East CAC Meeting Minutes
January 2010
Submitted by Secretary Sue Sturgis
East CAC Chairman Mark Turner opened the East Citizens Advisory Council meeting at Lions Park community center shortly after 7 p.m. About 45 people were in attendance throughout the evening. The November 2009 minutes were approved.
OPENING ANNOUNCEMENTS: In good news from around the CAC, Mark reported that Raleigh Police Captain Stacy Deans has been promoted to Southeast District Commander following the retirement of Captain Tom Earnhardt. Also on the policing front, negotiations continue on the RPD field office planned for the Food Lion Shopping Center at Raleigh Boulevard and Glascock Street.
Katherine Savage, coordinator of the Raleigh Community Gardens Meetup Group announced a community garden project at Alliance Medical Ministry at New Bern Avenue and Donald Ross Drive. The project got underway in the fall and welcomes local residents who want to get involved. Once there’s a critical mass of about 15 to 20 committed volunteers, the Interfaith Food Shuttle will run the project. There will be canvass of the neighborhood the weekend of Feb. 20 to tell residents about the project. For more information, contact Katherine at katherines3 [at] gmail.com
Located in a former church, Alliance Medical Ministry is a health clinic for working people who can’t afford health insurance. The services are not free, but most patients pay only a $15 fee to see a doctor, and it costs only $25 to visit the urgent care clinic, which is also open to the wider community. The ministry is privately funded by local hospitals, churches, companies, etc., and is always looking for volunteers, with or without medical backgrounds. For more information visit http://www.alliancemedicalministry.org.
The CAC also heard from Salvation Army Captain Greg Davis, whose organization plans to open its “Center for Hope” shelter for women and children at Capital and Crabtree boulevards. The plans include a dental clinic, administrative offices and a 5,300 square-foot warehouse to store toys distributed at Christmas. A $12 million capital campaign to pay for the project is underway, with about $7 million raised so far. The Salvation Army will also raise funds by selling its building on Person Street across from Moore Square.
PARKS AND RECREATION REPORT: Christie Jones of Lions Park reported that registration for summer camp begins March 1, and sign-ups are also approaching for various sports including youth baseball and softball and for inline hockey tryouts. Registration is also coming up for adult basketball and sand volleyball. For more details, visit parks.raleighnc.gov.
Christie also reported that the city’s summer jobs program for youths ages 14 to 18 will hold interviews at Lions Park on March 22 from 3:30 to 5:30 p.m. And the Run for the Oaks, a 5K run to benefit the city’s tree-planting efforts, is scheduled for Saturday, March 13; for more on that visit http://bit.ly/aVLE9J.
In closing, Christie advised that the CAC will meet in the gym next month because of building renovations.
POLICE REPORT: Officer Kryskowiak began by reporting that the department has been working hard on its crime-fighting initiative at the Raleigh North apartment complex on Raleigh Boulevard. The department has plans for installing surveillance cameras in public areas along Raleigh Boulevard from the Park Glen apartments past the Raleigh North apartment complex and Food Lion shopping center to Glascock Street, including a camera at Lions Park. They have been working out issues raised by the ACLU about how long the recordings should be kept, but the department hopes to have the program in place by June 1. Police are seeking funding for the initiative from the U.S. Department of Justice’s Project Safe Neighborhoods program. They hope it will serve as a model for the city’s other high-crime areas.
In other police news:
* Please let Officer Kryskowiak know about streetlights that need attention — not bright enough, obscured by branches, etc. His e-mail is james [dot] kryskowiak@ci.raleigh.nc.us, and his phone is 524-7468.
* On January 24 at about 10 p.m., there was a house fire believed to be arson on Summerkings Court off of North King Charles Road near Glascock Street. Officer Kryskowiak stopped four juveniles in the area at about 11:30 p.m. and took informational reports from the youths before taking them home.
* Officer Kryskowiak said there’s a new gang operating in the Raleigh Boulevard-Glascock area called the “Boulevard Gangster Bloods.” Because police have been locking up so many members of the area’s more established gangs, there’s a vacuum that new organizations are trying to fill. Meanwhile, RPD’s Gang Suppression Unit remains active in the area, taking 15 people to jail the previous night alone for various infractions including gun violations and outstanding warrants.
* The police are asking the city to improve the unmaintained wooded area between the Lions Park tennis courts and Raleigh North, as officers have engaged in a number of foot chases there. His idea is to create a nature trail, perhaps with an elevated wooden walkway, to encourage more foot traffic and discourage crime.
