Northwest Ward Newsletter

February 27th, 2016

HELPFUL

Greetings,

LINKS
Welcome back to the Northwest Ward Newsletter.

My Recycling
Info

From the feedback I have gotten I know that folks

appreciate the links to Leaf Collection, Crime Stats
and Neighborhood Watch Info. I have also heard
from people who want information about city-wide

Boards and
Commissions

issues (economic development being one in

particular), and I want to make sure that I include
items that are of concern to you. Please let me know

Bond
Improvement

at jeffm@cityofws.org if you have suggestions for

future articles.

Tracker
I will be posting late-breaking items, such as
meetings, road closures, etc. on my Facebook Page.If

Business 40

you would like to be notified please "like" the page.

Traffic Cameras
Jeff MacIntosh

Crime Mapping
Winston-Salem: What You Need to
Bulky Item
Collection

Know

Holly Avenue
Neighborhood

Re-Zoning Follow Up

Watch Info
Earlier in February, the City

City Council

Council approved changing

the zoning classification of 59 properties in the Holly

Calendar

Avenue Historic District from L-O (Limited Office) to

RS-Q (Residential Quadraplex). This change was

City Ward Map

particularly important to me as my wife, Susan, and I

were some of the original "urban pioneers" who

Northwest Ward
Boundaries

fought for protection of the residential character of

this gem of a neighborhood. In the 1970s, '80s and
'90s this area was given up on as a place where
people would choose to live. Several of us

Greenway Plan

recognized the architectural charm, history of the

area and proximity to downtown, which was

Northwest Area
Plan

essentially dormant at the time, and decided we

would put forth the effort to preserve its character.
Several newcomers joined with longtime residents

Watch City

(the Seipples, Heges and Enochs, to name a few)

who had hung on through the worst times and

Council Meetings

challenged inappropriate building and land uses.

We won some of those fights and lost some. The
ones we lost stand out as visual reminders of bad

WEEKLY

development

CALENDAR
Over a 30-year period, Susan and I restored nine
single-family houses and a five-unit apartment
building in a one-block area at the core of the
2/27/16 (12:00-

neighborhood and in doing so attracted preservation

1:30pm)

efforts from Jack Atkins and others. It is a joy to drive

Human Relations
Commission's Black

through the Holly Avenue Historic District now and

see the results.

History Month
Showcase of Song

"Conventional wisdom" said that because of its

Old Salem Visitor

proximity to the central business district the area

Center James A.

would surely convert to office use since "no one

Gray, Jr. Auditorium

wanted to live downtown anymore." The real estate

market, however, never did respond to this idea and
gradually people in Winston-Salem, and nationally,

3/1/16 (8:00am)

rediscovered the positive aspects in living close to

Downtown W-S

the city center.

Partnership Annual
Meeting

The Holly Avenue neighborhood continues to be

Grand Pavilion

one of the most diverse and vibrant neighborhoods

Ballroom

in Winston-Salem. The next time you are downtown

take a troll through it.

1/3/16 (11:00am)
Polo Rd. Sidewalk
Groundbreaking

Police and Fire Fighters Pay Increase

Sunshine House,
600 Polo Rd.

In an effort to retain our well-trained officers and

firefighters, City Council approved a plan in January
to increase salaries to be in line with other

1/3/16 (6:00pm)

municipalities. Before I was elected, I knew, and

North Ward Park

spoke about, the fact that we were losing employees

Meeting
Bethabara Park

to other communities who were willing to pay them

more than we were.

Visitor Ctr.
I also knew that we conduct some of the best
training in the state and continually strive to improve
it. This puts us at a cost disadvantage to other
1/3/16 (6:00pmlocalities that don't make the investment in training
9:00pm)
and can therefore pay higher salaries. I recognized
CWSU that there is a real financial impact, as well as a
Stormwater/DOT/
human impact, to replacing seasoned public safety
Sanitation &
officers. It takes time for an officer to learn his/her
Recycling
beat. It takes time for a firefighter to blend in with
Employee Training
his/her team. This learning curve can be costly. The
32nd st.
City Manager and our Human Resources team put
together a pay increase plan that pays our
employees the salary they deserve. It will have
3/5/16 - 3/9/16
budget impacts down the road but it was already
2016 NLC
negatively impacting the budget (through
Congressional City
replacement costs) and was bound to get worse in
Conference
the future. Here is a link to the actual agenda item.
Washington, DC
Stay tuned!
3/10/16 (6:00pm9:00pm)

CWSU - Community

Keeping Neighborhoods Informed

& Business
Development/
Human Relations
Employee Training
32nd St.

