Get Yourself a College Hill Mug (or two!)

Posted on Mar 05, 2016 by Amanda Keith

The College Hill Neighborhood Association is selling these very handsome College Hill mugs!

They’re going for $10 a piece, but we have a limited quantity. Want one? Send an e-mail to CHNAgso@gmail.com to reserve yours. You can pay (cash or check) and pick yours up at the next CHNA meeting (7 p.m., Monday, March 28 at the Church of the Covenant, 501 S. Mendenhall), OR send us your address and one of our lovely board members can hand deliver it to you. Proceeds will go toward organizational costs of the neighborhood association.

To recap:
1. Do you want a mug? Of course you do!
2. Send us an email at CHNAgso@gmail.com.
3. Tell us whether you’ll pick it up at the next meeting on 3/28, OR whether you’d like a hand-delivery from a friendly neighbor.

Posted in College Hill Neighborhood Association | Leave a comment

College Hill Real Estate Report, Spring 2016

Posted on Mar 02, 2016 by David Arneke

800 Walker Avenue

800 Walker Avenue

Spring marks the beginning of the home-buying/home-selling season, and College Hill is coming off a relatively quiet year in 2015. With few houses coming onto the market, only five owner-occupied, single-family homes were sold, along with two rental houses and eight condos and townhouses.

This spring begins with just two houses and five condos on the market. In addition, one house that came on the market in December is already under contract. Two multi-unit rental properties are for sale, and two houses are in foreclosure but not yet on the market.

Click here for details on currently available homes.

Some observations on the 2015 real estate season:

  • Prices for single-family, owner-occupied homes ranged from $182,000 to $330,000. On a square-foot basis, the range was much narrower, $100 to $139.
  • The most expensive house sold was 800 Walker Avenue at $330,000, $139 per square foot. The price was a 6.5 percent increase over the price paid in 2010.
  • A tiny corner unit at Wafco Mills was the neighborhood’s most expensive home sale on a square-foot basis, selling for $161 per square foot and a total of $109,000. That price represented a 12 percent increase over the unit’s last previous sale price of $97,500 in 2005.
  • Prices for condos and townhouses ranged from $53,000 at McIver Square to $115,000 in the Wafco-Walker Avenue area. On a square-foot basis, the range was $59 to $161.
  • The 30-unit McIver Square condo complex on McGee Street moved closer to becoming a single-owner apartment complex. One unit was sold; the buyer was Tar Heel Properties Condos, owned by Steve Vetter. He now owns 25 of the 30 condos and the common areas.
  • Two properties were listed and delisted without being sold, a house at 817 Spring Garden and a Wafco Mills condo. Details are on the Homes for Sale page; who knows — the owners might still be open to selling.

The list of 2015 home sales follows the jump.

Continue reading →

Posted in Joyner Street, McGee Street, Mendenhall Street, Rankin Place, Real Estate, Tate Street, Wafco Mills, Walker Avenue | Leave a comment

Minutes from January 2016 CHNA Meeting

Posted on Feb 29, 2016 by Clara Kelly

Here are the approved minutes from January.  The next College Hill Neighborhood Association meeting will be on Monday, March 28, 7 pm at Presbyterian Church of the Covenant.  All are invited to attend.

CHNA January 2016 Minutes

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New College Hill Neighborhood Association board elected; March meeting to focus on MSD-funded projects for 2016-17

Posted on Feb 25, 2016 by David Arneke

College Hill logoThe membership of the College Hill Neighborhood Association has elected its new board members and officers for this year. New members and officers have an asterisk next to their names.

  • President: James Keith
  • Vice President: David Arneke
  • Secretary: Amanda Keith
  • Treasurer: Carmen Mays*
  • Eric Crouse*
  • Dan Curry
  • Lynn Gagnier
  • Dave Hemm
  • Judy Horn
  • Clara Kelly
  • Arlen Nicolls*

We thank departing board members Marjorie Bagley, Daniel Foil and Cindy Sheppard for their service to the neighborhood. Special thanks to Marjorie for serving as treasurer and to Clara Kelly for serving as secretary and to Carmen and Amanda for taking on those roles this year.

