WECAN March 2011 Board Meeting Minutes • Draft

WECAN Board Meeting on Thursday March 4, 2011 at Merritt Park Meeting Room

Members present: Byron Ballard, Jeff Carnivale, Jessie Coleman, Joe Fioccola, AnnaBeth Hardcastle, Luke W. Perry and Pattiy Torno. Members not present were: Bret Frk, Tom Gibson, Yuri Koslen, Geraldine Melendez and Jose Ruiz. Also present were: John Bryant, Mike Kenton, Marsha Stickford and Officer Sean Davis. 

    Pattiy called the meeting to order at 6:33 The February minutes were approved as distributed.

Networking with other neighborhoods: Luke has been meeting with Hillcrest and invited Teresa to attend one of our meetings. Looking at a future community building project like cleaning up at the pedestrian bridge at some future date. 

Bike Park:  Mike reported a meeting he attended with Sean from SORBA and Jeff Moore from D.O.T. The proposal was presented and the problems were 1) It is controlled access area, 2) liability issues, 3)Necessary equipment access to maintain the bridge. Mike thought that even though they could not approve a park under the bridge now, that they left the door open to other ideas and while they did say no they did not say never or not anything ever. This should be seen as major progress even at the glacial pace at which the bureaucracy usually moves. Luke passed around a picture of the "Troll" sculpture under a bridge in Seattle that was the result of a competition 

    Marsha reported a meeting with D.O.T she attended about the pedestrian bridge with Traffic Engineer Ken Putnam, Public Works Director David Foster, Jerry Yates and APD Officer Jackie Stepp. The city will gate off the access road under the Smokey Park Bridges and post it No Trespassing. D.O.T will clear the underbrush but not the trees. Not sure if D.O.T. will paint over the graffiti, but will beef up the fencing and repair holes along I-240 and around the controlled access area. The fence will be higher on the Hillcrest side and the Patton Avenue side. There will be a walk through in the next 2 months to see how well everything is working. Related news the kudzu covered field across from Park Avenue may be donated to the city as excess right of way. Also there is a contact at D.O.T . now who will clear out debris and homeless camps.

    AnnaBeth reported her frustration in trying to get a name of a contact at D.O.T., a liaison to meet with us and have a general conversation with WECAN about the many interfaces between D.O.T. and the neighborhood. Marsha may be able to help. 

Aston Park: Jeff reported that because of bad feelings about the Civil War Marker in Aston Park there was a meeting with Rebecca Lamb from UNCA who was responsible for part of the NC Civil War Trails markers in Buncombe County. They are actively collecting stories and research about the park to rewrite the story and and bring in more of the history of the African American community. She will offer a rewrite using material from Jessie and others and show it to everyone interested for input and approval so that it is more balanced and that no part of it is offensive to anyone in the community. The idea is that celebrating the changing of the text was more powerful that simply removing the offensive marker. On Saturday May 21

 the marker is set to be removed and replaced with a temporary marker outlining the process of replacement.

YWCA's Stand Against Racism is organized by Katherine Liss. The main event will be at the Glen Rock Depot on Friday April 29 and they encourage other groups to have their own events. On Saturday April 30 Aston Park will record stories and take pictures. WECAN may consider an event with Hillcrest. Luke added that UNCA has funding and equipment to do 'Story-Corps" style oral history recording.   Jeff also reported that The fence around the basketball court would finally be raised. That was approved to be out out for bid as well as additional storage and equipment for check out.  The 2 year grant was coming to a close but the Aston Gateway Community Board would continue to meet and they were noted for exceptional progress and were to be documented as a successful case study by the granting organization.

Owens-Bell Park: Pattiy will send a thank you letter to the Warren Wilson College group that came and did a great job in removing the invasive willow from the stream bed north of the bridge in less than an hour. Thanks also to Doug Yancey and volunteer Dan who applied environmentally safe pesticide at no charge. The next work day will be on March 12 from 8 a.m. to 2 p.m. The to-do list includes: clearing out the sunny cultural garden, distributing mulch on the path, removal of ivy from the large trees, and for the intrepid: removal of unwanted growth in the stream south of the bridge.

Pedestrian Bridge: Luke wants to organize a cleanup around the city steps and down towards the railroad tracks. Marsha emphasized that D.O.T has not given permission to do anything under the bridge. She suggested submitting a proposal sheet for volunteer projects on public property, She can facilitate and get required approvals. Luke's proposal includes a service project and some food and could then continue with the planned walk through.

