Dasani water? It's from your Charlotte tap

One of the best tidbits out of the Merry Oaks Neighborhood Association meeting Thursday night:

That Dasani water you buy at the store? It's bottled right here, in Charlotte, near the Charlotte-Mecklenburg water treatment plant off Tyvola Road. That's the word from a CMUD presenter who spoke at the meeting.

And while it's no secret that bottled water often comes from the tap, it's still a bit startling to remember.

Curious: Does Dasani filter out the chemical making the chlorine smell that comes from tap water in Charlotte? Or does CMUD provide Dasani water that has fewer chemicals in it?

More on the meeting later.

Merry Oaks meeting and precinct update

The Merry Oaks Neighborhood Association will hold its regular, quarterly meeting at 7 p.m. Thursday, Feb. 28, at Merry Oaks Elementary School.

On the agenda: the ever popular police report and perhaps discussion of making future meetings more social, except when events require coordinated, organized action. Board members are seeking new ideas from residents and many ongoing issues remain: code enforcement, Section 8 housing, nearby development. See the Spring 2008 neighborhood newsletter, linked from Neighborhood Link for more.

Precinct 29 Democrats update: Seven people turned out. Marcus Williams is chair, and Jan Snead is vice chair.

Very local politics

Precinct 29 Democrats plan an organizational meeting Tuesday, Feb. 19, at 7 p.m. at Merry Oaks Elementary.

Recent news about the sheriff's post in Mecklenburg County has highlighted the importance of local party organization. Joining a Facebook group for a presidential candidate is not enough to make a difference in how politics affects people directly.
So show up.

Equal time notice: If any other party plans similar organizational meetings, I'll be glad to post the information.

More information from Jan Snead, posted on the neighborhood Google group:

"We need five officers to form an organization. The group must meet again by March 12th to be considered a valid organization for the county Democratic Party elections in April. Our chairman has resigned, so a new one must be elected, and if we don't organize, we don't get any votes.

"The Mecklenburg County Democratic Convention also chooses delegates to the state convention, who choose the delegates to the national Democratic Party Convention in August.

"So if you ever wanted to know how you can help Democrats to get elected, or how to become more involved on a local level, please come out. We need your support! And if you don't want to be directly involved, but would like to stuff envelopes or call neighbors, we can give you information on who to call and how to start."

Chinese New Year on Central Avenue (or why did the dragon cross the road?)

Traditional Chinese lions and a dragon danced at Dim Sum restaurant at 2920 Central Avenue on Sunday to celebrate Chinese New Year. Performers drew a crowd to the restaurant's parking lot and slowed -- and sometimes stopped -- traffic along Central Avenue. The sound of drums drew people from nearby neighborhoods.
For more information on Chinese New Year, try Wikipedia as a starting point.

The Vyne: Update II in photos

Feb. 3, from Central Avenue (above).


Jan. 19, from Central Avenue (above).

Photos shot Feb. 3 detail continuing work at The Vyne at Central Avenue and Briar Creek Road. I've tried (amateurishly) to match a couple of the February photos with those from the same angles from Jan. 19, with two bonus photos from Feb. 3 at the end. Grading and other site work has continued since that date; that's why the bonus photos at the end are interesting. The old Plummer house sat on a bit of a knoll, as is clear from the Terraserver image in an earlier post. The site is more level now, with some elevation for that skyline view perhaps lost. Still, you can catch a bit of downtown's buildings framed by the dirt mover in the last photo. Big water or sewer pipes are stacked at the site now as well.


Feb. 3, from Briar Creek Road (above).


Jan. 19, from Briar Creek Road (above).


Feb. 3, from Central Avenue (above).


Feb. 3, from Briar Creek Road, with a bit of skyline (above).

Wherever you go, there you are

Lots of stuff here is about local things:
Being here, in this community, at the upper end of Briar Creek, connected to the Catawba River.
As a treat, I'm sharing a link to a naturalist's quiz that can challenge you to be more aware of where you are, right now, and how the things you do affect your place.
Check out Kevin Kelly's quiz here.

Coventry Woods vs. Zoning Board

Zoning update in their own words from the Coventry Woods Neighborhood Association. This is a fairly close-in eastside neighborhood that works together to try to preserve their established neighborhood. The post is long, and edited somewhat, but it's a complicated issue that's important to a small group of people. It's also about trying to save trees.

"After an all morning session Tuesday, Jan. 29, the Zoning Board of Adjustments voted late that afternoon on one of two appeals placed before it by the Coventry Woods Neighborhood Association, and voted to examine the second appeal in the near future.

