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The Next ePIFanyNow Party Set For October 6 – WSYM

The Next ePIFanyNow Party Set For October 6

CREATED 11:31 AM


  • ePIFanyNow team Image by Bob Hoffman

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LANSING, MI ― The MSU University Club is sponsoring and hosting the next ePIFanyNow Pass-it Forward Party on Sunday, October 6, 2013 from 1 p.m. to 5 p.m. Bud Kouts Chevrolet is also the official sponsor. The event will be held at the U-Club located at 3435 Forest Road in Lansing, MI. This family oriented Pass-it-Forward party is open to the public and draws all ages and cultures to partake in the joy of celebrating human kindness.

The idea of an ePIFanyNow party is to gather a large group of people together to create an energy of excitement for passing kindness forward. When you arrive at the event you are given 100 ideas on ways to spread kindness and then are sent out into the community to spread the joy. A few hours later, the crowd gathers back together to share stories of how everyone passed kindness forward.

ePIFanyNow is a non-profit organization dedicated to creating positive change throughout our community and beyond. ePIFanyNow™ attendees find ways to burst “balls of stress” by touching peoples’ lives no matter how small, simple, or insignificant the act of kindness.

“The idea is to come together and create an energy of excitement; enthusiasm that creates continuous momentum! This isn’t a fundraiser, or religious or political in nature. It’s just like-minded people helping others for the sake of doing something nice. You leave the event on Cloud 10! It’s so much fun and it’s great for families. Kids love it!,” says ePIFanyNow Founder Bob Hoffman.

More than 200 people attended the ePIFanyNow party at MSUFCU in February 2013 and the event was featured on the national CBS Evening News with Scott Pelley in 2012. (http://bit.ly/N8Joxu) Among the group was the Webberville High School’s Girls Basketball team.

“Our team helped to paint the interior of a home and do landscaping for a woman who suffers from aneurological disorder. It was a great experience for the kids. We are on board to do it again,” says Kris Tennant, Webberville High School’s Girls Basketball Coach.

ePIFanyNow was started in 2009 by Bob Hoffman, public relations director at Wharton Center. Hoffman continues to spread the word about performing acts of kindness around Mid-Michigan, West Michigan and Illinois. His dream is to spread ePIFanyNow across the globe and eventually develop a curriculum for schools around human interaction and impacting society through acts of kindness.. All goods, services, acts of kindness, and assistance are volunteer-driven and donated in the name of passing kindness forward.

For more information about this organization and event visit ePIFanyNow’s Facebook page here

PRESS RELEASE

New Sheriff in Town


    Monday, September 23, 2013
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    The Isla Vista community has been gearing up for the start of UCSB’s fall quarter on September 22, and students will find a few changes. Each of these changes has the potential to make the area a little nicer, safer, and more pleasant.

    First and foremost, a new Sheriff’s Department lieutenant now heads the Isla Vista Foot Patrol. Lt. Robert Plastino took over for Lt. Ray Vuillemainroy, who moved to overseeing the Santa Maria Substation.

    Cat Neushul

    Plastino is a San Diego native who is well-versed in the unique challenges Isla Vista poses. He worked as a Foot Patrol officer more than 10 years ago before moving on to become head of the Santa Barbara County Sheriff’s human resources department. He also served in Iraq and is a decorated war veteran. His previous experiences make him the perfect candidate for this post. He knows how to deal with chaos and still find ways to address individual needs. So far, he said, his new job has kept him incredibly busy.

    In the past two weeks I have met with Plastino twice to discuss issues of particular interest to local residents. We talked about noise, trash, and Halloween. In each of these discussions he showed himself to be intelligent, focused on community improvement, and most importantly, in possession of a good sense of humor.

    Lt. Robert Plastino heads the Isla Vista Foot Patrol.
    Click to enlarge photo

    Courtesy Photo

    Lt. Robert Plastino heads the Isla Vista Foot Patrol.

    Anyone working or living in I.V. has to have a sense of humor. Isla Vista is a very different place where rules, like stopping your bike at stop signs, are often flouted, and some students believe that anything goes. Things that would not be tolerated in other areas, like Montecito, are accepted as part of the I.V. culture. But the lieutenant does not accept this as a given. He said things have changed for the better in I.V. since he worked here 10 years ago, and he wants to keep up the forward progress.

    Plastino already has a long list of tasks that he would like to spearhead. As he meets residents, he listens to their concerns in order to see where law enforcement efforts can become more effective. He is working with UCSB and SBCC officials to enhance accountability for students in Isla Vista and is discussing ways to use the property owned by Santa Barbara County in downtown I.V., that formerly housed the Isla Vista Neighborhood Clinic, as a possible community meeting space.

    Lights and More Lights

    Since safety remains of the utmost concern, Plastino was particularly enthusiastic about the addition of energy-efficient LED lighting along Del Playa Drive, Sabado Tarde, Trigo, and Pasado roads. Last year, members of Associated Students UCSB were instrumental in highlighting the safety concerns posed by inadequate lighting in Isla Vista, and Santa Barbara County allocated the funds through a Community Block Grant to make improvements. This was just the first phase in a long-term plan to address lighting issues.

    Locals will also notice that the median along El Colegio, near Isla Vista elementary school, has been revamped. New landscaping and lovely street lights have been added.

