By

Nathan T. Prewett | nprewett@al.com

The Birmingham News

on November 30, 2012 at 1:25 PM, updated November 30, 2012 at 4:21 PM

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BIRMINGHAM,
Alabama – The kids and staff of PreSchool Partners gathered outside
the school Friday afternoon to dedicate the garden that they planted, but this wasn’t just any garden.

This was the Literacy Garden, with 26 different
kinds of plants, each one representing a letter of the alphabet. The goal is to help the kids learn their ABCs.

PreSchool Partners is a program that was started 17 years ago at St. Luke’s Episcopal
Church, said the Rev. Rich Webster, who is the rector at the church.

“The Literacy
Garden is indicative of creativity and of ideas when people from different
communities come together,” Webster said. “It embodies that spirit.”

PreSchool Partners is a non-profit
program that takes “at risk” 3- to 4-year-old children from underserved
neighborhoods. The aim of the program is to get them ready for kindergarten and
onward. There are 70 students and 12 teachers and assistants on the staff.

The plants were azalea, butterfly bush
birdhouse, cabbage cane flower, Dahlia daisy, elephant ear, fern, gardenia
ginger lily, hydrangea, ivy, juniper, kale kiwi vine, laureus, mum marigold,
nandina, oregano, pansy pitcher plant, Queen Ann’s lace, rose, sage sedge
grass, tulip, umbrella plant, violas verbena, wisteria windsock, Mondo grass
(in “X” shape), yarrow and zinnia.

“We’re really excited,” said Lella
Hamiter, “the school’s executive director. “It’s important because these
kids come from unsafe neighborhoods where they aren’t able to play outdoors. The Literacy Garden will allow them to have hands on learning experiences outside while also reinforcing letter recognition and enriching our curriculum.”

Webster spoke to the kids as he
dedicated the garden, encouraging them to continue being creative and
imaginative. Afterwards they sang the “ABC Song” with Webster.

The Literacy Garden was funded by a  Tablescapes luncheon  held by the Episcopal Church Women of Saint Luke’s. Plants
were donated from Oak Street Garden Shoppe, Portera Landscaping, Sweet Peas
Garden Shop, Hanna’s Garden Shop and Home Depot. The Literacy Council of Central
Alabama donated books to the school’s library.

PreSchool
Partners is located on 4565 Montevallo Road in Birmingham. For more information,
visit www.preschool-partners.org.

This article was edited to correct several mistakes. PreSchool Partners has only one location. The Literacy Garden was started recently and the school itself founded 17 years ago.

Enlightening experience: The third annual Tech the Halls begins its holiday display of lights, music and student know-how at 7:15 p.m. on Friday.

Students at Central Career and Technical School, 3325 Cherry St., use the yearly display as a “real world, hands-on” lesson in applying what they’ve learned in their carpentry, computer programming, landscaping and electrical courses, according to Mike Beiter, Central’s science, technology, engineering and math coordinator.

To boost the prospects of bright Central Tech students, consider helping the school to win up to $50,000 from Clorox’s Power a Bright Future program. Central would use the money to buy components for a programmable gas sensor. Students studying electronics, physics, chemistry and information technology would then build the sensor, used to detect harmful gases. You can vote on Facebook or by texting, but you must register first. For more information, visit https://powerabrightfuture.clorox.com. Voting ends on Dec. 19.

Float some ideas: One of the big events to commemorate the 200th anniversary of the Battle of Lake Erie will be a patriotic parade on May 25, on Memorial Day weekend. Organizers hope to duplicate the scope of the 1995 parade for the city of Erie’s bicentennial. The 1995 parade dazzled adults and delighted children because of the large number of bands and floats and because it featured giant balloons like those on display at Macy’s Thanksgiving Day Parade.

An informational dinner meeting for groups interested in participating in the parade will be held Dec. 11 from 6 to 8 p.m. at the Jefferson Educational Society, 3207 State St. Call 459-8000 for reservations, which are required.

The parade route will run from West 12th and Cherry streets to Third and State streets. If your route to the Jefferson Society takes you past Central Tech, be sure to notice that the school’s Tech the Halls holiday light show includes two ships — one representing the U.S. Brig Niagara and the other a British tall ship — in honor of the Battle of Lake Erie bicentennial.

Take heart: Kudos to the American Heart Association and the American Stroke Association for launching a new public service campaign, “Commit to Call: When Hearts Attack,” to educate Erie people on the benefits of calling 911 at the first sign of a heart attack.

In Erie County, more than 900 people are treated every year for heart attacks, the associations said in a news release. According to the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, ST-Elevated Myocardial Infarctions (STEMI), the deadliest type of heart attacks, were responsible for 141 deaths in Erie County in 2009.