The ZBA voted 4-to-1 against the CWNA's contention that notification should have been given property owners adjacent to the Independence Woods subdevelopment project.

Independence Woods received preliminary subdivision approval in December 2006; notice of project approval was posted to the City-County's Charmeck web site page close to a month later, long after the 10-day window for appeal had expired.

ZBA member Chet Rabon, an attorney, said the CWNA is in a "classic 'Catch-22' situation" and that the Planning staff's lack of formal notification to the Coventry Woods and Cedars East neighborhoods created a due-process issue -- "a situation fundamentally unfair to Coventry Woods."

The remaining ZBA members said that Zoning Ordinances specify notification of adjacent property owners only in code-specified instances, an argument put forward by the City Attorney's office; or that, simply, the stated 10-day deadline passed.

The remaining appeal before the ZBA concerns the applicability of the tree-save ordinance, which gives a "density bonus" to developers who set aside a percentage of land for saving existing tree canopy.

The East Charlotte tract in question, between Independence Boulevard and Amity Place, adjoining the Coventry Woods and Cedars East neighborhoods, is zoned R-4: It calls for four lots per acre.

Because of the tree-save proviso and other bonuses, the Planning department's subdivision staff gave developer Jerry Rigsby the go-ahead to develop the 15.8 acres with lots that are the equivalent of 10 per acre; plus the OK to build houses with only 6 feet between them. The increase in density from standard R-4 exceeds 20 percent.

Most of the tract has been clear-cut and graded; the long-established tree canopy there has been bulldozed; the net result of the tree-save and other bonuses has been to allow a de facto rezoning bereft of a formal rezoning and the public input a formal rezoning would require.

Through its attorney, Kenneth Davies of Davies & Grist, the CWNA will pursue the appropriateness of the tree-save bonuses given Independence Woods at an upcoming ZBA session.

In the meantime, the CWNA will pursue various appellate options.

....The Mayor and City Council have pledged to focus attention on maintaining and improving life in East Charlotte. Meanwhile, the bottom has fallen out of the sub-prime housing market, and the government, media and public is decrying the proliferation of poor-quality subdivisions.

But the city Planning staff nonetheless is defending its approval of Independence Woods, a low-quality, in-fill project... ."

The Vyne: An update in photos

The Vyne, a complex of 99 flats at the corner of Central Avenue and Briar Creek Road, is becoming reality.
The photos with trees were taken on Jan. 12, from Central Avenue. Photos without so many trees (the top five in this post) were taken on Jan. 20. The top two are from Central Avenue; the following three are from Briar Creek Road.
Elevation map from Terraserver.com
Aerial photo from Google Earth, with the old Plummer house highlighted by a red square.

New pipe organ for Elizabeth

The Elizabeth neighborhood is getting a new pipe organ, made in Quebec.
The parts arrive at St. Johns Baptist Church on Sunday, Jan. 27, and church members will help unload the pieces from a truck and bring them into the sanctuary after the 10:30 a.m. service.

The church, at the corner of Hawthorne Lane and Fifth Street, is providing lunch for helpers. See more pictures of the organ being built here.

Through February and March, the organ, called Opus 113, will be assembled in the renovated sanctuary, and the organ pipes will get their new "voices" with testing. Organ builders will work six days a week, giving a "voice" to each of the more-than 2,500 pipes. It makes its debut in Easter services on March 23.

The organ is from the Sainte-Hyacinthe, Quebec, factory of highly respected Letourneau Organs. (Hint: You really want to click on the company link to see and listen to other organs the company has built.)

Letourneau Organs has built organs for Christ Church in Vienna, Austria, and the chapel at Selwyn College at Cambridge, England. Its new magnum opus is at the Episcopal Church of St. John the Divine in Houston.

Questions? Contact Minister of Music Warren Howell through the church office at (704) 333-5428.
Photo courtesy of Warren and Maureen Howell, taken in summer 2007, showing some of the wooden pipes of the church's organ being crafted at the Sainte-Hyacinthe factory.

Commonwealth Park vs. hotels

Members of the Commonwealth Park Neighborhood Association plan to attend a City Council public hearing on Monday, Jan. 14, to make their case for tighter laws that govern hotels.
The neighborhood is across Central Avenue from Merry Oaks, adjacent to Independence Boulevard. Residents have long been concerned about crime spillover from nearby hotels on Independence.
Monday, Jan. 14 update: Victoria Cherrie of The Charlotte Observer writes about the issue here. (Link will die in two weeks.)
Tuesday, Jan. 15, update: The change in law passed, and about 60 Commonwealth Park residents showed up at the meeting to support the change.

