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The Arkansas Times notes Pettaway neighborhood opposition to planned zoning development
Job Corps Building
Neighbors oppose pregnant teen home in old Job Corps center
posted by Max Brantley
The Arkansas Times | Arkansas Blog
Here’s an excerpt of the post
The Pettaway Neighborhood Association is organizing opposition for a proposal before the Little Rock Planning Commission May 30 to convert the abandoned Job Corps Center building at 20th and Vance Along I-30 to a home for pregnant teens.
Its letter objecting to a rezoning plan says, in part:
“At a public forum held at Winthrop Rockefeller Elementary and Early Childhood Magnet School on March 2, 2013, residents asked Paradise Group LLC to share their business and community engagement plan. To date the Paradise Group LLC has failed to share their solid business and community engagement plan with our community the very place where this proposed planned development will be housed.”
Pettaway Neighborhood Association Opposes Paradise Group LLC Planned Zoning Development (2020 Vance Street – formerly Job Corps Building and Red Carpet Inn)
The following letter outlining Pettaway Neighborhood Association opposition to the Paradise Group LLC Planned Zoning Development (2020 Vance Street, Little Rock – formerly the Job Corps Building and Red Carpet Inn) was to submitted Little Rock Planning Commission. Please note a Public Hearing on the Paradise Group LLC proposed Planned Zoning Development will take place 4pm, Thursday, May 30, 2013 at the Board of Directors Chamber, Second Floor, City Hall. Please attend your support is needed.
——————————————-
Little Rock Planning Commission
Department of Planning and Development
City of Little Rock
723 West Markham Street
Little Rock, AR 72201
re: Pettaway community opposition to Paradise Group LLC Planned Zoning Development (2020 Vance Street, Little Rock)
Dear Commissioners,
The Pettaway Neighborhood Association (PNA) voted at its May 16, 2013 association meeting to oppose the Paradise Group LLC application for a planned zoning development request for change of classification from C-3 District to PZD as submitted.
The community’s major concern regarding the Paradise Group LLC planned zoning development is sustainability.
At a public forum held at Winthrop Rockefeller Elementary and Early Childhood Magnet School on March 2, 2013, residents asked Paradise Group LLC to share their business and community engagement plan. To date the Paradise Group LLC has failed to share their solid business and community engagement plan with our community the very place where this proposed planned development will be housed. We know of no letters or confirmed intent of support from Arkansas Department of Human Services (DHS), Division of Children and Family Services (DCFS) or Transitional Youth Services (TYS) or any other organizations or entities that would directly impact the specific services being provided to these pregnant teens.
Presently, the property at 2020 Vance Street has remained vacant and a nuisance for a number of years. This boarded and dilapidated historic structure is visible from Interstate 30 and has proved to be a hardship for those residents whose homes are in close proximity to this structure.
It has been the expressed wish of the PNA that the structure be demolished. However, if the structure is to be rehabilitated, the PNA requests proof that the proprietors have a solid business and community engagement plan to ensure the sustainability of whatever business is housed in this particular structure.
The Pettaway community along with MacArthur Park Historic District and the Main Street corridor is experiencing growth. People are moving in, buying vacant lots, restoring older historic homes, and building new structures. This growth is directly related to the sustained community effort to embrace community by making it safe, clean and supporting one another in our desire to live in a vibrant downtown. As much as the residents would like a positive and effective planned development at 2020 Vance Street (like the new Children’s Library in the 12th Street corridor) we want to make sure that the property is not left vacant again after a short period of use.
For these reasons, we reject the Paradise Group LLC proposed planned development and subsequent request for change of zoning classification as submitted.
Respectfully,
Pettaway Neighborhood Association
(Click Here to view the original letter submitted to planning Page One Page Two)
Arkansas Local Food Network Fundraiser May 31st at Oxford American
Posted on lr-dna listserve:
Hello All!
