The 300 block of Tate Street, location of this year’s College Hill National Night Out. The sky is expected to be just as clear and blue on Tuesday.
This year’s event will be held in the Tate Street business district. Tate Street will be blocked from Walker Avenue to Carr Street.
This Tuesday, August 6, 5 p.m. to 9 p.m. The street will be blocked from 2 p.m. to 10 p.m.
Click on the image to see a video explaining the new bus routes.
City buses will no longer run on Tate Street and Walker Avenue in College Hill effective Monday August 5. Riders who want to go downtown to the Depot will be able to catch buses at new stops on Spring Garden Street. The changes are part of a system-wide revision of routes announced this week.
The repaving of South Mendenhall Street has allowed the neighborhood’s traffic-calming initiative to get under way after years of planning. As part of that effort, the 4-way stop on Mendenhall will be moved to Walker Avenue effective August 7. The existing 4-way stop at McGee Street will become a 2-way stop, with only the traffic on McGee stopping. Many neighborhood residents wanted both intersections to have 4-way stops, but the city’s transportation department refused to allow it.
The new lines that have been painted on Mendenhall reflect another element of the plan. Some parking spaces in the 100 block have been switched to the south-bound side of the street, and the no-parking zones all along the street have been better marked. Rather than seeing a straight, clear lane from Market Street to Carr Street, drivers now see the center line shifting from side to side, deliberately narrowing one side and then the other to provide a visual incentive for drivers to slow down and follow their lane.
Further traffic-calming enhancements will be added to Mendenhall. Funding for the project comes from College Hill’s Municipal Service District funds.
The city reminds us that under the new recycling rules:
The College Hill Neighborhood Association is working with Greensboro College and the city to establish a glass recycling drop-off location in the neighborhood. We’ll let you know when that facility is established.
1110 W. McGee Street, the Booker-Benton House, built in 1923
1110 W. McGee Street has been sold for the first time since it was built in 1923. The Booker-Benton House is one of just two pre-1980’s houses left on the block. The area was once a rare African-American neighborhood in otherwise all-white west Greensboro.
The Presbyterian Church of the Covenant will install its new pastor, the Rev. Mark Sandlin, next Sunday. The neighborhood is invited to attend the service, which will begin at 2 p.m. A reception will follow at 3 p.m.
Sandlin is a co-founder of The Christian Left website. He blogs at https://revmarksandlin.com/. He also has written for huffpost.com and Sojourners, among others.
Sandlin has been serving as PCOC’s interim pastor since December 2015. He received his M. Div. from Wake Forest University’s School of Divinity. He holds undergraduate degrees in business administration and English.
Here’s an excerpt from a recent blog post, “The Overprivileged Judgement of John 3:16,” that provides an example of his views:
The neighborhood sign at McGee and Spring streets has been revived by volunteers, led by Beth Langlois (photo courtesy of Jack Whebb).
The College Hill beautification team has scheduled work days for the next two Sunday afternoons, April 28 and May 5, noon to 3 p.m. both days. Volunteers — and anyone can volunteer, especially you — will meet at the pergola at Mendenhall and Walker. Projects include removing the hedge across the street from the pergola and tending some of the flower beds that need attention. Click here for more information.
The newest building on the UNCG campus is going up right next to the oldest.
Construction began in January 2018, and now steel is rising on the site of the new UNCG School of Nursing. The demolition of the McIver Building revealed a surprise — 9,000 cubic yards of granite that had to be moved. Completion has been pushed back to spring 2021 from the original fall 2020 date.
Are four enough? With Cottage Inn closed, Tate Street is down to New York Pizza, Slices, Sam’s Oven and Grill, and Manhattan Pizza and Subs for pizza.
The Cottage Inn pizza restaurant on Tate Street has closed again. It originally opened early in 2018 and closed by summer. It eventually reopened and now is closed again. It’s almost as if there are too many pizza places on Tate Street.
