ECA 4-08 by Elizabeth Community

Nancy Albert

Deborah Johnson

Ruffin Pearce

Russell Crandall

Terry Lett

Susan Plott

Freda Zeh

Amanda Loftus

Todd Rubenson

Kara Gooding

Linda Nash

Melanie Sizemore

Beth Haenni

Matt Nurkin

Peter Tart

Dana Inge

Maya Packard

Roxie Towns

newsletter 704 719 1255 noalbert@carolina.rr.com traffic 704 894 2283 rucrandall@davidson.edu membership 704 333 3127 fredazeh@carolina.rr.com cankerworm/trees 704 604 5660 Kara_gooding@hotmail.com social 704 332 7992 beth.haenni@gmail.com

block captain/advertising 704 377 0052 terrylett@bellsouth.net

treasurer 704 575 2259 splott@carolina.rr.com

race 704 608 9089 aemloftus@yahoo.com

secretary 704 386 4401 todd.rubenson@bankofamerica.com

HENF/block captain 704 332 9808 nashfamily1@bellsouth.net

zoning 704 335 0909 msizemore@realindex.com

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zoning 704 372 4147 petart@carolina.rr.com

social 704 334 2196 mpackard@carolina.rr.com

B EG I N S

Look at the ECA Board listing and you’ll notice many new names. At the Annual meeting in September, Matt Nurkin was elected President, Ruffin Pearce Vice President and Susan Plott Treasurer. Todd Rubenson will continue his good work as Secretary. The ECA board members are a group of dedicated folk involved with everything from planning social events like the Holiday party, 2

vice president 704 331 4989 rpearce@wcsr.com

ECA president 704 617 8610 mnurkin@cogdellspencer.com

crime 704 968 3234 kayak1010@hotmail.com C HA N GE

membership 704 353 1179 djohnson147@carolina.rr.com

W I TH

Y O U :

zoning/beautification 704 342 1000 J O I N

Progressive dinner and annual Race for the Trees, to dealing with crucial issues like the proposed development along Seventh Street and the recent “Centers, Corridors and Wedges” proposal from the city. The ECA board is committed to working to keep Elizabeth the very special and unique place it is. I would like welcome Matt and the new team and offer a hearty thank-

THE

E . C . A .

you to all of the “retiring” board members, especially ex-President Melanie Sizemore who fought the good fight tirelessly over the past two years. We ask for and always encourage feedback from readers. Please send comments, corrections and suggestions to Nancy Albert, ECA newsletter editor at noalbert@ carolina.rr.com.

front cover photo: uptown skyline from Hawthorne Bridge, photo by Nancy Albert / election photos by Nancy Albert, montage by Little Shiva

Election retrospective by Nancy Albert The Elizabeth neighborhood was right in the middle of things during the recent election campaign season. Here are a few photos taken during October and November. Elizabeth residents Dan Clodfelter and Jennifer Roberts won re-election and all of the bonds were passed. Whichever way you voted, thanx for caring enough . to do so.

deadline for spring 09:

Feb. 15th

editorial content:

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The annual Dia de los Muertos ofrenda, of course. Resident Freda Zeh, who hosts the annual event, says of her A walk around Elizabeth this favorite holiday, “it’s like a past Halloween/election season big family reunion, except yielded what has come to be the guests of honor are all considered “usual,” at least deceased.” Celebrated widely by Elizabeth standards: the throughout Mexico and the Pumpkin Wall. But what exactly Southwestern United States, was this shrine, you ask?

El Dia de los Muertos (literally, “The Day of the Dead”) blends ancient Aztec culture with Catholicism, and is observed around All Saints Day, November 2. The highlight of the celebration centers around an altar, or ofrenda, decorated with flowers, papel picados (paper cut-outs), and food and beverage offerings for deceased souls’ return to earth. To honor one’s dead relatives, photos are also placed on the ofrenda. So what was with all those framed pictures of presidents? According to Freda, the theme of this year’s party, her sixth, was presidential. “But we only voted on those who already passed on to greater glory,” she says, “because as you know, death is strictly non-partisan!” And the winner of this years’ event? “It was close,” says Freda, “but John F. Kennedy won.” For more information about this annual event go to: http:// www.hawthornecourtcondos. com-a.googlepages.com/ diadelosmuertosfiesta!!!. Elizabeth Community Green Team now forming by Craig Miller An exciting new group is forming in the Elizabeth Community and is seeking volunteers of all ages to join. The new group, called the “Green Team”, will work on environmental projects that help make our community and world in general a greener place

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to live. Examples of projects are storm drain marking and cleaning, creek cleanups, compost workshops, home energy audits, native plant workshops, and many others. Project ideas are as boundless as your imagination.

