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Vol. I, No. 11 Jan. 1991Newsletter of the Ward II Neighborhood Assembly

Happy FirstAnniversary

: With this issue, Ward II Voice will complete one year of publishing.

We hope you enjoy reading the Voice.Putting It out has genemliy been rewarding ^and even enjoyable. But there is a majorproblem that we have consistently faced Inputting out the newsletter; and that is participation. Far too few people have participatedin the newsletter. We are thankful to thepeople who have written pieces for it, and :we hope that continues and increases. Butfew people have responded to articles, sent

letters, complained, or responded to our free:classied ads. Few people have sent usstuff about tag sales, bingo games, and thelike. Our coverage of what local people^businesses, groups, etc. are doing has beenscanty. Our coverage has primarily beenabout initiatives by the City government,such as the waterfront, zoning changes,ballot Items. Hopefully we will still do that,but at the same time broaden the scope ofthe newsletter to capture some of the avoro f o u r w a r d .

And this is where you come in. Come to Ithe next Assembly meeting with ideas, send :us stuff, call us up (Eugene at 864-5202,Becky at 658-4674)

(P.S.; You may be wondering why this isissue 11 if weVe beei> coming out for ayear.Well, in Novemberwe didnt have anAssembly meeting (par% due to the negligence of this newsfetter; sorryi), so we didn'tcome out that month. Actually we didn't put 'out an issue for the December meeting ei- ither, but we did put out a special issue de- ivoted to tiie re,)

rhere was music in thecafes at night..."

Last Elm and CaribbeanCorner Open Doors in

Wa r d nBy Eugene Resnick

As chain restaurants such asBruegger's Bagels and the Subway continue to transform Burlington into Anytown, USA,community people with littlemoney and lots of enthusiasmhave opened up two cafes rightin Ward 11,

On Nov. 6 the collectively runLast Elm Cafe, on the comer onNonh and North Winooski, nally had its grand opening and onDec. 17 Patrick Brown openedup the Caribbean Comer onNorth Winooski near Pearl St.(between the B-Side and Dominoes Pizza).

The Caribbean Comer,open from 10 am-10 pm,Monday-Friday, serves currydishes, Jamaican vegetableand meat patties, juices,shakes, deserts, teas and coffee. You can get regular coffee or Jamaican Blue Mountain coffee, which isuniversally recognized by serious coffee drinkers as thebest in the world.

Patrick, a tireless worker,does all the cooking himselfand staffs the place everydayfor 12 hours. He says he enjoys the work despite thelong hours. "Customers comefrom the neighborhood andas far away as Bristol," said

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After the Smoke Clears...Ward II Assembly responds to crisis in

wake of re; new housing discussedBy Becky Rabinovitch

Last month, there were twores in our ward. The Ward II

Neighborhood Assembly immediately took action to support the people burned out oftheir homes. A special issueof the Ward n Voice was published to nodfy people of whatwas being done and how the

public could help. There was afundraising dance on Decem

ber 21 at Wheeler School,which was very successfuland a fun community eventMany neighbors fromWard II and other friendscame to dance, eat and raisemoney for the re victims.That night, we made$277.79 from the dance,and the Onion River Coop

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NeighborhoodGroups Sprout

i n Wa r d I IEven though "neighborhood" is

in the name of the Ward II Neighborhood Assembly, when you really think about it Ward II isn't really a neighborhood. Ifanything, its a collection ofneighborhoods. Neighborh o o d s a r e s m a l l a r e a s Awhere many of the peoplek n o w o n e a n o t h e r a n d /share an interest in theirimmediate area. As such,many neighborhoods withinWard II have formedgroups to deal with very lo-cal issues. This month wehave reports from two groups, theGreene St. group and the newlyformed Triangle Group. Rumorhas it that there are groups on Lafayette Place and on Decatur St.We will try to get reports fromthese and other groups in futurei s s u e s .

The Regreening ofGreene S t ree t

Prior to 1990, Greene St. was

anything but green.Though long-term residents remember statelyelms forming a canopy over thestreet, all had been killed by DutchElm disease by the 1970s. Aneven more unfortunate situationwas that the street itself had beenwidened over the years, reducingthe green belt (that area betweenthe sidewalk and the road) to amere 20 inches.

In 1988, a group of tenants andhomeowners on the north block ofGreene St. decided that somethinghad to be done to bring trees backto the street The city had informed us that the greenbelt wastoo narrow for trees, so nonewould be planted. Obviously,neighborhood mobilization wasnecessary. So the Greene StreetNeighborhood Association wasformed to serve as a unied voiceto demand some action that wouldbring trees back to our street.

Through the concerted efforts ofthe association. City CouncilorGene Bergman, City ArboristWarren Spinner, and an innovativePublic Works Commission, treesare now a reality on Greene St.The street was narrowed three feetand made one-way in order to increase the size of the green belt.

Also, the Ward n NPA voted to

use some of its Community Development Block Grant money to purchase larger trees for the planting.The 20-foot tall Green Ash treesare a wonderful addition to thestreet, giving residents a sense ofbeauty and giving the neighborhood a new, living cohesive bond.

The Greene Street Neighborhood Association is still active,dealing with such issues as theNeighborhood Crime Watch, conversion of housing to student"boarding houses," and events tobring its neighbors into regularcontact with each other. That'swhat the association is all about.

For more information call Mikeor Anne at 862-3816.

