Next SNAG Meeting ~ Wednesday June 6 @ 9:30 AM

The next monthly meeting (1^st Wed. of every month  - except July) of the Salisbury Neighborhood Action Group (SNAG) will be on Wednesday, June 6, 2012 beginning at 9:30 a.m. in the conference room at the Salisbury Police Department on Lee Street, corner of Lee & Liberty Streets. The meeting, which is open to all Salisbury residents, will be led by Chief Rory Collins.

The meeting consists of two parts: 

1) Officers from each of the Salisbury Police Department teams report on the previous month’s activities, and 

2) A representative City of Salisbury Code Enforcement answers questions and addresses concerns.

Encourage each and all of your friends and neighbors to plan attend so that we can properly express our concern about nuisance or criminal activity in NOMA.  Yes, the SNAG meetings are scheduled at a tough time for the working public, but if you can make it and let your voice be heard, it is well worth it toward improving the quality of life in the North Main Neighborhood.

Salisbury Community Appearance Commission Compliments NOMA!

Hello Friends & Neighbors!

At the City of Salisbury's Community Appearance Commission meeting today, one of the commissioners, Mrs. Barbara Lawther, made a special effort to applaud NOMA on our organization, the web blogspot, and our accomplishments! Mrs. Lawther said she had visited these webpages, told the commission that there was a plethora of information to be found here, and made special note of the Spring Home & Garden Tour 2010 we are planning. We were highly complimented on our accomplishments!

Sue McHugh and Sean Meyers, members of our neighborhood who also serve on the Community Appearance Commission, thanked Mrs. Lawther and agreed that NOMA has a lot of positive energy and is gaining traction in the many projects and neighborhood activities NOMA is proposing.

Another member of the Commission, Ms. Greta Connor, asked what the City could do about the appearance of Long Street and our 11th Street. Much discussion centered around our 11th Street area issues, how 11th Street is a corridor to the Country Club and to City Park. A small subcommittee was formed that will take this issue to City Planners. We are considering a petition from the NOMA community to support these measures.

So congratulations NOMA in receiving such glowing compliments at the Community Appearance Commission meeting!

Way to Go, NOMA!

No Sidewalk Yet!

Well Hey Neighbors! As you may well have noticed by now, we haven't seen the promised work begin on our much anticipated W. Miller Street sidewalk and planting strip that we were told would, by contract, begin on August 10th. We asked the City what the hold-up was!!!

We learned that Duke Power needs to move that utility pole that sits in the little 'landscaped' island that sits smack in the middle of the intersection of Jackson and Miller Streets. They were to have started moving the pole on Wednesday or Thursday of this past week, however the rain 'may' have held them up. (It rained one day last week, didn't it?) As of today, we don't see any evidence that they've visited the site. We're told it will take them about 3 days to move the pole ~ then the City will release the contract to Carolina Siteworks to start the excavation for the sidewalk.

We sure would like to see the work start on this long awaited improvement to our N. Main neighborhood . . . so it can one day be finished! Good thing we didn't have Mayor Susan Kluttz out there on August 10th with a beribboned shovel waiting for a ground-breaking ceremony! We'll just have to have a humdinger completion ceremony instead! We'll keep you posted!

Some NSP Funding Could Come This Way . . .

We reported yesterday that Salisbury is not slated to receive a grant to assist with home foreclosure from HUD's Neighborhood Stabilization Fund. However if you check yesterday's posting, we listed (3) state-wide agencies were listed as recipients. The grants were issued on a "greatest needs" basis. It turns out that Rowan County was assessed as a greatest need county and the three statewide organizations selected will ensure the areas of greatest need in the 23 counties receive assistance. So we may see some funding after all. We are not sure how this will be distributed or how one goes about applying, if necessary, to receive the funding. We'll try to learn more and post here as we become educated.

In North Carolina, areas in 23 counties met the “greatest need” criteria: Alamance, Brunswick, Buncombe, Cabarrus, Catawba, Cumberland, Dare, Davidson, Durham, Edgecombe, Forsyth, Gaston, Guilford, Iredell, Johnston, Mecklenburg, New Hanover, Pitt, Randolph, Rowan, Union, Vance and Wake.