Another effective way is to field strip it. Two websites, where some of the information for this article was obtained, are ehow.com and wikihow. com. Just put in “field strip a cigarette” in the search box. This was done by military personnel during the war, you guessed it, in the fields. First, make sure your cigarette is

The Green Team will be great for both adults and kids, and will be a great way for families to do something positive together. Being a new group, there is plenty of opportunity for you to help form the mission and leadership of the group. Please contact Craig Miller at (704) 351-5472 to express your interest in volunteering. How to properly dispose of a cigarette butt outside by Kris Solow big butt shamelessly pilfered off the net, butt receptacle pics by Kris Solow

Scene in the neighborhood by an Elizabeth neighbor

Look at the accompanying photographs. The ten inch pipe You’re outside taking a cigarette break. You’re finished is obviously not the proper way with your cigarette and there’s to dispose of your cigarette butt. But as you can see, it only no ashtray to be found. What takes one butt to start a chain do you do? Swallow it? Have reaction. The Smokers’ Outpost a flicking contest with your buddies to see how far you can located at the corner of E. 5th flick it? Drop it and pretend it Street and Lamar Avenue near the parking lot of St. John’s isn’t yours? Baptist Church is a proper receptacle. But what if your corner doesn’t have one? The simplest way to dispose of a butt when there is no ashtray or other cigarette receptacle around is to simply make sure the cigarette is out (this is a very important first step), and put it back in your pack of cigarettes to dispose of later. the people pages

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residents and the more than 600 visitors who toured the nine tour sites. Maya Packard, the 2008 tour chair, said, “We’re very pleased with the success of this year’s tour, and with tour goers’ enthusiastic responses to all the homes. They found each house uniquely interesting and beautiful and enjoyed the rousing gospel concert at Caldwell Presbyterian Church. “The ECA is deeply grateful to our community sponsors and to all those who came out to

support the tour. This event would be impossible without all the residents who volunteer to open their homes, to plan the tour, and to work in the homes.”

successful fundraiser,” Packard said.

The planning committee for this event included: Dawn Ballenger, Jane Maguire, Homeowner hosts were Leslie Mary Margaret Porter, Megan and Bill Cuthbertson, Dianna Roberts, Rosalie Spaniel, and and Dan Desaulniers, Kaylee Michel Van Devender. Thanks and Leif Lundberg, Kim to all of them for the many and Grady Moseley, Monte hours they put into making the Saunders, Elaine Scott and Jerry tour go off without a hitch. Tylman, and Carrie and Tim This year’s sponsors were: Wielechowski. The Charlotte Title – Grubb Properties; Council of Garden Clubs and Nolia; Savvy & Co. Real Estate Caldwell Presbyterian Church completed the tour offerings. Platinum – Hawthorne’s “They’re the stars of this

Please be a responsible smoker and take care of your butt. Nobody likes an unsightly butt. Butts are litter. Have some class. Don’t be a litterbug! Elizabeth Home Tour a great success by Rosalie Spaniel By any definition the 2008 Elizabeth Home Tour was a success. It was a fantastic fundraiser for the Elizabeth Community Association thanks to unprecedented support from community business sponsors. Some 36 businesses participated as sponsors, including many new sponsors. The tour also generated excitement among community

