the two of us had signed up to distribute.
It turns out that the thin plastic bags that realtors sometimes use are quite cheap and readily available. While it takes a little extra effort to stuff the newsletters into bags, they provide a considerable number of advantages. They certainly keep the item from getting wet. Being clear plastic, it’s still obvious that the neighborhood newsletter is what’s inside.
The little hole at the top makes it fast and easy to hang the newsletter on a doorknob or fence. This is important since it’s actually illegal for volunteers to put them into your mailbox. That privilege is reserved for official USPS letter carriers alone.
The bags reduce the chance that a newsletter will fall to the ground, becoming litter. We think that’s worth the extra effort.
And while we're on the topic of newsletters, homes, and volunteers - please consider signing up to be a newsletter or door hanger volunteer when the next call goes out. We always appreciate the extra hands and feet from all our volunteer newsies!
