2118 Goss Street...neighbor input requested

I sure have walked by this place a zillion times and wished it would be torn down or completely renovated (as it is condemned and has not been lived in for 3 years).  Well, the time has come for the neighborhood to consider lending support to the idea of a demolition and rebuild of a single family home in keeping with the neighorhood style.  Here are the details of what is going on.

A young family currently renting in Goss-Grove would like to stay here and has explored demolition and rebuilding at that location.  A structural engineer has examined the property and determined that the structure's foundation is failing, and the home needs to be gutted and rebuilt in order to be lived in.  The family has filed a demolition permit with the city, which is pending.

The issue is that the home is of historical significance, having been the home of Frank Hall, one of group of Black familes living in the neighborhood in the early 1900's.  The Halls were a prominent Black family in Boulder at that time. Frank was the son of a slave and Civil War veteran. There are not very many of these small vernacular homes left.  The house was estimated to have been built pre-1900's.  As we learned at the last neighborhood meeting, Goss-Grove had a significant Black population up to about 1950,when many Hispanics moved into the neighborhood.

That's where the Landmark Board comes in.  The home clearly has historical significance.  It is also an eyesore and condemned.  The family approached Jerrie and me, as chair, to survey the neighborhood and if possible, provide a letter/email of support from the Goss Grove Neighborhood Association.  Virginia Martinez, the neighbor to the west has already said she is favor of a demolition permit being issued. A hearing is scheduled for March 6th at 6 p.m. 

I'd appreciate hearing back from neighbors on their opinion on this.  Thanks!
Jenny, co-chair GGNA

 

Notes from a lively neighborhood meeting, January 31, 2013.

Next meeting:  Monday, April 8^th, 7 p.m., 1919 Grove St

Thursday, January 31, 2013 meeting notes:

 

Lots of great discussion on a wide variety of topics affecting our neighborhood.  Take a read and look forward to seeing you next time, Monday, April 8th, 7 p.m. 1919 Grove St. 

1. Administration/News for Neighborhood Garden
2. Little Free Library Project for Neighborhood Garden
3. Stone design in Neighborhood Garden/Park
4. Emma Martinez Park naming effort
5. Naropa Students Day of Service
6. Civic Center Project
7. Arapahoe Reconstruction
8. Treasurer's Report
9. Social media and Goss-Grove
10. Compass Rose refurbish project

The meeting was opened by co-chair Jenny at 7 P.M.  There were 19 people in attendance. Attendees introduced themselves by sharing an interesting tidbit about themselves; we have a very interesting group of neighbors.  One plays in a rock band, another is an artist, one is from Hungary and has published a book, one walks Great Danes, there were people who had never attended, people who had come once or twice.  We had more people at the meeting than we have had at many meetings and so appreciate all of you coming!  Mary and Maria offered chocolate; Jerrie brought homemade cookies.  Of course, wine was poured.  Great people in this neighborhood!  Please come next time, whether it is the first time or the 70^th time.

Neighborhood Garden--administration of the neighborhood garden at Grove and 20^th is now the responsibility of GGNA.  Stephen, our co-chair, is building a web site for the gardeners to use.  It will include a link to PayPal for the plot fees ($60/season for this year), a portal to log hours (4 hours per season) and room for posting stuff such as what to plant now, garden news, etc.  Jenny and Michele will continue the administration for this year.  Guidelines will remain the same as previously (with the exception of volunteer hours only for this Garden, no longer accept hours donated to Growing Gardens).  There will now be a budget for the renewal of the structures.  There is currently a waiting list for plots. Jenny suggested to gardeners that they consider sharing their plot with someone. 

Chris Shutze, a very talented carpenter and craftsperson in our neighborhood, generously volunteered to design and build a Little Free Library for our Park/Garden. (Find out more about this nationwide project at http://www.littlefreelibrary.org/).  It will be made of wood from their remodel of Bernadette’s old house and will have a peaked roof like many of the houses here.  He thinks it will be done in a couple of months (working on it between his other jobs).  If you need remodel/renovation or any other type of carpentry in your home, call Chris at 303-882-4484.  Anyone who has seen Bernadette’s house before his remodel, and would see it now would be in awe at how beautiful it is.  I sure was.

Chris D., one of our long time gardeners, has offered to turn the ugly pile of rocks (dumped on the south side of the garden) into an ornamental stone design for the area between the stone benches.  What a wonderful idea and generous offer. Chris has been diligently sorting the different colors of stone.  The stone will be set into cement, or other suitable frame.  Look for it this summer!  Chris will let us know when he needs our help and we’ll send out a call at that time.

