Wednesday, January 30, 2008

Town Branch neighborhood windy on Wednesday, Snowy on Thursday



PLEASE CLICK ON IMAGES TO ENLARGE top photo showing tunnel through which Town Branch of the West Fork of the White River flows under the Arkansas and Missouri Railroad south of Sixth Street in Fayetteville, Arkansas. The view is northwest (upstream). Enlarged, the photo shows a stone and concrete structure at the other end of the tunnel. It is a manhole that stands about 6 feet tall in the streambed. When rain is heavy on the University of Arkansas campus upstream, water rises above the manhole and pours into the sewer, allowing sewage to overflow and stormwater to enter and overload the so-called sanitary sewer.

Lower photo was added to show snow covering the former Aspen Ridge site (now the proposed Hill Place student-apartment site). The view is from the intersection of West Eleventh Street and South Duncan Avenue.

Town Branch Neighborhood will be featured several times next week on Cable Access Television, channel 18 on Cox Cable in Fayetteville.

Sunday, January 27, 2008

Town Branch Neighborhood Jan. 12 meeting to run on CAT channel 18 five times this week


PLEASE CLICK ON IMAGE TO ENLARGE

TOWN BRANCH NEIGHBORHOOD MEETING RERUNS
on CAT Channel 18 on Cox Cable in Fayetteville, Arkansas

Tuesday Jan. 29, 2008
6:45 am Ward 1/Town Branch-Neighborhood Meeting from Jan. 12

Wednesday Jan. 30, 2008
7:30 am Ward 1/Town Branch-Neighborhood Meeting from Jan. 12
9:00 pm Telecom Board Meeting: 1/17/08

Thursday Jan.31, 2008
12:45 am Ward 1/Town Branch-Neighborhood Meeting from Jan. 12

Friday Feb. 1, 2008
7:00 am Water Conservation & Protection (LWV
1:35 pm Ward 1/Town Branch-Neighborhood Meeting from Jan. 12

Saturday Feb. 2, 2008
2 a.m. Ward 1/Town Branch-Neighborhood Meeting from Jan. 12
6:00 am Water Conservation & Protection (LWV)

Friday, January 25, 2008

OMNI Center for Peace, Justice and Ecology's annual dinner TONIGHT

One of the organizations that founded the World Peace Wetland Prairie in Fayetteville's Town Branch Neighborhood has its

2008 Annual
Omni Members Meeting tonight at the University of Arkansas Presbyterian Center on Maple Avenue.
For details call 444-6072.

OMNI donated $25,000 to help prevent the 2.5 acres that is now known as World Peace Wetland Prairie from becoming a 48-unit apartment complex and to help make the land a city nature park. Everyone is invited to attend the OMNI annual meeting and find out what the group is all about. You don't have to dress up, just dress warm, and come enjoy a free dinner and meet new friends.

6-7 Join or Renew Membership
Visit “Pitch Pit” for volunteer opportunities
Enjoy Dinner!
7:00 Still on the Hill
7:15 Introductions
7:30 Workshops
8:30 Report Back from Workshops
Announcements
Revisit “Pitch Pit”
Group Sing - We Shall Overcome

Workshops
Sustainable Farming – the gentle way to feed the planet, one community at a time
A discussion of farming practices which can change the way food is grown, and how it can save our families, our communities, and our planet. Presented by noted sustainable food systems presenter Patrice Gros. Patrice has been a full time organic farmer for 10 years. He is the cofounder of 2 area Farmers Markets (Berryville & Eureka Springs, AR) and sits on the board of the Eureka Market. Patrice runs Foundation Farm and its associated Farm School. For more info visit http://www.foundationfarm.com SANCTUARY

Sensible Fayayetteville – A positive shift away from draconian drug laws
Ryan Denham talks about a suggested city code that places marijuana possession as the least important priority for law enforcement officials, (similar to the ordinance passed by Eureka Springs last year.) Federal drug laws have driven our prison system to crisis, and into the hands of private corporations. At the same time it has created class and human-rights dilemmas on a wide scale. A sensible step for Fayetteville is a major step for American human rights. Deep End

Nonviolence in the Face of Fascism
America appears to be moving toward a more fascist government, and many people are becoming anxious about it. People who believe in nonviolence need to know what powerful tools of nonviolence are available to them in tense and uncertain situations. Gladys Tiffany and Shelley Buonaiuto lead discussion on some remarkable and already-available options. There are more then you might think. Omni office