    With a new school year beginning, and renewed efforts to beautify and improve Isla Vista, there are reasons to be optimistic. Each time someone makes a small effort to improve the I.V. environment, we all benefit.

    Below are extracts from my conversation with Lt. Plastino.

    When did you take over command of the Isla Vista Foot Patrol?

    I was officially assigned to Isla Vista on July 8. Prior to that transfer, I was the lieutenant of the Human Resources Bureau for the Sheriff’s department, where I spent the past four years. Before that, I was a sergeant for the Central Stations patrol, which includes the Santa Ynez, Solvang, Buellton, and Lompoc areas.

    Tell me about your background.

    I grew up in Solana Beach, a small coastal town in San Diego County. After high school, my parents moved the family to Nipomo. I attended San Diego State University and obtained a B.S. in Business Management. I later obtained a master’s from Cal State Northridge in Public Administration. But in between, I worked in the private sector, first for a company in Orange, and then later for a company in Irvine. I had this desire to do something more and to serve the community. So while maintaining my job, I joined the Army National Guard as military police. I ended up enjoying my experience as an MP so much that I decided to switch careers and make law enforcement my main profession. I moved back to the Central Coast in 1997 and was hired by the Santa Barbara County Sheriff’s Department.

    I was first assigned as a deputy to Isla Vista in 1998 and again in 2004. Each time, I spent close to two years in Isla Vista, doing foot and bike patrols. I’ve also worked various other assignments in the department, including gangs, DARE, background investigations, narcotics, SWAT, and I’m currently the supervisor for the Sheriff’s Underwater Search and Recovery Unit (dive team).

    I was deployed numerous times with my military unit. Once, during the Bosnian war and then twice after 9/11. My wife and I were married just days before I deployed for Iraq in 2003. After I returned home, we wanted to start a family, so I left my part-time military career in 2005. I now have a 7-year old son and twin daughters, one and a half years old.

    I love living in Santa Barbara County and working here. I feel privileged that I can raise my family in such a beautiful location.

    What are some of the improvements you are trying to bring about?

    The first things that come to mind are safety, quality of life, and social responsibility. I don’t think we can ever reach a point where we say that safety concerns have been completely eliminated; improving the safety of residents and visitors to Isla Vista is at the top of my list. There are methods to make this happen, but it requires involvement from the community as well as law enforcement. Resources from the Sheriff’s Department are not unlimited, so we have to get creative in our solutions. This involves buy-in from the community, so we turn to community leaders for assistance. I personally rely on partnerships with Supervisor Doreen Farr, the University Police Department, and other UCSB departments such as the Dean of Students Office, the Associated Students, Women’s Center, and Office of Student Life. Additionally, I provide and obtain input from the Isla Vista Community Network, business owners, the California Highway Patrol, permanent I.V. residents, and many other area stakeholders. Improving safety is the job of the entire community.

    Getting the word out and creating that shift in thinking is critical, and it is a challenge at times. However, even simple efforts such as the “Stop Burglaries in I.V.” campaign, which reminds residents to lock their doors and windows, make a difference.

    Quality of life improvements are more subjective and less quantifiable than pulling crime statistics. This involves practices regarding safety, but it also requires proper infrastructure to make Isla Vista a desirable location and one that can cater to its diverse population. We have families, retirees, students, professors, businesses, homeless, and a myriad of other residents and visitors that provide for an incredible array of culture and ethnic diversity.

    Improving the lives of individuals from such varied backgrounds is a humbling and daunting task. Again, I cannot make these types of improvements alone. I have worked with the Isla Vista Recreation and Parks Department to come up with solutions in regards to the district parks. I have also urged the building of the Pescadero Lofts project, which will provide low-income housing and onsite medical and mental services for our homeless population so they can begin the process of recovery and rehabilitation. For students, I have worked with the Associated Students at UCSB to provide education to the student body about our laws and regulations, as well as methods to keep themselves and their neighbors safe. Additionally, I’ve met with property owners to discuss ways that they can provide living situations that benefit them and their renters in positive ways. This includes coming up with ideas for lease agreements that assist law enforcement in shutting down parties with too many occupants, or fining tenants that contribute to underage drinking.

    Compared to the previous years I was assigned to Isla Vista, I’ve seen a phenomenal change in student attitudes toward their own social responsibilities within the community. This is such a refreshing and encouraging transformation from previous years, where it seemed very few people showed an interest in making positive social changes in the community. Cultivating this new mentality is something I embrace and want to see continue. I was recently approached by a UCSB Bike Club student who noticed the large number of derelict bikes scattered throughout Isla Vista. He had a desire to refurbish abandoned bikes that the Sheriff’s Department would normally confiscate and destroy if the owner could not be located. He was willing to fix these bikes with club money and then give them away to needy students and Isla Vista residents. Working with him, we have started a program that is socially responsible, helps clean up the community, and provides a benefit to those that are in need. This is the kind of effort that I strive to cultivate and improve among the population.

    How are you working with officials at SBCC to improve collaboration?

    On Friday evening, September 20, SBCC President Lori Gaskin came out to Isla Vista to see how we provide safety to her students and to get an idea of how her students are impacting the town. She was very engaged with the students on the street, some of whom immediately recognized her and approached her in a positive way. She also witnessed some of her students receiving citations for various alcohol-related crimes.

