The Seminole Holland Neighborhood Association is hoping to turn the clock back a few decades to the close-knit communities of years past.

"We want to try to make it a friendlier place to live," said Trisha Pearson, president of the association.

"We're bringing it back to the Beaver Cleaver kind of thing, for neighborhoods to be like that where kids are safer and neighbors watch out for each other's kids."

Pearson was recently chosen to lead the newly formed association, which represents the neighborhood bordered by Sunshine and Sunset streets and Campbell and National avenues.

City officials say neighborhood associations are an effective way to create a shared voice that can make an impact.

"The city definitely listens to a neighborhood organization, because they know it's a collection of a large number of households that are speaking to the city," said Randall Whitman, a planner with the city's Neighborhood Conservation Office.

"It is the amplified communication between a lot of households versus just one very vocal household."

Pearson said having a stronger voice in the city will be an advantage for the association.

"One of the things we really want to accomplish as a neighborhood association is to become a louder collective voice for people in the neighborhood," Pearson said.

An issue the new association plans to watch closely is proposed changes to the intersection at Seminole and National.

"We want to keep an eye on that and Seminole Street, because that cuts right through the heart of our neighborhood association," Pearson said.

On an issue such as the intersection improvement, the city won't always be able to accommodate what a neighborhood association requests, Whitman said.

However, he said the city listens when an association speaks.

"When a neighborhood comes to us and says 'We've got an issue,' we take it very seriously because we know there's a lot of people involved and a lot of people represented by the neighborhood," Whitman said.

As many as 60 people have been coming to the meetings of the new association, which charges $5 for an individual and $10 for a business to join.

Pearson said some neighbors were concerned about the association becoming a controlling group that will try to dictate house colors and grass heights.

The group isn't about that, Pearson said.

"There are city ordinances out there for that," she said.

Instead, the group is a way to create a closer community where neighbors are inspired to interact with one another, she said.

One idea the group has hatched is a tool library where neighbors can borrow needed tools and implements to help with community upkeep.

"If the lady across the street doesn't have a rake and physically cannot rake her yard, the neighbors can get together and borrow tools from the library and go help the lady across the street," Pearson said.

Pearson has seen the kindness of her neighbors firsthand. In 2003, just a year after she moved to the neighborhood, her house burned down.

"I was stunned by the amount of neighbors that came out to help me," she said. "They offered me their homes, they offered me food, they did my laundry. I would like everyone to have that kind of feeling."