* There’s still a problem with larcenies from motor vehicles, but many of these involve items left in plain view (a reminder to hide your valuables). But in some good news, a spate of larcenies from motor vehicles around Enloe High School has stopped since police made some arrests.
* The monthly crime report handout showed a concentration of crimes including burglaries, robberies and other crimes at the apartment complex on Calumet Drive off New Bern Avenue. Officer Kryskowiak said the police plan to address that area, where many of the residents are Hispanic.
* There was a recent shooting at Raleigh North Apartments that does not appear on the crime report because the victim reported it somewhere else. According to Officer Kryskowiak, a woman gave the victim a ride to the apartment complex and asked him to wait outside while she went in to get something. That’s when two men attempted to rob the victim and shot him in the leg. He drove to Capital Boulevard and reported the incident to police, who made two arrests.
* In response to a resident with a crime concern, Officer Kryskowiak reminded everyone that if you find bullet shells on the ground, don’t pick them up as investigators may want to collect fingerprints.
OPED COMMITTEE REPORT: The CAC again considered rezoning case Z-18-09, the Longview Grocery on Poole Road at Norwood Street across from Poe Elementary. The property does not currently comply with the area’s Residential-6 zoning, and the owner wants it rezoned to Shopping Center-Conditional Use before a planned redevelopment. The building would be upgraded, but it would remain a convenience store selling alcohol and cigarettes.
In September 2009, the East CAC voted against the project 16-2. At that point it went to the Raleigh Planning Commission, where developer Danny Coleman requested that the matter be referred to the Committee as a Whole so he could meet again with interested parties to try to work out a compromise. However, the owner still wants to proceed with a convenience store, so wen the OPED committee met two weeks ago members again voted against the project by a count of 9-0.
The CAC then considered a motion to deny the rezoning request, passing it by a vote of 32-1.
PLAYGROUND PLANNING PRESENTATION: Raleigh Parks Superintendent Wayne Schindler presented the final concept plans for the renovations of the Lions Park Playground as well as Lockwood Playground, located along the greenway at the corner of Crabtree Boulevard and Remington Road.
But first, Mr. Schindler reported that work to replace the bathroom building at Oakwood Park is underway, with the old building already gone. Plans are to have the facilities reopen by mid-May. In the meantime, the public is asked to use the upper parking lot. In response to concerns about water for the dog park, the contractor said he will supply it, though there may be periods where it will have to be turned off for several hours at a stretch.
Dave Berra, a landscape architect with the Parks and Recreation Department, presented the plans for the two playgrounds, which were based on input from the CAC’s ad hoc playground redesign committee as well as the public at large. The playground at Lions Park will have one area for two- to five-year-olds and another for five- to twelve-year-olds, with many different features.
The facility at Lockwood will be geared more toward the natural setting, with play boulders and climbing rocks. This playground there will be fenced in, due to the proximity of the street on one side and the greenway on the other. More trees will also be planted street side.
Right now, both playground projects are over budget. The budget target for the Lions Park playground is $100,000, but the total cost for what’s in the plans is $183,000. However, Mr. Schindler noted that there are several things his department can do to trim costs. It’s pursuing an equipment discount of $31,000 from the manufacturer, and bringing the demolition and site work in-house would knock the costs down a bit more to the $135,000 range. And if the installation of equipment were done by community volunteers, it could cut by two-thirds the estimated $23,000 for that piece of the work, bringing the overall cost down to $125,000.
While the Lockwood project has a budget of $65,000, the total estimated cost of what’s been proposed is $98,000. The department could trim using similar cost-cutting strategies as proposed for Lions Park, but a community installation would not be practical at Lockwood due to the site’s lack of parking and other facilities.
CAC Chair Mark Turner said he would sent out a sign-up sheet for people to get involved with the equipment installation at Lions Park. The CAC unanimously passed a motion to approve the playground projects.
TRAFFIC CALMING: David Thompson with the city’s Public Works Department talked about traffic-calming efforts. He distributed copies of the Neighborhood Traffic Management Program adopted by Raleigh City Council on August 4, 2009, then took questions from attendees.
* Regarding the dangerous left turn onto Bennett Street from eastbound Glascock due to speeding, Mr. Thompson said he would look into it.
* In response to a question about sidewalks, Mr. Thompson noted that they cost $6 per linear foot, while traffic-calming projects such as speed bumps are paid for by the city. He also noted that traffic-calming projects now require sidewalks.
* To see an example of the city’s traffic-calming efforts, see Mourning Dove Road between Falls of the Neuse and Six Forks roads, or Ashe Avenue between Hillsborough Street and Western Boulevard.
The meeting adjourned at about 9 p.m.