APD officer Davis reported that leads were being followed up about the break in on Rector Street. 

Pattiy reported that she mailed the Hot Spot letter encouraging them to take more control and responsibility for their business.

100 Park Avenue: Pattiy reported that she heard from Bill Pellaya that due to current economic climate the proposed development was no longer a viable option but that he was also looking at other properties in the neighborhood. Pattiy wanted to review the process that unfolded: she was contacted as president of WECAN and asked about the neighborhood response to 70 units there. Knowing that there was a neighborhood desire for an affordable housing component and that it was conditionally approved for 41 units that the response would not be positive. She put out emails to some of the people she remembered who spoke at the conditional use permitting. and then reported back to Mr. Pellaya. It was suggested that there be a draft frame of reference to look at next time.

COA East of Riverway Grant: Chris Joyell and Appalachian State Students will conduct a door to door survey so identify if there is any information that WECAN needs surveyed in addition to socio-economic data,(such as renter vs. homeowner) but funding may be in question. Marsha advised that Jeff Staudinger will come to a future meeting to talk about it. The grant was about public participation in design and better communication and networking.

 AARRC Between the Bridges Small Area Plan: Meetings planned for property owners  to vision forward the next ten years.

Wednesday March 23 at the Magnetic Field on Depot St. from 12-4 p.m. Thursday March 24 at the Grey Eagle from 9-4 p.m.

Friday March 25 meeting to walk through what resources are available.  The goal is to build momentum for implementation of the Wilma Dykeman Riverway Plan looking at property values from 2000 to 2010 and to act as a model for other small area plans.

Clingman Avenue Streetscape: Pattiy talked to Greg Shuler they are only halfway done with moving utilities. AT&T, cable, internet cable and Progress Energy should be done in the next two months opening the way for the roadwork and repaving to continue in April.

BY LAWS: AnnaBeth noted typographical errors on the posted by-laws. They will be corrected. The issue of publishing the by laws was discussed. Previously they were distributed only to board members but diminishing participation made it more important to get information out to neighbors. In the spirit of opening the circle of information and participation we are now publishing the draft board meeting minutes. Making sure they are well marked as "Draft" since they are going out in an emailed Newsflash between meetings and therefore before they are approved. 

CPL Fence: Pattiy asked if there were objections to removal of the fence. Options discussed were to ask a fence company to swap the fence for a split rail fence like the one on Riverside Dr. near the Craven Street Bridge. No objections noted other than keeping vehicles off the muddy area.

Announcements: Jeff announced that the AGCB will continue to meet and pursue grants to acquire a swing set which was the the number one item wanted by the community.

Meeting adjourned at 7:57 p.m.

Minutes submitted by Joe Fioccola

Art Fun @ Phil Mechanic

Jolene Mechanic is an amazing woman full of boundless ideas and actions.  She worked with a group of children from the W.C. Reid Center over on Livingston Street and in six weeks, got an amazing amount of creativity to manifest.  Those of us lucky enough to show up on February 18th got to see & hear about all the endeavors of our next generation of artists.  A warm thank you to Jolene for all she does for our neighborhoods!

Urban Bike Skills Park Update

Shaun from SORBA and Mike Kenton from WECAN met with Jeff Moore from the DOT yesterday, and here are the results: 1) Jeff Moore made it VERY clear that the NC DOT will not allow an official bike park to be built in that space. It is designated as "controlled access right-of-way", and they just will not allow it no matter what. Their main concerns are liability for injury and access to do repairs/maintenance on the bridge, and while we were prepared with our solutions to these issues, those ideas didn't change his stance. He did say that if people rode bikes down there, without their endorsement, they would do nothing to chase them away, but Shaun and Mike agreed that if we were to try to move forward with this project, it should be handled properly and officially. 2) Jeff Moore said the DOT might consider some extension of the greenway plan in the area to include parts of that space, but again, we would probably run into issues, because of its designation. 3) The only good news came when Mike asked Jeff about the DOT clearing all the underbrush and vines, etc in the area. He indicated that he thought they could take care of that, to help with the safety of the area, and the appearance. Mike is to email Jeff with a written request, which Mike sent 2-19-11, and Jeff will submit this request.  Jeff indicated that the NC DOT would probably do the cleaning up and clearing. From Mike Kenton: Thank you to all who have been involved in this project. We didn't get the result most of us were hoping for, but all is not lost. I learned a lot and made some really good connections that should help with neighborhood issues moving forward. Shaun is going to look at some of the other places SORBA has considered in town. And I will be organizing some cleanup days in that space this spring, to either supplement DOT's work, or to tackle it all if they fail to deliver. I hope to see you all at the next WECAN meeting on March 3rd, where we can go over any new developments. Thanks again to all involved. Mike

