First Ward Neighborhood Association

March 7, 2006 Minutes

A regular meeting of the First Ward Neighborhood Association was held on Tuesday, March 7, 2006 at the First Ward Community Recreation Center. All officers were present. The meeting was called to order at 7:11 p.m.

Guest Speaker

County Commissioner Valerie C. Woodard, District 3

Gave greetings and asked for support in upcoming elections on May 2, 2006. She fielded questions from the group on topics that included the renaming of Cherry Street Park and the Third Ward minor league baseball proposal.

President’s Report

The president asked members to please sign up for committees. The committees are Bylaws/Parliamentary Procedure, Communications, Membership, Events, Beautification/History & Preservation, Economic Development, Safety, Parking & Transportation, and Parks & Recreation. He also reported the association received a letter from the Charlotte Housing Authority regarding the recent change in property management at First Ward Place. According to the letter there will be no changes in the operation or leasing of the rental units in First Ward Place. A copy of the letter is included with the original minutes.

Police Report

Officer Vinroot Simpson (vsimpson@cmpd.org) gave the community crime statistics for February 4 – March 6, 2006. Fourth Ward had 36 reported incidents with larceny from auto as the highest reported incident. Dilworth had 51 reported incidents with larceny from auto as the highest reported incident. February 4 – March 6, First Ward had 47 incidents (exact same as Jan-Feb), with the highest reported incident being non-aggravated assault (related to bar district), second was “other larcenies”. During CIAA tournament there were 10 reported incidents in First Ward.

An incident at the 600 block of Caldwell Street involved a suspect with a gun. Officer Simpson saw the suspect and confirmed he was carrying a weapon. Suspect was taken into custody. Officer Simpson is also working with the management at First Ward Place to investigate the suspect.  If neighborhood residents see suspicious activity in the neighborhood they are strongly encouraged to call 911.

Guest Speaker

City Councilmember, Anthony Foxx, At-Large

Councilmember Anthony Foxx, First Ward resident, was thankful for the opportunity to attend the meeting and provided an overview of significant issues currently facing City Council. The top three are:

Public Safety:

Currently, officers can only spend 20% of time on preventative patrol, meaning we have a largely responsive police force. The Chief of Police has estimated a need for 70 new police officers at a cost of $6.2 million dollars.

Road Quality:

State of North Carolina recommends a 12-year recycling schedule; currently we are on 30-35 year recycling schedule. The estimated cost to get back on schedule is $8.9 million.

Neighborhood Improvements:

Councilmember noted that we have estimated approximately $6 million dollars in neighborhood improvement needs. Neighborhood improvements come out of the Capital Budget that also allocates funds for construction of roads and sidewalks, etc. Currently, over $3.5 billion is needed over the next 25 years to build more roads.  The City also has an Operating Budget that finances human resources, road resurfacing, solid waste pick-up, etc.

Councilmember Foxx acknowledged that City Council is facing the decision of either increasing city services on revenue side, or improving city services by restructuring. He noted that by living in the Center City we see unlimited potential for growth that is good but will come at a cost of open space, and higher density development.

Topics of questions included:

Redevelopment of Beatties Ford Road corridor and surrounding neighborhoods, future revenue sources for the City, growth of population, potential distribution of new police resources and Wachovia cultural arts facilities.

General Discussion

CATS is having a Center City Street Car meeting on March 16, 2006 6:30pm at Government Center.

The website is currently under development and will be reviewed by the Board at the next meeting.

The meeting was adjourned at 8:30 p.m.

Respectfully submitted,

Emily Westbrook, 03.07.06