The City Council on Monday approved three projects as winners of this year’s Neighborhood Project Grants in the LaCrosse, Talbot Hill and Maplewood neighborhoods.

This year’s neighborhood grant winning projects are:

• Create a social, meditation and reflection area in the LaCrosse Homeowner’s Association community garden, $1,965;

• Revitalize the area around the entrance, improve the signage and add seating for visitors who walk in the area of the Talbot Hill Neighborhood Association, $2,010; and

• Erect a bus shelter for the school children to protect themselves from the elements in the Maplewood Neighborhood Association, $1,592.

Projects suitable for the grants are any costing more than $1,000 and are designed to promote networking among residents, communication between the city government and citizens and to enhance one of the city’s many neighborhoods with something it may be lacking, be it a simple welcome sign or a tile mosaic at a park, or even something larger, like the $23,000 landscaping and irrigation project along Northeast Third Street that planted trees to protect the view corridor.

The projects are completed my volunteers form the neighborhood.

Next up for the neighborhood program are the annual picnics. The first scheduled picnic is June 12 for South Renton.

To see a full schedule of neighborhood picnics, visit http://rentonwa.gov/living/default.aspx?id=2226