Here’s the report:
Dear Neighbor,
The planning group for the East Asheville Sidewalk Summit had hoped to attract up to 50 East Asheville residents concerned about sidewalks and pedestrian safety. Perhaps it is a measure of the need, but more than 100 of your neighbors joined us last night to express their desire for more sidewalks and other safety measures in East Asheville.
At all times polite but often with an urgency rarely seen, again and again we heard about the needs of parents worried about children, about disabled veterans forced to walk in Tunnel Rd to reach the VA Hospital and about the documented disparity that shows the East Asheville neighborhoods on either side of Tunnel Rd have about 3% of all the sidewalks in the City of Asheville.
No great resolution was achieved last evening but rather, a dawning recognition we need to get ourselves organized if we are to improve our community. What was successful last night was the recognition each of our neighborhoods; Beverly Hills, Chunns Cove, Bull Mtn Rd, Redwood Forest, Parkway Forest, Viewpointe and Haw Creek, need to work together to get the resources to East Asheville. And that the main road serving our community, Tunnel Road, is a good starting point for adding sidewalks and crossing.
We collected names and e-mail addresses last night and intend to build on this energetic start. Our next step is compiling what we heard last night into a priority list and then knocking on the doors of power. We’ll need the help of many to achieve our goals so let’s stay in touch.
This Thursday, April 22nd at 7PM, is the quarterly meeting of the Haw Creek Community Association at St. John’s Episcopal Church, 290 Old Haw Creek Rd. Diana Christian will be reporting on what she has learned about how our community can best address the growing graffiti problem. And Dwayne Stutzman will be giving a good-news report on the status of trail improvements in Masters Park on Maple Drive. There’s also reports on the upcoming children’s bike parade and the summer barbecue. I hope you are able to join us.
Thank you,
Chris Pelly, President
Haw Creek Community Association
1 Comment
Not having sidewalks in one of the above mentioned neighborhoods is why I want to move OUT of the neighborhood. I love it here but there is not a day that goes by that I don’t see some crazy ass driving with wild abandon on my street. I would love to walk my dog without fear that some idiot is going to plow me down.