Colonial Place/Riverview Civic League
COMMUNITY NEWS
Guest Speaker, Nationally-Known Poet and ODU Professor Tim Seibles, At This Month's Meeting
NEXT BOARD MEETING will be April 18, 2005, at 7:00 pm.
DEADLINE for the May issue is Tuesday, April 26, 2005.
THIS MONTH'S MEETING AGENDA: Monthly police report - Code enforcement update - Guest speaker nationally-known poet and ODU professor Tim Seibles - Presentation by Mr. Ed Thomas and Mr. Chris Phipps concerning plans for new houses in Riverview, where Columbus Avenue meets Holley Avenue.
Spring has arrived. Let’s assist nature in rejuvenating our yards by taking a fresh look at our homes and sprucing-up where needed. I know that I have some work to do over the next few months in my yard and on my home.
Steve Tobias is leading our effort to get the Haven Creek bulkhead and walking path restored…but he needs your help. We want funding included in the City’s FY2006 budget, which is being drafted now. (The City Manager will present the budget to Council on April 26th.) Let your City Council know the importance of our water perimeter.
The City recognized Malcolm Martin, our Crime Committee Chairman, as a “PACE Setter” at the City’s Crime Prevention Awards Banquet in March. PACE is the acronym for Police Assisted Community Enforcement. Malcolm resurrected Colonial Place’s and Riverview’s crime prevention program when he assumed the vacant chair position of the Civic League’s inactive Crime Prevention Committee in May 2003. He quickly recruited committee members and re-established the Neighborhood Watch Program. He currently directs and coordinates an active group working with our Pace Officers Routon and Hicks to educate the community on ways to prevent crimes, watching out for suspicious activity in order to alert the police, and keeping the community informed of criminal activity. Besides the Neighborhood Watch with its block captains organized to prevent/report crimes, Mr. Martin instituted an alert telephone notification system for the neighborhood. He also provides notification via the internet, holds monthly Crime Prevention Committee meetings, ensures attendance at the Police Blue Sector meetings, and writes columns for our Civic League Newsletter.
The Civic League will hold its annual elections in June. I will announce a nominating committee at the April meeting. While Colonial Place/Riverview is a beautiful place to live, what really makes us great is our diverse, involved people. Besides being the City’s largest civic league, we are probably the most active. Please volunteer to serve as an officer, head a committee, and/or serve on a committee. Many of our committee heads have served for years. We need your fresh ideas and zeal.
The City Council is our elected, representative body. The Council works for you. They make important decisions that affect your life such as setting the property tax rate. (The Council will have a public hearing on budget issues, including tax rates, on May 4th.) You can address the Council at any meeting. Just come about fifteen minutes before hand and sign up to speak. You can address agenda items and/or raise new issues.
The CPRV Bike Safety Night scheduled for May, will now take place in July. Please mark your calendar for Monday, July 11th (7 p.m., Stuart Center). Rev. Becky Kiser and I are working with CPRV resident Anne Leigh Austin to present a “Bike Rodeo” in conjunction with our annual Ice Cream Social. More details will follow in the next newsletter. Please mark the date and get those bikes ready for the rodeo. This is an all-ages event: we want to have our young bicyclists as well as our more road-wearied riders.
If you have any questions, please email me at scearnhart@erols.com.
“I sound my barbaric yawp over the roofs of the world”T.S. Eliot wrote in his epic poem The Wasteland that “April is the cruelest month.” And while that may be so for people like myself who are reluctant to do yard work or pay taxes, April is also National Poetry Month during which we can pause to celebrate the imagery, rhythm and diction of the human language. Please plan to attend a very special civic league meeting on Monday, April 11th (Stuart Center, 7 p.m.) as we celebrate the meaning and use of poetry with nationally-known poet and ODU professor Tim Seibles. He will discuss poetry, the creative process and read some of his poems. Professor Seibles, who lives in Norfolk, teaches courses for ODU’s English Department and the MFA in Writing Program and is a former NEA fellow. Prof. Seibles has published four books of poetry, the most recent being his collection of poems called Buffalo Head Solos. Please plan to attend and bring along a friend.
-Walt Whitman, Song of Myself
After Prof. Seibles’ talk, we will hear a presentation from Mr. Ed Thomas and Mr. Chris Phipps of the Westover Associates, LLC. They will be discussing plans for new houses in Riverview, where Columbus Avenue meets Holley Avenue.
If you have any questions, please email me at scearnhart@erols.com
The best tip I can possibly give everyone for April is (as I pick up my bull horn) THE FROST DATE FOR HAMPTON ROADS IS APRIL 16th! That means that by or after that date, we should be 100% safe from waking up to a layer of frost covering our annuals that you just purchased and will now have to replace. However, weather is not an exact science as has been proven over AND OVER this winter but that date is the best guideline.
This happens every year (and yes, being the impatient sort of gardener, I have done it too). We get the “fever”. It feels warm enough, we see the new colorful annuals covering every shelf at the “big box” stores, we are ready to get out the digging tools, the gloves, and shorts and get the garden back to its colorful glory. We spend our hard-earned money, get the plants in the ground (when we finally find the time) and then, oh say, around April 2nd or 10th, we get a late frost. Frost will kill your plants more than just cold weather and even more than a late season snowfall. Don’t allow this to happen to you this year!
