Artevation by Alice Harrill
John Albert
Jean Galloway
J.T. Petersen
Nancy Albert
Kara Gooding
Todd Rubenson
Russell Crandall
Terry Lett
Melanie Sizemore
Michelle Dagenhart
Linda Nash
Peter Tart
Freda Zeh
Maya Packard
Roxie Towns
Babak Emadi
Ruffin Pearce
newsletter 704 719 1255 noalbert@carolina.rr.com traffic/block captain 704 894 2283 rucrandall@davidson.edu social 704 335 0280 mdagenhart@carolina.rr.com membership 704 333 3127 fredazeh@carolina.rr.com zoning 704 334 1648 babak@urbana-architecture.com
ECA treasurer 704 377 3936 jgalloway@firsttrustinc.com cankerworm/trees 704 604 5660 Kara_gooding@hotmail.com social 704 377 0052 terrylett@bellsouth.net HENF/block captain 704 332 9808 nashfamily1@bellsouth.net social 704 334 2196 mpackard@carolina.rr.com
advertising/Race co-chair 704 340 2529 naturesponds@bellsouth.net secretary 704 386 4401 todd.rubenson@bankofamerica.com ECA president 704 335 0909 msizemore@realindex.com zoning 704 372 4147 petart@carolina.rr.com zoning/beautification 704 342 1000
parks and rec liaison 704 331 4989 rpearce@wcsr.com J O I N THE E . C . A . TO D A Y
Remember that old TV commercial with the line “Membership has its privileges?” So does becoming a part of the Elizabeth Community Association, your neighborhood advocacy group. Your twenty dollar membership contributes to our ongoing efforts to keep the Elizabeth community safe, beautiful, and vibrant. The E.C.A. has a number of ways for you to get active in your community without pain or hassle. Just choose 2
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your area of special interest and talent and you’ll find that with only a small contribution of time, you’ll meet neighbors and make new friends. Each committee is composed of a number of folks who divvy up responsibilities, making it fun and easy to get on board. And yes, there’s also that cool bumper sticker with the “ELIZ” logo. So fill out the membership form in the back of this newsletter and mail it along with your check to
Elizabeth Community Association, PO Box 33696, Charlotte, NC 28233-3696. Or, if you’d prefer, send an email to Freda Zeh, Membership Coordinator, fredazeh@carolina.rr.com, and she will arrange to pick up your form by March 31. Be sure to sign up for any committee in which you have an interest, and someone will contact you. No pressure or obligation. Just like another old TV slogan: “Try it, you’ll like it!”
front and back cover photos and photo this page by Nancy Albert
beautification/trees 704 719 1255 jalbert@carolina.rr.com
just recently come to fruition. Burgess could often be seen in Dilworth making sketches of What happens when you mix art historic buildings and streets. and historic preservation? Art + Many of his drawings, including Preservation = Artevation, an art many of our neighborhood, will show depicting historic places be on display at the art show. and properties in Charlotte. Look for the thin man with a Historic Charlotte presents hat and cane in many of the Artevation during the month of pictures. That’s Warren Burgess. May at Queens Art Gallery in Plaza Midwood. The art show At least eight other local is part of National Historic artists will display their works Preservation Month. of Charlotte architecture and history at Artevation. Not-to-be-missed events include Their photography, fabric the gallery opening on Friday, art, paintings, woodcuts, and May 9 at 7 and a special joint illustrations will be featured meeting of Historic Charlotte’s along with the architectural learning series and the Civic by drawings of Warren Burgess. Design Forum on Tuesday, May Many of the works will be 13 at 5:30. The exhibit may available for purchase with a be viewed any time during the percentage of the proceeds month at Queens Gallery. going to Historic Charlotte, Inc. This year’s Artevation is a Local art on display includes tribute to the life and works the whimsical folk art of Wendy of the late Warren Burgess, Arundel, the mixed-media folk influential city planner, art of Paw Creek by Nellie urban designer, and artist Ashford, photographs by Light who worked 21 years for Factory founder Byron Baldwin, the Charlotte-Mecklenburg David French’s oil paintings that Planning Commission and document historic changes in then five years for the Town Charlotte, commercial photos of Davidson. Burgess worked of Charlotte by