WECAN Board Meeting
on Thursday April 7, 2011 at Merritt Park Meeting Room
Members present: Jessie
Coleman, Joe Fioccola, AnnaBeth Hardcastle, and Pattiy Torno.
Members not present were: Byron Ballard, Jeff Carnivale, Bret
Frk, Tom Gibson, Yuri Koslen, Geraldine Melendez,
Luke W. Perry and Jose
Ruiz.
Also present were: Mike Kenton,
Marsha Stickford and Officer Billy Brittain.
Pattiy
called the meeting to order at 6:33. The March
minutes were approved as distributed.
Board Vacancy: Pattiy moved and Jessie seconded to Appoint Mike Kenton as
an At-large member of the WECAN Board. Motion passed and his term shall
be until the Annual General Membership meeting in the Fall when he can be
nominated as a resident Board member.
Neighborhood Watch: We were expecting a map from Yuri. Marsha will bring
a large map with property owners and addresses to the May meeting. It will take
more work to divide blocks and develop Captains. Mike volunteered to be a block
captain in his area. Once identified the block captains should meet to learn
best practices about making contacts and who to report to.
Succession: Pattiy is looking for someone to maintain the email
and address list when she rotates of the board in 2012.
Crime Issues: 411 W Haywood St was broken into. A scooter taken from
Jefferson Dr was recovered. Thanks to Zac who reported seeing it and Officer
Coward for recovering it. On 3/14 the Silver Dollar was broken into.
Unknown whether any of these can be related to the opening of the
pedestrian walkway to Hillcrest. Homeless campsites have been appearing with
the warmer weather in the wooded ravine east of Clingman Ave. The City has a
protocol working with service providers to advise people that setting up
campsites is not legal or healthy and what options are available. Let Jackie
Stepp or Marsha know if you see any.
Arbor Day: Pattiy received an email from Susan Roderick
announcing Asheville’s Arbor day Celebration on Saturday April 9,2011 at Aston
Park. 1:00 Asheville’s 31st Tree City USA Presentation. 12:00 Dig
holes and plant 11 Shade Trees at Aston Park. 1:00 refreshments, enjoy the
beautiful park and “There will be prizes and fun for the whole family.”
For more information call Asheville
Greenworks at 254-1776 or visit www.ashevillegreenworks.org.
Not to be confused with the YWCA
Service project spreading mulch and cleaning playground equipment at Aston
Park on April 16 from 9:00 to Noon. (Contact Lindsey Simerly at 280-3333 or Lindsey@HeathShuler.com.
Stand Against Racism: YWCA’s event will be on Friday April 29 at the Glen Rock
Depot more information at www.ywcaofasheville.org Aston Gateway Community Board will hold their event on
Saturday April 30 at Aston Park documenting stories about Aston Park.
Networking with other neighborhoods: Luke emailed Pattiy that no progress on Hillcrest
connection, but thanks for the sidewalk repairs, lighting still needed.
DOT has not vetoed any uses of the area under the Smokey Park Bridges and
may consider recommendations to city council from the AARDC concerning DOT
rights of way. There is better fencing but Officer Britain reported anecdotally
that some people are still crossing the interstate. Marsha reported the
problems encountered in getting lighting and cameras placed at Hillcrest.
Council wants a twilight walkthrough after all the lights are installed.
COA East of Riverway: Pattiy was advised that raw data from the door to door
survey will be made available to us. 140 surveys were received from WECAN, S
French Broad, Livingston and Hillcrest neighborhoods. 49 came from WECAN alone
12 of which were received on-line.
Clingman Avenue Streetscape: Pattiy talked to Greg Shuler who is “disappointed with our
utility partners.” Still waiting on AT&T and Cablevision to move their
lines so the old utility poles can be removed and the project completed. Still
shooting for a completion date for a parade from Hilliard to Roberts possibly
on June 9th.
LED Streetlights: The city will begin placing and replacing 500 led
streetlights in the WECAN area but not on any state roads(i.e. Clingman Ave or
Patton Ave.) Pattiy suggested creative ways of celebrating the energy saving
lights such as decorating the poles with recycled paper decorations.
AARDC Between the
Bridges :
Some idea drawings were made to help property owners see potential development
ideas for properties such as the Stockyards, the Ice House and the Buncombe
County School Maintenance areas. They can be viewed at the Asheville Design
Center Office on College at 14 College St. There are no immediate plan for the
Dave Steel property and perhaps environmental unknowns.
Joe
attended the Community
Land Trust meeting at the ADC. This came out of a desire from the Burton
Street Community to preserve community gardens and affordable housing. There
are no current mechanisms or entities to create a land trust. And some
problems in keeping housing affordable and avoiding gentrification with
open green spaces. More meetings will follow.
Announcements: two new restaurants opening soon: The Taco Shop at the Hatchery Building will open
as soon as they get a C.O. with 45 seats inside and 45 outside in the fenced
area. The Junction will also open in the Pink Dog
Creative Building on Depot St.
Curve Studios will have an open house on Friday April 27 from 5-8 p.m.
Jessie Nell Coleman was nominated and selected to be honored this month as one
of the first group of Asheville’s Living Treasures. Congratulations!
Thanks and well done, Jessie.
Meeting adjourned at
7:52 p.m.
Minutes submitted by
Joe Fioccola.