Triangle Group BeingF o r m e d

About a dozen residents fromHyde Street, North Street and thenor them end o f Nor th Union St ree thave been meeting to discussforming a new neighborhood association. Though no name has beenchosen yet, people are enthusiaticabout the new ^oup.

Its geograghic focal point willbe the green triangle betweenHyde, North and School streets.There are no boundaries on whatarea the group will cover, but itsrule of thumb is that anyone within

hearing distance of the triangle iswelcome to join.

Residents met once in late October and again in December at thehome of Frank Lo wen stein and

Sheryl Lechner on Hyde Street, after leaets announcing the meetings were distributed around thearea. Those at the meetings and

those who have called to expressi n t e r e s t i n c l u d e homeowners and

renters, students^ _ a n d w o r k i n gpeople, and

w ' l o n g - t e r m a n d, . ' ' n e w e r r e s i d e n t s .

^ T h e g r o u p ' s' ' r s t m e e t i n gdealt with the is-sue of noise.People are ex

ploring community-based responc-es to noise conicts that call forneighbors getting to know eachother and discussing differences,rather than calling the police oneach other. The group also wants toorganize a neighborhood historylecture/slide show for this spring,neighborhood get-togethers, andtree and ower plantings.

No date has been set yet for thenext meeting. If interested in being

notied, please call Frank or Sheryla t 8 6 5 - 3 2 1 0 .

What will replace theNaval Reserve Facility ?

TheCommunity and EconomicDevelopment Ofce (CEDO) islooking for creative ideas for use ofthe Naval Reserve Facility on theBurlington Waterfront.

Since the 1950's, the Naval Reserve at the foot of College Streethas occupied one of the prime pieces of waterfront land in Burlington.Yet the Navy does not require alake location for its operations andhas indicated its willingness tomove if another facility could beconstructed for them. This fall,with help from Senator Leahy, $2.5million was approved in the federalbudget for construction of a new

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Fire Updatecontinued from page 1

raised $193.00 from donationsfor a grand total of $470,79. Thismoney was brought to the American Red Cross for distributionto the re victims.

Many people and organizations (too many to list) pooledtheir efforts to pull off the dancein a short time. We would like tothank everyone in the community who put in time to fund raiseand help out neighbors in need.

Several other organizations,such as radio stations andchurchs, raised money for there victims. The Red Cross hasbeen the agency responsible forallocating the funds and takingcare of the immediate needs of

the people made homeless. Ka-thy Conlin/Janis, manager ofPublic Support at the Red Cross,said, "The people of Burlingtontook care of their people and allowed us to do our job of responding to emergencies." Shethanked Ward II on behalf ofThe Red Cross for our communi

ty support of our neighbors.Most of the 27 people made

homeless by the North WinooskiAvenue re have found permanenthousing in the Burlington area. Allthe families are appreciative to thecommunity and organizations thathavesupported them and cared at aterribly difcult time.

The area that burned down be-

C a f e scontinued from page 1

Patrick. So stop by the CaribbeanComer- get good food at reasonable prices in a pleasant atmosphere.

When you leave the CaribbeanComer you can walk two blocksnorth and hang-out at the LastE l m .

About a dozen people got together last summer and embarkedon creating a public space differentthe standard night spots- loud barsand fancy restaurants. Wherecould one go to get a cheap bowlof soup, read the paper, peruseworks by local artist, perhapsstrike up a conversation with

tween North Winooski Avenueand North Willard is beingcleaned up by three contractors.The debris is being taken to theBurlington Landll in Colchester. Residential units will probably be built in the area to replacethe ones burned, but the planningprocess hasn't taken place.

someone at the next table? NowhereThus was bora the Last Elm.

The cafe is open 5pm-2am everyday. Wednesday is Women's Night.Tuesday is Irish/Bluegrass, etc. jam.Live performances are sporadic. Toget involved stop by the cafe andtalk to one of the workers.

The Last Elm occupies an interst-ing building with a rich history. Itslongest term occupant was Shelan-sky's Dry Goods Storewhich operated at that location from the mid 20'sto the mid 50's, The building itselfhas a unique shape, almost like apiece of pie; its back and insidewalls are semi-circular. But I di

gress. Stop by if you get the chance.

In Old BurlingtonCan you guess where this photo was taken? If you can, send your answer to Ward 11 Voice. 67

Nonh Union St., Burlington, 05401. We have such a lousy record in giving out valuable prizes, that wewon't even offer any. But you denitely will get your name printed in the newsletter if you guess correctly. So why not give it a shot? If you have any old photos of Burlington, drop us a note. We arerapidly running out of interesting photos.

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AgendaWard II Neighborhood

Assembly Meeting %Wed. Jan. 23,1991,5:30 pm

Wh ee le r Sch o o l

A. Announcements and setting time limits for agenda itemsB . Af t e rmath o f t he re

Brief discussion about the ward response to the reC. Tree planting in Ward II

Brief presentation and discussion with the city arboristD. Elect r ic ra te increase?

Brief presentation by BED ofcialsE. Old business

1. Report on Archibald St. Rezoning2. Report from the NPA committee on neighborhood noise prevention3. Distribution of recently awarded Community Development Block Grant(CDBG) funds.

F. Discussion about possible city purchase of the lake front "North 40."G. P lans for 1991 NPA Newsle t ter

Discussion and planning regarding production of Ward II Voice.H. Function of combined NPA meetings.Reporting vote taken at joint NPA steering committee meeting.

I. NPA sponsored debate of Ward II candidates for City Council.J. Scheduling future meetings.