I wanted to let you know about a great event that is happening on Friday
May 31st from 6-9 pm.
The Arkansas Local Food Network is putting on a fundraiser to benefit their
non profit organization AND support local arkansas farmers and the hard
work they do to put food on our tables.
Tickets are 60.00 and include:
* all local food cooked up by Chef Matt Bell of the upcoming South on Main
restaurant, local beer from Flyaway Brewing and Stone’s Throw Brewing, and
mixed drinks from Rocktown Distillery featuring locally grown ingredients!
There will also be live music by the Amy Garland Band and a GREAT silent
auction with items from all over Central Arkansas.
This is the last week to buy tickets and we’d love to see you there!
If you have any questions at all, please contact Liz :
bernicegarden@gmail.com or call (501) 617-2511
Thanks !
Liz
–
*THE BERNICE GARDEN*
1401 Main St.
Little Rock, AR 72202
Ph: (501) 617-2511
www.thebernicegarden.org
Pettaway N.A. Community meeting Thursday, May 16th at 6:00 p.m.
May 16, 2013, the third Thursday of the month, is the Pettaway Neighborhood Association monthly community meeting. Come on out and meet your neighbors, gain new resources, find out what’s happening, make friends. The meeting starts at 6:00pm and will be held in the East Broadway Alert Center at the corner of 21st Street and Commerce.
We’re looking forward to seeing you.
Public Meeting announced for LR Mainstreet Filtration Project
The following article was published on the Arkansas Democrat-Gazette online. An excerpt is below.
Public Meeting announced for LR Main Street Filtration Project
Arkansas Online
May 14, 2013
Little Rock’s public works department will host a public meeting Monday (May 20, 2013) to discuss the city’s Water Quality Demonstration Project along the 100, 200, 300 and 500 blocks of Main Street.
The meeting will be held from 4:30 to 6 p.m. on the first floor of the Lafayette Building, located at 523 Louisiana St.
A previous Arkansas Democrat-Gazette article states the low-impact development project aims to improve water quality through the installation of “porous pavers, tree wells, rain gardens and other water-filtration methods along portions of Main Street.” The Environmental Protection Agency, through the Arkansas Natural Resources Commission, in July awarded $900,000 to the city of Little Rock to fund the project.
Rockefeller Elementary hopes to be awarded the 21st Century Community Learning Center Grant
Winthrop Rockefeller Elementary and Early Childhood Magnet School is vying to be a 21st Century Community Learning Center. Rockefeller Elementary has submitted a 21st Century Community Service Learning Center grant application.
Several Little Rock School District Schools are selected each year to apply for the grant. This year Rockefeller and Bale Elementary are applying for the grant.
As an A+ arts and enrichment school Rockefeller has a good chance of being awarded this opportunity. Programs awarded this grant will receive five years of funding. Funding can be as much as $150,000 for the first three years and then a decreased amount for the remaining two years.
The 21st Century Community Learning Center grant provides opportunities for academic enrichment, including providing tutorial services to help students meet State and local student performance standards in core academic subjects such as reading and mathematics. It offers students a broad array of additional services, programs, and activities such as youth development activities, drug and violence prevention counseling programs, art, music and recreation programs, and technology and character education programs that are designed to reinforce and complement the regular academic program of participating students. It will also offer families of students served by community learning centers opportunities for literacy and related educational development.
The primary purpose of the Arkansas 21st Century Community Learning Centers Program is to establish or expand community learning centers that operate during non-school hours. The program must provide students with intensive academic enrichment opportunities along with other activities designed to complement the students regular academic program. Community learning centers must also offer literacy and related educational services to families of the targeted students.
The 21st Century Community Learning Center award would be great education and outreach boon for families residing in the Pettaway community as well as the greater Little Rock community at large.
