NMCA Newsletter (02/2016)

*Normally the NMCA Board of Directors meets the first Tuesday of most months at 6:30 PM at the Bobby Pearse Community Center on Townes St. Members are welcome to attend board meetings. Please email northmaincomm@gmail.com to confirm we are meeting that month.

Reminder…Time to Renew Your NMCA Membership

2016 North Main Community Association dues are due now! We’ll be sending out renewal notices soon. Please consider renewing now and save us a stamp. Dues are $20 per calendar year for residents and $30 per calendar year for businesses. Just go to our membership page and choose Paypal (and after you’ve donated, please click on return to North Main Community Association to provide additional information) or print and mail the membership form with a check. New members will receive a small decal for your car, your door, or wherever you want to put it, to let folks know that you support your community by being a member of NMCA. There are different decals for residents and businesses. Thank you for your support!

Meet our Newest Business Members

N ew View Counseling Life keeps changing and sometimes those transitions are difficult. A professional counselor can offer a fresh perspective, tools to handle stress & strong emotions and ways to understand relationships. Jane Parker has moved her private practice from Florida to Greenville, is licensed in both states and offers individual sessions in-person or conveniently via phone & Skype. 941-751-8003 or newviewjp@gmail.com

Curious about Mindfulness? Sign-up for free Mindful Minutes by contacting Jane at newviewjp@gmail or visit her website at www.newviewcounseling.com

Flores Painting and More has been working with residents in the North Main Community for over 10 years. Located in Cherrydale, they provide a variety of services besides just interior/exterior painting. They also do texture removal, wallpaper removal and pressure washing, fence/deck building and staining, mulch replenishment and tree work. References available upon request. Email florespaintingandmore@yahoo.com or call 864-631-5766 for a free estimate.

Greenville Building.Com serves Greenville, SC and surrounding areas with any building, maintenance, or restoration needs. “Our process is more in-depth than you have ever heard of or seen. We work to build a relationship with you to welcome an open discussion of how you live in your residential home.” Wayne Gathings is Owner and General Contractor. Growing up around the construction industry, his first introduction to construction was through hands-on field experience. He then moved on to become a Licensed Electrical, Plumbing and an Unlimited General Contractor servicing both Commercial and Residential Projects from design thru completion. The company is now expanding services for Property Restoration, water, fire, storm and mold damage. Wayne and his family have lived in the North Main neighborhood for the past 17 years. The company also believes in giving back to the community. They recently started a 501(c)(3) Non-profit charitable organization for children called Greenville’s New Beginning Inc that utilizes dance, music and art to change the lives of underprivileged children throughout Greenville S.C. Wayne can be reached at 864-630-1629, by email at wayne@greenvillebuilding.com or at his website.

Development Update

Infill Standards Revisions Amendments to the single-family residential infill standards (Sec. 19-6.9 of the Land Management Ordinance) were adopted by City Council on Jan. 25, 2016. A few of the major changes include: Residential infill standards now apply citywide. Permits must be obtained to install or expand a driveway. Limits total amount of lot coverage allowed for impervious items other than buildings to 20%. (There is also a limit on total impervious surface) The infill ordinance also applies to renovations and additions whose construction value exceeds 50% of the fair market value of the property as reflected on the Tax Assessor’s roll or that increases the principal building footprint (sq. ft.) by more than 40%. View Ordinance| More about Infill Development
NorthPointe Development Due to the complexity of the development, CRH has asked the City for additional time to address all of the comments received this past month from the Design Review Board, the Neighborhood Meetings, Staff Comments, and the Planning Commission; thus, they will not be on the February agendas for the Design Review Board nor, subsequently, the Planning Commission. We will let you know the dates as they approach. You will also note the “Rezoning” signs have temporarily been removed from the property.
Clearing has begun on the property between the W. Hillcrest and W. Mountainview residences. The new cluster subdivision will have 9 houses, but because of the timing of project submission, it will not have to comply with the city’s residential infill standards. It was being called Highland Terrace at one time, but the name may have changed.