March meeting: MSD projects

The new board agreed to focus the March 28 meeting on developing a list of neighborhood improvement projects to submit to the Planning Department for funding with College Hill’s fiscal 2016-17 Municipal Service District allocation. The list will be included in the Planning Department’s budget, which will be considered by the City Council in June for the fiscal year starting on July 1.

All College Hill residents and property owners are members of the CHNA. Please join us for this discussion and every month’s meeting (7 p.m. on the Monday before the monthly Historic Preservation Commission meeting, which is held the last Wednesday of each month; the CHNA meets in the Fellowship Hall of the Presbyterian Church of the Covenant, 501 South Mendenhall Street).

Among the projects discussed at this month’s MSD meeting hosted by the city Planning Department were new streetscape features on Mendenhall Street to reduce speeding, contracting for maintenance service for the neighborhood’s streetscape plantings, College Hill signage for street signs, and additional new streetlights and sidewalk trash containers. Those particular projects have been discussed on previous occasions; some are under way or are nearing implementation. Use of MSD funds is limited to projects in the city’s right-of-way and to saving historic structures.

To see the priorities that guide our thinking on MSD projects, click here for the neighborhood’s long-range plan (PDF), adopted last March.

Posted in City Government, College Hill Neighborhood Association, Municipal Service District | Comments Off on New College Hill Neighborhood Association board elected; March meeting to focus on MSD-funded projects for 2016-17

Report from Uganda: Neighbors David & Cathy Sevier provide first-hand account of determined voters, officials’ dirty tricks

Posted on Feb 24, 2016 by David Arneke

College Hill neighbors David and Cathy Sevier have been in Uganda since early January. Their work includes consulting and teaching with the Uganda Health Federation and the International Health Sciences University in Kampala. Here is a recent post on their blog about last week’s elections there.

It’s Saturday PM in Uganda, and we’ve decided to send out another blog –  much to tell.

A brief rundown of the week:

Wednesday: David and I were trained as official “election observers”…  and briefed about things to watch for, like stuffed ballot boxes, imposters, multiple voters, and other attempted tricks. When it came to spending the day at the polling station on Thursday, however, we learned that only one more slot was available at our local site, so I decided to work at home and monitor things online. Or, as it turned out, try to keep up online…

Thursday: It’s election day and David and our friend Rose showed up at 0630 as official election observers, and they find almost 50 people there… but no ballot boxes, ballots or other election materials.  People wait … and wait …  and wait.  As the sun rises, and the election officials give one after another prediction of a start time, it’s clear something is awry.

We are, after all, in the capital city, and less than 5 miles from the election commission – so what’s up? Lines of voters snake down the street with hundreds of people waiting in the hot sun.

But, here is what’s so amazing … these people are astonishingly positive and patient amidst the uncertainty. I can’t begin to wonder what we Americans would do, or say, in such a situation. These good Ugandan citizens intended to exercise their right to vote, and nothing was going to stop them.

Continue reading →

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Greenway designers to show ideas for intersection at Wafco

Posted on Feb 16, 2016 by David Arneke
Notice for drop-in sessions 2/25/16 at 203 S. Church St.

Click image to go to Greenway website for details

Posted in Cedar Street, Downtown Greenway, McGee Street, Wafco Mills | Tagged , | Comments Off on Greenway designers to show ideas for intersection at Wafco

Tough times come to Tate Street: 25% of storefronts are empty, and, on top of that, New York Pizza is going to be sold

Posted on Feb 15, 2016 by David Arneke
sidewalk view of closed Addams bookstore

Addams bookstore: A big empty spot to fill on Tate Street

The business scene on Tate Street looks tougher today than it has in many years. Seven of the 27 storefronts are empty. Some had been pillars of the business district for 20, 30 or even 60 years. The biggest store on Tate has been dark for two years.

