The first session of the Five Points and Northeast Huntsville Master plan was productive. Have a look at the list of Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities, and Threats! More to come in January.
Click here: http://bigpicturehuntsville.com/five-points-northeast/
Adam Rosetta was baffled by the sight of something strange on our Land Trust Trails out of Oak Park, in particular, on the Dallas Branch Trail. He shared the sight with others on the Nextdoor.com site but no one else could back him up on the sighting. Adam, living right next door to me, knew he could count on the Association to back him up. The best we can do, we said, was get everyone together to look for it. Join us! Send a text to 84483 with the letters: EventsOP to get updates.
I grew up in a greenhouse. As a child I dirtied my hands in the big bin of potting soil, started cuttings, learned which plants liked a lot of water, which plants just liked a sip, made bonsais, propagated, and learned to airfoil among many other things. The big greenhouse, its slightly cracked door always beckoning, would welcome you with dense warmth, and a wondrous smell of humus, and the gentle roar of the big fans upon the threshold. I would play between the rows of orchids, succulents and bromeliads till the sweat poured, then cool off in front of one of the huge fans.
My father and grandfather owned and operated a nursery for more than 50 years. Plants were always around. A particularly pretty flower in the window sill, a good climbing tree in the back yard, a stunning variegated green friend just outside the window, vines twisted into hedges, naval oranges picked from the backyard, a child-sized vegetable patch – I didn’t know it had permeated so thoroughly until long after I had moved from home, Simon’s Nursery had closed its doors, and I had a house and yard of my own.
After my first few walks, down the roads, sidewalks and in the quiet back alleys three years ago, I realized I had definitely moved to the greener part of Huntsville. And that made me absolutely thrilled! I was exactly where i wanted to be. So many beautiful yards and so many back yard, and even front yard gardens – shrubs, flowers, hanging baskets, vines, fruit trees, vegetables. Sure – I had kept a modest box garden on the south end of town for 8 years – but I was one of two houses on the whole street that had a garden. It seemed, finally, when Spring started knocking I’d be able to meet others who were just as excited about gardening as I was – and well… actually neighborly.
I borrowed a small tractor from a good friend, plowed up an 8’x30’ section of my backyard and got to work on my garden space. My Dad drew up a landscape plan for the house, which we dug and planted. Along and along, as I unpacked, and worked on my green space – I met my neighbors up and down my block, and then others from blocks over. I always made it a point to say hello to folks if they were outside, or if they were walking by, because well, thats the type of neighborhood Five Points is, and its part of why I love living there.
The second year of my garden, my folks came up for a visit in the middle of summer. At sunset I grabbed three baskets and harvested eggplants, onions, leeks, tomatoes, cucumbers, and peppers with my Mom’s help and handed them all to my Dad on the patio. He looked back at the garden, the veggies in his hands and then up at me and said “Nano (ie. his father) would be so proud of you. Of all the things grown, he was most impressed by growing food. He would love your garden.” I never knew that; and as i fell into the sheer depth of those kind words, it all just made me want to grow more and share more. So I shared my harvest with friends, with coworkers, with my neighbors, with family. I cooked, baked, froze, canned and pickled it all! By the time the summer was over, my friends and neighbors were running the opposite direction of me because I was always coming at them with baskets of fresh veggies.
An idea popped into my head then and there. What if I could organize some sort of local veggie swap in the middle of the summer? Or wait, better yet… What if I could organize a swap at the beginning of Spring for folks to plant gardens, or for people who never have but want to, or just for plants, or ideas, maybe just seeds, or herb gardens, or container gardens. There were so many directions it could go. And more questions to be asked. I nested on the idea for a year, grew an even larger garden, chased my friends with baskets of vegetables, and finally posted a give away for my bumper crop of eggplants on NextDoor.com. They were all gone within four hours. So obviously some people liked fresh veggies just as much as I did. With that courage, I proposed a Five Points Garden Exchange last fall. From the handful of folks that appeared and the couple meetings we had – I gained some ideas (like historic plant swapping) and some more green friends. I decided to join the Northeast Huntsville Civic Association as their Membership chair and they added more ideas and encouragement to the original idea. It was finally go time.
Or should I say green time? The Garden Gathering is for anyone who loves things green and leafy, for anyone who grows a vegetable garden, for anyone who likes flowers, has a plant with a story, prunes shrubbery. The morning of April 8th is for kids who want to grow a pizza garden, for folks who like to cook with fresh herbs, for container gardeners, for people with fruit trees, for neighbors with more green space than house, for anyone even remotely curious about plants. From Nine to Noon at the Optimist Park Pavilion anyone can trade and swap and exchange seeds, plants, flowers, bulbs, herbs, seedlings, knowledge and ideas, and very basically, be neighborly. After all, we call Huntsville, Alabama home. At the very heart of it – The Garden Gathering is for everyone – people who grew up in a greenhouse, and for those who have never even gotten their hands dirty, but wish to.
