McCormick near Portland St.

Efforts to Clean up Morris Farlow Park Get Published

For over a year, students, faculty and neighborhood residents have been working to clean up and revitalize Morris A. Farlow Park. These efforts have been documented in the latest issue of Parks & Recreation magazine.

Read the full story here.

Grove St. Cookout this Sunday

Everyone is invited by the Grove St. Revitalization Committee to come out to the corner of Grove St. and Glenwood at the Community Garden for a Community Cook-out on Sunday, June 27 at 4pm.

Community and home gardeners are asked to bring veggies for the grill. All are invited to bring a potluck dish to share with others.

See you there!

Housing Greesboro fixes up Dillard St. Home

Earlier this week on my way back to my house I saw two trucks, a bunch of teenagers, and a few adults scurrying about mowing the lawn, fixing steps, cleaning out the crawl space and other minor repairs to a home on Dillard St. I took the opportunity to go chat with them and found out it is an organization called Housing Greensboro. This non-profit organization (as reported in today's News & Record) has recently completed repairing its 100th home in Greensboro. The man I spoke to at the site said he believes at least 3 of these have been in the Glenwood neighborhood and that this is one of their target locations. They focus on providing repairs to the elderly and low-income homeowners at no cost. In this case, the homeowner is an elderly widow who suffered some water damage from the 8" rain storm a few weeks back, including ruining her water heater. I can imagine there are many homes in Glenwood that would qualify for their assistance. If you know of someone who does, let them know about Housing Greensboro.

Challenges to Implementing the New Front Yard Parking Ordinance

As of July 15, it will be against City code to have more than 40% of your front yard devoted to parking, any area devoted to parking must have a clearly defined edge, and must be made of an all-weather material such as concrete, asphalt, brick, crushed gravel or "other approved materials." To see how this new ordinance will affect Glenwood, I spent several hours today driving around my neighborhood including the streets of Dillard, Silver, Gregory, Highland, Lexington, Glenwood, McCormick, Neal, Portland and Aycock.

What did I find? I found 261 addresses that would not currently meet the criteria established in the ordinance. 27 addresses, or 10%, didn't meet a single one of these criteria. The most common "violation" is the lack of a defined edge. In fact, this was a factor in 244 of the 261 addresses written down. It is also the part of the ordinance that is the most vague, so I was being conservative. The most common scenario encountered was one where gravel had been placed in the front yard at some point in the past but had never been contained by borders (i.e., railroad ties, bricks, cinder blocks, landscape timbers, etc.) and the gravel had been compacted, eroded into the street or otherwise disintegrated and became overrun by adjacent lawn areas and weeds. It is likely that many of these "violations" can be easily and cheaply fixed by establishing a border and bringing in some fresh gravel to replenish the parking area.

The biggest aesthetic challenge is posed by the 55 addresses I found where parking currently covers more than 40% of the front yard. In many cases, there is no parking, but people drive right up to the front steps, park on dirt and in all which manners. In some cases, there is an existing concrete driveway, but with more than one car, one parks adjacent to the other on the grass, dirt, or a disintegrating gravel pad.

Glenwood has a disproportionately high number of renters and so it follows that the majority of these violations will end up being the responsibility of landlords; however, I can imagine many cases where low-income homeowners will be challenged to be able to comply with the new ordinance and will thus be required to park in the street. In an odd way, more cars parked on the street could actually be a benefit to public safety, as studies have shown that more cars parked on both sides of the street actually can slow the speed of traffic.

It appears that the ordinance has one loophole and that is with corner lots where the vehicles park on the side or back of the house where these lots are unfenced. In some cases, vehicles are parking on dirt and grass between the curb and the side of the house or 4 and 5 cars are parked in the backyard where the access is from the side street and not the front of the house. This creates some unsightly conditions and it doesn't appear to fall within the the front yard parking ordinance restrictions. It may fall under another ordinance, but on this, I am not sure.

The plan is to continue to conduct the survey of the neighborhood and turn over the addresses to the City's Zoning Department so that they can send out letters informing the property owners of the new ordinance.

It should also be noted that during today's tour of the neighborhood, more than 16 nuisance violations were recorded and reported to the City. Most of these seemed to be cases of overgrown lots associated with vacant homes.