Other City Items

We had a question about political signs in medians. The city recently came out with a policy that any signs (political, yard sales, etc.) cannot be placed on telephone poles, in medians or on city right of ways…or any other city property. One reason was that signs were often left after the fact and were unsightly and also were a nuisance for maintenance crews. So keep signs on your own property.
According to Greenville Public Works staff, the plan is to begin transitioning to an automated collection system later this year, which will include replacing the current recycling bins with 96-gallon roll carts. There are still a few details that have to be ironed out before they start promoting the program, so it will probably be a month or two before they have all the information confirmed and ready to be disseminated. As residents may remember, earlier this year, City Council approved an annual increase to the solid waste fee to enable the City to implement single-stream recycling service and provide the 96-gallon carts to all residential customers, so there will be no additional cost for the new cart or to recycle when the new program is launched.
We had a member contact us with a question about what type of de-icer the city uses in parks. They found their dog suffered discomfort when walking in Falls Park. They ended up carrying him. While they didn’t tell us what they use (there are many different chemicals used around the U.S.) Greenville Public Works informs us that they are currently exploring different de-icer products to use on sidewalk and park areas that are pet-friendly versus the current brand they are using. For now, keep this in mind if you walk your dog in city parks.

Only when the last tree has died and the last river been poisoned and the last fish been caught will we realize we cannot eat money. (Cree Indian Proverb)

SC Presidential Primaries

Don’t forget to vote in the Presidential Primary coming up soon. If Iowa and New Hampshire are good indicators, we should see a good turnout here as well. Remember that the Republican Primary is Saturday, February 20, and the Democratic Primary is the following Saturday, February 27. You may vote in only one. Those of you in precinct 03 will be back at your normal polling location, Summit Elementary. Precinct 04 will be at Stone Academy. To double-check what precinct you are in, look at your voter ID card or go to this website. Remember, you WILL need a photo ID in order to vote.

Voting in a democratic society is an important right that not all the world has! PLEASE VOTE!

Weather Tidbits

According to climate data, the average maximum temperature for Greenville in February is 60.0°F, the average low is 38°F and the average precipitation (rainfall) is 3.97”. As you know, Punxsutawney Phil did not see his shadow, meaning an early spring. Looking at records from 1890 to the present, the maximum high was 81 on Feb 27^th, 1996. The max low temperature was 60 on Feb 2^nd,1923. The minimum high temperature was 20 on Feb 14^th 1899 and the minimum low was -5 that same day. Maximum precipitation (rain) in a 24-hour period was 3.42” on Feb 28, 1987. Maximum snow was 15” on Feb 15^th back in 1902. Greenville has had up to 9” of snow as late as March 24 (1983). The snowiest winter was in 1935 when we had a total of 21.4” of snow. http://www.dnr.sc.gov/climate/sco/index.php . Due to the rainfall this winter, the Hartwell Dam opened its floodgates for only the 3^rd time in history.

So what atmospheric conditions determine if we have snow, sleet or freezing rain? Sleet is frozen precipitation that falls as ice pellets. Freezing rain falls just like normal rain only it freezes on contact with roads, trees, power lines and other structures since temperatures are 32 degrees or below at the surface. Snow melts in a warm layer aloft in both cases. Depth of the cold layer near the surface determines whether rain drops form into sleet or freeze on contact to surfaces. In the sleet scenario, snow falling aloft goes through a warm layer where it melts into rain. After exiting this warmer layer, the raindrops then refreeze into pellets of ice as they fall into a deep and or very cold layer of sub-freezing air near and just above the surface of the earth. For freezing rain, the setup essentially remains the same except for one key difference. Snow falling aloft goes through a warm layer where the flakes melt into rain. The difference is the warm layer is much deeper and extends closer to the ground making the layer of sub-freezing air near the earth’s surface much thinner. As a result, the rain drops do not have time to refreeze into ice pellets and instead adhere to various surfaces such as cars, trees and power lines. but for snow the warm layer aloft is absent and the snowflakes make it all the way to the ground. Snow can fall when surface temperatures are above freezing in a relatively shallow layer at the surface. In situations like this, the snow will not have enough time to melt before reaching the ground – though it will be quite wet with large flakes, the result of wet snowflakes sticking to one another. https://weather.com/storms/winter/news/sleet-freezing-rain-difference-20121123

Kudos to Local High School Students

Greenville High School junior (and North Main resident) Marti Gathings and sophomore Shannon Johnson designed an app called SafeHaven for an entrepreneurship class. The app aims at pairing domestic abuse victims with a mentor who has formerly been abused to help coach and provide them with support. Contact within the app would be anonymous to protect victims. According to the National Coalition Against Domestic Violence, 1 in 3 women and 1 in 4 men have been victims of some form of physical violence by an intimate partner in their lifetime.

