Wards Corner Civic League

The November 2015 Wards Corner Civic League meeting will be held on the 16th at 6:30pm at the Fitness and Wellness Center on Newport Ave.

The Commissioner of Revenue, Evans Poston, is scheduled to speak.

President’s message:

Dear Neighbors,
By the time you read this edition of the newsletter, another election day has come and gone and we have elected two new people to represent us in the Virginia General Assembly, a Senator and a Delegate. Whatever the outcome of these two races we will have to work with these people for the next several years. Let’s wish them well in their respective
offices and trust that they serve us with dignity, honesty and integrity.

Now with that election over we will be preparing for another election his May. Those of the Mayor and Superward 6 are the face-off elections this spring. Candidates are already starting to line up for this election. This means that we will be having at least two candidate forums in the coming months for each of these positions. We will also probably be holding
those forums jointly with other civic leagues in our area. First up will most likely be the Superward 6 candidates possibly in January.

So far we have three candidates each running for the two positions. For Superward 6 this is: Andria McClellan, a member of the planning commission; Warren Stewart, a member of the school board; and incumbent Councilman Barclay Winn. Running for Mayor is: Andy Protogyrou, city councilman for Ward 1 (our Ward); Norfolk Sheriff Bob McCabe and
Kenneth Alexander, Norfolk State Senator to the Virginia General Assembly.

During the next several months prior to the election we hope to be able to introduce all of these candidates to you to help in your decision making. Please look for more information about this in our upcoming newsletters and civic league meetings.

Please take the time to read the many interesting articles in this edition of the newsletter. We strive to bring you the latest
news of the Wards Corner area that we are aware of since the last newsletter. Sometimes we have slow news months and struggle to find something to write about and other times there is a lot to write about.

I hope you have an enjoyable Thanksgiving as we mark the beginning of the holiday season. Thanks, and I hope to see you at the next civic league meeting on November 16th, 2015 at the Wellness Center at 645PM.  Our guest will be the Commissioner of the Revenue, Evans Poston.

Sincerely,

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Hey Wards Corner! Thank you to all of our great neighbors who came out for our big neighborhood picnic on Sunday, July 28^th. It was really nice to see all of you there and meet some new faces. I had a great time and hope that you did too!

Special thanks to Harris Teeter and Farm Fresh for donating most of the food, Blessed Sacrament Catholic Church for loaning tables and chairs, and to the volunteers that assisted – especially Sue, Liz, and Sherry – for all of your invaluable help. We look forward to seeing all of you, plus some more of our friendly neighbors, at next year’s picnic. And hopefully at some other neighborhood events and meetings in-between.

Scott Guirlinger

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At the request of members of the Wards Corner Civic League, the City of Norfolk’s Department of Recreation, Parks and Open Space has installed gates at the two existing entrances to the North Shore park.  Additionally a third entrance and gate was installed near the intersection of North Shore and Millbrook Road.

Neighbors had expressed concern that young children may run out of the park and into the roadways.

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The June 2015 Wards Corner Civic League meeting will be held on the 15th at 6:30pm at the Fitness and Wellness Center on Newport Ave.

The president’s message:
Dear Neighbors,

Summer is just around the corner and schools will be out and hopefully we will all enjoy some relaxing vacation time. Hopefully this summer will be great and we will once again be spared any major hurricanes just like we were last year. However make sure you are prepared just in case. Over the summer please continue to enjoy the Norfolk Fitness and Wellness Center. There are many great activities to be enjoyed at this facility. If you are not a member yet please consider joining. Please take advantage of this exceptional facility in our back yard. Also please consider joining our social media Next Door Ward Corner at www.nextdoor.com. It is a great way to keep up with many of the things happening in our civic league area.

The June meeting marks the last meeting of the first half of the civic league year until we resume our schedule again in September. We will not have a newsletter in July and August. We will however post any news that you should know about on our Wards Corner Civic League website and the Wards Corner Now website. We will not have a meeting in July and August unless absolutely necessary.

