Colonial Place/Riverview Civic League
COMMUNITY NEWS

September 2009

             Guest Speakers: Mr. Ben Tokarz, Civil Engineer with Norfolk’s Department of Utilities, and Mr. John White from the Department of Public Works, Environmental Storm Water Management Division, At This Month's Meeting

NEXT BOARD MEETING will be Monday, September 21, 2009, at 7:00 pm.

DEADLINE for the October issue is Friday, September 17, 2009.

THIS MONTH'S MEETING AGENDA:   Monthly police report - Code enforcement update - Mr. Ben Tokarz, Civil Engineer with Norfolk’s Department of Utilities, and Mr. John White from the Department of Public Works, Environmental Storm Water Management Division, will present information and answer residents’ questions about upcoming projects in our area - Decide the fate of the CPRV shredder.

Greetings Neighbors! With fall comes back to school as well as a back to civic league. Make sure to mark your calendars on the second Monday of every month for civic league meetings. Below are some important updates for our neighborhoods. The City is slated to replace the sanitary sewer pipes on the 400 block of New York Avenue, the 4700 block of Colonial Avenue, part of the 4800 block of Colonial Avenue, 400 block of Connecticut Avenue, and part of the 500 block of Connecticut Avenue. Construction on this project will begin September 1st of this year and there will be a presentation from Public Works at September’s CPRV Civic League meeting to give more details on this valuable project. In light of the issue that happened at the 400 block of New Hampshire Avenue, where the City replaced sewer pipes with a material that doesn’t allow for storm water seepage and inadvertently created a pooling of water problem, the project manager is double checking that a similar situation will not be repeated there.

The Board met with the traffic committee and John Stevenson of the Norfolk Traffic Division in July and decided not to pursue removing the no right turn at Delaware at this time. We should see a new traffic light at Granby and 42nd Street within the coming months. Since it was not the City’s recommendation to remove the no right turn as stated in the July newsletter, but rather the City willing to do what we as a neighborhood wishes, the ball is in our court as to whether we pursue this in the future.

Our Community Garden chair, Becky Kiser, has stepped down from leading the community garden due to relocation. She is actively seeking a new chair person for this garden. Our deal with the city is that if we will no longer maintain the garden, we will let them know so they can take over its maintenance again. I’d hate to see that happen, of course, since so much as been put into it. I’m sure someone will step forward, possibly YOU!?.

The topic of the small dog park has been one that is on the league’s radar for quite some time now. The dog park committee worked with the City and drew up some plans to create an area within the current dog park for little dogs. A vote was taken and money was raised for this project. Unfortunately, being that this is a City park, there are a few more hoops that needed to be jumped through that we were not advised upon, and we were made aware of this by a group in opposition of putting a small dog park in that current dog park location. After seeking advice from the Deputy City Attorney and the Director of Parks and Recreation, we have been advised to re-vote on this issue after advertising in the newsletter for 90 days of our intent to vote. Therefore, in the interest of going by the book, we will be advertising this small dog park vote for the rest of this year in the newsletters and will re-vote on this issue at January’s meeting. We will continue to raise money for this project, so that if we get a yea vote in January again, we will be ready to move forward immediately. In the event of a nay vote, all monies will be returned. I apologize for the confusion on this issue to not only Buffy Masten, who has dedicated countless hours to this project, but also the membership that voted and thought this project was moving forward, and the group of opposers who felt they were not informed of this impending vote.

We are looking to get input from a focus group in CPRV about what you would like to see in a children’s park at the Greenway. There is money in the budget for our upgrade and it should happen in a few months. Please contact me if you would like to lead a focus group to discuss the new children’s park.

You will recall reading in the July newsletter that we were the winner of a shredder. The issue now is: What in the world is the civic league going to do with a shredder???? Since none of us wants to go around the neighborhood with this oversized lawnmower like shredder, we are putting this decision to the general membership of the civic league as to what to do with this prize. We have determined that liability is too much for us to keep ownership of it, and such suggestions as selling it, donating it, or having a drawing among civic league members have been thrown out there. Please come to September’s meeting ready to offer up some solutions and cast you vote as to what should be the fate of the CPRV shredder!