“We came up with this idea because we know there is an enormous amount of people in situations we could never imagine and a lot of the times, there is not a whole lot they can do about it,” Gathings said. “So, we decided to create something so there would be no fear, and they would know someone can be there for them at all times, as well as fully understand what they are going through.”

SafeHaven was a contender in the Pitney Bowes Mentor Momentum Challenge as part of the World Series of Innovation. They made it to the top 3 and with help from the North Main Community, won the popular vote. Congratulations!

Winter in Your Garden

Most of us notice more dead stalks than blooming flowers in our gardens at this time of year. The sunflowers, salvias, and coneflowers have seed heads still showing. Some gardeners are unsure whether or not to tidy up the garden by removing dead plants. Should we cut the dead stems back, or should we leave them in place during the winter? The neat freaks among us insist that the landscape must be prim, so dead, unattractive stalks must be removed; however, others argue that seed heads add interest to the garden in winter. Sunflower stalks, grasses, and some perennials provide food and cover for wildlife. Birds can’t eat seeds that we cut down and relegate to the garbage or compost. Overwintering butterflies may also be removed with the debris. Also, remember that the dead foliage and stems provide a layer of insulation that will protect the crown and roots of plants during freezing weather. Read more at Dave’s Garden Website. And remember, our risk of frost continues till mid-April.

As we have said, winter is by far the best time to plant trees and shrubs. Be sure to plant no deeper than the plant came out of the pot, or the top of the root ball if ball-and-burlap. Mix a little phosphorus in the soil where you plant. This encourages root growth which will help the plant get established so it will be ready to put out top growth come spring.

Chemical Warfare in the Plant Kingdom

Did you know that plants not only compete with one another for light, water and nutrients? They also compete for territory via a phenomenon known as allelopathy, the chemical inhibition of one species by another. One of the most famous allelopathic plants is Black Walnut (Juglans nigra). The chemical responsible for the toxicity in Black Walnut is Juglone and is a respiration inhibitor. Ever notice how many plants just do not thrive when planted under or in close proximity to a black walnut? Although present in all parts of the Black Walnut, it is especially concentrated in the buds, nut hulls, and roots (which can spread 3 times the diameter of the canopy). Few plants grow under a Black Walnut and those that do often times look sickly and chlorotic. I personally have hydrangea, dogwood and gold dust plants that are examples. Although raking the fallen leaves and picking up the nuts may help, because of the concentration in the roots, a better prevention is to just not plant under a walnut tree. Juglone has low water solubility so does not move far in the soil, but research has shown that plants within even ¼ to ½ inch from a black walnut root can be affected. Just something to keep in mind when landscaping. http://www.ces.ncsu.edu/fletcher/staff/rbir/blackwalnutcompanions.html

Slow Food National School Gardens

Slow Food USA’s National School Garden Program (NSGP) aims to reconnect youth with their food by teaching them how to grow, cook and enjoy real food. Through increased confidence, knowledge gain and skill building, we want to empower children to become active participants in their food choices. By becoming informed eaters, today’s children will help make a positive impact on the larger world of food and farming well into the future. Learn more here, and download resources for your school garden curriculum.

‘Be My Eyes’ – An app for Helping the Visually Impaired

Some of you may be familiar with this app, but for those who are not, it is a very different app for doing volunteer work. There are so many ways of volunteering but this is one that can be done from any location via an iPhone4 or newer…plans are in the works to develop an android version. Be My Eyes makes life easier for people with a visual impairment by connecting them with sighted helpers through a smartphone app. This allows people with a visual impairment to handle big and small tasks, while the sighted get the joy of helping someone in need in an easy and informal way.