    As we walked up and down the increasingly busy streets of Del Playa, Sabado Tarde, and the business loop, we talked about the difficulties of educating new students about our laws and regulations. Each year, we get a fresh group of new students that don’t know how to keep themselves safe in such a dense population, or what the impacts of their actions might have on their future. Early in the evening, one SBCC student was cited for being a minor in possession of alcohol, and it was his second offense in two weeks. He understood that he was going to lose his driver’s license for a year because of the second citation. The lesson learned was that maybe better education, up front, for incoming students is needed to help them make wiser decisions.

    Of course, there will still be plenty of young adults that do not take sage advice and are destined to either learn from their own mistakes or end up paying the consequences in court. Both President Gaskin and I agreed that collaborative efforts between SBCC and Isla Vista Foot Patrol could help alleviate some of these problems. Over the next few months, I will be working with her to improve our combined interest in educating students of their responsibilities and then holding them responsible for their actions. It’s a small percentage of students that end up making bad choices, but we will be working together to make that percentage an even smaller figure.

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    neighbors fear theft, peeping Toms if path is built

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    Our approach to dealing with wildfires is all wrong (Commentary)

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    By STEPHEN PYNE

    To grab the attention of politicians or the public, a fire has to do at least one of three things: It must burn lots of houses, kill people or involve celebrities (a celebrity landscape will do).

    This year’s big fires have done all three.

    The Black Forest fire in Colorado killed two people and wiped out 511 houses. Arizona’s Yarnell Hill fire immolated a crew of 19 firefighters. California’s Rim fire in and around Yosemite National Park has become the third-largest blaze in state history. And now, new wildfires are relocating the threats from San Francisco’s Sierra Nevada reservoir to its exurbs at Mount Diablo.

    These blazes illustrate the major challenges of the American fire scene: Black Forest is a textbook example of fires that burn where houses and natural fuels intermingle dangerously. Yarnell Hill tragically highlights the limits of fighting fires and the costs of doing so. And the Rim fire is an unhinged wildland scene, where landscapes with once-manageable fires have turned feral.

    These are not new problems. The vulnerability of its workforce has haunted the fire community since the Big Blowup of 1910 overran the northern Rockies and killed 78 firefighters.

    Concern over fire’s removal — from wildlands and agricultural areas that traditionally relied on routine burning — inspired an intellectual revolution that sought to replace fire repression with fire management, even restoration. Policy reforms came to the National Park Service in 1968 and the Forest Service 10 years later.

    Still, this was a revolution from above; the hard slog of translating ideas into programs came fitfully. The Yellowstone fires that mesmerized the media for much of the summer of 1988 revealed the difficulties of translating policy into practice.

    By then the campaign to create a pluralism of fire programs had stalled. By the time it rebooted after the 1994 season, the climate had flipped from soggy to droughty, the politics had switched from bipartisan reforms to partisan attempts to roll them back, the workforce had shrunk and begun privatizing, and sprawl had sparked a new kind of fire and revived suppression as a politically safe stance.

    As a result, we’ve been chasing flames ever since — at greater costs and with less effect. There is no reason to believe we will, in the near future, get ahead of the problems.

    Take those burning houses. As early as 1986, the U.S. Forest Service and the National Fire Protection Association launched an initiative to protect homes in fire-prone areas. Today, the issue is no longer just ill-sited McMansions but a giant retrofit for 30 years of irrationally exuberant sprawl.

    The National Association of State Foresters estimates that more than 72,000 communities are at risk and only 20 percent have a plan for protection.

    Retrofitting up to a third of America’s housing is a challenge as daunting as rebuilding its crumbling bridges. It means not only replacing combustible roofs but enacting building codes, zoning reform, fire taxes and other infringements on private property.

    Meanwhile, climate change may flip the script of people constructing houses where fires are, with fires instead coming to where houses are.

    Some 83 percent of the communities at risk are in the Southeast; the 2011 blowup in Bastrop, Texas, may show what will happen if the Western fire scene moves east.

    More basically, we have long misdiagnosed the problem. The emphasis has been on the wildland half of the equation, not the urban one. But it makes more sense to think of homes in hazardous settings as fragments of cities — exurban enclaves and suburban fringes with forested landscaping — rather than as wildlands cluttered with two-by-fours.

    We know how to keep houses from burning. And we should know that if we build houses in the fire equivalent of a flood plain or a barrier island, the primary responsibility for protecting them is ours.

    Regime change when it comes to wildland fire is even trickier.

    Prescribed, or controlled, fire is a foundational principle in the Southeast, where places such as Florida are succeeding in replacing wild fire with tame fire, but it has foundered in the West. Efforts to get ahead of the flames are meager.

    The largest, the Four Forest Restoration Initiative in Arizona, proposes to treat up to 50,000 acres a year for 10 years by thinning and burning. As a point of comparison, the nearby 2011 Wallow fire burned 538,000 acres in one savage swipe.

    America’s firescapes also have a dangerous backlog; every wildland fire put out becomes a fire put off. The land eventually combusts as it must. Some burns are severe, some benign.

    For reasons of cost, firefighter safety and ecological integrity, fire officers will have to work with the handful of fires — the 1 percent or so — that are doing the burning for all. Such megafires now account for more than 85 percent of costs and burned area.

    Out of the legacy of such monsters, we must reconstruct more fire-resilient landscapes. But our institutional landscapes demand preparation as much our natural ones.