Stimulus Money for Weatherization

Many of us have been hearing about the Federal Stimulus money and wondering how it will affect the average homeowner. Well, here's some good news for you. There is federal money available to assist homeowners with weatherizing their homes. What is weatherization? This includes items like providing insulation, installing moisture barriers, caulking around windows and doors, and other items. The idea is that once this has been done, your energy (power and gas) bills will go down saving you money. So, how do you see if you qualify? Simple. Place one call to the Greensboro office of Regional Consolidated Services (RCS) and they will ask you a few simple questions and then send you out an application packet. I've got to tell you that the lady I spoke to there was very, very nice and helpful. RCS is the agency that is managing the federal stimulus dollars for weatherization here locally.

You can reach their Greensboro office by calling (336) 279-8184.

Making Mountains out of Molehills

Not too too long ago, I attended a City meeting intended to discuss the replacement of trees at Festival Park. During that meeting we were talking about cost and found out they were going to haul 40+ trees to White St. I thought - hey, why not save money by mulching the trees on site. They seemed to like that idea. A few days later, I thought, hey, wait, some of that would could be used to create something. (See this.) So, I made a deal with the City...if they would give me some notice, I would be glad to take the trees off their hands and try to reuse them.



So, of course I get a call at 7:30 in the a.m. saying - hey, if I want the trees, they are already cutting them and can I come get them. Um, I don't have a big truck and I don't know where I'm going to put them which is why I asked for a little notice. Nonetheless I go out there and look at the trees and they are huge! There was no way I was going to be able to get them to my house or anywhere else and with short notice I had not found a place to store them. But, when the City Field Operations staff asked where I lived and I said Glenwood...they offered to deliver them to my house. Wow, that is pretty nice. Apparently, they really shouldn't do this, but the guy driving the truck lived in Glenwood too so it would be on his way home.



So, the city truck dumps the logs in my driveway and in the process launches several logs into my neighbor's fence. The neighbor isn't happy about this, sees the logs in the driveway and calls the City's Local Ordinance Enforcement people. Soon, thereafter I get a yellow 8.5x11 letter stuck to my front door ordering me to clean up the logs (and, in addition, clean up some "brush") in the yard. I called them to get clarification of exactly which logs they were talking about and wht they meant by brush as my wife had only lived in the house since September and had done a significant amount of cleaning overgrowth from the property, some of which was currently sitting in the street next to the curb. We also had a stack of limbs that we had broken up and have the intention of adding to our compost bins once we get those erected. (This house had been a foreclosure and the yard severely neglected.)


One of the things the previous owner left (did I mention that the previous owner is the same one who called the City on the logs?) was a bunch of cut logs (probably 1-2' sections) stacked in the back corner of the property. Knowing this would only invite critters, looked unsightly I tried to think of some other way to use the wood. Seeing as how we had no fence bordering our property, I thought taking the logs and placing them end to end like a garden border would be a great resue of these logs, so I spent a day moving these pieces (pic to left) to create an edge to the yard. Back to this in a second.

So, when I called the number on the yellow sheet of paper and asked what she meant by logs and brush, she wasn't sure and said she would have to go back out and look. I told her we planned to move the logs from the driveway anyway and stack them in the back yard. We eventually did this (see pic below). In the meantime, the brush I had piled in the street and a bunch of the cut logs I didn't have a use for made their way to White St. Landfill. I still have the brush pile in the back yard because I haven't quite got around to building the compost enclosures yet - but I did recently get some wood pallets to do this.

Long story longer is that the inspector came by today (our compliance due date was May 22) and informed me that while she was unsure whether the stacked logs were okay, the logs that I placed to make a border definitely had to go because they could harbor rats, snakes or yellowjackets. I know, gasp. I'm not quite sure how she arrives at this conclusion...I mean yellow jackets and snakes can also hang out underneath our deck...does that mean we have to remove that too? I try to explain to her that I understand the need for these ordinances but that I think that it wasn't intended in the case of someone who has orderly stacked wood or placed them end to end to create a border, but rather someone who is keeping these materials in a haphazard manner. I don't see how these logs constitute a public safety hazard.

