What to do about Edgar Street: Issue is on Monday’s agenda for the College Hill Neighborhood Association

Posted on Apr 19, 2019 by David Arneke
gravel street with potholes filled with rainwater

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.

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Posted in Carr Street, City Government, Edgar Street, McGee Street, Rankin Place, Tate Street, Traffic, Walker Avenue | Leave a comment

Architectural Salvage visits McIver Street, hauls away 5,500 pounds of doors, windows and other reusable materials

Posted on Apr 17, 2019 by David Arneke
old house with two front porches, one on the first floor and one on the second

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.

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Posted in Historic Preservation, UNCG | Tagged , | 1 Comment

News from Tate Street: ‘Uncle Pete’ passes away; an Easter Egg hunt is planned; and a vulture wants sushi

Posted on Apr 07, 2019 by David Arneke

All the news in College Hill over the past week or so involves Tate Street:

headshot of Uncle PeteUncle Pete passes away

The 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 13

Tate 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 sits atop Sushi Republic

 

 

A vulture visits Sushi Republic

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.

vulture takes flight over tate street

and away it goes

Posted in Animals, Tate Street | Tagged | 1 Comment

College Hill news: Here comes the sun. It seems like years since it’s been here.

Posted on Mar 29, 2019 by David Arneke
commercial building on Spring Garden Street at Mendenhall with its classic neighboring house

901 Spring Garden Street, new home of VanderVeen Photographers

It’s been a long, cold, lonely winter, but spring has brought a break in the clouds and at least a temporary respite from winter’s (and 2018’s) onslaught of rain.

901 Spring Garden

The mid-century commercial building at 901 Spring Garden Street has been sold. UNCG had been renting the place, once the Clothesline store, from Mary Garvey. She now has sold it to Rebecka and Bert VanderVeen. They’ll use it as a studio for their business, VanderVeen Photographers.

Street repaving

For those who missed the discussion on Nextdoor, the city plans to repave South Mendenhall Street this year but no other College Hill streets. The neighborhood was told last year, when the city dug up the neighborhood’s streets (twice), that they would be repaved after the water and sewer work was done. For anyone who thought they meant this year, we now know they actually meant the streets will be repaved someday after the water and sewer work, which ended six months ago, too late to make the city’s repaving schedule for 2019.

The city says there’s a chance that Rankin, Carr, Tate and Joyner could be repaved next year, with McGee and Walker maybe in 2021 and the rest in the fullness of time.

Neighborhood Association

The College Hill Neighborhood Association is about to renovate the landscaping at the 14 street-corner planting areas around the neighborhood. If you’re interested in volunteering to help, please let us know. For more information, see this post on Nextdoor. … The neighborhood association also is working with the city to replace College Hill’s decrepit trash bins. The city has randomly removed, without replacing, some that had been hit by cars or had tops that were jammed half-open because of poor design. Most that remain also have been hit by cars or have tops that are jammed half-open because of poor design. We’re likely to get replacements like the new ones in the Tate Street business district.

Edgar Street paving

The April 22 neighborhood association meeting will include a discussion with city officials about the possible paving of Edgar Street. More information on that will be posted before the meeting.

Posted in Businesses, Carr Street, City Government, College Hill Neighborhood Association, Edgar Street, Joyner Street, Mendenhall Street, Rankin Place, Spring Garden Street, Tate Street, UNCG, Walker Avenue | Tagged | 1 Comment

Two visitors bring greetings from the goddess Isis

Posted on Mar 19, 2019 by David Arneke
two big black birds atop a chimney

Two unfamiliar visitors spotted Monday on Tate Street

Hawks and owls are familiar sights in College Hill, but these two guys look like a new breed of visitor. The black vultures — or possibly some kind of buzzard, if there’s actually any difference between them — were perched atop a chimney in the 300 block of Tate Street on Monday.

For those seeking a symbolic or spiritual meaning in their presence, there’s a wide variety to choose from — cleansing and transformation, the protection of the goddess Isis, a sign to be patient with ourselves and think things through, or — a more traditionally American sentiment — God’s judgment of shame.

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The official 2019 every-other-week recycling schedule, in case you didn’t get it in the mail, or you lost it or your dog ate it

Posted on Dec 30, 2018 by David Arneke

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From the mean streets of College Hill: News, warnings and coming soon to Tate Street: dumplings

Posted on Nov 09, 2018 by David Arneke

Warning No. 1: Risk of bottoming out on Tate Street

a white car sits across a sidewalk avfter bottomong out while trying to enter alley off tate street

The alleyway running from the 100 block of Tate Street to McIver looks innocent enough, but when entering from Tate Street, watch out. This car bottomed out on the sidewalk Friday morning, requiring a tow truck to rescue it. The driver said he had driven up from McIver before and gotten out onto to Tate with no problem. He wasn’t the first driver this has happened to. Don’t take anything for granted there.