    We need the ability to move quickly when breaks in the weather occur. We can’t rely on single-site projects or approval processes tied to the lottery of bad fire years. We need torch-ready projects with approvals and funding on hand.

    Yet, we have underinvested in fire for so long that the catch-up costs seem staggering.

    The traditional inclination is to rely on emergency interventions rather than systemic reforms; in this way, fire management resembles public health.

    There is ample money and will for a response when a crisis is at hand, but little for the patient labor of prevention, innoculations and general wellness.

    Worse, the cost of emergencies is stripping away everything else.

    For example, the Forest Service just took $600 million from elsewhere in its budget to pay for fighting fires this summer.

    And finally, the workforce.

    Our attempt to suppress fire in a paramilitary fashion has unhinged landscapes and provoked fires that firefights alone cannot contain.

    The fire community is growing weary of throwing crews at flames in a vain and sometimes lethal attempt to battle what, under extreme conditions, cannot be controlled. It may instead opt for a hurricane model in which warnings are issued, people board up windows and clean gutters, and then leave or stay as they choose, while crews wait for the flames to blow through before returning.

    The fact is, you control wildland fires by controlling the countryside.

    What we need as much as money is consensus about how we live in that countryside, or at least agreement about how to decide.

    This year’s blazes also show why the National Cohesive Strategy for fighting fires — a project set in motion by Congress to protect against bad fires, promote good ones, and assemble a workforce and the resources to do so — is both necessary and tricky.

    The strategy is a bold attempt to gather the federal government and volunteer fire departments, states and counties, public agencies and private landowners around the fire they all share. But they need to face one another across that fire, not stand with their backs to the flames and use them to animate some other message to special interest audiences.

    And then Congress needs to join them. The legislation that mandated the national strategy has already stumbled because of underfunding.

    It’s probably too late to do more than flee skillfully from the fires we face today. But we can begin positioning ourselves for the ones to come.

    Stephen Pyne, a historian in the school of life sciences at Arizona State University, is writing a book about the history of fire in the United States since 1960.

    51 ideas to make Greensboro stronger

    Here are summaries of the ideas proposed in the 51 letters of intent submitted for the city of Greensboro’s Strong Cities Strong Communities program.


    • Alfred Worley, Community economic development technical consultant, Bronx, N.Y.

    Intent: Using “place- and people-based approaches” to enhance commercial, retail and housing markets; align workforce delivery systems; leverage community wealth-building plans; improve residents’ ability to own assets and anchor jobs; and improve housing.

    • The Merrick Group , Higher education professionals with expertise in business and leadership, Greensboro.

    Intent: Create a nonprofit that helps students create unique academic programs that meet the needs of local employers by combining courses from the seven area colleges and universities.

    • Arden Thoburn, Greensboro.

    Intent: Turn War Memorial Stadium into a baseball and football museum for baseball and a home for the N.C. Tennis Hall of Fame, with a tennis stadium and 21 hard-surface tennis courts as a possible host site for the Atlantic Coast Conference tennis tournament.

    • Barbara Peck, Greensboro.

    Intent: Build a glass-blowing studio as a draw for tourists and a resource for local schools, supplemented with a large commercial kitchen for use by producers of small-batch gourmet food; a craft distillery for making spirits; and small manufacturing site to make high-end custom clothing.

    • Bryan Toney, project team leader, director, N.C. Entrepreneurship Center at UNCG.

    Intent: Create a downtown Global Opportunities Center to stimulate global entrepreneurship in the region, working with local colleges, corporations and others.

    • Carol Pedigo, Winston-Salem.

    Intent: Start a retail business that sells only “Made in the USA” products.

    • Tia C. Cromartie , location not given.

    Intent: Create a team with one lawyer and five others to assist in marketing a plan for a business mentoring program.

    • Dan McIver , Greensboro.

    Intent: Establish a behavioral merit incentive rewards program in schools, working with police officers, to increase academic values and decrease discipline issues.

    • David Aderholdt, lead participant, Greensboro.

    Intent: Create a sustainable wine “Tasting Trail” in downtown Greensboro to showcase and promote the emerging North Carolina wine industry.

    • Derrick Giles, Greensboro.

    Intent: Activities to create local economic impacts that support the growth of small businesses.

    • Shachi Pandey, Urban Matrix, an architecture and urban design firm, Brooklyn, N.Y.

    Intent: Research and analyze Greensboro’s urban environment, including transportation, connectivity, land use and zoning, and historic development to position the city competitively in the local and regional economy.

    • Don Kirkman, principal, Kirkman Economic Development Consulting, Greensboro. Kirkman is former president and CEO of the Piedmont Triad Partnership.

    Intent: Create a national advertising and marketing campaign to promote available buildings and sites in Greensboro to companies in advanced manufacturing, distribution and logistics to attract new companies.

    • Rhonda White, lead participant, Greensboro.

    Intent: Through the Intelligent FUNdamental Foundation and Destiny Christian Center, help Triad youth be trained by members of “our knowledge community” in career, personal and skill development skills, while encouraging good citizenship.

    • Dottie Cooke, lead participant, Greensboro.

    Intent: Identify business areas within neighborhoods and revitalize them through landscaping, streetscaping and business consulting with area universities; revitalize long-neglected areas of the city by involving small businesses and residents; and engage churches, schools, garden clubs and other nonprofit organizations to help.

    • Sylvester Caraway Jr., Greensboro.