WIN-WIN-WIN for WECAN

On Thursday, February 17, 2011, a group of 5 volunteers from Warren Wilson College's farm met Pattiy Torno in Owens-Bell Park.  Along with volunteers Doug Yancy, proprietor of Yancy Landscaping & his second, Dan, these folks helped clear a large portion of the creek that runs thru OBP of the Black Willow that has been choking out the aquatic plants installed in the creek to help clean the water as it passes thru this park.  That is WIN #1.  The WIN #2 part is that WWC was in need of live Black Willow stakes to help stabilize a recently restructured stream bank on the farm, so friday morning, Pattiy drove out to WWC to make photos of where our willow bits get to live... The WIN #3 part is that WECAN neighbors have been complaining about how overgrown the creek has been in the past few years so that also has been addressed.  Special thanks goes out to Jon Calabria, who gave us all the lessons on how to harvest live Black Willow stakes as well as designing and building this storm water retention garden.

Black Artists: Yesterday & Today • February 18, 2011 @ Phil Mechanic

Experience a showcase of art and spoken word presentations created by youth from the W.C. Reid Center.  This event culminates a project provided by the Flood Gallery in Phil Mechanic Studios, to connect community youth with local and influential African-American artists. Music and light refreshments provided.  Admission is free.  Just show up between 5 & 7pm on Friday February 18, 2011 @ 109 Roberts Street in the River Arts District. For more information, contact Randy Shaw at 828-350-2048.  Here is the W.C. Reid Activity Newsletter for winter/spring 2011.

W.C. Reid Center Newsletter for Winter/Spring 2011

WECAN February 2011 Board Meeting Minutes • Draft

West End Clingman Avenue Neighborhood Board Meeting Thursday February 4, 2011 at Merritt Park. Board Members present were:Byron Ballard, Joe Fioccola, Yuri Koslen,  Luke W. Perry and Pattiy Torno. Not present were: Jeff Carnivale, Jessie Coleman, Bret Frk, Thomas Gibson, Geraldine Melendez and Jose Ruiz .  Also present were Joanne Skinner, Officer Evan Coward, Mike Kenton and Marsha Stickford.

    Pattiy called the meeting to order at 6:35 pm. Go around introductions/ review agenda. Minutes Approved by acclamation as distributed.

APD CRO update: Joanne read a notice that a break in cleaned out 26 Rector Street. She had been broken into 5 years ago when she first moved in and did press charges against the suspect. Luke’s house on Club St was broken into twice before he moved in but not since.  Organizing a Neighborhood Watch was discussed as part of a bigger goal of improving lines of communication, getting to know neighbors, and getting help when needed to handicapped and elders in WECAN. Officer Coward requested about 45 minutes of a future meeting to organize it. His office number is 251-4078. Pattiy will put out info in a WECAN Newsflash  to get the ball rolling identifying potential block captains. Other ideas include a meet and greet/ pot luck, a walk through ending up at the Wedge, getting flyers off the web and posting to the neighborhood. A consensus gelled about organizing the neighborhood for the neighborhood and crime prevention was a secondary benefit.

            Luke reported on a networking meeting with the Hillcrest Neighborhood. Luke and Pattiy met with Trina Boyd of Asheville Housing Authority and Teresa from Hillcrest to begin introducing ourselves and the potential opportunity to work together to our mutual benefit. Luke learned that there are facilities at Hillcrest for meeting, Head Start, After School programs even cooking classes. We can begin by cross posting our events and their events. The first event is this Saturday February 5th My Brother’s Keeper is having a cleanup day from 10-3 and the rescheduled Meeting about the Pedestrian Bridge which was canceled from January 8 due to weather. Officers Allen Dunlap and Jackie Stepp will share ideas from CPTED (Crime Prevention Through Environmental Design.) They have already identified some issues such as replacing lights, clearing brush and repairing sidewalks. The meeting begins at the Community Center and after presentations will walk over the bridge to identify issues.