Diane Davis, with neighborhoods to draw pencil and watercolor drawings plans for the future. He was a of historic landmarks by John man of kindness and generosity Howard, woodcuts of North who had the distinct honor Davidson by Jim Sack, and of being respected by both fabric quilts by Dilworth’s own neighborhood activists and Deborah Langsam. developers alike. He was responsible for many of the Questions abour Artevation? changes that Dilworth has seen Contact Lenore Jones Deutsch in the past twenty years. His at lenorejd@carolina.rr.com or work on the revitalization of the call 704-334-2657. To learn South Boulevard corridor has more about Historic Charlotte,
deadline for summer 08:
May 15th
editorial content:
noalbert@carolina.rr.com advertising:
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Inc. or to become a member, check out the website at www. HistoricCharlotte.org. Charity event for First Responders by Sgt. Rich Stahnke The CMPD Hockey team, now known as Cobras Hockey, will again team up with the Mecklenburg County Sheriff’s Deputies and take on the Charlotte Fire Department and Medic in the annual Salute to Heroes Hockey Game. The game will begin after the Checkers play at Bobcats Arena on March 8, 2008. $10 of every ticket for the event will come back to the four departments involved in the event. There will be special displays and ceremonies honoring first responders. Funds raised at last year’s event were used to start a scholarship award through the Cobras organization and $1000 each was given to two family members of CMPD employees who showed outstanding civic and academic achievement. We gave $1000 to the FOP Officer in Need fund and approximately $600 to the Blue Lights of Hope fund (which helps officers and CMPD employees facing illness or injury pay necessary bills). The proceeds from a jersey auction were given to Sherry Clark and Jennifer Shelton. Tickets are sold for $20 each. To purchase tickets, please 4
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go to www.gocheckers.com. Click on the group promo code box on the main page. You will then be directed to the Checkers Ticketmasters monthly calendar. Choose the game date and when prompted choose the number of tickets and enter the code CMPD in the box labeled “promotions and special offers.” You may also call 1-800-495-2295 and mention the CMPD code.
Elizabeth is unique. It’s the only old neighborhood in Charlotte named for a woman. She was Anne Elizabeth Watts, whose husband, Gerard Snowden Watts, had made a lot of money in the tobacco business in Durham. Her sonin-law, Charles B. King, picked Charlotte as the location for a small Lutheran college for women that opened in 1897. Because Mr. Watts provided most of the cash, President Sgt. Stahnke works for the King named it Elizabeth College Charlotte-Mecklenburg Police in honor of his mother-in-law. Department, Providence Division J.A. Dempwolf, an architect from York, Pa., designed the Easter egg hunt buildings. The campus was on by Shelley Misiaveg the block where Presbyterian It’s that time of year again: the Hospital now stands, but annual Mad Hatter Elizabeth in 1897, this was outside Neighborhood Easter Egg Charlotte, because McDowell Hunt will take place on March St. formed the eastern edge 15 at 10:30 am in upper of the city. Elizabeth Avenue, Independence Park. Wear laid out in 1891, and widened your craziest hat and join your in October 1897, ran from neighbors in egg hunting and McDowell St., crossed Sugar participating in the petting zoo. Creek and rose straight as an If you’d like to volunteer or have arrow to the imposing entrance any questions, contact Shelley gates to the campus. Misiaveg at spanglershelley@ hotmail.com or 704-342-4377. Elizabeth College stayed in Charlotte until 1915, when it Rain date TBA. moved to Salem, Va. It is hard to imagine how serene and bucolic More on that the campus was in those days. illusive Elizabeth… Where ambulances now dash to by Dr. Dan L. Morrill the emergency room entrance, and Nancy B. Thomas elegant Victorian damsels once “The breezes of heaven blow dabbled at tennis. Presbyterian their freshest, the light of the Hospital bought the block in sun is at its brightest in this 1917 and moved there from favored neighborhood.” W. Trade St. A hospital in a –Charlotte Evening Chronicle, neighborhood is a boulder April 16, 1910 in a tea cup. Its impact is
