Read all about it

The new Elizabeth Community Association Newsletter is available, and you've probably already read the whole thing while I was out of town. If you haven't, check it out.

Sadly this is Babak Emadi's last issue as editor, as he explains on Page 2. He did a killer job and made it look easy. We all owe him and his family a big thank you for the work they and others did on the newsletter. If anyone can fill Babak's newsletter shoes, it's Hardin Minor. Make it easy on Hardin by emailing your newsletter contribution to him today: himinor AT carolina DOT rr DOT com. He'll be glad you did.

Property tax hike

Elizabethan Jennifer Roberts voted with the majority on the Mecklenburg County commision to raise property taxes 10.6%. The centerpiece of the budget is an additional $8 million for our schools, bringing the county's share to $291 million. If you spend time at any of our schools it's clear the need is there. According to charlotte.com's calculator, I'll pay less than $25 extra a month in property taxes. I'm willing to do that. What do you think?

One board after another

As if the end of school and the start of vacation time weren't enough to keep me busy, I started building a tree house in my back yard. Both my wife and my neighbor Dan have had great fun skewering me for proceeding without plans. Like everything else I do I'm making it up as I go. I can't see where the last board will go. But I know where the next one belongs, and I'll put it there eventually. Will I ever finish? Do any of us?

ConvergeSouth 2005

ConvergeSouth 2005

Mark this on your calendar! October 7-8, 2005, Greensboro.
Huge event for bloggers, with great music, speakers, art, networking opportunities, education, ribaldry...the works.

Among the speakers already slated to appear are:
Amanda Congdon - Rocketboom
Michael Bowen - Cobb
Dave Winer - Scripting News
Ed Cone - EdCone.com
Jimmy Wales - Wikipedia
Tiffany Brown - BlackFeminism.Org
Sandy Carmany - Political Blogging

...and numerous others will be in attendance, most of whom you will find to be delightful and informative...at least that has been my experience.

Charlotte is supposed to have a blogger conference this fall, or even late summer, but that may, alas, be folded into the Greensboro event, since there are so few Charlotteans who seem to give much of a damn, I mean, durn. We shall see.

You can go ahead and register, and also get booked at hotels, get transportation and such from the Converge South website.

Feel free to volunteer with help, services, food, refreshments, money or what-have-you. OR...just show up! That is fine too, and you're guaranteed to have a good time.

Rails for Elizabeth?

CATS may buy the rails for our streetcars -- even though construction isn't scheduled to start for another two years. The Charlotte Observer reports CATS wants to be ready when Elizabeth Avenue gets rebuilt. Read the story here.

New neighbor

If you have to cut down one of Elizabeth's prize trees, at least you can do something clever with it. That's what they did at the Cajun Queen restaurant on East 7th Street. The gator -- named Elizabeth, naturally -- was carved out of the stump with a chainsaw.

The new pavement is here! The new pavement is here!

It's as smooth as glass on East 8th Street. Get out the rollerblades. Other streets are green with envy. Now if only we could have our curbs back...

1 of 38 in April

Deborah Hirsch just moved to Elizabeth when a stranger stuck a gun in her face outside her apartment. Read her account in the Observer.

According to police there were 38 "incidents" in Elizabeth in April, including two armed robberies, two auto thefts, three commercial burlgaries, one residential burglary and one rape. I've lived in Elizabeth for 20 years. My home has been broken into three times. My car has been stolen twice.

What does it say about us that this is normal?

Subcontractor at Hawthorne Rec

ECA president Peter Tart reports on the situation at Hawthorne Rec Center:

"Mecklenburg County Park and Recreation is subcontracting the operation of the Hawthorne Rec Center to a sports club (badminton and table tennis). The current hours of operation are not expected to be reduced but some activities are likely to be relocated to the First Ward Recreation Center while some from other locations will be moved to the Hawthorne Center.

"Lola Massad, branch manager for wellness and recreation center services for the county (704.336.8460) said the changes are due to budget cutbacks. The board expressed disappointment that someone else was going to operate the facility and was assured that the changes likely would not be noticed. According to Massad an alternative is closing the center so this choice might be preferable. The sports club is expected to sign a 9-year contract to operate the facility."