Bad News ~ No NSP Funding for Salisbury!

We received notification that Salisbury will not be receiving any Neighborhood Stabilization Program (NSP) funding. This is very sad news - we were certain that we were well positioned to receive an award. The NSP program was to have assisted communities hit hardest by the housing crisis. States were required to identify areas of greatest need based on the number of foreclosure starts and other housing-related statistics.

Here are the folks in NC who DID receive a portion of the $52 million in grants:

Local Government Recipients: City of Raleigh, $2.5 million; Wake County, $2.5 million; City of Charlotte, $2.5 million; City of Greensboro, $2.5 million; City of Winston-Salem, $2.5 million; City of High Point, $2.5 million; City of Gastonia, $2 million; Henderson/Vance County, $2 million; City of Durham, $2 million; City of Rocky Mount, $2 million; City of Lexington, $2 million.

Non-profit Agency Recipients: St. Augustine, in Raleigh, $2 million; Charlotte Housing Authority, $2 million; Guilford Habitat for Humanity, $2 million; Forsyth Habitat for Humanity, $2 million; Passage Home (in Wake County), $2 million; Greensboro Housing Authority, $2 million.

Statewide Agency/intermediary Recipients: Self-Help Credit Union, $2.5 million; N.C. Community Development Initiative, $3.5 million; and N.C. Housing Finance Agency, $4 million.

There should be additional NSP funding available in the federal stimulus package and the city is hoping to be eligible to apply from some of that funding. Decisions on this program are still being finalized at the federal level.

Perhaps we should feel fortunate. If others are in greater need than we are here in terms of foreclosures, we should count our blessings ~ regardless of how much we looked forward to the revisions this grant could have afforded our community. We will continue our preservation efforts here on a grass-roots level - one house at a time!

Neighborhood Stabilization Program Update!

Neighbors & Friends:

You may have been hearing about HUD's new Neighborhood Stabilization Program that is to provide emergency assistance to state and local governments to acquire and redevelop foreclosed properties that might otherwise become sources of abandonment and blight within their communities. The Neighborhood Stabilization Program (NSP) provides grants to every state and certain local communities to purchase foreclosed or abandoned homes and to rehabilitate, resell, or redevelop these homes in order to stabilize neighborhoods and stem the decline of house values of neighboring homes. The Historic Salisbury Foundation went through the process of filing for Salisbury to receive this grant. We thought we were in a good position to be awarded.

HSF is still waiting to hear about the awarding of grants for the Neighborhood Stabilization Program from HUD. This is quite a delay as results were expected over three weeks ago and there was extreme pressure to submit applications, award grants and obligate the funds quickly. We have been given no reason for the delay.

NSP funds may be used for activities which include, but are not limited to:

• Establish financing mechanisms for purchase and redevelopment of foreclosed homes and residential properties;
• Purchase and rehabilitate homes and residential properties abandoned or foreclosed;
• Establish land banks for foreclosed homes;
• Demolish blighted structures;
• Redevelop demolished or vacant properties
  
  If you'd like to know more about the program you can read about it on HUD's website at:
• http://www.hud.gov/offices/cpd/communitydevelopment/programs/neighborhoodspg/
• or just Google "HUD NSP" and it should appear at the top of the search list.

As soon as we hear something more, we'll pass it along!

What Were You Doing March 1st 2009?

Well we don't know what the rest of the world was doing on March 1st, but here in the beautiful North Main neighborhood at about 6:30 PM Sunday night we started to watch one of the most amazingly thick and steady snowfalls we've seen in a decade! We were very lucky not to have power lines break during this heavy, wet snowfall, and many trees suffered branch loss (not to mention our poor squashed and probably very confused spring flowers!), but when was the last time you saw anything so beautiful?! Children were delighted - you could not have had better snowball-snowman makin' snow!

Here's a few pictures of the neighborhood the next morning:

These crummy cell phone pictures sure don't do it justice, especially when the sun was making the WHOLE WORLD SPARKLE, but . . .

. . .Ya Gotta Luv It!



brrrrrr!

List Top 5 Endangered Houses

Hi Friends & Neighbors!