enormous. The main building of Myers Park for the Stephens Elizabeth College, which served Company several years later. Presbyterian Hospital for many Elizabeth has changed years, was demolished in 1980. drastically since the turn of the century. The most The Highland Park Land and important reasons have been Improvement Co. contributed the growth and expansion of $3600 to entice Elizabeth the medical complex in the College to Charlotte. The neighborhood and the building reason was self-interest. The of Independence Blvd. in the company reasoned that the late 1940’s. In recent years, college would increase the however, Elizabeth has pulled value of a large tract of land up her petticoat and has started which the company owned to come back. nearby. They were right. The Elizabeth neighborhood, named Maya Packard and Brittany Van der for the college, became one Linden submitted this article from the of the most fashionable areas Charlotte-Mecklenburg Historic in Charlotte. Such important Commission website: http://www. community leaders as William cmhpf.org/essays/elizabeth.html Henry Belk, founder of the Belk Department Stores, lived there. Library closing Most of the earliest houses were for renovations built on Elizabeth Avenue by Susan Green, and on the streets that crossed Manager, Myers Park Branch it, like Travis Ave. and Torrence The Myers Park Library will St. The pace of development close on April 1, 2008, for quickened after December renovation. The beloved 1902, when the Charlotte 51-year-old library branch Consolidated Construction will receive much-needed Company completed a trolley line that ran from McDowell St. refurbishments and a moderate expansion that will respect to Elizabeth College. the historic integrity of this The Belk Mansion neighborhood icon will allow Elizabeth became part greater space for community of Charlotte in 1907. use. The library is anticipated Independence Park, the first to reopen in late 2008. public park in the city, opened Reserved items will be sent to in the neighborhood at about the Morrison Regional Library the same time. The streetcar for pick-up, however, patrons line was extended along Hawthome Lane, then Kingston may choose any of the 23 branches of the Public Library Ave., to the park entrance at to pick-up their reserved items. Seventh St. The designer of If you would like to change Independence Park was John your pick-up location from the Nolen, who would fashion
Morrison Branch to another branch, contact the staff at the Myers Park Library prior to April 1 at 704-336-2011. Friends of the library brick fundraiser
Purchase a custom-engraved brick and support a more beautiful library. The special bricks will be placed in a new main entry plaza. They will form a permanent memorial of your support. Proceeds from the brick sale will benefit the landscaping of the renovated library. Made possible by the Friends of the Myers Park Library. Order forms are available at the Myers Park branch or by going to www. plcmc.org/locations and clicking on Myers Park Library. Book and video blowout sale
Join us on Saturday, March 15, 2008 at the Myers Park Branch Library for an all-day video, audio tape, and book blowout sale. Stock your home library with videos and books on tape for just $1. We’ll also have rock bottom prices on gently used books in all categories. Proceeds will benefit collections, programs and services of the Public Library. Lighten up! by Frances L. D’Amato, MA Many of us take our work very seriously, as we often need to do. However, a little lightness will make the day go faster and may even help you accomplish the people pages
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helps lighten the day. Bring fruit to have during breaks so you’ll be picked up naturally and you’ll avoid resorting to the vending machines.
Have only one picture of family in your office, preferably not on your desk. Put as much as possible in your desk draws to keep the desk surface clear. Do have a plant to supply oxygen near your window. If you don’t have a window, let your plant vacation in someone’s office every weekend. Be sure to set a day or two each week to water the plant. Always have fresh water available for you to sip.
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What happens in the spring?
