The following is a recap of the agenda:

FLOWER CITY CHALLENGE 1/2 MARATHON TURNING THE CORNER ON BRUNSWICK:
Ellen Brenner, Park Avenue neighbor and one of the owners of Fleet Feet on Monroe, attended the meeting to remind everyone to get out and cheer for the runners this Sunday, May 1.  They will be running through various neighborhoods along the route.  There will be a contest for the most spirited neighborhood, so let’s get out and cheer. (Those of you who run know how helpful it is to see people out cheering for you as you make your way through the race.   No cigarettes or donuts, please.)

• Turning Right on Brunswick from East Avenue:  Around mile 4.5, the runners will turn right on Brunswick from East then turn right on Park Ave. The fastest runners will probably be there around 7:50am, with runners passing through until about 9am.  2200 runners are currently registered.  You don’t even have to get out of your jammies to cheer them on.  Let’s show them our spirit!  13.1 miles is a long way.

DEVIL MAY CARE:
Jimmy Catalano (PARC secretary) and Elaine Spaull (city council representative) requested that we set up a Park Central neighborhood meeting to discuss any grievances some neighbors still have with the store at the corner of Brunswick and Park.  Jimmy, Elaine and Cindy Geller (Park Avenue Merchants’ Association president) will attend the meeting, as well.  Those grievances and concerns will be presented to the owners of the store in written form.  The owners have expressed a strong desire to work with the neighborhood, so Jimmy and Elaine believe this is the best next step.  I will be sending two proposed dates for a meeting soon, so we can decide what works best for those who want to participate.

APPLICATION FOR DEVELOPMENT OF PARCEL OF LAND AT 751-759 PARK AVE:
We don’t have any further information on when the meeting with the developer will be held (Peter Siegrist, the city zoning official assigned to the application, has been out of the office).  The neighborhood should definitely get involved from the very beginning on this one to assure any concerns are addressed.  From what I could tell around the table, no one is against development; they just want to make sure it is the right kind of development.  Many have concerns that a 48 unit apartment building will bring down rents in the neighborhood and cause parking issues.  I will keep you all in the loop as soon as we are notified by the city about the meeting.

A PROACTIVE NEIGHBORHOOD IS A STRONG AND VIBRANT ONE:
Jimmy, Elaine and Cindy met a couple weeks ago to discuss strengthening the Park Avenue neighborhood.  Given the recent application to develop the parcel of land at the end of Argyle/Park and concerns raised the past few years over zoning and other neighborhood issues, they believe it is time for the Park Avenue neighborhood to become more proactive.  Elaine would like to work with the city to educate commercial  landlords to ensure that their potential renters know the requirements for business permits and any other related necessary approval steps.  She wants to push landlords of derelict properties to take care of them (for example, the rundown nature of the Talmudic Institute at the corner of Park/Brunswick).  Jimmy will be meeting with the police again to continue diligence around bottle/can collectors who carry their carts through our neighborhoods.  They both noted the activism in the South Wedge and Mt. Hope neighborhoods and would like to see Park Ave regain the activism it once had to assure our neighborhood remains a strong, safe and vibrant neighborhood that people want to visit and live in.

NEW BUSINESSES WHERE THE RITE AID USED TO BE:
The property that currently houses Wilson Farms and Cobbs Hill pizza is filling its vacant space! Most of you already know about the HairZoo.  Golden Tans will relocate to the building soon too.  A new clothing and accessories store, Wearhouse, will be opening there soon.  And a gym (we don’t know which one) will also be moving into the back of the building where the old stock and delivery areas for the Rite Aid were.

NEIGHBORHOOD ELECTRICAL BOXES BEING PAINTED: Through a grant and other funds collected, PARC has $3,000 to paint the various electrical boxes in the neighborhood. The Southeast Area Coalition (SEAC) is currently accepting proposals from local artists interested in having their work grace the boxes.  If you know anyone who is interested, have them contact SEAC for RFP information.

MUSEUM & SCIENCE CENTER BEAUTIFICATION PROJECT:
The Park-Meigs NA beautification project with the greenspace along Park Ave will be starting soon.  They are currently discussing fence design and are meeting with the historic preservation board on May 4th.

HANGING FLOWER BASKETS:
The Park Avenue Merchants’ Association (PAMA) donated hanging baskets for the intersections along the Park Ave retail areas (the old ones wouldn’t retain water and left the flowers crumbly and dry).  Once it’s warm enough, you’ll be seeing some lovely flowers gracing the neighborhood.

Kirk Bethel, owner of Spin, recently posted a comment on our original post about the closing of Spin.  I wanted to share it with you, in case you do not come across it otherwise.