The Historic Salisbury Foundation may have the opportunity to help the Old North Salisbury Neighborhood preserve some of our historic architecture in our North Main St. area. HSF is pursuing a grant program that may allow them to purchase homes, have them repaired, refurbished, and restored, and subsequently offered for sale.


HSF has asked us to submit a list of our Top 5 Endangered Homes in the area. For example, the C.W. Isenhour House, the unique brick home at 926 N. Main St. with its dominating pentagonal central tower built in 1911 is one we might start our list off with. This home was one of our neighborhood's original homes. It was broken up into apartments in the 1930's and now has been sitting vacant and "For Sale By Owner" for a couple of years. The work needed to restore this truly unique and elegant home will be challenging. But to demolish it by neglect is criminal!

There are others homes such as this in our neighborhood. Take a drive through our streets, from Lafayette to 17th - from N. Jackson to Railroad, Lee, and Richard Streets, all the little avenues in between - jot down the address of the homes we should be actively working towards preserving.

You can email your list of Top 5 Endangered Homes to oldnorthsalisbury@gmail.com or to the Historic Salisbury Foundation at historicsal@historicsalisbury.org. Or you can stick your list in an envelope and mail it to:

Old North Salisbury Association
910 N Main Street, Salisbury NC 28144

or

Historic Salisbury Foundation
PO Box 4221 Salisbury, NC 28145

The more we invest in our neighborhood, the better it is for all of us and our community! Thanks for paying attention!

33rd Annual October Tour of Historic Homes!!!!

It's that time of year again! Salisbury's October Tour! The Historic Salisbury Foundation hold it's 33rd annual tour of some of Salisbury's finest preserved and restored architecture this weekend, October 11th and 12th. The tour not only includes some of our most beautiful historic homes but includes trolley rides, a Civil War enactment, musicians and artists! This is one of, if not THE, most celebrated weekends in Salisbury, North Carolina!!

This tour brings thousands to the streets of Salisbury. Remember friends and neighbors, this means that many will be coming right through our own North Salisbury area as they travel to the Tour sites. Although we do not (yet) have a home on the tour, we have a collection of Rowan County's most diverse historic architecture and a heritage to be proud of! Let's provide a welcoming gateway to our visitors!

The Historic Salisbury Foundation is a private non-profit organization that has saved over 100 properties through their neighborhood revitalization program. The proceeds from the October Tour will benefit the furthering of this work.

For October Tour ticket information, visit http://www.historicsalisbury.org/ or call 704.636.0103. We'll see you there!

Join the Old North Salisbury Association ~ Volunteers Needed!!

Hello Friends & Neighbors!

Did you know that the Old North Salisbury Association has an elected Board of Directors made up of people right here in the neighborhood. When you see these people, say hello!

Sue McHugh / President (& interim Secretary) · Sean Meyers / Vice President · Rebecca Hayes /Treasurer · Tim Klaus · Andrew Waters · Laurie Klaus · Pat Sylvester · Barbara Waggoner · Edward Clement · Tracy Thornton · Susan Hurt · Norma Staley · Ruby Beeker · Steve Gilbert
The Board of Directors is joined by a growing group of members in the North Main Street area (Lafayette St. north to 17th St. ~ the railroad tracks to the east to Jackson St. to the west.) The membership roster continues to expand. As we build our membership base, we really need your support ~ the support of as many community residents and property owners as we can round up! We have a wish-list of projects and accomplishments we are aiming for. These include, but are not limited to, neighborhood event planning, restoration assistance projects, greenscaping, the newsletter, and many others. Some of you have expressed interest in these and other topics. We had a great idea come in through our newsletter membership application! Animal Care and Pet Vaccination Clinics! What a great idea!

We need your help! Please volunteer and become an active member of this strong community. The Board of Directors is currently VERY BUSY putting together the neighborhood social event, to be broadcast very soon! We need help to distribute party flyers in the neighborhood, and to help with organization, maybe even help with set-up and/or clean-up. Care to join us? We sure could use your help!