This is the time of year that I like to thank all of those folks who have made our civic league great over the course of the year. First, I wish to thank Barbara Ross for her dedicated service as our newsletter editor and board member. She has done an excellent job of preparing the newsletter each month. This takes a significant amount of time to complete and Barbara’s newsletters are informative and always on time. Barbara, we thank you for your service and look forward to your newsletters again in the fall. Enjoy your two months of newsletter free time. Speaking of keeping us informed, a hearty thanks goes to Martin Thomas Jr. for keeping our website http://www.wardscorner.com up to date and informative. We also thank Martin for the good work he is doing on the Planning Commission for our area and the city. Also a special thanks to Joan Griffey and Ray Duron for keeping the records of our meetings and ensuring that our finances are in order. Joan also thanks for your continued efforts as Chair of the Beautification Committee with the Greater Wards Corner Task Force. A thank you also goes to our 2nd VP, Sue Classick for organizing the delivery of our newsletters each month with our many newsletter carriers. Thanks also to our many newsletter carriers for their time in delivering our newsletters to you. This also is no small task. It is yet another valuable service that we are providing to all of the residents of the Wards Corner Civic League area residents. It is also the envy of many of the civic leagues in the Greater Wards Corner area as well as citywide. Thanks also to Betty and Ray Duron for organizing and conducting our adopt-a-street cleanups over the several years. Thanks also to the members of our civic league who help in each of these cleanups. I thank Scott Guirlinger for all his help as a board member. Thank you for organizing the evenings at Guads and planning our civic league picnic. We are pleased that you have joined us. Thank you all for your service.

I also wish to thank our Police Officers who keep us safe every day and also provide us with needed information each month at our meetings. They do an outstanding job. We especially thank Officer William Old for his service to our civic league. Please make sure we follow their advice about how to keep ourselves safe. With the rise in car larcenies, this means keeping our cars locked at all times and not keeping any valuables in our car. It also means calling the police at either the emergency 911 number or non-emergency number to report any and all crimes that are witnessed. If the police don’t receive the calls, the crime is not registered with them and there is no record.

Finally, I extend a very grateful thanks to all of our paid members for your continuing support and attendance at our monthly meetings. Your presence and input at our meetings is much appreciated. Please tell your neighbors to join us in attendance and membership as more numbers mean a bigger voice at city hall.

One thing is for sure. The Wards Corner Civic League is one of the strongest and most powerful civic leagues in the city and you helped us with getting that distinction. The dedication and commitment of the membership of the Greater Wards Task Force, and area Civic Leagues (including and especially ours) will continue the push with our city elected officials and senior city management staff to help us correct and develop the area and rid it of the dysfunctional and criminal element that has unfortunately been drawn to the area. We will not be taking the summer off but will continue our fight. Please join us in that fight as numbers speak to elected officials. Maybe by the time the September meeting comes around we will see new businesses open or opening in the shopping center on the Northeast corner of the business district. You know that shopping center with all the vacant parking spaces that exist now!

Please have a safe, relaxing and enjoyable summer. We will continue our work to improve our area throughout the summer. We hope to see you again in June and then in the fall at our September meeting. Please also join us for our civic league picnic on June 27th at the North Shore Ave playground.
Thanks,

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The May 2015 Wards Corner Civic League meeting will be held on the 18th at 6:30pm at the Fitness and Wellness Center on Newport Ave.

The agenda includes an invitation to the Norfolk Sheriff’s office.

The president’s message:

Dear Neighbors,
The signs of spring are all around us. The grass is growing and flowers are blooming. Our neighborhood really looks great when all the lawns are cut and the flowers and plants are blooming. We should all be proud. Hopefully the cold is gone and we can get outside to enjoy all the spring activities. Summer is right around the corner, school will be out and we will all be vacationing or hopefully taking a break from work.

New business activity is continuing in the Business District. The Mattress Firm building is now up and once the inside is finished look for that store to be opening soon.

The Wards Corner Public Art was installed on April 30!
Here is the City of Norfolk Press Release:
Gordon Huether Studio, led by artist and founder Gordon Huether, was selected to design and fabricate a public art installation for the Wards Corner neighborhood. The sculpture, Wards Corner Gateway, will be installed on the median on Granby St., near North Shore Rd. on April 30, 2015.

The City of Norfolk’s Public Art Program worked with Gordon Huether Studios to develop a concept that embraces local identity, fosters a strong sense of place and creates a significant gateway for the City of Norfolk. The installation enables all viewers, whether local or visiting, an opportunity to pause and reflect about the continued positive and exciting changes taking place in the neighborhood.

