WECAN Board Meeting April 3, 2014 at 64 Clingman Ave.
Board Members Present were: Byron Ballard, Jessie Nell Coleman, Joe Fioccola, AnnaBeth Hardcastle and Rachel Larson. Board Members not present were Jeff Carnivale, Tom Gibson, Mike Kenton, Yuri Koslen, Luke W. Perry, JoAnn Skinner, Pattiy Torno and Suzanne Willis. Also present was: Marsha Stickford and Officer Evan Coward and Max..
Chair Rachel called the meeting to order at 6:30 p.m. exactly.
MINUTES: The Draft March minutes were approved as distributed.
TREASURER'S REPORT: AnnaBeth reported receiving $45 from Nary Beth Kingston in honor of her late mother Kathleen Kingston and $305 for our participation in the Half Marathon. The current account balance is $637.59.
APD/CRO UPDATE: Evan was seen on the news today arresting some warned vagrants from a park on College Street. He reported the arrest of a graffiti vandal on Chicken Alley as well as one in the last two weeks near the Clingman Lofts--the one who tags "Suzi" was charged with 19 counts. He noticed that some DOT land was being cleared across from Park Avenue. He will meet with the DOT contact about clearing homeless camps. There have been timing problems in the past between giving notice and actual removal or resettling of campsites.
BLOCK JESSIES: Rachel announced a new neighbor on Park Square-Jessica Hall is a jewelry designer who works at Riverview Station who wants to request that Park Square be made a one way street. Marsha explained the process if the majority of residents want that. AnnaBeth noticed the garden club's work at the turnaround on Jefferson and Joe acknowledged Yuri's help with the drainage. She noted that some new neighbors may be coming soon and that Pete's house was put up for sale but then taken back off when his move to Leicester fell through. (He received 10 offers in two days.) Rachel noted that Mike and Sarah Kenton were expecting a bundle of joy in early May. The idea of casseroles, gift baskets and gift cards to diapers.com were mentioned. Rachel questioned the technicalities of building right on the edge of a setback that she sees happening on Roberts Street. Joe reported that on Tuesday Luke completed the purchase of the house on Yarrow Place . The actual address is 6 Rector Street. and he is planning a clean out on Saturday April 5. AnnaBeth also reported that the Downtown Market was recently sold to Charlie and Troy Ball it was just painted and will receive red awnings soon. they have also purchased an adjacent lot and boarding house and Hopey (pronounced hoppy) and Co. will be expanding, the Hi Fi Café will be closing and a Thai restaurant will be installed in the north end of the building and some residential will be included. The boarding house may be going. Evan noted that the Sheriffs office on Haywood Street (the old CP&L building) would be sold and they are moving to the new justice center and a place in Leicester.
JEFFERSON BLOCK PARTY: AnnaBeth suggested that the Jefferson summertime block party would be held in June and could host the WECAN semi-annual general membership meeting. She would like there to be an information board explaining what we do, what we talk about and to demystify board meetings. She suggested a neighborhood-wide invitation go out.
ADOPT A HIGHWAY: Joe set the date Saturday April 12 at 10:00 a.m. for the big historic 'photo op' placing our 15 year decal on the sign. Vests and orange bags will be provided (cleanup to follow.) Meet at the corner of Clingman and Hilliard. Byron will post it on the Facebook page.
WECAN GARDEN CLUB: Garden Club Wednesdays have successfully cleared the sign garden, the sunny cultural garden at Owens Bell Park, the drainage problem at the end of Jefferson and begun clearing the slope at the north end of Rector Street. Joining Joe were Rebecca and Charlie from Jefferson, Byron, and Yuri. They will continue in April on Hilliard from Rector towards Clingman, the wall on West Haywood across from Asheville Transit and a little bit more needed on Jefferson.
SUPPLEMENTAL CENSUS: Joe has put together two lists; one for Merritt Park and one for the rest of the East side of Clingman Avenue. There are about 20 units in Merritt Park and 19 on Clingman Avenue.
The information we need is Housing Status, Population by Sex/Age, Race and Ethnicity. We can also ask for contact preferences and optional income categories. Joe will ask MHO to help with Merritt Park and distribute flyers a week before with the option of providing the information by email and will conduct the door to door survey on Saturday April 26th. AnnaBeth and Jessie offered to help.
NEW BELGIUM TIME CAPSULE: Joe has some views of the Smith Bridge before it was replaced in the 1980's showing the Chesterfield Mill and the Cotton Mill. He also has a story from Byron;s mother who lived at 33 Roberts Street in the 1930's and heard the roars of the giant gorilla across the river at the circus grounds. Pattiy said she has a collection of photos on a disc from the River Arts Diustrict.
CLINGMAN FOREST WALK THROUGH: Rachel contacted Rafael Rettig and Tuesday April 15 was the date set for a walk through from his property.
DESIGN CENTER BRIDGE: Luke called a work day for Saturday April 19 to work on landscaping the pedestrian bridge next to Jean Webb Park.
MASTER PLANNING: Byron suggested that we should ask Stephanie Monson Dahl for help in developing the process for updating the master plan. The Development Services Department focuses more on a mechanized process and not so much on neighborhood relationships. Marsha suggested we meet with Cathy Ball to discuss the neighborhood's ability to have a voice in long term planning. Byron will invite Cathy Ball and Alan Glines to discuss this.
COFFEE AND CONVERSATION Neighborhood Advisory Committee meeting with neighborhood leaders as a follow up to the Festival of Neighborhoods on Friday May 2 from 8:30-10:30 a.m. at Public Works. Coffee and pastries will be provided and AnnaBeth and Jessie expressed interest in particpating.
The meeting adjourned at 8:13 p.m.
DRAFT Minutes submitted by Joe Fioccola.
+++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
UPCOMING EVENTS THIS MONTH:
April 5 Blue Ridge Bicycle Club Riverside Drive Clean up @ 318 Riverside Drive 9am-2pm tools provided by Asheville Greenworks; Potluck follows
April 5 Water in Context Lecture Series with SELC and Riverlink at Pack Library 3-4:30 p.m.
April 9 Garden Club Wednesdays 10-2 Hilliard at Rector
April 11 Salon Series @ Riverlink with Bill Jones 3-5 p.m.
April 12 Adopt A Highway Photo Op 10 am Clingman and Hilliard Clean up to follow
April 12 Curve Studios Spring Open House and Twilight Party 10 am-8 pm
April 15 Full Lunar Eclipse @ the Sky 2-4:30 am
April 15 Clingman Forest Walk-Through TBA
April 16 Garden Club Wednesdays 5-7 End of Jefferson
April 19 Pedestrian Bridge workday @Jean Webb Park 10am-2pm
April 19 Green Opportunities and UNCA at Walton Street Park
April 23 Garden Club Wednesdays 3-7 Hilliard East of Rector
April 26 Census Sipplement Survey TBA
April 26 Hard to Recycle Day Downtown Asheville @ Public Works Pkg lot 8am-2pm
April 27 Arbor Day Celebration with Go and Avl Greenworks @ Reid Center 10 am-2 pm
Every Friday Night Classic World Cinema 8 pm upstairs at Phil Mechanic Studios Free!
April 30 Garden Club Wednesdays continue 3-7 on W Haywood and Park Ave
May 1 WECAN Board Meeting 6:30 at 64 Clingman Avenue
May 2 Neighborhood Advisory Committee's Coffee and Conversation @ Public works 8:30-10:30 am
May 2 New Belgium Groundbreaking Public event TBA