A letter written by the neighborhood association to be sent to the council's safety committee says, in part, "As you are aware, the safety and quality of life in our neighborhood has been adversely impacted by the nuisance hotels on Independence Boulevard for many years."
Proposed ordinance changes would allow city agencies (code enforcement) to regulate lodging establishments that are not currently being regulated by the state, through the county's health department. In a letter to the neighborhood association, Maj. Diego Anselmo of the Charlotte-Mecklenburg Police Department said the changes in the ordinance "will help local law enforcement address criminal activity that is taking place on lodging establishment property by holding the owner/operator accountable for this activity."
The CPNA is seeking a good turnout for the 7:30 p.m. meeting Monday, at the Charlotte-Mecklenburg Government Center. Go here for a Google map or directions.
The neighborhood used their Google group to organize much of their efforts against the hotels. For more details, check it out.

Making low-income housing safer

Merry Oaks residents greeted the new year with news of a shooting on Arnold Drive that left one man dead and another charged with murder.
Neither party was a resident of the neighborhood, or of the nearby Hillcrest Apartments where the shooting occurred.

Still, the neighborhood cares: about perception of the neighborhood, about safety and about the family of the victim and about the law-abiding residents of the apartments.
Neighborhood online forum participants are more than tired of the crime in nearby low-income apartments. The regional property manager for Westminster Properties, owners of the Hillcrest Apartments, has responded on the neighborhood Google group, saying recent legislative changes have made it more difficult for providers of low-income housing to control crime by non-residents.

Many questions surface, from a variety of perspectives:
How much money are the owners making from the federal Section 8 housing program? Does that program work when it fills entire complexes with low-income residents and counts on local police to manage the problems? Are there better alternatives to housing low-income people? How can those property owners control non-residential access? How can cities filled with growth and new condos provide low-income housing without concentrating crime and school resegregation? Would increasing incentives for police officers, firefighters and EMT works to live in such complexes help? How can neighbors help?

Charlotte has a history of strong, nonprofit, efficient organizations that make change happen. Perhaps the community can find ways to improve policies and programs to increase safety for low-income housing residents and nearby neighborhoods.

Some resources:
The N.C. Housing Coalition The organization, based in Raleigh, states its mission is to lead a campaign for housing to ensure that working families, people in crisis, seniors, and persons with disabilities may live with dignity and opportunity. Safety is a key part of their efforts.
Housing Charlotte: An initiative to find new solutions to address Charlotte's growing affordable housing problem.


Other references:
Westminster Properties, the owners of Hillcrest. You can get a list of their other Charlotte properties.
Grier Heights Neighborhood Initiative: a pdf document listing community efforts to improve the Grier Heights neighborhood several years back, including the owners of Grier Park Apartments giving the keys to their rental office to the police. I'm unclear whether Westminster owned those apartments at the time. The company owns those apartments now, according to its website.

Text of the note from Bert Wray, regional property manager of Westminster Properties, posted on the Merry Oaks neighborhood Google group:

"Dear Merry Oaks neighbors,

Our new year has unfortunately stepped off with the tragic event that unfolded in the early hours of Tuesday morning. As a representative of the 48 families that reside at Hillcrest Apartments, I, as well as my staff on-site, am just as concerned about the criminal activity that has literally been brought to the front pages over the past months.

As an introduction, as the Regional Property Manager for Westminster Company, I represent the owners of Hillcrest Apartments as part of a nationally accredited property management organization. I oversee the management of seven properties in the Charlotte area. Westminster Company specializes in the management of affordable or subsidized housing. Due to the nature of our mission, security is a major priority for me and my staff. Every resident that enters into a lease with our property has passed a criminal and credit screening, as well as landlord references. We are serious about our stance against drugs and crime and use our contracts that we sign with our residents as our only form of enforcement. Let me emphasize that these steps apply to our lease-signing residents. The violent crimes that have occurred at Hillcrest Apartments in the past months have been at the hands of individuals who do not live in our community. They do, however, visit within the community and have ties to Hillcrest Apartments. It is these “visitors” that are the source of our pain and I have little to no means of screening these individuals or even identifying them.