    Intent: Establish an educational, media development, broadcasting and employment center that provides hands-on experience as well as connects to local, state, national, military and international media to further the center’s students.

    • Dustin Lester, Fairfax, Ohio.

    Intent: Work to create a nanoGreensboro brand to establish a strong and marketable identity for the city, building off the Joint School of Nanoscience and Nanoengineering, with goal of recruiting, retaining and expanding business in aviation, life sciences and innovative manufacturing.

    • Helen K. Rogers, APD Urban Planning and Management, lead participating business, Atlanta.

    Intent: Develop a strategy, working with partner firms, to promote job growth and business expansion, enhance quality of life and provide a vision for future growth.

    • Imani N. Johnson, clinical social worker, Sanford.

    Intent: Rehabilitate vulnerable populations, including disconnected youth, and the surrounding community holistically, empowering participants to become and remain productive, self-sufficient leaders of society through caring for the spirit, mind and body, vocational training and culturally sensitive education.

    • John Hannon Martin, lead participant, location not given. Submitted on behalf of Triad Electric Vehicle Association.

    Intent: Develop an electric drive campus and develop prizes for green challenges.

    • James P. Wilson, lead participant, Strategonomics Global Network, Santa Barbara, Calif.

    Intent: Review strategies aimed at creating tech/biotechnology clusters in greater Greensboro that will attract people, businesses and investment downtown; and capitalize on universities and colleges.

    • Jerome Valentine , Greensboro.

    Intent: Recommend an economic progress solution for Greensboro that uses the transportation industry to draw more businesses to the area and methods to retain companies already here.

    • Channelle D. James, entrepreneurship professor at UNCG, and Doug MacNair, technical director at Cardino ENTRIX in Raleigh.

    Intent: Propose strategy that includes both traditional development approaches and socially focused. Example: Create a social venture lab where college students work alongside economists, entrepreneurs, community organizers and local politicians to implement solutions with potential to thrive in the marketplace.

    • John Merrill, Gateway University Research Park, Greensboro.

    Intent: Create a Gateway Aerospace Materials Testing Center, working with the Gateway University Research Park and the Joint School of Nanoscience and Nanoengineering.

    • John R. Dykers Jr., lead participant, Siler City.

    Intent: Manufacture and sell a patented meat tenderness tester. Market “John’s Score” as the standard marker of meat quality, supplementing the USDA quality grade.

    Intent: Manufacture and sell the Dykers Ring, a urological device for managing male urinary incontinence and erectile dysfunction.

    Intent: Make a device to accurately call balls and strikes without disrupting the flow and ambiance of baseball games.

    • Justin Streuli and Zack Mohorn, Open Ledge, Greensboro.

    Intent: Create a downtown “startup accelerator” to invest in local companies or attract promising startups; build a co-working space conducive to innovation and creativity; connect entrepreneurs with Greensboro’s largest companies to solve problems and fill voids at the companies.

    • Justin Streuli, Open Ledge, Greensboro.

    Intent: Create a “climate action plan” to turn Greensboro into a carbon-neutral city by 2050.

    • Keith Bunch, lead participant, Greensboro.

    Intent: Make the city healthier through incentives to reduce the body-mass-index score of its residents.

    • Community Foundation of Greater Greensboro , United Way of Greater Greensboro.

    Intent: Create a task force to work on increasing the number of adults with college degrees to create a funding collaborative to invest in employer-driven career advancement for workers and to connect resources to improve job opportunities.

    • Kimberly Brown, president and CEO, KimBees, Greensboro.

    Intent: With the Carolina Coffee Roasting Co., open a manufacturing facility to make tea, coffee and packaged baked goods.

    • Richard Canady Baxter, former Davidson County health director, and Elizabeth H. Stephens, retired public health administrative consultant, state of North Carolina.

    Intent: Promote Greensboro through an “if you build it, they will come” theme by uncovering and enhancing the city’s artistic and historic identity through citizen involvement and public pride.

    • Patricia Green, consultant, Smyth Co.

    Intent: Market and brand Greensboro through numerous activities, including creating a downtown factory outlet mall; buy businesses such as Twinkies and move them to Greensboro; create a reality TV show set in Greensboro; attract a major league sports team or a casino; improve services to help the poor and homeless; and open more charter schools.

    • Marlando D. Pridgen, lead participant, Greensboro.

    Intent: Created an International Center for Educational Advancement with additional economic growth ideas and strategies.

    • Michael Stumpf, principal, Place Dynamics, Milwaukee.

    Intent: Promote the growth of small businesses and sole proprietorships. Example: develop a culture and support system for entrepreneurship and microbusiness growth.

    • Michelle Dennard, navigational thinker and general counsel, Thinkspot, lead participating company, Tallahassee, Fla.

    Intent: Emphasize collaboration and commitment from business, independent and government stakeholders to advance meaningful change, through stakeholder alignment, shaping a plan based on specific goals and developing an integrated marketing communication plan.

    • Kori Ann Edwards, senior vice president of operations, LSI Business Development, Layton, Utah

    Intent: Create partnerships between the universities and colleges in greater Greensboro and the private sector.

    • Pramod and Varsha Vyas, Greensboro.

    Intent: Create a recycling program involving local waste disposal companies and various businesses.