What do you think about this? The rec center just got an update and now it's being turned over to a sports club? Will they put a fence around everything like they did with the baseball field at the other end of Independence Park? Should we just subcontract the entire park out to Dick's Sporting Goods and be done with it?

What's up with Hawthorne Rec?

Find out Tuesday night at the Elizabeth Community Association's monthly board meeting. Lola Massad of Mecklenburg County Park and Recreation should be there Tuesday, May 10 at 6:30 p.m. at the rec center.

Delicious recipes

Maya shared the recipes from the progressive dinner. Find them here. Greek salad, Greek-style potatoes, zucchini, and tomatoes, the grilled chicken recipe I told you about before and a yummy citrus-mint punch. Enjoy.

Progressive dinner

As always, the annual Elizabeth progressive dinner was huge. The food and conversation at our host house, Rick Kreitlow's on East Fifth, was wonderful.


Lynne and Katherine share a laugh at the Kreitlow residence.


If you eat desserts standing up, as most of us did at the desert house on Bay Street (above), the calories don't count.

Did you take photos at the progressive dinner? Email them to me and I'll post them here. Or better yet, join the blog and post them yourself! Email me and I'll tell you how. Like the progressive dinner, it's free and easy -- and completely sugar-free.

Philosopher's stone

The Bayou Kitchen location is too prime to stand vacant long. Charlotte Magazine reports the brothers that started the great Thomas Street Tavern will reopen the BK as Philosopher's Stone. The sign out front says it will open in May. Well it's May. Let's see what kind of alchemy arises at the intersection of Caswell and Seventh.

Confirmed

Also in Charlotte Magazine, guess which 'hood nabbed the Best Of The Best award? Do you even have to ask? Of course we know it's the best. But it's nice to see independent verification.

Home tour and centennial celebration

Make plans now for the annual Elizabeth Community Association Homes Tour Oct. 8-9 and the centennial celebration of Independence Park. The ECA and Mecklenburg County Park and Recreation are planning an arts festival with music and activities to go along with the home tour. Should be a blast. As usual, helping hands -- and houses -- are needed. Contact Terry Lett at 704.377.0052 or email him.

May Day rally

At 2 p.m. today at Independence Park, part of the Bring The Troops Home Now Project. From the flyer: "Bring back May Day -- May Day grew out of the struggle of working people in this country more than a hundred years ago for an 8-hour work day with full day's pay. All over the world, working and poor people march on May Day to send the message that workers are united. Let's bring that unity and fighting spirit back."

Getting saucy on Seventh

Just got back from a class at Cooking Uptown, and I'm still buzzing. Maybe the wine contributed. But when the executive chef of the Meeting House (I know, it's in another neighborhood) is telling me that the cure for excess tannins in a red wine reduction is carrots, I'm paying attention. Or when Christopher Zion says if your Bearnaise sauce tastes eggy add a little butter, I'm all ears. Or when he says a leak helps keep your vegetable stock clear, this is stuff I have to know. The class was called "Sauces, Sauces, Sauces..." and lasted a little over two hours. Afterward the class of about 23 ate halibut, chicken breast and culotte (or tri-tip) steak with about six different sauces. And some wine. Did I mention the wine? The best part: Every last penny of the $50 registration fee goes to the Council For Children.

Kotopoulo stin skara me skordalia

The scent you'll be smelling wafting from Elizabethan backyards this Saturday will be grilled chicken with almond garlic sauce, the main course for the annual progressive dinner. Or, as we say in Greece, Kotopoulo stin skara me skordalia. They say the sauce was one of the first the Greeks made and can be traced back 2,500 years. That may be. But I'm making a fresh batch. See you at the appetizer house at 6.

What grows in Elizabeth?

One of the nation's leading health-care technology consulting businesses. Ok, so Healthlink no longer has an Elizabeth presence. But it was born here. It grew up and moved to Houston, where it was bought by IBM. Know of another Healthlink in the making in Elizabeth? Email me.

He's everywhere

At the risk of this becoming all Winn all the time, there he is again on the Observer's Business front, touting his favorite restaurant (our very own Ethan's, natch). And again on Page 2D. Welcome to Under the Water Tower, Winn. We embrace celebrity. Now on to more important issues.