Our most important ally in our war against crime is the police department. We have an excellent relationship with CMPD and its officers. We have always made proactive strides to improve our security to prevent crime instead of reacting to crime. We have openly expressed our need to ban any non-residents who commit crimes in or around our property. Recent legislation changes have made this process impractical and almost impossible. As the landlord, we must be present with CMPD and the individual to be banned, in order to legally ban them from the property. As we all know, the activity that would lead to these bans almost always occurs outside of business hours when the manager is not on site. In the past, we could enter an agreement with CMPD authorizing any officer to execute a trespass order without our presence. As far as our residents at Hillcrest, everyone who has been arrested for criminal activity, or had direct involvement in such activity has been given a lease termination. However, enforcement of that termination ultimately is in the hands of our magistrates.

Making a long story short, many of our limitations in limiting crime within our community stem from decisions and legislation that are made by municipalities and organizations that like to look at the big picture without zooming in on reality. That reality is that our police force needs the freedom to identify and remove individuals who are known cancers to our community. I have asked representatives of Eastway Division CMPD for a list of apartment managers in the area so we can share information to prevent recycling any poor residents and their guests.

As law abiding citizens and residents, I enlist your help to pressure the powers that be to authorize the necessary power to enable CMPD and landlords to eliminate problems, and potential problems, from our community. Also, understand that we at Hillcrest Apartments have an important yet challenging role to provide affordable housing to families in need as an opportunity to better their lives and positively impact society.

Bert Wray
Regional Property Manager
Westminster Company"

Briar Creek rises

Glorious rain refills Briar Creek at the Merry Oaks Greenway bridge off Arnold Drive after an incredibly dry fall. The top picture is from Dec. 30. The next picture below is from Oct. 28, after rains, but not enough. The bottom picture is from Oct. 21.
Photos courtesy of Lulu the Wonderdog, who belongs to neighbor Chantal, and who was more than happy to take a walk in the rain.
More creek pictures here.





[where: 1900 Arnold Drive, Charlotte, NC 28205]

Eastside neighborhood zoning update

Residents of Coventry Woods and Cedars East received a continuance in their appeal with the Zoning Board of Adjustments until 9 a.m. on Jan. 29.
Background here.

Eastside neighborhood asks for support

Sharing a request from neighbors in Coventry Woods and Cedars East, eastside neighborhoods a little further southeast in a zoning battle. If you take a look at The Observer's foreclosures map, you'll see reasons these neighbors do need help. They're asking for a show of strength at a meeting at 12:30 on Tuesday downtown.


"On the afternoon of Dec. 11, the Zoning Board of Adjustments will hear the appeal of the Coventry Woods Neighborhood Association. We will be arguing against the City Planning staff. Last December, the Planning staff approved a subdivision on an R-4 tract adjoining the Coventry Woods and Cedars East neighborhoods.
It is the same tract the CWNA fought over in the 2003-97 Rezoning case. And we're up against the same developer: Jerry Rigsby, of Independence Capital LLC.
Though the land is zoned R-4 and protected as such by the Eastside Strategies and Eastland Area plans, Rigsby received the approval to devlop the site as R-5 Cluster. The density approved is 23.3 percent greater than R-4 allows; instead of 60 or 63 houses, he plans to build 74 houses on small lots that are the equivalent of 10 per acre. The Subdivision staff approved Rigsby's plan as a by-right development. Neither public notification nor a formal rezoning was required.
We only learned of this Independence Woods development -- between Amity Place and the back of Town & Country Ford -- this summer. He has since cleared the site.
The CWNA has met repeatedly with the Planning staff; they insist their decision was correct.
We beg to differ. Most assuredly.
We filed an appeal with the quasi-judicial Zoning Board of Adjustments, which will hear our appeal the afternoon of Tuesday, Dec. 11. We have flyered the Coventry Woods, Cedars East and Candlewood Condos communities: A strong turnout is crucial. The ZBA needs to know how wrong this project is.
We are asking for members of other East Side organizations to attend, as well. Will you help us by getting word to your board and your membership?
Your attendance is a show of support we greatly appreciate.
Also, our appeal can be viewed as a test case for how the serious the city is about protection, preservation and revitalization of East Charlotte. Our elected officials and the Economic Development staff tell us that East Charlotte is high on their agenda. Ultimately, the Planning staff will help us -- or sink us.
Here are the details on the hearing. We hope to see you there with us!
-- Board of Directors, CWNA


WHEN: Tuesday, Dec. 11, afternoon session of the ZBA. (The session begins at
12:30, there are two cases before ours; please come when you can.)
WHERE: 8th Floor of the Government Building, at 600 E. Fourth St. (at
Davidson St., uptown).
PARKING: Park in the City-County deck on Davidson, between 3rdand 4th.
Details, comments, advice? E-mail info@coventrywoods.org

A web of trails for 15 counties

Dave Cable, executive director of the Catawba Lands Conservancy, will talk about plans for the Carolina Threads Trail at the Civic By Design Forum at 5:30 p.m. Tuesday, Dec. 11, at the Levine Museum of the New South.
The trail looks more like a network or web -- see a potential map.
It is planned to be a regional trail network that will eventually reach 15 counties and link cities, towns, and attractions.
Dan Huntley, long-time columnist for The York Observer, writes about the trail plans here. (The link might not exist forever).
The Levine Museum of the New South is at 200 East Seventh Street. There's
free parking at the Seventh Street garage.