The business district has been pretty resilient for decades. Over the past 25 years or so, at least, the occupancy rate has consistently been zero or close to it. There has always been turnover, but new businesses have kept replacing the ones that failed or left. Now the closings are outrunning the openings.

In recent weeks, three restaurants have closed in rapid succession: Los Cabos, Taste frozen yoghurt and Thai Garden. Also empty are the former locations of Addams bookstore, the leasing office for an apartment complex, The Scene (and Maya Art Gallery most recently before that) and the University Laundry.

An additional element of uncertainty is the pending sale of New York Pizza. Triad City Beat reported in December that the business was for sale and a buyer had been found. There was no information about whether the business would remain as it is or become something different. NYP has occupied Tate Street’s most prominent location, a corner at Walker Avenue, since 1977.

Continue reading →

Posted in Tate Street, Walker Avenue | Comments Off on Tough times come to Tate Street: 25% of storefronts are empty, and, on top of that, New York Pizza is going to be sold

Further work on Edgar Street: Potholes filled

Posted on Feb 11, 2016 by David Arneke

view of Edgar Street with potholes filled inThe many potholes on Edgar Street between Carr and West McGee streets have been filled. City workers came back one day last week and filled them in with gravel and dirt. That work makes the condition of this heavily traveled stretch of the alley about as good as the other sections, which received more extensive reconditioning a couple weeks ago. We thank Justin Outling, our City Council member, for following up on this.

Posted in City Government, Edgar Street | Comments Off on Further work on Edgar Street: Potholes filled

Primary voting for all 2016 elective offices is March 15

Posted on Feb 09, 2016 by David Arneke
Street view of Guilford Schools office building where we vote

College Hill polling place: 501 West Washington St.

The March 15 primary isn’t just for the two parties’ presidential nominations this year. The primaries for U.S. Senate, U.S. House of Representatives and everything else are that same day.

Voter registration for the primary ends on Friday February 19. Other important dates:

  • Now — Absentee voting by mail is open for the March Primary.
  • Thursday, March 3 – Early voting begins (click here for locations).
  • Tuesday March 8 – Deadline for absentee ballot requests to be received.
  • Saturday, March 12 – Early voting ends at 1 p.m.
  • Tuesday, March 15 – 2016 Statewide Primary Election Day.

Polls will be open 6:30 a.m. to 7:30 p.m. Absentee ballots will be counted if they are clearly postmarked by March 15 and received by March 18.

College Hill’s voting place is the Guilford County Schools administrative Annex at 501 West Washington St., at the corner of Washington and Spring Street. It’s across Spring Street from Weaver Academy.

Here’s the sample ballot for Democrats (I couldn’t figure out how to get the Republican one — the Board of Elections website will give you a sample ballot only after you tell them who you are. Then it gives you the one you’ll actually use. Click on “Voter Information Lookup and Sample Ballot.”)

To download an absentee ballot and other forms, check your registration, learn what you’ll need to vote, review your ballot and get further information, go to Democracy North Carolina’s special voter website, www.NCVoter.org.

You can also call the Democracy North Carolina toll-free hotline, 888-OUR-VOTE (888-687-8683).

Because many voting rules are still being contested in court, the group suggests registering to vote as soon as possible and voting early, or at your own precinct on Election Day. They also urge voters to your ID if you have one, but that if you don’t, you can still vote (which I hope they can explain, because I can’t).

 

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At Market and Tate Streets, College Hill sign version 2

Posted on Feb 07, 2016 by David Arneke

Sign @ Market & Tate: COLLEGE HILL Historic DistrictThe new neighborhood sign has been has been improved. The original had “HISTORIC DISTRICT” in large letters and “COLLEGE HILL” in small letters. This new one restores the neighborhood association’s original intent (to highlight the name of the neighborhood). It was produced and installed relatively quickly. The CHNA made a decision on the replacement less than two weeks ago.

Posted in Market Street, Tate Street | Comments Off on At Market and Tate Streets, College Hill sign version 2