WECAN Board Meeting Minutes February 4, 2021 meeting on Zoom @ 6:30 pm
Board Members present: Byron Ballard, Katherine DeVos Devine, Joe Fioccola, Rebecca Lance and Pattiy Torno. Board Members not present: Sherrod Barnes-Ginifer, Rachel Larson and Rich Peterson. Also Present: J.P. Chalarca, Robert Lemey and Shelly Schenker.
CALL TO ORDER: Rebecca called the meeting to order at 6:32 with a round of introductions.
APPROVAL OF MINUTES: Byron moved and Pattiy seconded a motion to approve the minutes as distributed. The motion passed. The correct date was January 7, 2021.
APD/CRO UPDATE: None
HOMEWARD BOUND: Byron spoke with Robert Stevenson at Homeward Bound. She volunteered there several years ago and noted that it is part of a national group: Pathways to Housing which uses the ‘Housing First’ model. That is that the way to fix homelessness is to put people in houses with support to give a real chance to be housed. Locally there is the Beloved Community with Amy Cantrell who has taken on the street medic role-- on-call at night with blankets, soup, etc.—among other things. The Haywood Street Congregation under Brian Combs focuses on feeding people. Room at the Inn a project of AHOPE housed women in rotating church fellowship halls but was staffed by elderly volunteers and was discontinued in part due to COVID. Currently the Red Roof Inn in Enka is used for elders and those with chronic health issues.
Brian Huskey is the Community Development Analyst and Homeless Lead for the city. In January 2017 the city adopted a 5 Year Strategic Plan on Homelessness in Buncombe County. He spoke at the WECAN meeting of November 1, 2018. There is also a plan for an ‘edible mile’ along the greenway on the west bank of the French Broad River between Haywood Road and the French Broad River Park. The elaborate camps there now will be removed at some point later this year. There is also a regular Coordinated Assessment Meeting listed on the City website (www.ashevillenc.gov) that is open to everyone. Byron also observed that Asheville is a high-barrier shelter city. That means that shelters (such as WNC Rescue Mission, Salvation Army, etc.) restrict access to those intoxicated on drugs or alcohol except when ‘code purple’ is declared. This closes doors to some with addiction problems. Other cities have low-barrier level shelters that accept anyone in any condition.
Robert Stevenson acts with Homeward Bound as the direct liaison to the homeless. That means when you see any who are homeless in your neighborhood you can call him. (828) 768-3435. He is good to know and easy to approach and will talk to them and help them with information and advice. You can also give them his number to liaise with. Calling the police just moves the problem to another neighborhood and it doesn’t solve the problem. We should be better than that.
Homeward Bound works with Asheville Housing Authority, HUD, private landlords and Section 8. They accepts donations of money and furniture but not clothing. They work on issues with a support team to help clients be successful at living in a house. Madeline Wadley (mwadley@homewardboundwnc.org) is the person to contact for donations. Homeward Bound and A-Hope offer access to mental health, addiction, shopping and other kinds of support.
Pattiy posted an article on Face Book about the development on Asheland Ave which affects the South French Broad Avenue Neighborhood. The property was taken by the city in the 1960’s as part of ‘Urban Renewal” and deeded as open space. Now, it is being considered for a huge ‘affordable housing’ development and taken out of the ‘reparations’ considerations. There are good intentions on both sides. It’s not perfect but maybe the right thing to do. It is very complicated. The city is constricted by the state in what it can do about many things. It has used affordable housing as an incentive for development but has no policy.
NEW BUSINESS IN WECAN: Shelley Schenker announced plans for a beer garden--a small boutique brewery with a tasting room environment on her property at 176 Clingman Avenue (Carolina Stone Works). Plans are to restore an old barn which has stone masonry from Biltmore Estate building time and some equipment imported from Italy. She invited anyone to walk around the site if the gate is open. It backs onto the Bacoate Branch Greenway and has some very old trees. Not so olds cinderblock buildings of a shed and workshop will be coming down. The plans are for an outdoor seating area with murals and a walking trail circuit with outdoor art. She may request a variance for multiple-site mobile businesses such as food trucks, mobile cigar bar and retail art pods. She introduced Robert Lemey--a local brew master who worked at Wicked Weed and Brooklyn Brewery. He has experience dealing with environmental impacts such as noise (Modest taproom with normal hours) and odor (sealing must in bins for animal feed).