photo: Nancy Albert

completely out by stubbing it out on a hard surface such as a driveway, or under your shoe. Do not stub it out on a park bench where people sit, or a tree. Any burning ember can cause a fire, so double check that it’s out. Second, find a dirt or mowed grass area, and roll your cigarette between your fingers to loosen and get all the tobacco out. The tobacco is biodegradable. Then, snap off what is left of the paper from the filter, and roll this up into a ball and leave with the tobacco. The paper is biodegradable. Put the filter in your pack of cigarettes, pocket or portable ashtray (more on this later) to dispose of in a trash can when you get back to the office or classroom. The filter, Another way to dispose of a you guessed it again, is NOT butt when there is no ashtray, biodegradable! is to buy a flat, folding pocket The filter is made from ashtray. These are nifty little plasticized cellulose acetate pocket pals that will stir up all and will stay in the environment kinds of conversation and lead for YEARS. Cigarette filters to a GOOD habit. To receive are designed to absorb some a free portable ashtray, go to of the chemicals and metals cigarettelitter.org, or go to found in the tobacco that you buttsout.net to buy a more smoke such as arsenic, lead stylish one. and cadmium. Disposed of I would like to remind smokers improperly, these will leach that there are people who care out into the soil. about the disposal of their Filters also look like food to butts. A smoker seen littering some birds and animals who from a car, for instance, can be have actually been documented reported to Swat-A-Litterbug at feeding filters to their young. ncdot.org or by calling 1-800Once ingested, filters lead to a 331-5864. The reporter has false sense of satiation and can to record the license plate for block the digestive tract, killing NCDOT who in return will send them in a matter of days. a letter to the driver.

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Pizza & Bar; HM Properties, Emily Zarbatany; Presbyterian Hospital; T.R. Lawing Realty

- Educate the public about birds of prey and how they play a role in conservation as a docent volunteer or an exhibit volunteer.

Gold – Banister Homes; Carpe Diem; Common Market; Crisp; Dillon Natural Health; Dupont & Slay; First Citizens Bank; Miller Architecture; NaturaLawn of America

- Help take care of the many resident birds. - Greet visitors in the gift shop. - Help repair aviaries and perform other general property maintenance.

of Garden Clubs; Closet of Style; Conformity Corp.; Cooking Uptown; DeRhodes Construction; Edward Jones Investment, Tom Higgins; Harkey Tile & Stone; Iron Butterfly Studios; Jane and Roxie Towns; Ken Magas Advertising & Graphic Design; NoFo on Liz; Prudential Carolinas Realty; The Royal Gardens; Segue Builders; Urban Home Magazine; Woodruff Architecture

Whoooo wants to volunteer? by Louise Bhavani

The Elizabeth neighborhood is home to many raptors, including the very vocal barred owl pictured above. Sadly, many of these birds end up injured and at Carolina Raptor Center, a local non-profit organization Florists – The Blossom Shop; that’s mission is dedicated to Carolyn Shepard Design Group; environmental conservation of Charlotte’s Garden; Midwood birds of prey through public Flower Shop; Roseland Floral education, rehabilitation of Company injured and orphaned raptors as well as research. Please remember to support these companies and thank Volunteers play a huge role in them for their support of the success of the organization this event. and you can join them. It’s never too early to start thinking about next year’s tour. Planning for 2009 will begin early and all community residents are encouraged to become involved. Email mpackard@carolina.rr.com if you’d like to have your home featured or if you’d like to serve on the planning committee. 8

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Volunteers at Carolina Raptor Center can do many things:

Without the support and time of all of our volunteers, Carolina Raptor Center wouldn’t be the great place it is today. Would you like to join our ever growing group of fantastic volunteers? Volunteer as little or as much as you want. We even have a junior volunteer program (10-15yrs olds). Check out www.carolinaraptorcenter.org or contact Louise Bhavnani, Director of Volunteer Services at lbhavnani@ carolinaraptorcenter.org. Can’t donate the time but want to support our mission? Become a member, sponsor an injured raptor, adopt a bird, the possibilities are endless, for more information go to www.carolinaraptorcenter.org/ support.php

- Work in the “ER” helping injured raptors become healthy Chipmunks and enough to be released back Siamese cats into the wild. by Frances D’Amato - Be on a transport team that gets injured raptors picked up and taken to CRC.

