Covered dish smack-down

As if you needed another reason to attend the annual Elizabeth covered dish dinner meeting Sept. 13: Both candidates for Charlotte City Council District 1 have told Under the Water Tower they'll be there. What could be more exciting than democracy in action? Come hear Patsy Kinsey and Hardin Minor explain why they should be our city representative.

Stealing Volare

One of Myers Park's better restaurants is moving to Elizabeth. The Observer's Jeff Elder reports that Volare will move from Providence Road to Grubb Property's place on Elizabeth Avenue, just down the street from another killer spot, Carpe Diem. I like the intimate, cozy feel of the old Volare. The new will be twice as big, Elder reports. Can it maintain the feel? Also coming: Vinoteca and Loft 1523.

Neighborhood dishes

Come see our dishes. The Elizabeth Community Annual Dinner and Meeting will be held Sept. 13 at 6 p.m. at Broach Hall at St. John's Baptist Church. The food is secondary, although always quite good. The really meaty stuff is the reports we get from ECA committees, the speeches by the candidates and, of course, catching up with our neighbors. You can sign up to be an ECA member and to volunteer, elect officers and hear from local police. Bring yourself and your favorite dish. Questions? Call Rachel Eldridge at 704-258-6033.

Housing values up 18%

The average price of homes in the Elizabeth ZIP code of 28204 went up 18% last year, the Charlote Observer reports. That's one of the highest rates of increase in the county, although far short of the 35% of 28206, north of downtown. The numbers are for June 2004 to June 2005, and include only those homes sold through the Charlotte Multiple Listing Service. I understand that not too long ago homes in Elizabeth would sell without listing. Any real estate experts know if this is true? If so, what does it mean for the data?

True crime news

Crime is a serious issue in this neighborhood. That doesn't mean I want to turn this blog into all-crime-all-the-time. That would make it too much like prime time network TV. But I would like to mention this: Police recommend that you engrave your drivers license number on valuables. (I'm going to engrave mine on my kids.) And they have an engraving pen that they will let you borrow so you have no excuse. Contact our CMPD community liaison officer, Laura Nelson, at 704-943-2433 to borrow it. And hey, be careful out there.

Suspects

EricHouston
Originally uploaded by johnfmcbride.

Police have seen a rash of break-ins lately. Officer Rick Greene says: "People in the area have seen 2 B/Ms driving in the area in a U-haul truck over the past two days circling the block and stopping at people’s homes. Police that work in this area have advised me of three subjects that they are looking at as possible suspects. The mens names are: Daryl Walker (below), Eric Bernard Houston (above) and Timothy Houston." Call 911 if you see them on your street.

Trolleys, trains and buses

The Charlotte Observer had an interesting two-page spread on mass transit in the Sunday paper. (I'd link to it here, except I can't find it on their &*%#@ site. Guess they want you to buy the paper.) As is typical, the coverage hits the high notes for downtown and points farther away, leaving those of us near downtown wondering about things like: Will the street car route really have only one stop between Independence Park and The Plaza as the Observer map indicated?

Some people think mass transit is a waste. I don't. I see it as a key to preserving the livability of our neighborhood. As traffic continues to worsen, those stuck in it will complain bitterly and elected officials will rush to add and widen roads. We weren't able to stop Independence Boulevard from bisecting Elizabeth. How long can we block the state from widening 7th Street? Once drivers have a choice we can tell them: No more roads. Don't like the traffic? Take the train.

We're noticed

Charlotte magazine's Buzz took a quick look at local blogs and "came up a little short." "Charlotte is missing out" the headline says. Well, some of Charlotte maybe. One blog that was noticed: our own Under the Water Tower, although you'll have to look at the hard copy to find it.

About last break-in

The last time my house was broken into the police arrested a suspect who was subsequently convicted and sent to jail (albeit for a very short time). What broke the case? I had photographs of the stolen items with serial numbers written on the back. The dim bulb burglar used his ID to pawn the stuff at a nearby pawn shop. A neighbor picked him out of a lineup. Open and shut case.

Without the serial numbers, however, this guy walks. As Sgt. Rich Stahnke of CMPD noted in a recent email to ECA members: "Pawn shops are required to keep a record of who pawned/sold them merchandise and our burglary detectives routinely search through pawn records looking for merchandise that has been reported stolen. The biggest hindrance to this system is the fact that many homeowners cannot provide us with the serial numbers for their merchandise."

Is a Minor old enough to vote?

Leave it to an Elizabethan to breathe life into the local elections scene. Hardin Minor is running for city council. He'll face fellow Democrat Patsy Kinsey, giving us two strong candidates in District 1.

At least two incumbent city council members face no opposition. "An election without opportunity for serious opposition is a hoax." Politicians gerrymander districts to create safe havens for the party in power. They have the nerve to call this democracy and wonder why people turn away. Thank you Hardin for taking a stand for real democracy.

Eliza-grants

ECA board president Peter Tart says Elizabeth is eligible for matching grants from the city for: neighborhood improvements; crime and public safety; neighborhood organizational development; and neighborhood educational, recreational and cultural initiatives. The grants are for as much as $25,000. Personally, I think a blog qualifies for "neighborhood organizational development," don't you? I am ready for the city to cut me a check. However if you have better ideas on how Elizabeth could use grant money, bring them to the ECA meeting Aug. 9, 6:30 p.m. at the Hawthorne rec center.

One-a-day

Twenty-eight reported incidents in Elizabeth for the month of June. That's nearly one a day. Most of them are people taking what doesn't belong to them: 7 burglaries, 9 larcenies, 3 auto thefts. These are our homes being robbed and our cars being taken. What does it take for this to stop?

Eliza-verse neighborhood

You may have already seen them. I just noticed them a couple of days ago: Poems pasted to trees and telephone poles around the neighborhod. In April I wrote about the poetry tree at the end of Lamar. But now poems are appearing elsewhere. Is it the work of the same person?

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...