News from Tate Street: A non-pizza restaurant is coming

storefront with sign reading, "Coming Soon! May Way Dumplings"

It turns out there actually is one type of restaurant that hasn’t been tried on Tate Street: dumplings. The upfitting of the former University Laundry location, next to China Wok, appears to be nearly complete for the opening of May Way Dumplings. The restaurant looks to be a Greensboro location for a shop in Winston-Salem’s Reynolda Village.

For a limited time only: The ’60s come back to the Weatherspoon

pop-art portraits of james brown and others

“Boisterous prints by Robert Stanley, printed in bright colors on Day-Glo paper, glorify some of the important musical icons of the decade: the Beatles, James Brown, Dionne Warwick, the Rolling Stones, the Beach Boys, and the Shirelles.”

The Weatherspoon’s contribution to UNCG’s yearlong look at the 1960s is a lively exhibition featuring a large sample of the museum’s collection of works by Andy Warhol, Diane Arbus and Larry Clark, Roy Lichtenstein, and Robert Rauschenberg, among others. “1960s: A Survey of the Decade” will be up until February 17, and it’s a terrific example of why the WAM is considered one of the leading museums of modern and contemporary art in the Southeast. A separate exhibit features Warhol’s prints, Polaroids and photographs, also from the museum’s collection.

Another current exhibition, “Dread & Delight: Fairy Tales in an Anxious World,” also is worth a long look.

Warning No. 2: Parking tickets are no joke

pickup truck with not one but two Denver boots on it

The dreaded Denver boot on South Mendenhall Street on Friday

parking ticket crumpled up on the ground

Someone’s asking for it.

It’s not too unusual to see a car get the boot for unpaid parking tickets, but this scofflaw apparently had enough to merit the parking-enforcement version of double-secret probation.

Be advised: There aren’t enough parking-enforcement officers to ticket every culprit, but they do come around reasonably often. And when they’ve had enough of you, they will boot you.

 

Posted in Businesses, Mendenhall Street, Parking, Tate Street, UNCG, UNCG College of Visual and Performing Arts, Weatherspoon Art Museum | Leave a comment

Voter information for the elections on Tuesday November 6: Congress, Legislature, judges and constitutional amendments

Posted on Oct 30, 2018 by David Arneke
three women sitting at a table in front of the beautifully restored 919 Spring Garden Street

UNCG students and others walking on Spring Garden Street had easy access to voter information Tuesday morning. Susan Stone, Cathy Cordero and Betty Best (left to right) were distributing information on the election, including the highly controversial amendments to the state Constitution proposed by the state Legislature.

With a week left before the November 6 elections, there’s still plenty of time to learn about the issues, vote early or make your plans to get to your polling place next Tuesday.

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Posted in Elections, Spring Garden Street | Leave a comment

You can help the Tate Street Revitalization Project by filling out a short survey

Posted on Oct 24, 2018 by David Arneke

view of tate street looking toward market street from the weatherspoon

A group of  MBA students at UNCG are working on a plan to revitalize the Tate Street business district. They’re seeking feedback from Tate Street customers and nearby neighborhoods. It would be very helpful to them if you could fill out this online survey. It’s short; I filled it out in less than five minutes.

Becky Paterson of Sister’s Jewelry and Gifts initiated the project with the help of Reggie Delahanty of the City of Greensboro Economic Development office and the Bryan School of Business and Economics. It’s independent of UNCG’s planning for a Visual and Performing Arts Millennial Campus, which is already taking shape on Tate Street.

Posted in Businesses, Tate Street, UNCG | Leave a comment

Two large trees brought down by Tropical Storm Michael

Posted on Oct 11, 2018 by David Arneke
Tree hangs on utility lines over Tate Street

A large tree is suspended by utility lines over Tate Street on Thursday evening after Tropical Storm Michael passed through. The tree is in the 300 block. The city closed Tate from Carr Street to Walker Avenue.

Tree down on Walker Avenue

A tree was split in the 900 block of Walker Avenue by Thursday’s storm. It didn’t block traffic. Good Neighbor Joy Herndon was preparing to put her chainsaw to it just before dark, even though it’s on her neighbor’s property, not hers.

Posted in Public Safety, Tate Street, Walker Avenue | Tagged | Leave a comment