Have you noticed that the chipmunk population seems to have increased this summer?

photo: Frances D’Amato

Silver – Charlotte Council

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The chipmunk I want to talk about is one that took up residence in my home. One morning as I was at the computer in my office, my Siamese cat Elizabeth came in through the open Anderson window carrying a live chipmunk in her mouth. As most good cats do, she dropped the chipmunk at my feet. It ran, and she went after him. They sped down my hallway and into my bedroom. The chipmunk safely hid under my night table, reachable only by Elizabeth’s claw. I called my vet to see if I could get a humane trap. Soon I had a trap set up in a corner of my bedroom; the chipmunk found his own residence. One morning very early I got up and went to the kitchen to find the chipmunk scurrying into a small opening under the kitchen cabinets. I realized the chipmunk was drinking Elizabeth’s water and perhaps enjoying her IAMS. I thought: “Well, I have another pet.” Then one night about twothirty in the morning, I awoke to the sound of a cat chasing a chipmunk all around my bedroom. I hoped the chipmunk would find refuge in the trap but alas, he preferred 10

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the safety of my night table. When things were quiet again I called out, pleading to the chipmunk. “Please find your way out when I open a door.” The next morning around six, I walked into my office and saw the chipmunk sitting on the windowsill of the very window he came through. I very quietly said I will open the window and you may exit and I’ll keep Elizabeth out of this room. As I approached the window he jumped down and just stood under my glass desk. He cocked his head, and I opened the window. I then left the room, closing the door. I decided this was a good time to make coffee and have a piece of toast. I let Elizabeth out the patio door and prayed for the best. About a half hour later, curiosity forced me to open the office door. No sign of the chipmunk. There aren’t many places to hide in here so I hoped my second pet had moved on out the window. I didn’t remove the trap but I did put Elizabeth’s food and water up every night. No scurrying in the night or in the early morning. A few days latter I called maintenance and asked if they would seal up the opening under my

Rally for Goodwill by Beth Haenni

kitchen cabinet. When Dave came I asked him to make sure there wasn’t a chipmunk in the opening. Dave shinned the searchlight and saw nothing so he sealed the hole.

When Goodwill is down, Elizabeth is here to pick her up. If you read the Charlotte Observer on Nov. 3, you saw that Goodwill donations are significantly down for the year. Goodwill sells donated items at its retail stores as inexpensive provisions for the needy. Proceeds are used to support educational job training programs, which served more than one million people in 2007 alone.

I kept baiting the trap for a few days after that but there were no more signs of the chipmunk so I put up the trap. I was confident now that my second pet had moved on. A few days ago I was sitting out on my patio with the glass sliding doors closed when Elizabeth jumped up on the brick wall surrounding my little garden space with a chipmunk in her mouth. This time when she dropped it, they both scurried about the garden. Elizabeth caught her and let her go a few times. Once or twice they both jumped over the brick wall into the driveway. Elizabeth was

successful in catching her but didn’t apply the killer bite. I was glad and thought perhaps Siamese cats are taught by their moms to play with prey. In any case I was glad this chipmunk didn’t take up residence with us.

Elizabeth neighbors are rallying for Goodwill. We will host a neighborhood-wide Goodwill drive on Saturday, December 6, from 9am to noon. A Goodwill truck will be stationed in our empty lot at 2125 Greenway Ave. to accept donations. Please bring furniture, baby items, small working appliances, computers, household goods, toys, and anything else you want to clean out. (Note: no pianos, organs, or large appliances.) If you don’t have any items to donate, consider bringing your checkbook to make a cash donation. Email questions to beth.haenni@ gmail.com. LET’S FILL UP THE TRUCK!!! photo: Nancy Albert

When I was out delivering the Elizabeth Community Newsletters, a chipmunk ran across my path so fast it was like a speeding bullet; all I could see was a brown blur.

--------------------------------------------www.elizabethcommunity.com

C HA N GE BEGINS WITH YOU

E.C.A. membership form 2009 www.elizabethcommunity.com Annual membership fee: $20 per household or business, based on calendar year. Please mail this form and your payment to: Elizabeth Community Association PO Box 33696, Charlotte, NC 28233-3696

name(s) of adult(s) in household

street address

mailing address if different from above

main phone e-mail address name(s( and birthday(s) of children at home

Please use my e-mail for ONLY the following:

m crime watch m social/events m newsletter m do not e-mail Please sign me up for the following committee(s):

m traffic m zoning m website and/or newsletter m crime watch m block captain m beautification/tree banding Social (check all that apply):

m Easter egg hunt m progressive dinner m holiday party m Big E road race m homes tour m any m I’m interested in becoming a board member; please contact me. Special projects (list interests/expertise):

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