The Wards Corner Gateway installation is made up of two components: a bird-like structure inspired by the famed intersection where Alfred C. Ward once operated his iconic general store, and a polished aluminum base. The large wing-like component features a black and white aerial photograph of the Wards Corner intersection and was taken by a staff member of the Virginian Pilot in 1956. This part of the installation is made of translucent polycarbonate material. The wing-like component is then mounted atop an eleven-foot tall aluminum base, which causes the ‘Wing’ to point toward the sky. Wards Corner Gateway will be illuminated at night, featuring programmable color-changing lighting.

The installation and its upward orientation reference this neighborhood’s future: its continued upward growth and development in cultural, economic and community matters.

Also on that WardsCornerNow website is this information about a new restaurant opening soon. The franchise owner, Jeff Rhoades, presented to the Wards Corner Civic League in March on his new-to-the-region pizza restaurant, Your Pie. Your Pie was founded in Athens, Georgia and currently has locations in Georgia, South Carolina, Florida, and Tennessee. Jeff has plans to open six Your Pie franchises in the Hampton Roads region and Wards Corner will be his first location as well as the first location in the state.

Jeff indicated he chose Wards Corner based on the success of places like Harris Teeter and Moe’s and hopes to soon finalize his lease agreement for leasing the southernmost end unit that abuts Louisiana Drive.

The leased space allows for a planned 65 seats inside, 7 of which are at the bar, plus outdoor eating. Expected hours of operation are likely to be from 10am to 9pm daily.
The restaurant will offer pizza, salad, a gelato station, 7 beer taps, about 40 bottle beers, and wine. Your Pie plans to open around the beginning of July. Read more about the restaurant on the website.

The Wards Corner Civic League voted at our meeting on March 16 to support Your Pie’s special exception to serve beer and wine on premises. The Planning Commission will vote on the special exception in May and City Council will likely vote in June.

This is all good news as it represents a continuing interest in businesses that want to open stores in the Wards Corner Business District. This is a complete turnaround from 15 years ago when businesses were leaving or had already left.

Let’s keep up the good work and praise the new businesses that are opening in our area. Being positive goes further than posting negative comments about these establishments and what they bring as some have done from other civic leagues. Thanks to our membership for being positive.

Finally a special thanks to Ray Duron and his cleanup crew for their hard work cleaning up our adopt- a- spot as part of the Great American Cleanup. Thanks goes to Ray and all his volunteers for the work they do. The area looks great.

I hope to see you at our next meeting on May 18th, 2015 at the Wellness Center.

Sincerely,

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The March 2015 Wards Corner Civic League meeting will be held on the 16th at 6:30pm at the Fitness and Wellness Center on Newport Ave.

The agenda includes a update from Senator Lynwood Lewis.

The president’s message:

Dear Neighbors,

I would like to take this opportunity to thank Norfolk Police Officer William Old and the other officers that serve with him for their outstanding service to our Civic League and Civic League area. Officer Old is always present at our civic league meetings and always gives us an excellent report of the crime and crime statistics for our area. His demeanor is very pleasant and he is professional in his delivery of the information he presents. He doesn’t sugar coat any of his report and always tells it like it is. Office Old is also always responsive to our questions and almost always able to answer the question. If not he gets back to us at our next meeting or sooner to me if asked. We are very fortunate to have such a fine dedicated officer as William Old serving our area. He is doing an outstanding job in serving our area and we are very grateful for that and we sincerely thank him.
I would also like to take this opportunity to thank Rick Dempsey, a civil engineer with the Department of Utilities. Rick has been to our civic league meetings many times and most recently at our last meeting. He comes when we ask and sometimes he asks to attend. From the beginning of the area “sewer project” , he has provided us with detailed information about all aspects of the project. He shows us charts of the project and is always able to answer our questions. I know, like many of you, that this project has been long and it has been somewhat inconveniencing to us because of the streets being torn up. Yet he has always been able to assure us that things are on target and will get better as the project moves forward. For this, we are appreciative and we also sincerely thank him for his service. He and the staff and crew of the utilities department as well as the contractors doing the project are serving us well.
The city of Norfolk is fortunate to have such fine individuals employed and serving us as Officer William Old and Rick Dempsey do every day. In other good news provided by Martin Thomas Jr. appearing on Wards Corner Now and NEXTDOOR is in regards to the “future of the Meadowbrook School site. It is expected that the next budget will include money to demolish Meadowbrook School and to build a new fire station on the western portion of the site. The remaining site will be left as open space to be used as a dog park or otherwise as may be decided in the future by the neighborhoods.
Once the budget goes into effect this summer, the City will begin the process of designing the fire station. Designs for both the fire station and the park will be in collaboration with the neighborhoods and civic leagues in the Meadowbrook area.
It is expected that the entire project will be complete within 2 years of when the budget goes into effect on July 1.”
In other news, the Crime Prevention Awards Committee (made up of city agencies and citizens) and the Norfolk Police Department is hosting a celebration of our neighborhoods, the city and the Norfolk Police Department. They would cordially like to invite all of our neighbors in Norfolk to come meet each other on Saturday March 28th from 10am – 1pm. The event will be held at the 2nd Patrol Division located at 2500 N. Military Hwy. Meet, greet, have fun, learn opportunities to get involved in and have a chance to win a door prize. Please come out and join the fun.
Our meet and greet event at Guads the other week was very successful as I noted in the last newsletter. In fact so successful that we are having another meet and greet on March 18th from 630PM- 8PM at Guads. Come out and enjoy time with your neighbors and get to meet the Board Members of the Civic League. Happy Hour prices are in effect so please come and join us.
Finally please consider joining Wards Corner nextdoor. Go to nextdoor.com to join. It is an excellent way to keep up with what’s going on in our neighborhood and interact with your neighbors as much as you want to.
Hope to see you at our next civic league meeting on March 16th.

Many thanks

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The February 2015 Wards Corner Civic League meeting will be held on the 23rd at 6:30pm at the Fitness and Wellness Center on Newport Ave.

The agenda includes a conversation with Granby Elementary Principal and an Utility update from Rick Dempsey.

The president’s message:

Dear Neighbors,

I wish to thank all of you who attended the last civic league meeting that was held jointly with the Talbot Hall Civic League on January 20th at the Wellness Center. The purpose of the meeting was to hear the final proposal by Art Collins on his development project on Newport Ave. Following a detailed presentation by Mr. Collins and his staff, the membership of both civic leagues held a lively but civil debate on the project. A final vote of 44 to 4 in favor of the project ended the meeting. The proposal then went to the Planning Commission on January 22nd where it also passed. It now goes before City Council for final approval. You can expect to see demolition of the current apartments begin any day now with construction of the development to follow over the next few years. I am pleased that our two civic leagues were able to work together on moving this development proposal through the city processes. This is an example of how working together pays off favorably for all parties involved. Please also realize that the way the project was approved insures that it must be built as approved. Any changes must come back to the civic leagues for hearing and approval.

I would also like to thank those folks who came out to our first meet and greet at Gaud’s Restaurant on Wednesday February 4th. Approximately 50 people from our civic league and the newly forming Crossroads Civic League met and enjoyed food, drink, laughter and good conversation. It was a great evening. We will do it again as many suggested. Thanks to Scott Guirlinger for making the arrangements for this event.

Finally, I am happy to report that our Civic League area had a very good year in 2014. More stores opened including the grand opening of K&K Square at Wards Corner along with the new Harris Teeter grocery store. Other stores opened up in the business district on all of the corners. We saw more improvements to our city infrastructure this year including those to our streets, sewer lines and gas lines. Soon we will have a new public art display on Granby Street near the existing Wards Corner sign. In addition, the Wards Corner Business Association became viable again after a 10 year hiatus. Crime in our area, although still present, was less this year than in previous years. Thanks to Officer Bill Old, our Community Resource Officer, for looking out for us. Throughout the year we heard many great speakers at our monthly meetings and continued to work for the improvement of the area.

Therefore I am happy to report that the State of our Wards Corner Civic League and Greater Civic League Area has improved and is continuing to improve. Let’s keep up the momentum. Join our civic league if you haven’t already and help us achieve more great things.
Many thanks

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Neighbor meet & Greet scheduled for February 4 at 6:30pm at Guads.

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