For you, it only takes a minute to choose the right can from the shelf, look at the expiration date on the milk or find the right thing to eat in the fridge. For the visually impaired, small domestic tasks are big challenges. Be My Eyes is changing that! Be My Eyes is the first app on the market which allows people with a visual impairment to get in contact with sighted helpers via a direct video call. The system is built as a shuffle-call system that forwards the call until answered, establishing a connection to the first available helper. It also allows you to limit calls to certain time frames, etc.

Being a small team, they encourage everyone to help spread the word about the app. You can follow them on Twitter and Facebook. Send an email to press@bemyeyes.org if you are a media wanting to cover Be My Eyes. If you are a member of an organization or foundation for visually impaired, please spread the word in your network or community. For more information, go to their website.

For Our Four-legged Friends

Animal Care Services will spay or neuter feral cats for only $25! No appointment needed for ferals. Drop off feral cats between 10AM – 12PM Mondays through Thursdays (No Friday drop offs). Deliver feral cats in a humane feral cat trap. To receive the $25 feral cat spay-neuter pricing, the cat must be brought in a humane feral cat trap and you must agree to the cat(s) receiving an ear tip to indicate the surgery has been completed. (This is so someone who sees the cat after release will know he/she has already been neutered).

The Greenville Humane Society is offering a February special for female cats. Spaying is only $20. Spots are limited, so email spayandneuter@greenvillehumane.com or call (864) 242-3626 to reserve a spot. Remember, cats can have kittens at least 3 times a year, so the best way to prevent overpopulation and to reduce the number of unwanted animals, and thus the high rate of euthanasia at many shelters, is to have your pets neutered! If you have a neighbor or know someone who can’t afford it, and their pet continues to have kittens/puppies, offer to have her spayed for them. Alternately, if you surrender a litter (at no cost), they will spay the mother for free!

We still have an ongoing problem with lost cats and dogs. PLEASE make sure your pet is either micro-chipped or has a collar and tags with information (better yet, do both). It makes it so much easier to help them find their way home.

Flash from the Past

From last month:

Atlantic Coast Line Railroad Trestle…Cleveland Park. The trestle was located between Laurens and W. Washington and ran approximately parallel to Washington. The year of 1853 ushered in Greenville’s first railroad, the wood-burning Greenville and Columbia line. Great rivalry between the Western Piedmont towns delayed the building of the road until 1849 when the first tracks were laid in Columbia finally reaching Greenville in 1853. By 1965, the city was served by the Atlantic Coast Line, the Southern, the Piedmont and Northern, and the Greenville and Northern railroads. Today it is mostly limited to successors CSX Transportation and Norfolk Southern Railway along with more than a dozen short lines. Click here for an interesting history of SC railroads, both passenger and freight.

Rock Quarry Garden. Sometimes called ‘Rock Quarry Falls’, this falls is in a garden and is actually the site of a pre-Civil War granite quarry. You can still see the drill marks on the rocks from when it was a quarry. The site has been adopted by the Greenville Garden Club and is a popular location for outdoor weddings and photography. Spring flowering plants, including dogwood trees and native azaleas, are a highlight of this garden. Rock Quarry Falls is in Cleveland Park and is easily accessed. The stream drops 10 feet into a pool at the base. The stream running through the quarry is from a spring on Spring Street that provided water for many of the city’s early settlers.

Monthly Trivia

Did you know? February 29, also known as the leap day of the Gregorian calendar, is a date that occurs in most years that are divisible by 4, such as 2008, 2012, 2016, 2020, and 2024. Years that are divisible by 100, but not by 400, do not contain a leap day. February 29 is the 60th day of the Gregorian calendar in such a year, with 306 days remaining until the end of the year. In the Chinese calendar, this day will only occur in years of the monkey, dragon, and rat. (2016 is the Year of the Monkey).

