The March 2011 meeting will be held on the 21st at 6:45pm at the Fitness and Wellness Center.
The Agenda includes a presentation by State Representatives Paula Miller & Kenny Alexander and State Senator Ralph Northam.
Here is President Jim English’s message for March 2011:
PRESIDENT’S MESSAGE
If you missed our February meeting, you missed a great one. It was great in that we honored three Granby Elementary Students who won 1st place in their school class’s science fair with their interesting science experiments. They then went on to the Norfolk City Science Fair where each one of them also did very well. In fact one of the students won first place in their class category. The names of the three students and their science projects that they shared with us at our meeting are:
5th Grade:
Jacob Grigsby
“Which Method of Transferring Bacteria is the Quickest?”
Heath Science, 5th Grade, 3rd Place
4th Grade:
Xander Chiera
“Which Combination of Bearings and Wheels Will Make My Awesome Skateboard Go The Fastest?”
Design Technology, 4th Grade, 1st Place
3rd Grade:
James Rakestraw
“Which Marble Will Fly Farther When Thrown With a Constant Force?”
Design Technology, 3rd Grade, 3rd Place
Congratulations to all the winners, their proud parents and their Lead Science Teacher and Fair Coordinator, Ms. Laura Moore. You make us proud!
In other news and after discussion with Police Red Sector Commander Lt. MacKenzie and Community Resource Officer Davis at our last meeting, we have decided to make increasing our communication with the police a top goal for us this year. Our primary goal is to work with the police in responding to incidents that are currently happening in our neighborhood in real time. We want to assist by providing the police with information such as descriptions of suspects, their locations, vehicles they may be driving, and other needed information in an effort to help the police apprehend those individuals. The police officers in turn will provide us with more timely information concerning incidents in our neighborhood when they can do so. This will probably be done in part by establishing email links between the police and us. As this process develops we will bring you more information.
At its last Planning Commission meeting, the Commission members voted against the proposed changes submitted by Art Collins regarding his development project on Newport Ave. While this is a setback for him, it is not over for the project. He can still build what he wants without any more approvals if he goes back to the original plan that was approved a couple of years age. So, we should not be overjoyed yet with this latest development since we still don’t know what he will do. We can only hope that whatever he does he will get serious and do what is in best interest of our neighborhood. We will continue to monitor his development proposal with the city Planning Department.
We recently found out that although the application by For Kids for a thrift store in the business district was turned down by the Planning Commission, For Kids is resubmitting its proposal again in hopes of getting a different vote to allow them to open their thrift store in the same place. While I have already submitted a letter to the Planning Commission indicating our disapproval of this project because it is not a positive fit for the business district, I will again submit another letter indicating the same as the first. In my opinion “NO MEANS NO” and I don’t understand what they don’t get about NO. So stayed turn for future developments on this issue as well.
Also regarding the businesses in the district and on a sad note, I must report that the Wards Corner Pub has closed effective March 13th. This is indeed unfortunate and yet becomes another victim of the lack of attention being paid by downtown to revitalize Wards Corner. Perhaps we need more thrift stores, check- cashing places, pawnshops and rent-to-own stores in the area to attract quality businesses to Wards Corner.
We would like to hear from you regarding what you would like to see or hear at our regular civic league meetings. Each month we try to bring you as much new and important information as we can as well as interesting speakers. If you have ideas for topics, speakers or other issues please let us know. You may email me or contact any of the officers that are listed in the newsletter. This is your civic league and we want you to be a part of it.
Finally, our Virginia General Assembly Delegation will be at our next civic league as announced in this newsletter. Please come and hear what they have been doing for us in Richmond. This is an important year in that Norfolk will be redistricted and it could have a significant impact on who represents us in Richmond in the future.
Sincerely,
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Wards Corner Civic League 