Yesterday the McLeod Masters improved about 500 feet of the Oak Park Trail. The trail starts at the Oak Park baseball fields–just walk past the concession stand, heading toward the woods. There is a map at the kiosk. Enjoy the trails, and please join the Land Trust of North Alabama.
You are invited to a mash up of Show and Tell and Indoor Block Party on Tuesday Jan. 24th, 6:30 pm at the Optimist Recreation Center, 703 Oakwood Avenue
Even without the beer & BBQ, it will be great, not just ’cause we have good cookies. All neighbors and members are invited to join us for our first Meet the Neighbors themed un-meeting.
Here’s the scoop:
6:30 to 7:00 put a Big green Sticker on 3 of the 5 areas you think are most important for our Association to focus on. Are you most concerned about:
Safety (roads, traffic, crime prevention)
Security (food, clothing and shelter resources, including upkeep of shelter)
Schools (all of them: Chapman, Montview, MLK, Lee, and New Century)
Sports (for youth in any season)
or
Smiles (evidence of a good feeling about life in our neighborhoods)
7 – 7:20: there will be a few Very-Good-News announcements and the election for current members of the NE Hsv Civic Association . Your neighbors and members Allen Krell, Eloy Alcivar and Scott Akridge, with Naaman Goode as chair, recommend these folks as officers: me, Frances Akridge, Evan Smith, Farrah Napolitano, and Sabrina Simon. Scroll way-down for details about their readiness to serve, please.
7:20 – 8:00: We will introduce you to three of our extraordinary artistic neighbors of NE Huntsville. If you already know artists Jennie Couch, Katie Rosetta, and musician Nick Z. Robey, wear your fan club buttons! If you don’t know them yet here is your chance.
There will be no sales of merchandise, just show and tell by the artists.
If you want to turn your block into a little slice of Mayberry pie, Join Us! Contact us (nehsvcivicassn@gmail.com) or come to any one of our 4 meetings to meet people who simultaneously want to brag about Northeast, keep it a secret, and once in awhile complain about it, too.
The current board (Dick Hiatt, Naaman Goode, and I) met on January 3rd and offer this recommendation for 2017:
President, Potentate of Possibilities: me, Frances Akridge, from Oak Park. My goal is to continue the momentum we built last year and to begin at least one new project as agreed on by the other officers. With more heads being better than one, we will continue our commitment to
Vice President, Grand Poobah and Civic Leader: Evan Smith (Oak Park) is a big fan of The Big Picture long range planning sessions and is interested in everyone’s vision for Northeast Huntsville. Looking ahead and around from a hawk’s eye view is something he understands literally; Evan is a Graduate of UNA with a B.S. in Geographic Information Science (2011) and a member of Gamma Theta Upsilon, The International Geographic Honor Society. His professional interests include GIS, Cartography, LIDAR, Unmanned Aerial Systems, Conservation and Natural Resource Management. He is is actively continuing his education through professional certifications. Evan is a quiet yet effective communicator and engaging speaker. In his spare time he enjoys outdoor adventures and making maps. Evan and his wife plan to travel all points of the compass to explore the world and appreciate coming home to the foothills of the Appalachia, checking in occasionally with family in Florence— the one west of the Tennessee River.
Treasurer, Exalted Money and Member manager Sabrina Simon (5 Points) is another fearless explorer and contributor to her community. She earned a college degree in 2000 as a graphic designer and is a business owner of a cottage industry. Sabrina is known to many as an archaeological field photographer, illustrator and cartographer, having mapped and sketched the caves of the Maya deep in the Yucatan peninsula. She spent 10 years on the board at the Huntsville Grotto of the National Speleological Society which is dedicated to the study and science of speleology, encouraging safe cave exploring techniques, conserving cave fauna and natural formations, and to promoting fellowship among club members. In addition to making public presentations about the thrills and technical teamwork of spelunking, she served in many capacities in the club to help the community thrive. She also enjoys sunshine as an avid gardener and mother who often walks to the Market in Five Points and travels to Florida for some quality time with her folks.
Secretary, Keeper of the Flame: Farrah Napolitano (Chapman Heights), native to Huntsville, is the proud mother of an energetic four year old. She is excited about the overall vision for the city and raising her son in her hometown. She believes that our youth are the future and is excited about the revitalization of the parks in Northeast Huntsville. She is also eager to collaborate on ways to bring more families to the area. She is a trained researcher and writer with a B.S. in Intelligence from the National Intelligence University (2013) and a member of the Golden Key International Honor Society and the Pi Gamma Mu International Honor Society. She currently serves as the Financial Chair for the Combined Federal Campaign (CFC) at the Defense Intelligence Agency’s Missile and Space Intelligence Center. She is also a Board Member for the Local Federal Coordinating Committee that plans and organizes the overall campaign for the Tennessee Valley CFC. She and her husband, Brian, are excited about contributing toward the improvement of our community.