Merry Oaks update tidbits

Deer
They're here, late and early on our neighborhood streets and back yards. Be careful driving after dark, for your sake and the deer. Nancy Pierce spotted one on Flynnwood Drive on a recent evening. They've also been seen in the greenway.

Outside.In
The place-blogging organized aggregator has interesting news and ideas here.

Local business recommendations
Good recent car care recommendations at the Merry Oaks Google Group at the Merry Oaks Google Group.

Merry Oaks events
You don't have to sign up or log in to see events at Neighborhood Link. If you'd like to add an event, you do have to sign in or sign up.
It's here.

Keeping track of neighborhood events

Merry Oaks is definitely cool. A neighbor posted to the Google Group about several recent events involving artists in the neighborhood, and another neighbor responded by asking about calendar tools to keep track of all the cool stuff people are doing.

As online tools continue to improve, friends and neighbors struggle to keep up with the technology and choose the right tool. Newspapers and other media are in the same boat.

No matter the technology, the truth is the biggest hurdle is the inputting of data, just like keeping your own calendar at home.

Artists want to create and perform, not promote. And some like to live quietly in the neighborhood under the radar. And while we all like to keep up with political and community events nearby, as 2008 approaches, we don't just want inbox politician spam.

But sometimes you're just proud of your neighbors and want to share. And sometimes you want help from others to keep track of all the great stuff people are doing.

To reach everyone, we ought to use several tools in these days of fragmentation. And sometimes, word of mouth on a sidewalk or a low-tech flyer posted at Dish still work best. Or sometimes, forming partnerships with nearby neighborhoods like Commonwealth Park and Elizabeth and Noda would make sense. Or maybe we should use all those methods.

Some possible tools:
Facebook. Two "applications" would work: Events and the neighborhood page. (Yes, we have one. Laura Paynter, Marcus Williams and I are there so far). It's not just for teens and college students anymore.
Google calendar. I don't know much about this yet, and I wonder how it integrates with Google Groups. We need a neighborhood expert to explore.
Yahoo events. Also something I don't know much about yet.
Blogs linked to outside.in. Makes an automatic feed of news and blog postings geographically. The real estate blog Hip Hoods feeds to this, and it has stayed remarkably up to date over time because it's someone's actual job instead of a volunteer activity.

Have ideas? We can evolve faster if we share.

Free woodwinds classic concert

Music for Woodwinds in a New Space

Sunday, November 18, 7:30 pm, in the newly renovated sanctuary at St. John's Baptist Church on Hawthorne Lane.
Andrew Howell, Daniel Clark and friends, accompanied by Maureen Howell, will perform a variety of solos, duets, and quintets, from the chamber music of Telemann, Mendelssohn, Strauss, Saint-Saens, Ibert and others.
(Refreshments to follow.)

Pumpkin wall time in Elizabeth

A flyer in Plaza Midwood stated that pumpking carving begins tonight for the traditional Elizabeth pumpkin wall. Ask around for location, or visit one of the fine nearby Plaza Midwood restaurants and look for the flyer for details.

Mayor candidates talk with Eastside residents

The Charlotte Observer covered the forum Tuesday night for political candidates with Eastside residents. You can read the full story here (at least for a couple of weeks).

One highlight for mayoral candidates:

If you become mayor for the next two years, what will be the one clear sign that you have delivered what you promise for east Charlotte?

Pat McCrory: He said his focus is on transportation and public safety, seeking solutions to gang problems that are an issue in east Charlotte. He said he will continue to work for more sidewalks and other amenities to lure economic development. "There is tremendous potential for growth," he said.

Beverly Earle: "If I'm elected the mayor of Charlotte, part of my goal will be to provide a great quality of life for all citizens of Charlotte," she said. "I believe in locking people up who commit crimes." Poking the podium, Earle asked how serious McCrory could be about fighting crime when he vetoed a budget that supported 70 new police positions.