    • Rob Bencini, certified economic developer; Mark Kirstner, land-use and transportation planning professional; Meryl Mullane, Mullane Public Relations; Sam Funchess, president, Nussbaum Center for Entrepreneurship; Bob Powell, assistant professor at N.C. AT, Greensboro.

    Intent: Increase the capacity of residents to “self-generate” income through up to a dozen different projects that help citizens re-engage with the workplace. Example: Provide training in 3-D printing.

    • Robert Aldin Lee, Lilburn, Ga.

    Proposal: Take concrete and persuasive steps to lure a division of an existing organization with up to 2,000 jobs to the city.

    • Sam Casella , Belleair, Fla.

    Intent: Undertake a coordinated effort to develop technically skilled workers for Greensboro’s target industries with emphasis on a well-balanced workforce and with emphasis on science, technology, engineering and mathematics.

    • Sam Funchess, president CEO, Nussbaum Center for Entrepreneurship, Greensboro.

    Intent: Expand the Entrepreneur Assistance Support and Education Program services at the Nussbaum Center. The program has staff or interns who provide hands-on assistance to entrepreneurs and their companies.

    Intent: Create an entrepreneur capital fund to help growth companies when other sources of funding are not available, to fill the gap between bank and venture capital funding.

    Intent: Expand business incubator services at the Nussbaum Center, to address reductions caused by the economic downturn.

    • Orachut Leoviriyakit, president, SSC Engineering, Haddon Township, N.J.

    Intent: Propose the economic development strategy that will transform Greensboro into a “sustainable compact city” and promote a vibrant and healthy lifestyle, based on strengthening collective efforts, leveraging the city’s history and cultural assets, and redefining it as the focal point of academic excellence.

    • Sumner Fineberg, Jamestown.

    Intent: Unite Triad cities by building a system used of limited-access roadways used only by buses for nonstop transport to terminals in each city. Later, add electric-powered buses.

    • Teresa Lynch, lead participant , principal, Mass Economics, research and consulting firm, Cambridge, Mass.

    Intent: Develop strategy for Greensboro in the global economy with focus on creating cluster specializations, assets and linkages to translate the city’s strong export base into near- and long-term employment and income growth.

    • Tom Philion, president and CEO, ArtsGreensboro.

    Intent: Promote arts-driven economic development through such additions as a glass-blowing studio and education center powered by landfill methane gas in east Greensboro; an updated Cultural Center Campus downtown; an environment for producing commercially viable theater, mixed media, art, music and national residency projects; and a community-sourced creative campus on South Elm Street.

    • Veronica Foster, accredited bridal consultant, Behind The Scenes, Greensboro.

    Intent: Use public locations and small businesses such as photographers, design companies and caterers to inform those getting married or having parties and corporate meetings about what Greensboro can offer. Proposal: Hold a grand reopening of Greensboro to generate revenue for small businesses.

    • Victoria Kiechel, lead participant, School of International Service, American University, Washington.

    Intent: With students from American University and New York University, develop a strategy to improve the environment, equity and economy of Greensboro. Projects will focus on infill development in urban and outlying areas and on the role of public space.

    • Vision Tree Community Development Corp.

    A collaboration of the Guilford County public health department, N.C. AT, Greensboro Housing Authority, Cooperative Extension, N.C. Center for Environmental Farming Systems, Farm Incubator Project, Community Transformation Project, Interactive Resource Center, Guilford County Sheriff’s Prison Farm and UNCG’s Communication Department.

    Intent: Eliminate “food deserts” in Greensboro to increase access to healthy food, improve the health of the community and reduce chronic disease; and provide job training. Target audience is the 5,000 local households that receive help under the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program, or SNAP.

    • Wayne E. Sharpe, Greensboro.

    Intent: Build a facility at the “under-used White Street Landfill” to create alternative fuel using organic methane byproducts to power city operations.

    • William Graves, lead participant, associate professor economic geography, UNC-Charlotte.

    Intent: Market Greensboro globally to firms and “human capital” as the hub of a commuter-rail transportation network connecting research clusters in Greensboro, Winston-Salem, Charlotte and the Triangle, while touting the low cost of doing business and living in the city.

    Ideas abound for fall landscaping projects


    Posted: Sunday, September 22, 2013 5:00 am


    Ideas abound for fall landscaping projects

    By TYLER BUCHANANMessenger staff journalist

    The Athens Messenger

    For some people, the fall season can be a time to wind down outside activities like landscaping and gardening. For others, the task of beautifying one’s land has just begun.


    There is more than enough time to get going, be it with planting flowers or working. Here are some fall landscaping ideas to keep you busy in the coming months.

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    Residents urged to keep fit as outdoor fitness equipment fitted at park

    Residents urged to keep fit as outdoor fitness equipment fitted at park

    OUTDOOR fitness equipment has been fitted into a Ferryhill park to help users keep active and fit during their visits.

    Ferryhill Town Council secured the funding to pay for outdoor fitness equipment which has been fitted at the Dean Bank Park.

    The funding for the project came from Premier Waste Management Landfill Communities Fund.

    The scheme formed part of a major scheme to regenerate the Dean Bank Park. It is hoped to install new seating and to carry out landscaping.

    A multi-use games area and new play equipment has already been fitted at the site.

    A council spokesman said: ““The town council and the Friends of Dean Bank Park community group, who campaigned for this project are thrilled that their ideas have been brought to fruition.

    “The project demonstrates just what can be achieved when the town council and local community work in partnership together.