Notice of Public Hearing, 4pm, May 30th regarding the Paradise Group redevelopment of the Old Job Corps Bldg/202 Vance Street
Notice of Public Hearing Before The Little Rock Planning Commission On An Application To Establish A Short-Form Planned Zoning Development
[Notice reads]
To ALL owners of land lying within 200 feet of the boundary of the property located at:
Address: 2020 Vance Street/Old Job Corps Bldg.
General Location: Little Rock, AR
Owned by: Paradise Group, LLC
NOTICE IS HEREBY GIVEN THAT an application for a Planned Zoning Development of the above property requesting a change of classification from C-3 District to PZD has been filed with the Department of Planning and Development. A public hearing on said application will be held by the Little Rock Planning Commission in the Board of Directors Chamber, Second Floor, City Hall, on May 30, 2013, at 1800/4 p.m.
ALL PARTIES IN INTEREST MAY APPEAR and be heard at said time and place, or may notify Planning Commission of their views on this matter by letter. All persons interested in this request are invited to call or visit the Department of Planning and Development, 723 W. Markham, 501.371.4790, and to review the application and discuss same with the Planning staff.
Click link (below) to read Ida B. Wells Home For Pregnant Girls Project Submission.
Public Hearing on South Main Road Plan this afternoon at 3:30pm
The City of Little Rock is hosting a public hearing to discuss the SoMa Safe Streets Plan. The plan converts a stretch of South Main Street from four lanes to three lanes plus bike lanes. The City of Little Rock has received a grant from the Highway Department to resurface and restripe South Main Street from Interstate 630 south to Roosevelt Road. Current parking lanes would not be affected by the road work, according to the City.
The public meeting will be held from 3:30 – 4:30 p.m. Thursday at StudioMAIN, 1423 South Main Street, Little Rock, Arkansas.
Public Meeting on South Main Road Plan at Rufus K. Young Christian Church, Thursday, May 9th
The Arkansas Democrat-Gazette online published an article entitled “South Main road plan topic of meeting.” Here’s an excerpt of the article published today, May 3, 2013.
A public hearing has been set on plans to convert a stretch of South Main Street from four lanes to three lanes plus bike lanes, the city of Little Rock has said.
The stretch runs from Interstate 630 south to Roosevelt Road. Current parking lanes wouldn’t be affected by the road work, the city has said.
The public meeting will be held from 6:30-7:30 p.m. Thursday at the Rufus K. Young Christian Church, 2020 S. Main St. in Little Rock.
To read the rest of this article click here.
Six Finalists Chosen for 2013 Bernice Garden Sculpture Project
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE For More Information, Contact:
Liz Sanders, Coordinator, 501-617-2511 or
And the 2013 Sculpture Project awards go to …
The Bernice Garden founder Anita Davis and the Garden staff are pleased to announce that six finalists have been chosen in the 2013 Sculpture Project from a field of 22 entries.
Davis couldn’t be more pleased to have such a large group from which to choose.
Though not everyone could win, “how wonderful to get so many fabulous proposals” from all over the state, Davis says.
The six artists/teams chosen – and their projects’ working titles – are:
Danny Campbell of Pine Bluff for “Garden Series”
David Carpenter of Little Rock for “Home: the View from Here”
Stephen Driver of Ozark for “Fish Stela”
Mia Hall/David Clemons of Little Rock for “The Fruit of Their Labor”
Kerrick Hartman of Stuttgart for “Burden Bearers”
John Van Horn/Erika Drake of North Little Rock for “Sealed with a Wish.”
Bernice Garden neighbor Studio Main will facilitate the scholarships, and thanks to the generosity of arts patrons John and Robyn Horn, who matched the original award amount, this year’s winners will receive a total of $6,000 for their efforts, and, as usual, artists will retain rights to their works after a year of display in the garden.
How exciting to have an art contest and see what hatches! We’ll be thrilled to see them in place in September.
Watch this space for updates and information on the premiere party. We hope you’ll join us, but don’t wait until then to enjoy the beauty of the garden. Stop on by anytime and soak it in.