He intends to work with neighbors and abide by city noise guidelines and do right by neighbors—we are all in this together. For a ‘forest camp vibe’ he is aware that noise spills uphill as well as down. Pattiy suggested developing a plan b and a 2.0 based on the Wedge Brewery experience. The timeline is expecting to begin pouring by August or September.
BLOCK JESSIE UPDATES: REBECCA signed up for the city’s pilot bear-proof trash can program. She expects delivery in the next two weeks. PATTIY has some heart chocolate boxes and asked for help delivering some to our older residents such as Mr. Bacoate (who will be 91 on Wednesday), JoAnne Skinner, Pat Crisp and Jessie Coleman she will sign the card from WECAN neighbors. JP and wife Diana moved to WECAN in the last month on Clingman Place. He has non-profit and risk management experience was involved in a ‘neighbors helping neighbors’ program in Tennessee performing such helps as food bank, elderly assistance such as changing light bulbs, air filters re-hanging doors anything not requiring professional electric or plumbing. They worked from a message board driving to the doctor fixing a ceiling fan setting up a webcam all with COVID precautions mostly outdoor tasks like trimming a tree limb. PATTIY announced her One Stop Sweetheart Pop-Up Shop at Curve on Saturday February 13 from 10-5 with Chocolates, pastries, pottery and botanicals. ALSO that New Belgium was raising food and money for Manna Food Bank from February 1 to 14. If you bring donations to the brewery from 12-6 daily they will have some free swag. BYRON is launching a new book online at Malaprop’s at 6 pm on Monday February 8. REBECCA is keeping contact with Pat Crisp and her daughter. JOE announced that Alton Altheimer was having a dancing fundraiser for Evergreen Charter Dancefit which is a fun, healthy fundraiser where students will complete 30 to 35 Minutes Danced. Click this link to donate: https://funrun.com/v3/dash/JinoMaZF through February 11. ALSO the quadrennial tax revaluations (i.e. increases!) have begun. Pattiy noted Riverlink’s building is now on the market for over a million and gentrification is having serious impacts in the RAD.
TREASURER’S REPORT: Pattiy reported the balance is 1702.45. There was one payment to Lesa for Welcome Wagon expenses. She also explained that the annual 990 filing was having problem recovering the password but should be filed on time by the May 15 deadline.
SUBCOMMITTEE REPORTS:
COMMUNITY GARDEN: Byron has been in touch with Isa from Bountiful Cities and Angie at Sow True for seed donations. And will post on FaceBook and the garden page. Pattiy noted a surplus of carrot seeds she has.
COALITION OF ASHEVILLE NEIGHBORHOODS: Byron reported that CAN is supporting four issues: Charlotte Street, S French Broad/Asheland, Enka Village and Cottages of Sunset Valley in Woodfin. The immediate focus is on the revisions to the Noise Ordinance and the need for live public input at Boards and Commissions meetings. Please email any questions to Byron.
OWENS-BELL SIGNAGE: Pattiy showed Suzanne Hacket a rough concept proposal for narrative text and pictures at the bus stop. Joe is concerned about the risk for tagging. Some of the bus stop already has been tagged but there was none on the photo panels in the garden. She was told it would have been a good option for one of the equity grants—maybe if there is another round. She is not sure what the city will support but that there will be a negotiation.
COVID: Rebecca noted a water/sewer bill assistance program call 251-1122. Also vaccine info at findmygroupnc.gov.
BOARD HEALTH: Joe reminded that the by-laws call for two general membership meetings in June and December. We should begin to think about publicizing and planning the June meeting. Also At-Large Board members represent non-resident property owners in WECAN.
RADTIP CELEBRATION: Rebecca asked about what groups can do. Pattiy explained that the celebration would be virtual and the city was asking for community generated input to post in one place and spread out over the month from April to May. Examples are a socially distant bike ride, a tour with QR codes and for May 2 Second Saturday RADA is considering free-art Fridays and an art library.
ADJOURN: meeting adjourned at 7:57
Minutes submitted by Joe Fioccola