The public service campaign includes ads in print, online and on TV. To learn about the warning signs of a heart attack, text “Call” to 23819 or visit www.heart.org/call.

Shed some light: Work continues on the third phase of the restoration of Perry Square. The end results will be worthwhile when new brick pillars are finished and lanterns are installed at the park’s entrances.

Volunteers from the Perry Square Alliance also deserve a big round of applause for their ongoing beautification efforts of the grounds on both sides of the park.

Unfortunately, while the construction was going on to make the park more inviting, the park was left in the dark while electrical work was taking place. Regular park users are looking forward to the Downtown d’Lights tree-lighting ceremony on Friday at 6 p.m., when this dark corner of downtown Erie will be brightened.

Tree-mendous news: Keep your eyes peeled on Tuesday for the 36-foot Christmas tree that will be installed on top of the Boston Store Place marquee, courtesy of UPMC Health Plan.

The tree will be lit on Friday during Downtown d’Lights and the display will become an annual tradition, according to Lee Martell, UPMC Health Plan community relations coordinator.

The company ruffled some feathers when it first moved into Boston Store Place by covering the Boston Store name with the UPMC logo, but the business quickly retreated in the face of complaints from Erie residents who don’t want to forget the Boston Store.

Looking across the Washington-Lee High School cafeteria, Arlington County Manager Barbara Donnellan said jokingly that maybe it could be rented out for a wedding.

“Look at the view,” she said to a few chuckles.

Renting out public facility space was just one of many ideas that residents offered to help the county — and, by extension, Arlington Public Schools — make ends meet in next year’s budget.

“We’re better off than most,” Donnellan said. “We’re not Detroit. We have people who are still investing … We’re growing, but that’s a good thing.”

Other ideas to come forward? Cutting the police department’s budget, eliminating Cherrydale Branch Library, putting the Columbia Pike streetcar on hold and busing Arlington children to vacant schools in Washington — all of which are unlikely.

But the night yielded plenty of practical ideas, too.

About 75 people — a third of them staff for the county or school system — spent a solid hour Thursday night in break-out groups brainstorming priorities and potential cuts.

Earlier this month, the Arlington County Board authorized Donnellan and her team to use a mix of tax increases and spending cuts to close a budget gap that could be as high as $50 million.

The county is projecting as little as a 1 percent increase in real estate assessments. Residential assessments could increase as much as 2 percent, though commercial real estate is forecast to stay virtually flat.

The county is also expected to face increasing costs for employee compensation and healthcare, along with funding commitments to Metro and debt service.

Arlington County funds more than 80 percent of the school system’s budget. Much of the rest comes from state and federal dollars, which also could be cut.

The school system is struggling with constant escalation in its student population, leading to crowded schools. Superintendent Pat Murphy said at least $10 million will be needed next year to cover the growth, in terms of teacher salaries, staff, textbooks and supplies — plus another $2.9 million for portable classrooms.

The school system is considering replacing step increases for its employees with one-time payments and eliminating or outsourcing employee benefits. Other options include reducing maintenance and construction (which only defers costs), increasing class size and laying off custodians.

The school system will hold its own budget forum from 7 to 9 p.m. Wednesday at the Education Center, 1426 N. Quincy St.

Peter Rousselot, who spoke for his break-out group Thursday night, said the county “should take a step back and rethink” the Columbia Pike streetcar, particularly given the substantial school enrollment increases expected once the transit system goes online.

Many of the suggestions Thursday night leaned toward priorities for the school system — the recent decision to reduce the number of students eligible to ride buses came up several times.

“If we cannot get all of our kids to school safely … That’s a pretty basic service,” said Elizabeth Wirick, who is part of a parents’ group that opposes the changes to busing.

“My school is awash in iPads,” she said. “I’d much rather my kid be on the bus.”

People listed affordable housing, sidewalks and social safety net programs as priorities. Rousselot suggested the county conduct a well-drafted online community survey that explained the cost of cutting different things as a way to gather more input. That folded into a larger discussion of whether the county and schools should look at cutting in large swaths or making lots of small cuts.

Putting county employees on bikes came up, as did cutting back on things like beautification and landscaping. At least one woman asked if the Artisphere should be on the chopping block. Several people said the county and school system should work together more — and more often — particularly when it comes to transportation planning and facility management. Should high school students take ART?

One person suggested converting community centers that used to be schools back into schools, rather than paying to build new ones. An eighth-grader suggested expanding the schools’ language programs, perhaps by diverting some money from sports.

And several people were concerned that a large number of students in Arlington schools don’t actually live in Arlington.

In the end, county and schools staff said they struggled with many of the same issues those in the break-out groups did.

No weddings are planned for the Washington-Lee cafeteria. Yet.

Year-round work

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Business does not end for Nikos Phelps and Judy Brillhart on the 12th day of Christmas.

