By MARK HIGGINS
SEATTLE POST-INTELLIGENCER REPORTER

Roger Faris is the kind of guy everybody would love to have as a neighbor.

For years, Faris has dispensed a variety of household tools and pearls of homeowner wisdom on topics such as leaky basements, rickety fences and local contractors.

Rule No. 1 in Seattle's Phinney Ridge neighborhood: "Go see Roger" before launching a home improvement project.

Faris runs a community "tool library" housed in the basement of the old John B. Allen School, which has been converted into the versatile Phinney Neighborhood Center.

Faris has provided tools and practical advice to Phinney Ridge residents for 17 years, an accomplishment that earned him the title "neighborhood hero" in last year's Farmer's Almanac.

"I used to be a contractor in the 1970s, but this is more fun," says Faris. "It's so obvious to me that people really appreciate this."

Residents like Faris have helped make a sense of community spirit permeate through Phinney Ridge, one of Seattle's favorite family neighborhoods. What sets Phinney Ridge apart is the degree to which residents share in the lives of their friends and neighbors.

Through Phinney's Neighborhood Association, residents host a huge annual garage sale, seasonal wine- and beer-tasting parties, a spring home tour, a potluck dinner series called Dinners For Eight, and even a mystery book exchange.

The association's annual Good Neighbors Auction in March grossed about $28,000. It also generated money to help pay the operating costs of a van used by a local church to pick up homeless women downtown and bring them back to Phinney Ridge where they get a warm, safe night's sleep.

Ed Medeiros left a high-pressure career in molecular biology at Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Center in 1981 to help run Phinney's Neighborhood Association.

At the time, Medeiros was helping build storm windows for low-income seniors and people with disabilities, and he says, "I knew immediately I was making a difference."

With Medeiros as executive director, the Phinney Neighborhood Association now employs five full-time employees and a supporting cast of more than two dozen part-time workers. Its annual $750,000 budget is generated by room rentals, membership fees and fund raisers -- no public money.

On a recent weekday, three rooms were rented by a Celtic music association, a tap dance class and an aerobics class for mothers with infants.

Phinney's business district also has shown a willingness to be involved: The recent auction was sponsored by more than a dozen businesses, including Ken's Market, Starbucks, Greenwood True Value Hardware, Gary's Games and Linda Teachout, CPA.

Continued:

• Ridge's topography gives it a unique setting
• Zoo sounds add to area's playful air
• Fostering community connections in time of change
• Phinney popular with residents and merchants