Shop Local

Keep your dollars in your community. The following companies are committed to preserving the beauty and economic well-being of the North Main Community and the greater Greenville area. They are listed here by the services provided. Please thank them and remember them when you’re shopping or doing business in the community. Hover your mouse over each company name to read a brief description, or hit Ctrl + click to take you to their website. (And a note to our business members…if you have a special event planned, send us the info or post it on our FB page

Gardening and Plants

Law Firms/CPAs/Financial

Insurance

Retail/Home Décor

Realtors

Food/Drink/Catering

Personal Health/Well Being

Home Improvement/Builders/Architects

Miscellaneous Professional Services

If you would like to see your company listed here, please join the NMCA today! Businesses do not have to be located in the North Main Neighborhood to be members. They only need to provide service to North Main residents.

Calendar

City Council Formal Meeting and Work Session schedules can be found at http://www.greenvillesc.gov/city_government/meet.asp

The Hughes Main Library has numerous programs for adults and children. Check out their February calendar.
The Children’s Museum has great programs for kids. Check them out at their website calendar
Check out the current exhibits and other programs at the Upstate History Museum.
Don’t forget about a great local resource for family activities. Macaroni Kid lists all kinds of local activities for kids and families.

For other events in this area bookmark Go-greenevents for a listing of various events with registration, etc., handled online to save needless waste of paper.

Greenville County Museum of Art – The Museum is open to the public Wednesday through Saturday, 10 am – 6 pm and on Sundays 1 – 5 pm. As always, admission is free. The Greenville Collection is now the largest and the most complete collection of Andrew Wyeth’s watercolors owned by any public museum in the world. The GCMA’s respected Southern Collection surveys American art from colonial times to the present, ranging from 1726 pastel portraits and Civil War vistas to American Impressionism, Abstract Expressionism, American Scene, and contemporary works. The GCMA boasts a particularly strong collection of works by South Carolina artist Jasper Johns.

Every Tuesday starting Jan 6. Line Dancing at the Sears Shelter at McPhearson Park from 6:15 – 8pm. Dances are taught in a fun and easy way with a variety of music – Hip Hop, R&B, Rock & Roll, Latin, Country, Shag, and Swing. Party dances include Electric Slide, Cupid Shuffle, Bikers Shuffle, and Cha Cha Slide. Second hour moves into mainstream dances -Good Time, Tush Push, R&B Boogie and more. No partner or dance knowledge required. Two left feet are fine. Bring your friends and have some fun.

Jan to March – Check out the 2016 schedule of classes at Dance Ventures at Stone Plaza. Everything from tap to ballet to jazz. Join a class today. Great fun and good exercise at the same time! 864-271-7701.

Feb 22 – March 14, Monday evenings – Yoga at the Bobby Pearse Center. 6:30 – 7:45pm. This 75 minute class is taught once a week, and all levels are welcome; however, you do not need previous yoga experience to enjoy this class. Participants may pay per class upon arrival or register for the entire 8-week session for less! Please bring your own yoga mat. Cost is only $6 per class (Greenville City Residents – $5).

Feb – Check out the classes at the Swamp Rabbit Café and Grocery.

Feb 12-15 – Great Backyard Bird Count. The Great Backyard Bird Count is an annual four-day event that occurs across the continent. Anyone can participate, from beginning bird watchers to experts. It takes as little as 15 minutes on one day, or you can count for as long as you like each day of the event. It’s free, fun, and easy – and it helps the birds. In 2015, Great Backyard Bird Count had participants in over 100 countries. The 5,090 species reported represents nearly half the possible bird species in the world! See top 10 lists and other 2015 results.

Feb 12-14 – Switch-A-Roos Children’s Consignment TD Convention Center. Open FREE to the public! Children’s Clothes & Shoes – Toys – Maternity – Vendors – Home Furnishings & MORE! Friday 9 am 7 pm Saturday 9 am 6 pm Sunday is 1/2 OFF DAY! 10 am 5 pm.

Feb 13 – Republican Presidential Debate. 9-11pm. Peace Center.

Feb 13 & 14 / 20 & 21 / 27 & 28 – Greenville Spring Series Three Weekends of Bicycle Racing. Check website for dates, times and locations.