    “On behalf of both the town council and the Friends group I would like to say a huge thank you to Premier Waste Management who has made this project possible.”

    Dean Bank Park is also one of five sites maintained by the town council to secure the prestigious Green Flag status in 2013.

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    Pitt campus finding cohesion of architectural style – Tribune

    When you think of the University of Pittsburgh, you can’t help but envision the imposing 42-story Cathedral of Learning, with its inspiring Nationality Rooms, and, of course, the nearby Heinz Memorial Chapel — one of the finest college chapels anywhere.

    But, in most other ways, this sprawling urban campus has always been distinguished architecturally mainly by a lack of distinction — with a large number of mundane buildings in a wide variety of styles, often set with no relationship to each other.

    Yet, all of this is gradually changing today, as the university pursues a substantial program of modernization, additions and new buildings in a way that promises to gradually bring some coherence to a very diverse urban campus.

    New dormitories built in recent years (a fine new one opened just last month), some stunning additions to existing science and engineering buildings, and even the giant Petersen Events Center all point the way toward a better future.

    Moreover, there are now guidelines in place for the use of materials on buildings and an important signage program that makes all university buildings instantly identifiable.

    It has taken quite a while, though, to establish any sense of cohesion.

    Pitt settled in Oakland in the early 1900s, acquiring a 42-acre site along the steep side of Herron Hill, which rises some 250 feet above the Oakland plane.

    Architect Henry Hornbostel, a famous practitioner of the Beaux Arts who also designed Carnegie Mellon University’s campus, prepared a 1908 master plan for a grand classical-style acropolis on this hill.

    He envisioned 30 hillside structures that would look like Greek and Roman temples, culminating in a majestic “forum,� not far from where the Veterans Administration Hospital sits today. He thought underground escalators could be used to move students up and down the steep hill.

    But only five of Hornbostel’s buildings were built. Barely a dozen years later, an ambitious new chancellor, John Bowman, abruptly rejected the Acropolis idea. Bowman coveted the flat land at the center of Oakland for the university he dreamed of building. So, with the all-important support of brothers Andrew and Richard Beatty Mellon, he acquired land and set out to build his iconic skyscraper “Cathedralâ€� — to symbolize the importance of the university to the city.

    Bowman sought for this project one of the best-known collegiate architects of the day, Charles Klauder of Philadelphia. Klauder did major parts of much-admired campuses at Princeton, Duke and Yale. And he did not disappoint in Pittsburgh. Although modernist architects disdained his Gothicist style (Frank Lloyd Wright once called the Cathedral of Learning the “largest keep-off-the-grass sign� in the world) he did three finely wrought buildings for Bowman, including the Heinz Chapel and the Stephen Foster Memorial.

    Yet, Pitt still had a disjointed campus. Even today, it has three distinct sections — the familiar flat areas around Forbes and Fifth avenues; the side of Herron Hill, where science, engineering and medical buildings predominate; and the top of the hill, where athletic facilities are clustered along with large newer dormitories and fraternities.

    Pitt had a major opportunity to expand its lower campus after the late 1960s, when it became clear that Forbes Field would soon be torn down. But it did it incoherently, with buildings that are so different, it is the architectural equivalent of trying to play baseball, football and hockey — all on the same field and all at the same time.

    Three of the buildings — Posvar and Lawrence halls and the Law School were rendered in the then-fashionable “brutalist� style, but without the sophistication that it takes to make brutalism attractive. They exhibit pretty much the worst modernist ideas of the time — overbearing, cold-feeling buildings with barren plazas between them.

    A fourth, the Hillman Library, has a somewhat restrained but still quasi-brutalist facade. Yet, its podium wall is intended to echo the Renaissance-style rusticated stone base of the Carnegie Library across Schenley Plaza. Inside, contradictions continue. The main floor is serene — modeled on a different modern style, that of Mies van der Rohe, with lots of warm teak, black-metal framing and plenty of light.

    The later glass-walled Katz Graduate School of Business, also on the Forbes Field site, has a pleasing, dark, modern elegance and turned out much better. It’s close by the Frick Fine Arts Building, a stone-and-marble imitation of an Italian Renaissance villa. The Frick building had nothing new in the way of architectural ideas about it, but both buildings have quality.

    More recently, one of the worst of the barren spaces — between Posvar and Hillman — was rescued with an effective landscaping program that leads into the new Schenley Plaza. Hillman, in turn, was enhanced with restoration of its own plaza and entrance.

    Other bright spots include the Mascaro Center, a recent addition to the engineering complex that provides some sophisticated excitement along O’Hara Street, and a deft addition to the Chevron Science Center that helps make a dull building look interesting. The 11-year-old Sennott Square building on Forbes and the just-opened Nordenberg Hall freshman dorm on Fifth are both done in the now-routine Post-Modern style. Though not visually challenging, they seek to harmonize with older non-university structures around them.

    John Conti is a former news reporter who has written extensively over the years about architecture, planning and historic-preservation issues.

    ISU landscape students build wall for NCHS

    NORMAL — A new 45-foot-long, curved sitting wall soon will grace the front of Normal Community High School, thanks to the work of Illinois State University students.

    About 14 of ISU landscape professor David Kopsell’s Urban Landscape Management students got their hands dirty Friday for the project, which also includes 700-pound concrete benches for seating. The work, funded by $7,500 raised by the NCHS Alumni Association, is expected to continue today.