Either way, she said she needed to confer with her Supervisor about the stacked trees but that the logs will definitely have to go. I asked her if there is an appeals process and she said no, but I could talk to her supervisor. (Note: a look at the City's Code of Ordinances reveals that section 17-6 does outline an appeals process, albeit a vague one. She said she had worked in this department for 4 years so I'm not sure how she didn't know there was an appeals process.) So, for now I will wait, but am told that if I don't do something with the brush and logs placed end to end on the border she'll be forced to have a City contractor come and do the work which could cost me in the neighborhood of $500.

I hate to say it, but I think the City is overreaching in this particular situation and I hope a reasonable conclusion is in the future.

Muddied Waters, Part 2

UPDATE: I spoke with Brian Boyd, the City's Water Resources Engineer for the project. In returning my call, he indicated that he consulted with the City's Stormwater staff who told him that since it is a minor amount, it's not technically required to do any Stormwater BMP's. Fine, so my assertion below that it is against the City's Stormwater Ordinance is in error; but it doesn't change the fact that the City should be setting a higher standard when it is its own project. If we ignore a thousand of these small pollution inputs into our creeks, the cumulative effect by the time it gets to the treatment plant is an increased cost to treat the water and it has an impact on aquatic habitat and wildlife - per the City's own words in its Stormwater Manual (see below.) I can only say that it is unfortunate that the culture of the Water Resources department is not one of taking the extra step to protect water quality. I can only hope that this changes. Mr. Boyd did indicate that they would try to clean up the street and perhaps install a filter sock or inlet protection device. We will see.
It seems that the City's contractor, Heitzman (?) on this project continues to ignore the City's own Stormwater Ordinances. I took the pictures below (and to the left) today showing that the contractors are leaving large amounts of mud on the asphalt after they are done and not placing ANY drain protection inlets to keep it from entering the creek. And surely it will rain again tonight and wash this mud in the creek.

The drain at the left should have an inlet protection barrier surrounding its opening to keep the mud and debris from entering the creek. (See example of this in last photo below).

So far I've left messages with two people in the Stormwater division of Water Resources, one with the Water Resources Engineer on the project. I also tried calling the "Environmental Help Line" which, it turns out, is really just the City Contact number (373-CITY). The guy answering the phone had no idea what I was talking about. When I called the City Contact number earlier, a nice lady put me on hold and when she got back on the phone, she told me that she was told that the City's main priority is to fix the water line. Sure, fixing the water line is great, but why is water quality not also a priority - especially when it would take a few bucks and 2 minutes to place a barrier around the drain inlet.

[This from the City's Stormwater Management Manual: The City has also set up an “Environmental Helpline” (373-2812) to take calls on pollution problems from spills to excessive erosion problems from construction sites and to answer questions.

I'm looking forward to getting calls back, but in the meantime, I'm amazed by the following:

1. The two Water Resources staff on site yesterday didn't seem to care or understand that water entering the storm drain ended up in the creek and that it was even important.
2. The two responses I got from the City Contact number - that water quality is not a priority, and that, "huh? we have an environmental help line?"

I hope the City can do some education of its staff on the importance of water quality.

By the way, this excerpt is from the City's own Stormwater Management Manual, Section 1.2.1.1.5 (Paved Area Sweeping):

"Paved areas are a source of various pollutants (especially hydrocarbons and heavy metals emitted by vehicles). Small pollutants attach to sediment and when it rains, the sediment, along with the attached pollutants, flow with the stormwater runoff to the nearest waterway. By employing a regular paved area sweeping program, a facility can dramatically reduce the amount of sediment entering the stormwater runoff. This not only helps the City maintain clean waterways but also improves general housekeeping efforts at individual facilities."

Muddying the Waters

They are rehabilitating the water lines in our part of Glenwood - primarily on Lexington, Haywood, Highland, and maybe Union. This involves them runing the water to our houses temporarily through above ground hoses connected to the fire hydrants. They they cut into the ground and drain water from the existing pipes so that they can "reline" the pipes to get them to last longer. This is great!

Today, I noticed that a hose was coming out of the ground where workers had cut into the ground and was discharging water over the asphalt and into a storm drain. In this case, the storm drain runs all of 50 feet before it enters into a tributary of the creek that flows through Steelman Park and ultimately into South Buffalo Creek, Haw River, Jordan Lake, etc. I asked the foreman on the site if they had a permit to discharge in the creek. He says go talk to the Water Resources guy. So, I do.