Utopian Landscapes is a landscape contracting company specializing in landscape management, design and building. Phelps began landscape work part time during high school and college. After graduating from Penn State in 2007 with a bachelor’s degree in landscape contracting and entrepreneurship, he turned the business into a full-time venture.

In 2008, Utopian Landscapes became a Christmas Decor franchise. Based in Lubbock, Texas, the company has approximately 400 franchises nationwide. According to its website, the startup cost for a franchise is $5,000-$7,900, and the company provides training, software, product and sales and marketing assistance.

Brillhart founded The Strawberry Shop, a floral and gift shop, in 1983. The business does fresh and silk floral arrangements for events as well as interior design. The store also carries wall décor and handmade jewelry. Customers can browse in-store or employees will decorate on location.

But Brillhart’s favorite is the holiday business.

“I love it. If I had room in my shop, I’d have an area to do Christmas year-round,” she said. “There’s nothing compared to it.”

During the Wednesday evening brainstorm session at city hall, about 30-or-so community members and stakeholders chimed in with ideas on how the City of Woodland can help improve its downtown as a destination spot. But this was not the first time the city sponsored a community brainstorm. City planners also conducted a well-attended brainstorm session in preparation of the original 1993 Downtown Specific Plan. And in 2008 the Woodland Journal/Woodland Record folks distributed 500 surveys to downtown stakeholders and collected ideas for historic district. (Click here and here for more information.)

This 2012 idea-gathering was led by councilmen Sean Denny and Jim Hilliard who set the ground rules for the “jam” described by Denny as a process used by marketing agencies to conjure conceptual solutions without being bogged with details. Only positive ideas would make their list of possibilities. Negative comments, such as “we’ve already tried that it won’t work,” were not entertained.

Also off-the-table were ideas related to traffic and circulation… although later in the evening one participant was able to offer the idea that Main Street traffic needs to be slowed down. An example not given during the brainstorm is the bustling, historic downtown of Pacific Grove. Its main street has a speed limit of 15 mph, has diagonal parking and has stop signs instead of stop lights. Of course, Pacific Grove has the ocean going for it.

According to the councilmen, traffic and circulation will be addressed during the Downtown Specific Plan revisions, but the idea of putting a median with landscaping down Main Street also slipped in during the jam.

To get the ball of ideas rolling, Denny proposed that downtown Woodland could be the home of a London-style Ferris Wheel. That idea was parlayed into two Ferris Wheels serving as book ends for the historic downtown. It was meant as a humorous example of unbridled conceptualizing… however… by the end of the evening the concept of such a similar attraction was not too far-fetched.

The ideas quickly flowed as it was obvious participants came equipped with their own brainchild. Adorning Main Street with an arch, banners and better lighting (LED and neon) set the stage for ideas about festivals of various kinds, some already in existence (like the Tomato Festival). Some participants feel like downtown Woodland would benefit from expanding the Stroll Through History and the First Friday Art Walk, or creating a harvest festival, a music festival, a cruise/car show and a “seed-central” celebration in honor of all the seed companies in the area.

Others got into the nitty-gritty of infrastructure ideas, like improving Dead Cat and Dog Gone Alleys with pedestrian-friendly walkways and better lighting. Paul Ludovina, owner of Ludy’s Main Street BBQ and its “Outback” patio located on Dead Cat Alley, gave testimony that the alley sides of downtown buildings (the back doors) should be used as business assets. Planning commissioner Chris Holt praised property owners Tom and Meg Stallard for connecting Dog Gone Alley to Main Street with paseos corridors between their business spaces.

Generally, these concepts revealed that downtown improvements should grow northward (to include Dead Cat Alley) and southward (to include Dog Gone Alley). The brainstormers did not mention improvements above or below street level as in making better uses of basements, second and third floors or even roof tops. Brainstormers did mention that the Intermission Garden or Heritage Plaza both next to the Woodland Opera House would be a good places for a children’s play area.

Of course, any discussion about improving Main Street wouldn’t be complete without the notion of turning the benches around. The city has been ignoring that idea since they installed the sidewalk benches “backwards” to face the buildings.

Although there has been little evidence of it, the city has long-professed that one goal for the downtown is to make it “pedestrian-friendly.” The beauty of a brainstorm “jam” is that participants can reinforce an reoccurring idea… and even improve upon it… like making the downtown “bicycle-friendly.” Maria Contreras Tebbutt (Woodland Bike Campaign, Yolo Family Resource Center) explained both the economic and health benefits of making the downtown more like Winters… for example, installing back racks and designating a bike loop.