The nondenominational tabernacle with its painting in progress
The gloriously named Power for Living Tabernacle Church on South Mendenhall Street has gotten a new coat of paint in a new color.
A moment of peace and quiet before the crows arrive
One of our friendly neighborhood vultures stopped by College Place UMC this week. All it wanted was to stretch its wings for a moment, but it was quickly driven away by a murder of crows.
A quiet moment on Edgar Street after a rainstorm
The issue of paving Edgar Street has come up periodically over the years. Back in the ’80s, city crews showed up without warning one day with asphalt trucks and road graders in tow, ready to pave the old alley. It’s said that two neighborhood residents stood in the way and wouldn’t move until the city backed down.
The issue has surfaced again and will be taken up at Monday’s meeting of the College Hill Neighborhood Association (7 p.m., Presbyterian Church of the Covenant, 501 S. Mendenhall Street — enter through the door marked “Fellowship Hall” on Mendenhall). The neighborhood will hear from Mike Mabe, street maintenance manager for the city’s Field Operations Department, on the issues surrounding the possible paving of the street.
The reasons for paving Edgar are obvious — heavy rains leave huge ruts and potholes; dry spells lead to cars stirring up clouds of dust. But any potential plan to pave Edgar would have to address some other long-standing problems.
115 McIver, built in 1919, must have been a grand house back when homes lined both sides of the street and extended all the way to Walker Avenue.
UNCG soon will tear down three of the McIver Street houses that it owns. Before the wrecking crew arrives, the school allowed Architectural Salvage of Greensboro to go in and take out dozens of doors, windows, radiators and radiator covers, push-button light switches, molding, built-in bookcases and other parts of the houses that can be reused. ASG volunteers removed and hauled away some 5,500 pounds of materials that will be sold for homeowners and builders to use in renovations of other older homes.
Volunteers spent three days in the houses last week. 111 McIver was a nice little 1940 bungalow in its day. 113 McIver had so much mold and mildew inside that just walking into the place took an act of courage. 115 McIver, with its double front porches, was the grandest of the three but had long ago slipped into decay as a rental property.
All the news in College Hill over the past week or so involves Tate Street:
Uncle Pete passes awayThe longtime Tate Street figure known as Uncle Pete has died. Pete and his pal Ricky were familiar fellows on the street for years.
“Pete (and Ricky) has been a Tate St regular for years and are known to a lot of people who went to UNCG or just spent a lot of time in that area,” a message on the r/GSO Reddit page says.
“If you didn’t know his name you’ve probably given him a cig or some change. He was just a good dude, super friendly, and looked out for the kids. He wouldn’t hold it against you if you didn’t have anything to give him, and he was happy to give what he could.”
A number of people recalled how protective he was of the younger residents of the neighborhood. “Used to live on Walker Ave in a house with a bunch of girls,” another post says. “I’ll never forget Pete telling us to ‘yell real loud’ for him if anyone ever bothered us.”
“I used to live on Walker with 3 other girls in our early 20s,” a similar post reads. “Pete would always come by to check on us, hang out a bit and run off anyone who stopped by that he considered of lesser character. He was a good guy.”
A Go Fund Me campaign has been started to raise money for a funeral; as of midday Sunday, it had raised $3,560. “Pete doesn’t really have much family that are able to do anything to help and the GoFundMe is going to be used to help offset the costs of his cremation/Urn and provide a public memorial service somewhere out in the open so that all who want to attend are able to attend,” another Reddit message says.
Easter Egg hunt on Saturday April 13Tate Street merchants are sponsoring an East Egg Hunt on Saturday, April 13, starting at noon at Boba House. Prizes will be provided by Boba House, Sisters Jewelry and Gifts and Tate Street Coffee House. There will be different levels of difficulty, and all children must be accompanied by an adult.
A vulture was spotted at Sushi Republic last Sunday, possibly one of the two spotted in March just a few houses away. Sorry, guy — closed on Sunday! They’ve also been spotted in a backyard on Walker Avenue near Fulton Street.