Mike reported that the Bike Skills Park Committee met with Sean to get ideas for SORBA . With permission from NC-DOT they have scheduled a walk through meeting this Saturday Feb 5 from 11-12  beginning at the Hatchery. (dress appropriately) It is a secure area and even for the DOT to consider ideas is unprecedented.  Their immediate plans are to research other encroachments in North Carolina. Marsha suggested a meeting with DOT and Mike will call Monday afternoon to set one up. Luke reported that the SWOT Analysis was posted on Google Docs. Pattiy will put a link on the next News Flash.

Briefly some of the Strengths included designing for crime prevention, eyes on the street, wide age range of users, benefits to local business, people in the neighborhood, encourage biking, a meeting place, bridge WECAN and Hillcrest neighborhoods. Weaknesses:may be a greater benefit to people from outside the neighborhood, maintenance and oversight, unprecedented for Norfolk Southern Railroad and NC-DOT. Threats: potentially displacing an old crime problem with new ones, uncertainty about the I-26 Connector, personal liability and funding. Opportunities: connecting neighborhoods to greenways and a model for other communities. Other considerations: not on any Parks and Recreation Master plan, Capital Improvement Plan, Neighborhood Plan, not city controlled, unprecedented for NC-DOT or NS-RR. Next steps: Meet after Saturday’s walk to develop next steps for WECAN, SORBA, City Council, NCDOT, NSRR involvement and alternatives.

Aston Park: Marsha announced a meeting set for Monday February 7 at 2 p.m. at Aston Park Tennis Center Club House. To discuss the issue of the Civil War marker. Jeff Carnivale, Debi Miles and Rebecca Lamb will begin to outline the process that placed it there and what will be needed to move it.

Ice Storage Building. Evan reported that the city met with Ice Plant owners and it has been posted no trespassing. The police and fire departments have posted no-entry orders because it is too dangerous to enter the building. Building Safety has given the owners 60 days to come up with a plan to secure the building or it will be razed and a lien placed on the property.  

Pattiy reported that Warren Wilson College was interested in working on stream cleanup at Owens Bell Park. Not sure if in coordination with John Calabria. Some training or instructions are needed. A date for a Garden Club Cleanup was set for Saturday March 12 from 8 (for the gung-ho) or 9 (for the slackers) until 2. The Warren Wilson group may join in or set another date. Discussion of the bind that Asheville Parks and Recreation and the city are in regarding playground equipment (such as basketball hoops) in Owens Bell Park and complying with ADA and construction requirements.

Adopt-a Highway clean up was set for Monday Feb 7 at 9 am meet at the  corner of Clingman and Hilliard.

           Pattiy distributed a letter reconnecting with the owners of the Hot Spot at 79 Asheland Ave. noting that since the departure of Selena Sullivan the situation is deteriorating with public drinking, loitering and menacing behavior.

Pattiy reported on the Public Meeting of the Wilma Dykeman Riverway River Arts District Transportation Improvement Project; (WDR-RADTIP) at AB Tech Ferguson Auditorium on Saturday January 22 from 9-12. She advised that 70 people attended and many ideas were brought forth. She has a disk of the ideas and summarized some of them  as several roadway realignments on Riverside between Amboy and Hill St. including roadways, bike lanes, greenways, medians,  roundabouts, alternate routes, pedestrian railroad crossings and canoe/kayak landing points. After the information is posted on the city website there will be a 30 day comment period.

Fence on Riverside Drive The issue of fence removal and Review of WECAN By-laws was moved to the  agenda for March. 

Meeting adjourned at 8 p.m.

Minutes submitted by Joe Fioccola

MARK YOUR CALENDAR:

Saturday Feb 5:                     10 a.m. -3         Hillcrest Ped Bridge Walk Through: Hillcrest Comm Ctr

Saturday Feb 5:                     11a.m.-1200    Bike Skills Park Committee: meet at Hatchery

Monday Feb 7:                       9 a.m.-10:30   Adopt-a Highway Litter Pick up: Clingman/Hilliard

Monday Feb 7                       2 p.m.-3 p.m.  Aston Park Civil War Marker Meeting

Thursday Mar 3                    6:30 p.m.-8     WECAN Board Meeting

Saturday Mar 12                   9 a.m.-2 p.m.  Owens Bell Park Garden Club Work Day