Other discussions focused on communication: 1) To get visitors to downtown Woodland, and 2) To help visitors find their way once they arrive. Ideas included I-5 billboards (old-fashioned and/or high-tech), better publicity, directional signs, informational kiosks, trolleys, partnerships with hotels and branding strategies. But who will be responsible for doing all this? In most cities, the chamber of commerce usually takes this on. But this is Woodland. Participants seemed open to the idea of the city hiring a downtown coordinator. The position could be funded by the increased sales tax generated. A coordinator could even be a liaison for developers and entrepreneurs who can streamline the city’s obfuscated permit process and arbitrary fee system. A coordinator can also manage an Art in Public Places program.

During the brainstorm session Dani Thomas, Executive Director of Yolo Arts, once again enlightened Woodlanders about the virtues of art installations and art shows. You see, in the summer of 2011 Thomas proposed an Art in Public Places (APP) pilot program for Woodland that fell on deaf ears (Woodland’s city council and redevelopment agency).

A decade ago (December, 2002) the Woodland Art Center also proposed an APP program. It was similar to the Yolo Arts proposal… and it, too, was ignored. A modified Art Center proposal was presented again in 2008, and again the council ignored it. The city council has been involved in discussions about art in public places since the late 1980s, but for some reason town leaders just cannot step into the 21st century.

It is such an irony, because some of the same council members have seemingly embraced the art and mission of the Art Center’s Dead Cat Alley Nine Lives Project. On November 27, 2007, the Woodland City Council approved the Dead Cat Alley Proclamation, the intent of which was to recognize the passage as a city asset and as a community point of interest. By approving it, council also recognized that there will be continuing public and private efforts to improve the alley and it should remain accessible as a continuous passage from Cleveland Street to Freeman Park, for future citizens, merchants, and tourists.

Nancy Edwards, owner of the Fat Cafe Cafe, mentioned to brainstormers that many of her customers ask about Gary Dinnen’s cat sculptures that hide in Dead Cat Alley. She suggested that tours and art installations in the alley be expanded. Ludovina concurred. His patio customers at 666 Dead Cat Alley often ask about the Devil Cat sculpture and his Dead Cat Alley Tee Shirts. Solano Magazine selected Dead Cat Alley as the Best of 2007 Public Art Installation for the region of Solano, Napa, Yolo and surrounding areas. Aside from Dinnen, artists who’ve contributed to the Dead Cat Alley project are George Streng (past president of Woodland Art Center), Victoria Lambert, Lucy Ruth Wright Rivers and Joe Scarpa.

Thomas was adamant about the economic benefits of public art and creative activities… and she suggested this was not just a downtown issue, that it was a City of Woodland economic development issue. The importance of attracting creative activities and creative people to the downtown cannot be understated. Economist Richard Florida (“The Rise of the Creative Class”) has done extensive research across the United States on this very subject. Locally, Dead Cat Alley is a good example that public art WILL attract tourists.

So let’s go full circle here. Let’s take Denny’s idea of a magnificent, revolving ride. Add the established attractions of the Woodland Opera House and Dead Cat Alley. Add the idea of a play structure in, or near, Heritage Plaza/Intermission Garden. And maybe borrow a combined idea from Central Park in Davis (think pedal-power) and Comerica Park in Detroit (home of the Tigers)… and we can have a cat-themed carousel, a meowy-go-round, to spark this renaissance of the downtown. Now, this idea might not make it to the top of anyone’s list, but it does show how Denny’s Ferris Wheel concept was not so far-fetched after all.

Time will tell if our city council will adopt some of the old and new ideas presented during the brainstorm, or if they will continue a policy of evading ideas that don’t suit their personal agendas.

# # #

In a Washington Monthly feature economist Richard Florida (“The Rise of the Creative Class”) stated, “More and more businesses understand that ethos and are making the adaptations necessary to attract and retain creative class employees everything from relaxed dress codes, flexible schedules, and new work rules in the office to hiring recruiters who throw Frisbees. Most civic leaders, however, have failed to understand that what is true for corporations is also true for cities and regions: Places that succeed in attracting and retaining creative class people prosper; those that fail don’t.”

Florida continued, “Creative class people value active outdoor recreation very highly. They are drawn to places and communities where many outdoor activities are prevalent—both because they enjoy these activities and because their presence is seen as a signal that the place is amenable to the broader creative lifestyle. The creative-class people in my studies are into a variety of active sports, from traditional ones like bicycling, jogging, and kayaking to newer, more extreme ones, like trail running and snowboarding.”

“Places are also valued for authenticity and uniqueness. Authenticity comes from several aspects of a community—historic buildings, established neighborhoods, a unique music scene, or specific cultural attributes. It comes from the mix—from urban grit alongside renovated buildings, from the commingling of young and old, long-time neighborhood characters and yuppies, fashion models and “bag ladies.” An authentic place also offers unique and original experiences. Thus a place full of chain stores, chain restaurants, and nightclubs is not authentic. You could have the same experience anywhere.”