Usually the worms hatch in late March when they eat their way through the tree canopies and then drop on silky threads For those long drawn-out down into the ground. But with meetings, volunteer to write the drought and the strange the agenda. Somewhere on the weather patterns this winter, agenda sheet write a humorous it could be earlier or later saying and watch people react than March when they appear. to it. Not only will the meeting Whenever they do begin to go faster, but all might enjoy hatch, it is important to keep participating more. the tree bands up until after If you have a long project with all the worms have dropped. This is because several will get many parts, reward yourself after each section is completed. caught in the bands as they make their way to the ground. Make the reward something The less worms that make it simple and immediate like a into the ground, the fewer 10-minute meditation or a moths you will need to trap the second walk outside. next fall. Once the worms are Look for ways to help codone dropping, it is important workers and see how much remove the bands. Bands tend easier the day goes. Come to to hold moisture up against the work with gratefulness and see tree bark and should NOT stay how much lighter you’ll feel. up all year long.
At lunchtime, go somewhere with a co-worker and enjoy your lunch in a relaxed atmosphere. You’ll find getting away from your desk really
photo by Nancy Albert
more. Start your day with a Vitamin D requirement. So heartfelt smile and a joyful when the sun is out, walk hello to every person you meet. outside and see how much better you’ll feel. Have a daily calendar on your desk with words of wisdom that Look at your inside will inspire you. Here’s one environment. Is it organized? from African Villages Calendar: Is your desk clear? Take time “Your smile is an open window alone, with a friend, or with a which tells people you are professional organizer, putting inside the house”. your office in order. A good practice is to spend the last When making up your to do list 15 minutes of the day clearing for the day be sure to set aside your desk and setting up for the 15 minutes for a walk outside. next day. Writing a to do list for We are so fortunate to have tomorrow will help start your Independence Park right in our day off with a smile and leave neighborhood. Researchers tell you feeling lighter as you end us we need only 15 minutes your day. of sunlight daily to fulfill our
only when the worms in those areas are actively hatching. Not all neighborhoods will be sprayed at the same time. Why spraying is so important
Last year’s infestation was so bad that 92% of Charlotte’s traps exceeded what the USDA and Forest Service considers a “high” infestation rate. The Forest Service defines a high infestation as any trap that has 90 or more bugs in it. Several traps in the Charlotte area last year had +/- 3,000 bugs ensnared in them and this year looks to be tracking along the same numbers. While banding protects trees, spraying is the most effective method for the city to eradicate the infestation permanently.
Questions or comments, please email trees4elizabeth@gmail. com. Thank you to everyone in Frances D’Amato is an Elizabeth Elizabeth who banded trees. The city spraying campaign Community resident and an Now, if we could just make it organizational psychologist who helps This year, the city has committed to spending rain… neighbors keep clutter free. $2.6 million dollars on aerial spraying of Bacillus Tough year takes toll Topics on Trees: thuringiensis, or Bt. The on city’s trees cankerworm update targeted area for the aerial by John Albert by Kara Gooding spraying is about 73,000 Even if you read The Charlotte By the time this newsletter is acres and contains an Observer on January 13, the delivered to you, it will almost estimated 365,000 trees. Bt article by David Perlmutt and be time for the cankerworms is a naturally occurring, bioBruce Henderson is worth our to hatch. If you banded your rational insecticide that is repeating. The following are trees and your neighbors safe for humans and pets. It extractions from that article. banded their trees as well, your is commonly used by organic efforts, combined with the city’s farmers and bee keepers today. “Last year was tough on trees spraying program will have Because Bt is effective for a in the Charlotte region. protected our gorgeous canopy 48-hour window, Charlotte The continuing assault by for more years to come. neighborhoods will be sprayed development was aggravated in the people pages
