Colonial Place/Riverview Civic League
COMMUNITY NEWS

December 2010

             Holiday Party At This Month's Meeting

NEXT BOARD MEETING will be Monday, December 20, 2010, at 7:00 pm.

DEADLINE for the January issue is Friday, December 17, 2010.

THIS MONTH'S MEETING AGENDA:   Holiday Party

As you may have heard, there has been some discussion concerning the installation of a dog park specially for small dogs within the existing dog park on Delaware Avenue. The installation of additional fencing is in the works. During this discussion several issues were raised, which will need to be addressed by our leadership within the Colonial Place – Riverview Civic League.

1. We need to be more inclusive of all neighbors within our CPRV boundaries.
2. We need to communicate more effectively to all of our neighbors via listserv, our website, this newsletter, or wider distribution of our newsletter.
3. We need to look at better voting methods for topics of importance coming before our League. I have learned that single parents, handicapped folks, and others (like me) work on Monday nights, and it can be difficult to get to 7 p.m. meetings. Proxy votes, or perhaps electronic voting might help.
4. What are good uses for the Colonial Place Greenway adjacent to the Dog Park? Should we add another dog park? Should it be restored (in part) to wetlands? How about a ball field or soccer field? How about leaving it alone as it is now? (I received two votes for that in the past four weeks of e-mails.)
5. Do only CPRV Civic League members have a right to determine what projects should happen in our neighborhood in public places?
6. We need to consider ALL options before making decisions, which takes more participation and the need to listen and understand one another better.

The CPRV Civic League Annual Holiday Social will be held at ForKids, 4200 Colley Ave, on Monday December, 13, at 7:00 p.m. Last year, CPRV Civic League’s donations helped ForKids. This year – more than ever – they need our support. Please bring an unwrapped gift or gift card to the CPRV Civic League’s Annual Holiday Social. Financial contributions are also welcome. For wish list suggestions, visit the ForKids website at www.homesforkids.org.

When you’re a homeless child, Christmas is just another day on the calendar. Last Christmas, Danielle, a sweet-faced, brown-eyed 5th grader, had nowhere to call home. This year, she has a warm bed, food on the table and fresh hope in her heart, thanks largely to the support of “ForKids,” a regional organization that’s devoted to helping children without homes. And yet, Danielle is just one of the 7,700 children who will become homeless this year in Hampton Roads.

ForKids starts with the emergent needs of food and shelter, and also provides children with tutoring, mentoring and loving guidance, striving to meet both the immediate need, and help solve the underlying problems that lead to homelessness.

ForKids began in 1988 as a soup kitchen in Ocean View’s Holy Trinity Church and has grown each year. Today, they’re able to help about 250 families each day in Hampton Roads.

CRIME REPORT:

Four autos were left unlocked with articles, which were stolen, in them, the three stolen autos had the keys in the ignition when they were stolen. He also mentioned that we should cover or put in the trunk any valuables during this holiday season. If they see something, they will break the window to steal something. The broken window costs too much!

SPEAKERS: Presenters were from the Sheriff’s Department, Prime Plus, and the Norfolk Environmental Commission.

The representative from the Norfolk Sheriff’s Department told us about the “Sheriff’s Workforce” that goes out into our community to provide free labor in many ways. Their work crews are made up of non-violent offenders who volunteer to do manual labor during the day in exchange for $7.25 per hour credit toward their fines and other costs. They are closely supervised by deputies and they wear identifying clothing while out of the jail complex. When the CPRVCL requests some cleanup labor, they will only be working on the public spaces in our neighborhood, never on private property. James St. John made the motion to ask for free labor from this program and the motion was seconded and approved by the membership.

Several representatives from Prime Plus, which is located at the Norfolk Community Center on Newport Avenue. They have services for the handicapped and the 50+ crowd. Swimming pool and work out rooms are there. Membership is $40 per year and covers many activities. Bon Secour has a therapy center there also.

A representative from the Norfolk Environmental Commission gave a presentation on “Living Sustainably.” He shared many tips, like washing your car on the grass so the water doesn’t run off in the sewer, using ceiling fans all year around to save energy, use fluorescent lighting, design our homes to use daylight more in each room, better recycling of waste material, reuse items with creativity, replace your roof with light colored material, have plants indoors to add oxygen and humidity to our homes, and be careful with cleaning products.

Dave Spriggs, our Treasurer mentioned the current balance on our checking account is $856.03.

Sharon McGlone, our Vice President, mentioned that we will have our December Meeting/Party at ForKids on December 13th. They are at Colley and Virginia Avenue. We will gather from 7 - 8:30 pm. We ask you to bring a gift for a child, unwrapped, to help ForKids make a happy Christmas for needy children. For gift suggestions you can call ForKids at 622-6400.

ODDS AND ENDS:

The “RiverVIEW” Committee is working on ways to provide a better view of the river to residents walking in Riverview.

Civic League President Dave McDonald mentioned that the CPRVCL Traffic Committee was working on solutions to the cut through traffic in Colonial Place. They are discussing various ways to route this traffic down to 35th Street instead of 38th Street, which is less safe.

