Corner Stores....Literally

When you walk or drive around the neighborhood you're likely to notice buildings that were at one time corner stores. Long time residents tell me that the neighborhood was once dotted with these mom and pop stores.













The buildings still stand, most of them shuttered or converted back to houses. Would love to the know the stories of these old corner stores. Would also love to see these old buildings come back to life.

Looking Back and Moving Forward

A couple of days ago one of my neighbors dropped off some clippings of newspaper articles about Dignowity Hill. One of the articles was dated September 1985 and was titled "Neatness Contrasts with Neglect". The article contrasted the grand old homes set against neglect amid the beginnings of a turnaround for the neighborhood. The picture in article shows the Elmendorf House with the caption referring to the character of the neighborhood.

Fast forward to September 2009. Well, some things have changed and others have not in the 24 years since 1985. We are in the midst of a renaissance that appears to be gaining momentum and we still have a good inventory of old houses yet we still have a ways to go in dealing with neglect. But one thing is certain: Dignowity Hill has character and it has to be preserved as we move forward.

The neighborhood plan for Dignowity Hill lays out a blue print for addressing land use, traffic and noise issues, safety concerns, historic influences on the neighborhood, etc. The hope is that the plan will help preserve and enhance much of what makes Dignowity Hill attractive as a neighborhood. As the neighborhood continues to revitalize my hope is that we can retain our sense of community, attract folks to our artistic community and continue our acceptance of newcomers. I hope that real estate agents learn to understand and convey the character of not only the houses but of the people who live here. I also hope that neglect will turn to appreciation of what we have in Dignowity Hill and result in action to tidy up.

Some things take time to change. Not a bad thing when you're talking about a neighborhood's character.

Media Exposure Fun

In case you've been out of town over the last 3 or 4 weeks our neighborhood has been highlighted in 3 newspaper articles. All three articles have painted a positive picture of the neighborhood. Most of the attention is a result of the reinvestment and neighborhood plans being developed by the city in partnership with the comunity. Yours truly has been interviewed all three times for these articles and for the most part it's been fun. This media exposure gig is all new to me so I'm still getting used to saying the appropriate things during an interview. For those of you that do not know me, I tend to be a little irreverent at times. My sense of humor is a little warped and I don't generally take myself too seriously. I use words like "cool", "weird" and "interesting" during conversations. I often fall back on the language of my youth. I can't help myself!

After the most recent newspaper article about our neighborhood was published I was taken to the woodshed by one of our association members for using the word "cool" in a quote. Thought that I sounded too much like a surfer dude....sigh! I thanked him for his honest critique and told him I would work at my interview giving skills. I suppose I do need to be mindful of what I say when ever I'm involved in an interview. It's never too late to learn new skills! Coming across as "polished" matters to some folks.

On the other hand, what truly matters to me is the fact that our neighborhood is on the cusp of experiencing some significant changes, that there is a sense of hope bubbling up, that we have an excellent association leadership group in place that really cares, that we are dealing with issues in a thoughtful manner, and most importantly I can see the beginnings of a transformation in attitudes of some of my neighbors. Now, is that cool or what?!

Early Morning-North Pine and Lamar Streets

Images taken between 530am and 630am- August 2009

Basic Stuff

If you live in Dignowity Hill and have walked around the neighborhood you've probably noticed that many of our sidewalks are in need of repair or need to be replaced. At the first public meeting of the reinvestment plan someone asked who is responsible for the maintenance or repair of sidewalks in the neighborhood. This question has been raised in other public meetings held for the reinvestment plan. Well, according to city code it is the responsibility of the adjacent property owner to maintain and/or provide for sidewalks abutting their property. Interesting.
The general feeling from the community is that we need to start with some basic infrastructure improvements in the neighborhood, for example, repave our streets, repair sidewalks, put in curbs, and improved street lighting, in order to start improving the quality of our neighborhood. This makes sense. But the current city code that puts the onus on homeowners to maintain or provide sidewalks does not make sense. The community is pushing for those basic infrastructure improvements to happen and city planners need to listen.
The reinvestment plan and neighborhood plan developed over the last couple of months has some excellent elements and goals that will over time have the potential to bring much needed positive change to the neighborhood. The point of this little ramble is that if these plans have any chance of succeeding then we have to start with the basics.

Dignowity Dog Tale

Our two dogs have names straight out of the bible, Hannah and Becka (short for Rebecka). We found them abandoned on our church property in 1996 when they were puppies. So by dog standards they're up there in age. We think they're sisters but we'll never know for sure. We also think that they are part border collie, lab and who knows what else. Over the last 13 years they given us lots of joy and grief.... sort of like children do. For 10 years they provided service as visitation dogs. Along with my wife, Hannah and Becca visited a local nursing home on the Southeast side of town. So in many many ways they've redeemed themselves of the mischief they would occasionally get themselves in. They're retired now from their visitation duties and ever since we moved into the neighborhood they've led a pretty laid back sort of existence. They're not as active as they once were, mostly they just lay around and sleep. They love to sit on the front lawn or porch just watching the world go by. But even in their retirement years they're still capable of bringing joy and touching people's lives in ways that are seem spiritual at times.

The other night, around 9pm, the dogs were in the yard while Barb watered our gardens trying to save our flower beds from becoming mini deserts. A car stopped in front of our house and a gaggle of kids and their parents spilled out. The kids had spotted our dogs in the yard and persuaded their dad to stop. The kids wanted know if the could pet the dogs. Of course Barb said yes and in no time the kids all with biblical names: Jeremiah, Hannah, Genesis, Hezekiah, and some names I didn't catch, were engaged with Hannah and Becca, our biblical named dogs. The kids and the parents had a great time visiting with the dogs. Hannah and Becka were their usual gentle and unconditional selves.

After the family said their goodbyes, we were struck by what just had happened. Here we are, it's late in the evening, getting dark, this family shows up unannounced and we have this wonderful visit with total strangers. And all because of two old and gentle dogs with biblical names. You all can draw your own conclusions as to how these things happen, all I know is that Dignowity Hill can be an interesting place at times.

Perfect Storm

Our little corner of the world has been getting a lot of attention lately. All of sudden there seems to be a "perfect storm" of initiatives, projects and renewed energy converging upon our quiet neighborhood. One initiative that has the most potential for really changing the face of the Dignowity Hill is the Eastside Reinvestment Plan. The plan is an outgrowth of a city Strategic Community Plan that was developed a few years ago. The initial focus of the reinvestment plan will be on Dignowity Hill and if this plan comes to together as envisioned our neigborhood will experience positive change like never before! This plan has the potential to bring improvements in infrastructure, better lighting, improved streets and sidwewalks, improvements to our parks, raising the awareness of the historical nature of our neigborhood and other key quality of life improvements.
The first public meeting to introduce the plan and get community input was held this past week. The attendance was incredible, 113 people signed in and the head count came in at 132! That's a good sign.....it means that folks are interested but most importantly they want to provide input. Some challenges that I see: financial resources will need to be secured, so funding sources will need to identified. We also need to overcome a healthy dose of skepticism within the community that this will actually come to fruition.
But, I'm hopeful that this initiative will eventually deliver the goods.