June 2018 | Volume 8 | Issue 3
THEHOMEWOODSTAR.COM
HOMEWOOD’S COMMUNITY NEWS SOURCE
The Wright family’s home on Ardsley Place is one of many historic homes in Homewood that residents have chosen to preserve and restore. Photo by Sydney Cromwell.
THE BIG
SQUEEZE
THIS OLD
HOUSE By SYDNEY CROMWELL
On-street parking delays emergency responders
By SYDNEY CROMWELL
T
he Homewood Fire Department’s average response time is 3 minutes. But when their route to a call is blocked by on-street parking, the fire engine often has to sit and wait, minutes ticking by, while drivers relocate their cars from the city’s narrow streets. Lt. Darrell Garrett in the city fire marshal’s office said it “happened all the time” when he was a firefighter at Homewood’s Station 1, on 28th Court S. “I had to get out of the truck on emergency response and start, with the siren going, and telling people to move their cars,” he said. “It’s not rare. It’s very common.”
See PARKING | page A26
Pre-Sort Standard U.S. Postage PAID Tupelo, MS Permit #54
The Homewood Fire Department has been experiencing difficulty navigating the streets of Homewood due to an increase of improperly parked cars on the streets. The fire department encourages residents to make use of their driveways and be aware of fire lanes and laws restricting vehicles from being within 30 feet of an intersection or parking adjacent to each other across the street. Photo by Sarah Finnegan.
INSIDE
Sponsors .............. A4 News...................... A6
Business ..............A10 Chamber..............A16
Events ..................A19 Community ......... A21
Owning a historic home means being prepared for surprises, especially when renovating. “Whenever you open up a panel or go to fix something, you have no idea what you’re going to find. And usually it ends up costing about three times as much,” said Amy Wright, whose home on Ardsley Place was built in 1926. “Everything’s a little quirky — you’ve got uneven floors, the bathrooms are small,” she said. It also means some of those quirks have a decades-old story behind them, sometimes dating back to the first owners. Homewood has a number of historic houses within its borders, and for owners who choose to preserve and restore the original look rather than update it, the story of the house is often worth the peculiarities and the cost. “It was worth it to us. You wouldn’t necessarily get all that back in resale,” Peerless Avenue
See HISTORIC HOMES | page A24
Opinion ................. B6 School House ...... B6
Sports ................... B11 Calendar .............. B18 facebook.com/thehomewoodstar
All in the family
100 years of life
Brother-sister duo Alvin and Aiya Finch support each other on and off the field.
Native Alabamian Ann Rogers looks back on her 71 years living in Homewood.
See page B1
See page B4