Thanks for reaching out to the neighborhood, Kirk.

Kirk April 21, 2011 at 11:20 pm

It’s been a couple of months and I so wish we could have said good-bye to all of our customers and friends on the Avenue. It was a very hard decision and the sudden closing was the only option we had. On behalf of my family, I want to thank everyone who supported us in our efforts to keep things going.

Sadly, we just couldn’t continue to lose money much less put money into improvements. With a 45% increase in green coffee prices in 8 months, our decision was unavoidable. Final nail, so to speak.

I’m excited for the folks at Boulder Coffee Company who are remodeling and will open in 5 or 6 weeks. I wish them well and hope everyone will support the new shop. Of course it won’t be Spin Coffee Roasters coffee but it will be better than any chain coffee could even hope for.

Thank you all for your kind words.

Renee probably knows more than me about this, but this is the first tangible signs of progress I’ve seen at the property in since Feb 9th when we blogged about Spin closing. Very exciting!

We’ve been optimistically following the East Ave Wegmans proposed building plans, because we would love to see some improvements not only in that store but to that block.  We had hopes that Wegmans would beautify that block a bit by bringing in a nicer looking storefront and better offerings in the store.  I know a lot of people from our neighborhood drive out to the ‘burbs in lieu of braving our East Ave store.  We need to provide city residents with solid amenities like quality grocery stores (and they need not be gigantic), if we want to keep them from fleeing to the suburbs.  I won’t get on my soapbox right now.  Suffice it to say, many of us have been following the saga of proposed design changes and have been afraid to wonder if the new store will actually ever happen.

So,the latest news — Wegmans is now decreasing the size of the proposed store from 93,500 square feet to 88,000 square feet (the current store is 41,000 square feet).  One thing getting cut is the mezzanine cafe seating area.  The new proposed mezzanine area will only house offices and employee facilities.  The other big change to the design — more windows.  One of the biggest issues with designs of the proposed store thus far has been the windows.  Residents and city officials were worried about having a big huge brick wall along East Ave.  So, the new smaller store design calls for windows on 55 percent of the store side facing East Ave (versus the previous design of 18 percent).

I, personally, am ready to take any new and improved store over the status quo of boarded up windows and tumbleweeds.  And I’m actually not concerned that it is going to be a bit smaller than originally planned.  I was disappointed to hear that they were proposing a new design only because I assumed things were going forward according to the plan they submitted to the public last year.   I hope they get on with the project and don’t delay anymore.  Wegmans spokesman Jo Natale is still sticking with the 2012 opening date, but that’s assuming there are no hitches and everything goes smoothly.

The current proposed changes have not yet been approved.  If they are, we’ll post a link to the new plan once they make it public.

A little background:

For those of you who don’t know, there was a little neighborhood grassroots effort to emphasize the importance of a community gathering spot like what Spin provided.  A lot of people personally spoke with Tom.  And Buckingham neighbor, Michael Brown, presented a letter to him in support of renting the space to a business that would still provide a gathering place and what the signatories of the letter would be willing to do to support it.  Adam and I were among the 18 people who signed the letter.  (If anyone is interested in seeing the letter, let me know.)

We all know and respect that Tom’s primary focus will be finding a tenant that is financially stable.  We do, however, think it is extremely important for him to know that his decisions have an impact on the neighborhood, so he will choose a tenant that fits the character of our beloved Park Ave.   He was very open to our ideas and appreciative that we took the time to talk with him and draft a supportive letter (thanks again, Michael).

Things we have heard:

• Tom was inundated with interested tenants.  He removed the “for rent” sign while he was on his previously planned vacation, because he would not be able to field more calls.
• Tom plans to ask for formal proposals and will make a decision when he returns.
• Boulder coffee is moving in.  Yes, Boulder was one of the many businesses that looked at the property, but no decision has been made.  Michael was in Boulder today and they do not have any news.
• We have heard from many sources that Tom’s inclination is to have another coffee shop or cafe in that spot.

So, there you have it.  We don’t really have any concrete news.  But we rallied to let Tom know how important that spot is to us.

In the meantime, if anyone is interested in opening up a coffee stand in their front yard, there will be lots of takers.

Full disclosure:  I am part of the party planning committee.  I have a profound respect for all things photography, which led me to get involved with the Eastman House.  Last year, they put me on the decorations committee and I know nothing about decorations.  “Whoo hoo!  Balloons!”  This year, they gave me a more appropriate job given my skill set.  I’ve been blogging for them on their site and on the young professionals page at the D&C.