Okay, neighbors, that is all for now. Please remember that newsletters go out before the civic league meetings, but you should put the 2nd Monday of every month on your calendar now. We have a wonderful webpage at www.cprv.org that you will want to check frequently. I want to thank Artemis Stoll again for a fabulous Ice Cream Social in July! Election candidates for November have already begun to contact us about speaking to our highly involved neighborhood, so plan on hearing from candidates this October. And one last request.... looking ahead in 2010, I would like to compile a list of CPRV authors. I heard of another book that is slated to be released by a CPRV author this fall, so I think it would be neat to come up with a reading list of CPRV authors. If you know of an author, or are one yourself, please send me a link to your book page and I will be working on compiling them all together.

Mr. Ben Tokarz, Civil Engineer with Norfolk’s Department of Utilities, and Mr. John White from the Department of Public Works, Environmental Storm Water Management Division, will both be on hand at the September Civic League meeting to present information and answer residents’ questions about upcoming projects in our area.

The projects are as follows:

Colonial Place Pump Station 12 Service Area Sanitary Sewer Upgrade, Phase 2

The Department of Utilities is pleased to announce a $700,000 infrastructure improvement project. The project area will receive new sanitary sewers and fully resurfaced streets. The construction contract has been awarded to Precon Construction. Work will commence in September 2009 and finish in the summer of 2010. The Department of Utilities and their contractor will make every effort to minimize inconvenience to the neighborhood. A City of Norfolk construction inspector, Thomas King, will be on site daily during construction. Residents may contact him at 813-5450 with any construction-related concerns. Project Manager, Ben Tokarz can be reached at 664-6735.

Street Sweeping Schedule Updates and a New Greenway Project

Represented by Mr. John White, the Department of Public Works, Environmental Storm Water Management Division, will seek input from residents on ways to improve the current street sweeping schedule. Recognizing the limited off-street parking situation and working within the constraints of the existing city-wide schedule, they endeavor to optimize the effectiveness of this program. The proposed installation of advisory signs on specific streets will be discussed.

In addition, Public Works would like to explore the possibility of installing wetlands at the south end of the Greenway, near the former Stuart Elementary School, and raising the land at the northern half of the area. To clarify, this linear green space parallels Llewellyn between Delaware Avenue and 38th Street. Discussions with the Park Place Civic League and Task Force would be required and funding would have to be established before the project proceeds.

Calling all artists! Mark your calendars for Sunday, October 11th (from 12 - 5 p.m.) to celebrate the 11th annual CPRV Front Porch Art Walk. Watch for more information on the CPRV website and on the listserv as the date nears. To register, contact Tara Sheldon (tara@tarasheldon.com) or Kristen Bourcier (MosaicArt@cox.net).

Residents of Colonial Place and Riverview are urged to contact the city when they become of aware of properties being offered for rent within our neighborhood. Call Rusty Masten at 664-6527 (City of Norfolk) and request an Occupancy Permit Inspection for the vacant or soon-to-be-vacated rental property.

Once a month, open to everyone! Day and time may vary depending on who is hosting. Join the Veg Club listserve by going to: http://groups.yahoo.com/group/cprv_veggies/. Or send an email to: CPRV_Veggies-sub­scribe@yahoogroups.com. If you would like to join us or have any questions, contact Joanna at joannajenkins@cox.net.

Let the competition begin. With a chill in the air, we know it’s time to put the pumpkins out on the porches and the bats up in the trees. That’s right, it’s time for the World Famous Annual Colonial Place/Riverview Hauntin’ The Hood Halloween Decorating Competition. We expect great things from the creative minds in the neighborhood again this year! Prize awarded at midnight on October 31.

CPRV regular size stickers are still only $1.00 each; mini stickers are a mere $.50 each. Even at these low prices the CPRV treasury benefits and you promote the neighborhood. Stickers will be available at the September meeting. (Please bring exact $$). Get your “Stickers-by-Mail” by sending a check made out to CPRV to: Jeanne Ullian, 4400 Mayflower Road, Norfolk 23508. Be sure specify the number/size and your delivery address as I usually hand deliver these on my neighborhood walk.

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