Snow Removal and Trash Issues

Our most recent
snowstorm resulted in
far more calls and
emails than usual from
residents who were

3/13/16 (3:00pm)

not satisfied with the

W-S Band Spring

level of service they

Concert

received. What I have discovered from speaking

South Fork Com.

with the head of our Transportation Department,

Center

Toneq' McCullough, Assistant City Manager Greg

Turner, Sanitation Department Head Johnnie Taylor
and City Manager Lee Garrity is this: We have

3/14/16 (7:00pm)

enough equipment and staff to adequately deal with

City Council

the average snow event. When we have a storm that

Council Chamber

drops an unusual mix of precipitation we can have

trouble responding as quickly as we would like to all
of our citizens. Prior to this particular storm, our
crews "brined" (spread a mixture of salt and water)
the roads prior to the frozen stuff coming down. This
should keep ice and snow from sticking to the road
surface so that it can be more easily pushed aside
by our plows. Once snow/ice starts to fall, we follow
a protocol that plows the biggest, most traveled
roads first and then moves down the line to the least
traveled roads (like mine). Streets in subdivisions
fall under the "least traveled" category because the
actual number of cars that use them is fairly low.
Because of the mix of frozen precipitation that we
saw and the order in which it came down
(ice/snow/ice/snow), the brine was not as effective
as it typically is. This made the plows less effective
which made them take more time to accomplish the
same amount of work. This cascaded down to the
neighborhood level because by the time the plows
were done with larger roads they had to go back and
re-plow some of them. This left smaller roads
unplowed until very late in the storm. Couple this

with the fact that our large plows are unable to get
into many cul-de-sacs because of their size, and
many residents felt like they were ignored and
critical hospital personnel had a hard time making it
to work. This all pushes back trash pickup. I believe
we are caught up by now, but if you are still having
problems please let me know. For the most part, our
employees in Streets and Sanitation are
hardworking and conscientious.
Possible Solutions:
One thing we can do right away is to have E.R.
employees contact us (me) so that we can
make sure they can make it in to work.
Other solutions require additional expenditure
of tax dollars. We are exploring the cost
of equipping smaller vehicles with plows so
that we can work in neighborhoods without
risking damage to parked vehicles and/or curb
and gutter. This would also involve an
increase in money spent on salaries, diesel
and vehicle maintenance. I rode with one of
the plow operators and it is amazing how
much punishment both the vehicle and the
road take during the process! Once the costs
are estimated we can make a decision about
implementing that idea.
Please bear in mind that many local roads are under
the care of the state. Reynolda Road and Silas
Creek are just two of many that NCDOT plows.

Winston-Salem Walk of Fame

In 1997, after 71 years of operation, Bailey Power
Plant ended its lifetime as one of the main energy
suppliers to downtown Winston-Salem. Since then,
its smokestacks still make up part of Winston-

Salem's iconic skyline and the cavernous building

has sat empty in the middle of the Innovation
Quarter -- a constant reminder of both the history of
our area and the potential for
its future.
Today, Wexford Science +
Technology is in negotiation
with the current owners of the
building, Wake Forest Baptist
Medical Center, which was generously gifted the
building by R.J. Reynolds in 2010, to purchase and
develop the power plant. Once developed (and time
to reach agreement to do so is of the essence
because of the expiration of historic tax credit
incentives), Bailey Power Plant is likely to create
upwards of around 75 new jobs and provide
numerous technology, retail and food services to the
community, in addition to the creation of a further
business accelerator focused on supporting
minorities. The city and the county have agreed to
enter into economic assistance agreements with
Wexford Science + Technology to enable the
building's development. Both the city and the county
will receive positive cash flow from the project after
redevelopment in the form of new property taxes.

Boards, Commissions and Community

Organizations
Many of you have asked me for a list of Boards and
Commissions that operate within the city and
county. Here is a link to descriptions and instructions on
how to apply for them.

Bulky Item Collection Returning

The city's annual bulky item pick-up will begin

February 29th and continue through Sept. 2. Crews
will go through the city street by street, collecting
bulky items that garbage crews cannot accept.
Furniture, mattresses, appliances, grills, carpet, old
toys, and lawn furniture
can all be set out.
The city cannot collect
televisions, computer equipment, building materials,
hazardous waste, tires,
cement, cars and car parts,
stumps, tanks and oil drums, fire wood or yard
waste. Do not mix bulky items with yard waste,
recyclables or brush.
Bulky item collection is for single family
residences, not businesses or apartments. The
Sanitation Division will mail post cards in advance
to let home owners know when bulky item collection
will be held in their neighborhood. Crews will go
through each neighborhood only once. To ensure
collection, items must be at the curb by 6:00am the
Monday of your collection week.
To find out your collection week, go
to BulkyItems.CityofWS.org and click on the link for
online address lookup. Residents without computer
access can call CityLink at 311 or 727-8000 and a
CityLink agent will look up the collection date.

| 336-768-8444| Jeffm@cityofws.org | 101 N. Main Street

Winston-Salem, NC 27101|

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