We aren’t reporters, but we will pass on what we can about proposed electric rate increases. Here are the slides that were presented to the public on Monday, Jan. 9th in a public meeting in city hall. It is an outline of the reasons for a 2.75% increase in electric rate.
feb-2017-electric-rate-action-presentation-presented-monday-jan-9
The upshot of that meeting was people were questioning whether the increase was actually going toward install of Google Fiber. That was flatly denied. Personally, I didn’t know they could be related.
This evening, the staff of Hsv Utilities addressed city council formally. ( They met with individual members of city council last fall, according to the presentation.) We didn’t tune in on Hsv TV; if you did, please fill us in.
The topic of increased rates is critical for some people. Every neighbor can contribute one dollar a month for a fund to offset costs for residents. And people over 62 can apply for assistance. If there is hardship, please don’t hesitate to call the Utility Company:
http://www.utilitybillassistance.com/html/huntsville_utilities_assistanc.html
This topic leads me to wonder if anyone in our service area is playing Sim City. How do we set up a NE Hsv simulation? It may be a fun way to understand what city council, mayor, and utility companies negotiate.
Eight hardy souls (some would say crazy souls ) came out this morning to continue blazing the new Dallas Branch trail on the Monte Sano Mountain Preserve of the Land Trust of North Alabama. These hardy/crazy people started out their day at 14 degrees F. Thankfully, the sun w
as shining and there wasn’t much wind.
In preparation for the workday, the entire trail was cleared of leaves and debris with a power-pack blower. This prep-work gave the volunteers a leg up so the group would see more progress. Shortly after 9 a.m. we began a short walk, tools in hand, to a point where we began working — clipping vines, grubbing (i.e. digging) out trees, cleaning the trail of brush, overhanging limbs, removing rocks, etc. Once we got to work, layers of warm clothes were decorating the trail. We took a short break and ate brownies but didn’t rest too long because we’d begin to get cold again.
The high quality photos were provided by Kenn, who graciously supplied them.
We knocked off at noon and ate pizza together near our cars. We talked about trails and the hikers social coming up on Jan. 18th, among other things. Tatyana added to the spirit of neighborly love by celebrating the Orthodox Christian Christmas with candy presents for everyone. As packed up, the group agreed that the pizza provided by the Northeast Huntsville Civic Association was a great plan for each meeting of the McLeod Masters.
If you’d like to get involved with McLeod Master trail work days, just send a text message to 84483 with the word trail and you’ll receive notifications. McLeod Masters specialize in the trails of Land Trust property in Northeast Huntsville.
How is it that a little thing started by just one person can mean so much for others’ quality of life?
The story of ridding O’Shaughnessy Avenue of industrial blight began with one resident who was flummoxed by a situation and contacted us.
I’m proud to relay another story of another one resident’s initiative and great customer service from our partners at “city hall”. It’s not about politics, it’s about the business of building a quality of life that we want in our community.
The long, deep parking lot at the Oak Park baseball fields is an invitation for all sorts of hanky-panky, switch-a-rooing and fence-vaulting into the adjacent back yards. Evan Smith was diligent about calling 256-722-7100 to ask the HPD to shoo the cars out of the park after dark and investigate unusual behavior during the day. After a month of surveillance, Evan felt alone in the endeavor and was tired of the pattern.
Smart man that he is, Evan asked for help, because at least two heads are, actually, better than one. We contacted James Gossett of Parks and Rec and Captain DeWayne MacCarver, south precinct HPD, and described the predicament. They looked at the records of calls for HPD service and agreed that it was time to put up a barrier at this site. We dreamed of an iron arm controlled by a timer and realized that a chain and lock would suffice for now. And who would put it up and take it down? Evan agreed to invest more of his time and manage a team of gate-keepers, the neighbors from the adjacent homes. Parks and Rec made the next call and in just a few days, BAM!, General Services put up a sturdy barrier to make it very inconvenient for vehicles to enter after dark. We were pleased. The galvanized chain was like Bruno, a burly bouncer at a bar, thick arms crossed and silent. “Thou shalt NOT enter” Bruno announced.
After just few nights of dragging Bruno across the parking lot and trying to stretch the 80 pound mass, we realized that we needed to tweet the thang, i.e. find a sustainable solution. Evan was willing to put money toward new materials, but this time we contacted General Services ourselves, described the situation, and “in no time atall”, Bruno was replaced with a lighter, strong twisted cable. The barrier is now like a lean, wise woman who spots a mischievous child reaching for an off-limits vase, her eyes inferring “don’t .even. think. about it”. Just enough warning to still be effective.
We are happy to see neighbors taking action to create the quality of life they want on their street and calling us when they want help. In this micro-project, residents are investing time and labor, the city invested time, labor, and materials. Some day, for other improvements, residents may have to also invest money for materials.
What needs attention on your street? What ideas to you have for a public-private partnership? If you don’t have an idea but you want to be counted among others who have confidence in our community, please JOIN your Association!
nehsvcivicassn.com 