We could also use help with folks who are willing to go to City Council to add "strength in numbers" to important issues for our community. Any time you have a topic you would like addressed at City Council, please tell us. We can do the speaking, if you like, but your presence in numbers often drives the point home! We have an "urban forest" at the corner of Railroad St. and E. Steele St. This wooded lot often needs upkeep. If you have a scouting troop that wants to earn a community service badge, this is an ideal project for them. Get them involved! If your church would like to participate in some neighborhood function ~ have them give us a call or drop an email to oldnorthsalisbury@gmail.com.
The Old North Salisbury Association Board of Directors meets every other month at a predetermined place - usually on the fourth Tuesday of the month at 7:00PM. Members are invited to join us and share ideas and opinions ~ these are not exclusive meetings! The Board Meeting is listed on the ONSA calendar at the bottom of these web-postings (scroll down to view).
The Old North Salisbury Association welcomes and encourages your participation!

• "Citizen service is the very American idea that we meet our challenges not as isolated individuals but as members of a true community, with all of us working together. Our mission is nothing less than to spark a renewed sense of obligation, a new sense of duty, a new season of service. Though government has an important role to play in meeting the many challenges that remain before us, we are coming to understand that no organization, including government, will fully succeed without the active participation of each of us. Volunteers are vital to enabling this country to live up to the true promise of its heritage."

Bill Clinton

• "Every problem that the country faces is being solved in some community by some group or some individual. The question is how to get connected so that the whole nation can solve problems. A volunteer is a person who can see what others cannot see; who can feel what most do not feel. Often, such gifted persons do not think of themselves as volunteers, but as citizens - citizens in the fullest sense: partners in civilization.

George H. W. Bush

• "Snowflakes melt alone - but together they can be traffic stoppers!
  Teamwork allows common people to attain uncommon results.
  Some people want it to happen, some wish it to happen, others make it happen.
  Volunteers aren't paid, not because they are worthless, but because they are priceless."

Anonymous

Old North Salisbury Membership Cards!

Hello Friends & Neighbors!

Be Cool ~ Go North!
As a member of the North Main St. community in Salisbury and a member of the Old North Salisbury Association, you are entitled to one of our new membership cards! We will be welcoming long-time members and gathering new members at our upcoming Social Event (coming soon to City Park ~ Salisbury! Keep listening!). Paid dues members will receive the wallet-sized card to keep with you. This card may have some future benefits in addition to your voting voice within the Old North Salisbury Association. We'll tell you more real soon!

We will have a membership table at the party so keep a look-out, bring your $10.00 and we'll mail you the card!

We can't wait to say "Hello" to you all in person!

The Fit Community Grant & Our Neighborhood!

Hello All! You've heard by now that the City of Salisbury was awarded the Fit Community Grant that is the first step towards the improvements we outlined in the North Main Small Area Improvement Plan. This grant will help us get crosswalks on Main St. and sidewalks to the parks. The grant comes hand in hand with a fitness program, as you may imagine from its title. The City is creating a survey that will be sent specifically to the North Main residents! In order to effectively create a fitness program springing from the City Park Recreation Center that will be most beneficial to the North Main community, the City would like to get our opinions.

Be on the lookout for the survey ~ coming from the Old North Salisbury Association ~ that we will give to the City to help them develop these programs, whether they be walking, running, bike riding programs ~ you can make the difference! If you do not get a survey, (because we are still trying to establish a comprehensive contact list for the neighborhood)and you want to provide your input ~ please send an email to the Old North Salisbury Association at oldnorthsalisbury@gmail.com and we will send you an electronic copy of the survey. We really appreciate your feedback and this wonderful opportunity to work with the City towards the improvements here we all envision. Thank you in advance for taking the time to give us your input! You're the best!

Welcome Friends & Neighbors!

The Old North Salisbury Association (ONSA) welcomes one & all to the North Main St. neighborhood of Salisbury North Carolina. ONSA's Board of Directors has been meeting regularly for the last several months. The wheels are definitely in motion!

We've begun this website ~ a good place to check for updates and news!
We are working on a monthly (or bi-monthly) newsletter!
Exciting times ahead for the North Main St. Community!

Lots of stuff is in the works! We're talking about a historic plaque program for our beautiful homes in the area ~ more to come on that later! We are starting to plan a social event for the Fall. . . a great way to get to know your neighbors and be a part of the community!

Stay tuned for more, friends!