Feb 19 – Trivia at the Northgate Soda Shop. 7:30pm. A prize for the winning team. Karaoke starts at 7:30. Thousands of songs…come sing and enjoy yourself.

Feb 20 – C Dan Joyner Mission Backpack 5K. 8am – 9:30am. First Baptist Church. Woodland Way Circle from Woodland Way to Woodland Way. While schools are able to assist a significant number of children through breakfast and lunch programs, many of the children served go hungry when they are away from school. A first step toward eliminating hunger for those children is to supply nutritious food for the weekends. Mission Backpack pairs organizations and schools to fill those weekend backpacks.

Feb 27 – GHS Half Marathon and 5K. 8am – 11:30am. (Due to an increase in elite level runners interested in this event, and with the new point to point format of the 5K, we will be starting the 5K at 7:30AM. Please make note of this change!) The Half Marathon is a USA Track & Field certified point-to-point race starting in Travelers Rest, SC and finishing downtown Greenville, SC. The 5K course is a USA Track & Field certified route through Downtown Greenville. Starting at the Swamp Rabbit Cafe, this course will take runners on a point to point journey along the swamp rabbit trail and into downtown before finishing at the TD Stage at the Peace Center along the Reedy River. This 5K course is also a net downhill event and a great way to join in the festivities of the GHS Half Marathon event. Check website for other details.

March 10 – Northgate Soda Shop Soup Cook-off. 7pm at the Soda Shop. Trophy and Prize for 1^st and 2^nd place winners. Please have your pot of soup at the SS by 6:30pm. Judging starts at 7PM after which everyone gets to taste all the soups.

March 10 – Passport to Dance – International Ballet’s Inaugural Signature Fundraising Event. In partnership with Upstate International 2016, this fundraiser will transport attendees “around the world” to enjoy an array of delicious and eclectic cuisines, beverages and live entertainment. Music provided by The Erica Berg Collective is sure to get you on your feet in the true spirit of dance.

March 12 – St. Paddy’s Day Dash & Bash. 8:30 AM - 3:00 PM @ Fluor Field, 945 S Main St. Through the St. Paddy’s Day Dash & Bash event, as well as a charity golf tournament, Palmetto Children’s Charity expects to raise over $150,000 annually to benefit local children’s charities.

Mar 12 – Space Day at Roper Mountain Science Center – 9am -3pm. We’re having out of this world fun on Space Day at Roper Mountain Science Center! Join us for a day filled with fun activities for the whole family! $8 adults, $7 children ages 5 to 12, seniors & military, FREE for members & children 4 and younger.

March 13 – St. Patrick’s Day Parade and Irish Festival. Parade: 2pm. Irish Festival: 3pm. NOMA Square. Main St. & Broad ST. Admission: Free. The parade will commence at Main St. and Broad St. and march up Main St. and conclude at E. North St. Main St. will be closed to vehicular traffic between E.North St. and College St. for an Irish festival from 3:00-6:00. The Irish festival will feature all things Irish: Irish music, Irish dancing, Irish food, Irish beer and soft drinks. Greenville, it’s green indeed !!

April 9 – Community Yard Sale at the Northgate Soda Shop. Clean out the house and bring your ‘stuff’ to sell. No charge for space but bring what you need…tables, chairs, change, etc. More details to come.

April 23 – Soda shop Charity Golf Tournament. Paris Mountain Country Club. More information and sign-up sheets later at the Soda Shop.

NMCA Newsletter (02/2016)

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About the NMCA

Announcements

Archives

NMCA Newsletter (02/2016)

March 10 – Northgate Soda Shop Soup Cook-off. 7pm at the Soda Shop. Trophy and Prize for 1st and 2nd place winners. Please have your pot of soup at the SS by 6:30pm. Judging starts at 7PM after which everyone gets to taste all the soups.

Shop local

About the NMCA

Announcements

Archives

March 10 – Northgate Soda Shop Soup Cook-off. 7pm at the Soda Shop. Trophy and Prize for 1^st and 2^nd place winners. Please have your pot of soup at the SS by 6:30pm. Judging starts at 7PM after which everyone gets to taste all the soups.