    “The goal of this project is not only to provide NCHS students with an attractive and comfortable place to wait outside and possibly to meet for classes, but also to provide a great learning experience for ISU students as contributors to the quality of life in their college community,” said Mary Ryder, alumni board member and project coordinator.

    When the alumni group wanted to do something to improve the area, they knew exactly who to contact. Kopsell and his students have been maintaining the landscaping there for years.

    Earlier he had landscape design students come up with ideas for the project as part of their final exam, and the end result was an amalgamation of several student ideas.

    “I love it. I’m an outdoorsy girl,” said student Sarah Kuppinger as she waited for the cue to start shoveling Friday. The Naperville senior said being part of the project will help her to learn things she can use in future work, at home and in landscaping competitions.

    The wall’s yellow bricks and red accent details coincide with the color scheme of the existing building. The concave shape also compliments the curves of the existing structure, and the grade was carefully considered so water will flow slightly downhill and not pool on the surface, Kopsell said.

    The wall has an added benefit of blocking litter that had blown from the parking lot into the landscaping.

    Plants were chosen to withstand baking summers and icy winters and with a nod to NCHS’ orange-and-black school colors and mascot. Orange perennials were chosen along with an ironwood tree — a tribute to the Normal Ironmen that also is hardy and will be an appropriate size for the space, Kopsell said.

    The plan includes paving blocks with an area that will remain covered with river rocks for now. Eventually the existing path of red bricks engraved with donor messages can be extended into the area.

    Watching the joy on Kopsell’s face as he helped direct students, Kuppinger remarked, “He’s so passionate about this.”

    The ISU group also worked with Brandt Bollmann, a professional landscaper whose father, Dave Bollmann, is NCHS’ principal. With a smile, he kindly showed one student when she was using a piece of equipment backward.

    The materials cost about $5,000, and about $2,000 was set aside for ISU student labor. Materials were provided by Darnall Concrete of Normal.

    The labor donation will help cover the students’ cost for participating in the Professional Landcare Network’s PLANET career days and national landscape competition, Kopsell said.

    ‘Back to basics’ or back to bad stuff? – Tribune

    I love hearing from readers with gardening questions as well as those offering advice. I receive about a dozen questions a week via email and another one or two per week through the U.S. Postal System. One of the most wonderful things about gardeners is their ability to share constructive ideas and advice, and their willingness to seek appropriate answers to even the most vexing question.

    I try my best to address every question I receive, though it may take me a few months to do it! I keep each and every letter and email I receive, and do my best to select timely topics during the appropriate season. I get some really fascinating questions, and I greatly enjoy researching and learning about some of the more unusual topics. Many of the letters I get are concerning similar topics, and I can often address multiple inquiries in a single column. I love it when that happens.

    To that note, a number of inquiries and suggestions have come in over the past year regarding using household products like ammonia, salt, shampoo, bleach, soap and others to control weeds and/or insects in the landscape or to fertilize plants. This practice was popularized about 50 years ago by a master gardener who began to promote the use of cleaners and other household items in the landscape under the guise of turning “back to the basics.�

    Unfortunately, many of these “basics� are synthesized in a laboratory and are not, in fact, natural solutions. Using many of these “basics� essentially means using one chemical to replace another. Most household cleaners are full of chemicals that have no place in a healthy garden.

    Another issue I have with this is that the household products often recommended for use in the garden have not been researched for their safety and effectiveness under such circumstances. They are not approved by the EPA and other certifying agencies for use in the garden. (I know what you are going to say: “I’ve been doing this for years and I have never had any problems.â€� And that may be true, but just because you haven’t had a problem yet, doesn’t mean you won’t. And some of the problems these products cause are not necessarily observable — unless you’ve got a microscope.)

    Bleach and ammonia can and do kill earthworms and scores of other beneficial soil organisms and benign insects, not to mention the fact that they can burn skin and eyes and cause respiratory distress. The salt and vinegar that many folks use to kill weeds also kills these soil-dwelling organisms as it washes down through the soil. Many household products also can adversely effect the soil pH. Even a slight alteration in this critical measurement can readily affect how, and even if, certain nutrients are available to feed your plants.

    Many household products also remain in the soil and on plant tissue for many days or weeks after use. Some do not dissipate or breakdown for a very long time, if ever. Bleach, for example, is made of several highly reactive ingredients that when mixed with other products can produce toxic gasses. Even soap (in all its forms) can prove detrimental to the garden. It can coat foliage and breakdown plant-cell walls if overused, and it can kill beneficial insects as quickly as it kills pest species.

    In my opinion, avoid using all household products in the garden, and instead, turn to natural, non-chemical product solutions and fertilizers formulated and reviewed specifically for use in the landscape. If you aren’t sure if something is safe for your organic garden, look for the OMRI (Organic Material Review Institute) seal of approval on the label. Or, drop me a line and I’ll do my best to answer your question in a future column.

    Horticulturist Jessica Walliser co-hosts “The Organic Gardeners� at 7 a.m. Sundays on KDKA Radio. She is the author of several gardening books, including “Grow Organic� and “Good Bug, Bad Bug.� Her website is www.jessicawalliser.com.

    Send your gardening or landscaping questions to tribliving@tribweb.com or The Good Earth, 503 Martindale St., 3rd Floor, D.L. Clark Building, Pittsburgh, PA 15212.