Phil Hernandez grew up in Goss-Grove amidst a thriving Hispanic population. He showed us a map of our neighborhood highlighting all the houses with Hispanic residences.  Many of us knew that Goss-Grove had a large African-American population.  Phil explained that as that population grew older and children moved out, the Hispanic population moved into this area to raise their families.  He shared some wonderful stories about our neighborhood.  It was great to have him join us.  As part of his presentation, he described the tremendous effort that Ms.  Emma Martinez put into promoting and protecting the Canyon Park, at Canyon and 20^th, for all to enjoy.  In her memory, the Hispanic Community of the City of Boulder are in the process of requesting that Canyon Park, at Canyon and 20^th, be renamed the Emma Martinez Park. They requested that GGNA write a letter of support.  This proposal was passed unanimously.  GGNA will provide support for this project. (Update:  Loren W. drafted a wonderful letter which the co-chairs approved.  He is sending it off to the City. Thank you, Loren!)

Naropa/neighborhood service day—Amy Soehngen, a resident advisor at Snow Lion attended our meeting.  She spearheaded a community work project with the Snow Lion students to help out in the neighborhood.  Eight Naropa students and several neighbors worked together in in the Goss-Grove neighborhood on January 21st. They picked up trash and distributed neighborhood brochure, 195 of them!  We certainly would like to deepen our connection with the students; we discussed some ideas but did not come up with any concrete plans.  More to come in the future!  Thank you, Amy, for attending!

Alexis Winer, Director of City & Neighborhood Relations spoke about her offices goal to work together with GGNA to help students adjust to living in the community.  She also wants to coordinate with Amy from Snow Lion.  We welcome participation of the University here and were very happy to have Amy join us.  Maybe we can come up with some good ideas for the next meeting.

Civic Center project--the City will rework the area between 9^th and 13^th, and Arapahoe and Canyon to provide civic spaces and mitigate flooding impacts.  This is a long term project that will be accomplished over the next few decades.  GGNA will continue to attend meetings about the Civic Center.

The compass rose--needs refurbishing.  Alycia volunteered to spearhead the effort to get this done.  Thanks, Alycia!

Arapahoe repairs—We revisited the Arapahoe repair project.  In our previous meeting, we had given the City staff a list of what we viewed as important for this project.  In this meeting, we decided to write a letter describing the position of GGNA.  This will include the preservation of trees and landscaping, the relocation of the pedestrian light from in front of Naropa to 21^st or 22^nd , the preservation of historic flagstone sidewalks on the north side of Arapahoe, and the installation of pedestrian islands. Michele will draft the letter..thanks!

Treasurers report—the establishment of an LLC or other status for GGNA in order to handle future revenues better will be researched and reported at the next meeting. Jamie has offered to help research this.  Thanks, Jamie!

Social Media/Communications:  We had a good discussion about the best ways to share/communicate within our neighborhood.  The blog serves us well, but is limited.  It would be nice to have some other way to share more types of information that help build community.  Events of interest, needs, things for sale, and comments about the neighborhood…these would all be good.  Most the people who were present had a Facebook account.  That would be one way to go…anyone who wanted to participate could do so.  NextDoor was also suggested by Jamie.  He generously offered to do some research on this and we’ll discuss in April.

Respectfully submitted by Michele Bishop

 

(The screenshots at the top and bottom of this post are of the neighborhood brochure.  Anyone who wants a pdf or Word doc version of it, please contact Jenny at goss.grove@gmail.com.  Anyone can print this out and drop it at their new neighbor's doorstep. 

You don't have to move out of your neighborhood to live a better one

Over the years, we have lost many fine neighbors to the lure of "a better neighborhood", a bigger house, a better place to raise children. You may enjoy this event. Thanks, Michele, for letting us know about it!

PLAN-Boulder County would like to share a local event that may be of interest to you.

The Cultural Events Board, Arts and Sciences Student Government, and CU Environmental Center are hosting an event with special guest Majora Carter entitled "Green the Ghetto". Described as a “Green Power Broker” by the New York Times, award winning Majora Carter’s work is founded on the principle that: “You don’t have to move out of your neighborhood to live in a better one.” As increasing numbers of Americans find themselves unable to sell or buy homes, this goal is gaining more and more relevance. You can view Carter's TED Talk's from 2006 and 2010 at TED.

The event will be held on Wednesday, February 13 at 7pm in the Glenn Miller Ballroom and it is FREE and open to the public.

For more information on Majora Carter or the event, visit the CU Event Page.