Hold off just a little. I know how hard it is, but when you put your annuals in the ground too soon, even if we don’t get a frost, the ground is still cold and that “stunts” the plants. You have already given them a lousy start at a time when these plants are very fragile. If you hold out, the ground will be warmer, you won’t have to worry about a frost and the April rain will help get those tender annuals established for a whole season of beautiful color.
Keep in mind; the “big box” stores count on you buying those plants before April 16th. They just know that you’ll be back shortly thereafter! Nothing against those places, I shop there on occasion too at my weakest moments, but they are out to rake in as much in VOLUME sales as they can in a short time! Oh, and in the event that you decide to not heed this month’s plant tip (you know who you are)… have plenty of clear plastic handy for that frosty surprise!
For any questions, feel free to drop me an e-mail at Hoffmaster.james@egglestonservices.org or stop by the Garden Center on Granby and chat with our staff.
To celebrate the continuing “bloom” of our many businesses in Riverview Village, plans are underway for a year-round potted plant project. The goal is to “change out” the flowers twice a year and assure that watering, weeding and litter collection is adequate. The city has committed to purchase planters for our area once the business district can financially commit to planting and maintaining the pots. Discussion among the businesses continues and fund-raising efforts are likely to begin soon. Since the area is relatively small, the planters could make a significant landscaping impact. Conversely, the limited number of neighborhood businesses along the route make funding the project each year challenging. In order to be successful it will “take a village,” and Riverview Village invites community support, fundraising ideas and financial contributions. Please contact The Riverview Coffee Parlor, Bloom or Rosemary Zemanian.
Tanner’s Creek Garden Center is remodeling their new future location (the old Belo space on LaVallette). It will be exciting to have a green entrance at the south end of the neighborhood.
The building between Subway and Commonwealth Limousine, with the western-theme façade, will soon house the Barter Authority, who will operate under the name “The Trading Post.” Barter Authority has developed a popular business around the once-antiquated method of exchanging goods and services. This organization is relocating from downtown Monticello Avenue. For further information visit their website: thebarterauthority.com. The new space will house the office, as well as a showroom that will be open to the general public. Owner Vic Shunkwiler looks forward to operating in this new central location.
Congratulations to Riverview Shell for the new paint job and decorative signage: “Riverview Market.” The Riverview Texaco, at Delaware and Granby, has changed hands and continues to offer gas, service and repairs. Certification as an inspection location is expected soon.
The Riverview Business District has been chosen as a pilot area for the Neighborhood/City/Business Litter Reduction Project. This project aims to identify standards for trash containment/collection, train employees in litter prevention strategies, increase frequency of litter containers, increase enforcement and promote recycling. The end result should be a cleaner Riverview Village and a model for other areas of the city. Once again, the businesses of Riverview Village have shown their commitment and dedication to the area by seeking to participate in a new approach to reducing litter. There are countless ways to let the area businesses know that we appreciate their efforts, but the best way is to remember to shop the neighborhood first.
Revised real estate statistics for the calendar years 2000 through 2004 are now on our web site. Thanks to Susan Sussman for helping me to fill in the gaps. I don’t need to tell you the numbers are pretty amazing.
If home improvements are on your short list take a look at “A Pattern Book for Norfolk Neighborhoods” now available to view or as a pdf download at www.norfolk.gov/planning/comehome/norfolk_pattern_book/residents.html Free copies of the book are available at the city’s Neighborhood Design and Resource Center, 111 Granby (along with a lot of other useful resources). For your convenience I have put a link to this site on our home page. Beware—lots of graphics if you are not connected by cable.
Between March 26th and June 11th thousands of volunteers in Norfolk will be picking up litter during Keep America Beautiful's Great American Cleanup, the nation's largest annual community improvement program. CPRV has selected May 21st from 9 am until 12 noon to clean up our neighborhood. This will involve picking-up litter along our streets and, if you are so inclined, the waterways. We really need your help, or perhaps you have a group who would like to volunteer to cover a particular block or street. If so, please call me at 623-1197 and, Thank You.
Returning gardeners, new gardeners, good-spirited neighbors - you're all invited to help spruce up the Knitting Mill Garden and get it ready for summer veggies and flowers. We'll start at 9:30 on Saturday April 16, and break for Fellini pizzas at noon-ish, and those with more energy can keep going. Green thumb not necessary - strong shoulders are a plus. We'll have water, trash bags and some tools - label and bring your own, too. Knitting Mill Community Garden is a pesticide free, free-form garden for all to enjoy. To share in the produce, membership is just $15 plus work. Some Personal Plots are available for an additional fee. More info: Becky Kiser - rebeccakiser@cox.net.
The Colonial Place/Riverview Civic League
P.O. Box 6130
Norfolk, VA 23508
E-MAIL: president@cprv.org (checked weekly)
WEB PAGE: www.cprv.org
Community News Editor: Kelly Sorensen, Phone 622-0437
Community News Distribution: Margaret Bright, Phone 627-2815
Advertising: Kelly Sorensen, Phone 622-0437
Please deliver typewritten newsletter items to:
Kelly Sorensen
Phone: 622-0437
e-mail: cprvnews@cox.net