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2007 by an unusual onslaught of natural forces - from bugs to extreme heat to drought. Come spring, some of your favorite trees may not unfurl their leaves. Homeowners and taxpayers could face hefty bills for tree removal. The continued tree loss is also making Charlotte hotter and dirtier. And in a region that treasures its canopy, the once-abundant cover is thinning. ‘2007 was probably the worst year to be a tree in Charlotte ever,’ said longtime Charlotte tree man and certified arborist Patrick George. ‘This time of year, people are not looking up and around the forest. But with warmer temperatures and more light, they’ll start to see the damage. The stress on trees has been relentless.’” “It began last spring, when an Easter freeze zapped unfolding leaves. The first hint of drought came in April. About the same time, thousands of Charlotte trees, mostly oaks, were swarmed by the worst infestation of leafeating cankerworms local tree experts say they’ve witnessed. Since 1998, the infestation has spread from 5,000 acres to 73,000 in Charlotte - most in older neighborhoods south of Interstate 85. Beetles also gnawed on stands of pines throughout the region. Last summer, stretches of heat with temperatures above 100 degrees dried up the ground. In July, an official drought was 8
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declared - and it’s become the state’s worst on record. ‘It’s like a sick, elderly person getting pneumonia - it’s the last straw,’ said city arborist Don McSween, who oversees 160,000 trees in Charlotte’s public rights-of-way. ‘If a tree’s not healthy, it can’t throw off diseases or pests like cankerworms or pine beetles.’ The city, he said, normally removes 300 trees a year from its aging urban forest. With the drought expected to linger through summer, McSween predicts the losses to grow by 10 percent. And a city program to replant 1,700 new trees has been canceled for this year due to restrictions on water use. ‘We don’t know we’ll have the capability of watering, and if you can’t water, the chances of these trees living is very low,’ McSween said. “ “Even trees that leaf out and look healthy may be in trouble. ‘Sometimes it takes a tree a long time to die,’ said Joe Cadieu, a veteran Charlotte arborist. ‘If you have trees in trouble and you add a drought to that, they’re hit with a double whammy.’ Last week, Cadieu’s workers used a crane to remove an 85-year-old red oak, section by section, from a yard on Kenmore Avenue in Charlotte’s Elizabeth neighborhood. ‘The drought’s finally gotten it,’ said Gino Godbout, who’s worked for Cadieu for 19 years and
supervised the $3,000 job. Godbout knew the tree was gone the instant he saw it. Buds were dried up. The bark was covered with light gray patches, a sign of disease. “ “Are your trees in trouble? Winter is a difficult time to tell if your trees are stressed or dying, but arborists recommend a thorough inspection. Look for brittle limbs. Scratch the bark of small limbs or twigs. If they’re green inside, the tree is likely fine. If they’re brown and dry, it’s probably stressed, dying or dead. White sawdust at the tree base or on the trunk, up to about eight feet high? It’s a sign of infestation. “Insects don’t get in until they find a tree in trouble,” said arborist Patrick George. “If they get in, it means the tree is so weak it’s not producing the defensive chemicals to keep them out.” Withered buds are a sign the tree is struggling.
Browning interior or bottom limbs? That signals a lack of water or nutrients. “A tree will drop its interior or bottom limbs first in an effort to keep its most productive ones alive,” George said. “If limbs at the top - that get the most sunlight - start to brown, it’s a sign the tree is giving up.” Dying evergreens are easier to
spot, even in winter, because of browning needles.” For information on tree care and finding tree-care services with certified arborists, click on www.tcia.org; www. isa-arbor.com; or www. treesaregood.com. the people pages
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Big E 8K road race for the trees by Michelle Dagenhart
running, walking, volunteering, or even sitting on your porch to cheer the runners on!
Saturday, March 29, 2008 at 8 a.m. at the Hawthorne Recreation Center
The prospects of an 8k race may seem daunting, but it is actually only about five miles. If you have not been running, you still have plenty of time to start training and when the date arrives, you can do it! This is a casual race, so walking is also perfectly acceptable and encouraged. Go get some running shoes and get started. Register at www. elizabeth8k. com. Registration is $20 prior to the race and $25 on race day. You will get a race package including a T-shirt for the big day. Last minute registration at Hawthorne Recreation Center begins at 7:15 a.m. on race day. Please contact Michelle Dagenhart at 704-335-0280 or e-mail mdagenhart@carolina.rr.com for more details.