Several residents asked about CPRV News delivery, which goes to all residents of Colonial Place and Riverview, when possible. They were informed that we are always looking for more volunteers to help deliver our newsletter.

Audrey Webb mentioned how we get credit for all we do to help the environment, like keeping the leaves out of the sewers so they don’t go into the river, recycle as much as you can to keep stuff out of the landfill, and respond to the cleanup campaign each year with vigor. If we score enough points, the civic league is rewarded with modest funds.

Meeting was over at 8:25 pm.

Plan now to attend your CPRV civic league in the New Year.

January 10, 2011

• Mr. Robert Hitchins – Norfolk Public Library historian
• Amry Cox - RiverFest highlights
• Chuck Joyner - Update on bulkhead construction
• Tim Marsh – HRSD neighborhood project
• Chris Casnelli – Crime Prevention Tips

• Brad Morgan, Backeast Landscapes – How to build and maintain a raised bed vegetable garden
• Amry Cox, RiverFest highlights

If you would like to suggest a speaker or program, please contact me at 416-7480.

As the calendar year comes to a close, it seems like a good time to report to the residents on the state of the League treasury and assess our financial health. There are two components which comprise our financial assets: a checking account and an interest-bearing Certificate of Deposit. Both accounts are placed with the Bank of the Commonwealth. The checking account is used for the budgeted receipts and expenditures of the operating funds of the League. The long term rainy day assets of the league are held in the CD. The current checking account balance is $1,129.18; the CD balance is $5,122.29.

Some residents may wonder how this strategy evolved. That explanation requires a brief history lesson. About 20 years ago, the League treasury balance was dangerously low, and projected membership dues receipts would be insufficient to continue League business, most notably the publishing of the Community News. At that time, advertising was not accepted. Local realtor and friend of the League, Nancy Chandler, recognized our predicament, and made a very generous donation to the League. This donation permitted the league to continue operations and distribution of the Community News. Subsequently, it was decided to accept advertising, and that revenue has permitted the newsletter to be self-supporting ever since. With a sizable checking account balance, the League membership decided to place a portion of that balance in a CD. In addition to a modest return in interest, these funds would be held in reserve in the event of another treasury crisis.

Some residents may also wonder if such a financial crisis could recur. Some wonder if it is truly necessary to retain such a large balance in reserve. That explanation requires some numbers. By far, the largest League expenditure is publishing the Community News. This costs, on average, $125.00 per page per month. Advertising revenue covers the cost of all pages, including the extra pages required by that advertising. However, the current and projected economic downturn raises the real possibility of advertisers withdrawing their support. While unlikely, if all advertisers were to abandon us, we would still wish to publish the Community News, even if only one page. If that were to happen, the treasury would have a financial obligation of at least $125 per month. Membership dues alone might just cover this expense, but more likely we would see a net loss to the treasury every month. It is for just such a contingency that we retain reserve funds in the CD.

The Board will continue to monitor closely the League’s financial health and, if necessary, will bring proposed corrective measures before the Membership for discussion and vote.

REACH is looking to area businesses, faith communities, families and individuals to adopt “Reading Angels” for the winter holidays. Like so many, we are experiencing a financial crisis and with that a “book crisis.” REACH provides weekly reading programs at local homeless and domestic violence shelters in Chesapeake, Norfolk, Portsmouth, Suffolk and Virginia Beach. Our outreach has grown to include 12 programs and since our inception in 1998, we have served more than 8,000 children and given away tens of thousands of books. We will open our thirteenth program in 2011 and happy to share that all of our reading teams are as strong as ever. In 2010, we are facing down a $12,000 financial shortfall, which sounds quite small for an organization, but we are a staff of two running 12 shelter programs every week, quarterly education programs and providing books to over 100 community organizations working to assist our area’s most disadvantaged children. You can see how far we stretch those dollars and will remain strong until the economy recovers, but would be grateful for any assistance you can offer, so we can continue our book giveaway program.

At the conclusion of each shelter reading program, each child receives two brand new, age-appropriate books of their choosing to keep and take with them upon exiting the shelter. We want kids in shelters to have something shiny and new to keep as their own, as well as a library for the family to keep to build their family’s literacy and break the cycle of poverty that consumes so many.

Please us know if you or your organization might be interested in the 2010 “Reading Angel” Program. If you cannot assist, but know of a book seller or business interested, please pass along and we can coordinate and schedule with them.

COMMUNITY NEWS is produced by:
              The Colonial Place/Riverview Civic League
              P.O. Box 6130
              Norfolk, VA 23508

Deadline for articles and advertising is the third Friday of the month

Community News Editor:   Blair Barbieri
              Phone: 908-797-8750
              Email: cprvnews@gmail.com

Newsletter Advertising Chair: James Gregg
              Phone: 757-489-8968
              Email: jamesrgregg@aol.com

Community News Distribution:   Mary Hormell, Phone 627-2392

CPRV Web Page: www.cprv.org