I asked the WR guy...so why discharge the water over the asphalt where it is picking up mud and debris from last week's storms as well as grease, oil and other associated contaminants and putting into the creek. I asked him if he had an NPDES Permit to discharge to the creek. This guy, who works for the Water Resources Department had no idea what I was talking about. In my mind, this is like hearing from an engineer that they have no idea what the word "blueprint" means. But, for the record, an NPDES permit is a component of the federal Clean Water Act that stipulates you must have a permit to discharge stuff into open water ways. This could be stormwater, water treatment discharges, etc. The City of Greensboro has what's called a "general permit" which covers all of its stormwater discharges and it is this permit which would say what is and is not acceptable practice. While I haven't looked up the City's current permit (a new one went into effect on June 1), I do know that I should be very surprised when the City's Water Resources supervisor on the job tells me - what does it matter - the water all ends up in the same place anyway (i,e. the water treatment plant). I had to explain to him the concept that the creek is more than just a conveyance system for water to reach the treatment plant and that there is a federal law that tells us we can't put mud in the creek without a permit.

So, I'm troubled by the mud and dirt entering the creek and I'm equally troubled that our Water Resources department has someone supervising a job that doesn't value the functions that our urban creeks play in filtering out pollutants, proving wildlife habitat, aesthetic values, flood control functions and that these are compromised when you start filling the creek with mud.

The kicker is that all they would have had to do is extend the house 15 feet to discharge right into the storm drain rather than on top of the asphalt and they would have just been sending clean water into the creek.

Getting Things Done in Greensboro

From SynerG and Action Greensboro:

Join synerG at Action Greensboro's Groundbreakers Event
Over the next few months, Action Greensboro is hosting a speakers series entitled "Getting Things Done in Greensboro." This month, we'll host the first of four programs:

Local Government Leadership
Wednesday, June 24, 2009, 5:00 - 7:00 pm
The Empire Room
Reception 5:00 - 5:30
Program begins at 5:30
Panel discussion: Mike Smith, Dean UNC School of Government, Harry Jones, County Manager, Mecklenburg County, John Alexander, Center for Creative Leadership, retired

Moderator: Ruth DeHoog, UNCG Political Science Department

In addition, synerG will host an live stream of the event for those who cannot attend and accept questions from the online audience. Please join us!

RSVP: Judy Morton jmorton@actiongreensboro.org; 336-379-0821

** synerG will be hosting a special post-event to continue the conversation. Stay tuned for more information on this event!

New Parking Ordinance starts July 15

From the City's e-newsletter - be sure to let your neighbors know about this.

New Parking Ordinance takes effect July 15Grass and dirt areas will no longer be acceptable parking areas.Beginning July 15, the City will no longer allow owners of single-family homes and duplexes to park vehicles on their front lawns for extended periods of time. In fact, no more than 40 percent of a front yard may be designated for parking.

Under new parking ordinances, adopted by Greensboro City Council last summer, parking spaces and driveways must now be built with a hard, all-weather surface such as asphalt, concrete, brick, gravel or other approved materials. Grass and dirt areas will no longer be acceptable for parking. Also, the edge of parking spaces and driveways must be clearly defined with a physical edge that's maintained by the owner. The new ordinance applies to all existing and future parking areas and driveways. For more information, call 336-373-2144.

A vision for Glenwood?

From a recent NY Times article:

The Ainsworth Collective, a group of some 50 households in Portland, Oregon’s Cully neighborhood that came together out of a mutual interest in sustainability and community, have created a micro-economy within their few square blocks. They’ve published a directory of services provided by neighbors (from tax preparation to massage services to cat-sitting), encouraging local transactions. They’ve instituted tool-sharing, car-sharing, bulk food-purchasing and even own a farmer’s market that sells produce, baked goods and other items made by its members. There may always be mega-malls, but developers and architects would be remiss in not exploring grassroots solutions like this.

City Council Candidates for District 1

The Glenwood neighborhood is in City Council District 1. Our current representative is Diane Bellamy-Small. While she has not yet announced whether she is running for re-election, Ben Holder (of troublemaker blog fame)yesterday announced his intentions for running for the position. Here's hoping he (and anyone running for District 1) will spend time in Glenwood talking with neighbors and maybe even come to a Neighborhood Meeting.

The meetins are always the first Thursday of the month at 7:30pm and usually held at the Glenwood Recreation Center on Coliseum.