The Big E Elizabeth 8K is here again! This is the second oldest road race in Charlotte turning 22 years of age this March 29th 2008. This is the Elizabeth Community Association’s most important fundraiser to benefit the beautification of the neighborhood. This race is graciously brought to you by Grubb Properties, Presbyterian Orthopaedic and the other sponsors listed below. In 2007 we netted over $9,000 for the tree project in our neighborhood with 350 registered participants. We can also be proud of the beauty of our neighborhood and the hospitality of our residents as runners from all over Charlotte and beyond run through the Elizabeth streets. We are offering an 8K run and a 3K fun run/walk for children. Runners/walkers will meet at the Hawthorne Recreation Center prior to the race. The run takes us through many of the beautiful streets of our neighborhood. The finish line is at Independence Park where we will have food and drinks, awards, music. You can help your neighborhood by being involved in this fundraiser by 10
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Or walk the 3K. Are you not a runner? If 5 miles of running seems like too big of an undertaking, what about walking less than 2 miles? You can do that in no time and get ready for swimsuit season all while giving your support to our neighborhood. Get together with some friends and register at elizabeth8k.com. Same price, same benefits. New this year is reduced pricing for children under 12 in the 3K. Pre-registration for children is only $15 (race day $20), includes a
youth T-shirt, and introduces them to exercise in a fun and philanthropic way. We want to see some proud Elizabeth families out walking for our neighborhood on race day. We need volunteers. We need some early birds to help out with the race. If you are able to stand at a designated spot near your house from 8 to 9:30 a.m., we need you to cheer our runners on and make sure they don’t lose their way. We also need volunteers beginning at 6:30 a.m. to help get runners registered, work water tables, help out at the finish line etc. We promise to have lots of hot coffee. Please contact Amanda Loftus, our volunteer coordinator, at 704-608-9089 or at aemloftus@yahoo.com. Pass the word. Let your running friends know about our race. Flyers can be found at the Y, local sponsors, or check out our dedicated website at elizabeth8k.com. In the image on the right is a list of our sponsors to date. We are accepting more sponsors; please contact JT Peterson at 704-340-2529 if your business would like to participate. Be sure to thank them for their support when you visit their businesses. race photos by Dianna Desaulniers, photomontage by Little Shiva
Presbyterian Orthopaedic Hospital Grubb Properties Conformity Corporation Starbucks Coffee
Hawthorne’s Pizza & Bar HM Properties, Emily Zarbatany, Broker JHG Financial Advisors Hamorton Place by Highland Park Development Company
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Bringing New Life to Charlotte’s Oldest Neighborhoods Elizabeth 518 Clarice Avenue
Spectacular new condos from the $220’s. 2 BR, 2 BA with large covered balconies and parking garage. Only 2 units remain!
Plaza Midwood 1928 and 2012 Hamorton Place
Urban elegance in historic Plaza Midwood. Now pre-selling 1 and 2 bedroom flats from the $140’s. Complete in 2008
Emily Zarbatany 704.564.2693 emily@hmproperties.com
www.hmproperties.com , 704.552.9292 12
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James Sebold, MD FOOT AND ANKLE SURGEON
Tonya Hendley, RN ORTHOPEDIC NURSE
As one of only a few hospitals in the country dedicated solely to orthopedic medicine, Presbyterian Orthopaedic Hospital is a pioneer in surgery of the spine, foot, ankle, hand, shoulder, and hip and knee joints. We have dedicated teams in each subspecialty that are actively involved in research which brings about the development of new implants and surgical techniques. This allows us to provide individualized, leading-edge care to every patient. See for yourself what a difference that can make.
To learn more, contact us at 704-384-CARE or visit us online at www.presbyterian.org/ortho
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E.C.A. Membership Form 2008 www.elizabethcommunity.com Annual membership fee: $20 per household or business, based on calendar year. Please mail this form and your payment to: Elizabeth Community Association PO Box 33696, Charlotte, NC 28233-3696
name(s) of adult(s) in household
street address
mailing address if different from above
main phone e-mail address name(s( and birthday(s) of children at home
Please use my e-mail for ONLY the following:
m crime watch m social/events m newsletter m do not e-mail Please sign me up for the following committee(s):
m traffic m zoning m website and/or newsletter m crime watch m block captain m beautification/tree banding Social (check all that apply):
m Easter egg hunt m progressive dinner m holiday party m Big E road race m homes tour m any m I’m interested in becoming a board member; please contact me. Special projects (list interests/expertise):
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