5th Anniversary of the Iraq War
Oh No! Not Again!
We hoped it would never come to this, but we’ve been a-honking for a long time now. Would you like to help Omni plan and organize a fitting remembrance for the national imbroglio? Kelly Mulhollan will organize this session to begin planning a commemoration for the month of March. upstairs chapel

Media Reform In Our Own Backyard
Big Media has taken over mainstream forums for discussion of public issues, and left dissenting opinion without a public voice. Omni Center is working with others to create forums where open discussion is encouraged. Some of those attempts are with our great, long-time Video Underground series, working with Fayetteville Cable Access TV (CAT) to develop Omni Month in Review, and creating Omni Free Radio - our own community radio station. This group also includes Rapid Responders – writer/researchers ready to counter the uninformed perspectives in the local letters to the editor pages. And we have a hankering to take up our own editorial-writing board. There may a place for you in the media corner of the Culture of Peace. Presented by four Omni Media Group members: Gerry Sloan for Video Underground, Claire Detels for Omni Month in Review, Joe Newman for Omni Free Radio, and Larry Woodall for Rapid Response Network. fire pit upstairs

Sunday, January 20, 2008

Town Branch/Ward 1 meeting video at 9 a.m. and after 7 p.m. Tuesday on Cox 16 in Fayetteville

Government Channel, Cox Cable channel 16, also known as City 16, is to broadcast the official video of the Jan. 12, 2008, meeting of the Town Branch Neighborhood Association and three members of the Fayetteville City Council with developers planning the proposed Hill Place student apartment project on the site of the defunct Aspen Ridge Townhome project between 11th Street and 6th Street and west of Hill Avenue in south Fayetteville at 9 a.m. and again after 7 p.m. Tuesday January 22, 2008, after the Telecom Board meeting that begins at 6:30 p.m.

Read about the meeting at the following link:
Town Branch/Ward One/Aspen Ridge meeting in The Northwest Arkansas Times

Friday, January 18, 2008

Habitat for Humanity wetland in Fayetteville to demonstrate how to develop gently



PLEASE CLICK on photo to ENLARGE view of wetland Prairie land near Seven Hills' soon-to-open Transitional shelter south of Huntsville Road in southeast Fayetteville. A portion of such land is slated for a state-of-the-art sustainable, low-impact development designed for Habitat for Humanity by the University of Arkansas Design Center in Fayetteville. Let's hope future Habitat sites use similar plans.

Habitat for Humanity houses on S. Hill Ave. and new Habitat proposal



PLEASE click on photo to ENLARGE
the Top photo of three Habitat houses that front on South Hill Avenue with the Town Branch of the West Fork of the White River behind them and the
Bottom photo showing the Town Branch bridge on Eleventh Street with a privacy fence on the fill dirt where trees were recently removed from the riparian zone.


I agree with Jonah Tebbetts or rather whatever living person or persons actually produce
The Iconoclast
Web log that the proposed low-impact development plan for the Habitat For Humanity development in the watershed of the Town Branch of the West Fork of the White River between East Huntsville Road and East Fifteenth Street potentially can be a wonderful example for developers in Northwest Arkansas.

A somewhat similar project was built in Rogers but problems developed during construction and it didn't quite turnout right.

However, things learned during that process likely will help the Habitat for Humanity people and the Community Design Center people to do a better job in supervising this project on one of the few remaining wetland prairie areas of the Town Branch watershed inside Fayettevlle. Many such places (for instance, parts of the Aspen Ridge site) already have had the absorbent top layer of soil and native vegetation removed or buried under non-organic fill dirt.

The Design Center has a chance to demonstrate to developers and contractors and the people who do the actual work the best-management practices that can actually save money while protecting water and air quality and providing a beautiful place for people to live.

Only four or five years ago, a three-house development on South Hill Avenue was built on fill dirt in what historically was part of the overflow area of the Town Branch immediately north of West Eleventh Street in the very heart of the Town Branch Neighborhood.

Saturday, January 12, 2008

Plan proposed to replace Aspen Ridge Townhome plan



Please click on image to ENLARGE
This concept drawing was presented and explained to the Town Branch Neighborhood Association, three members of the city council of Fayetteville, Arkansas, media representatives and other interested people on Jan. 12, 2008.
Strangely, this drawing shows the area with north to the left and east at the top. I have no idea why architects would do it that way, but it causes a bit of extra confusion. Maybe in two or three days, I can get this rotated and reposted. Stay tuned.

Tuesday, January 8, 2008

Sunday, January 6, 2008

Town Branch neighborhood aerial view without labels





View Larger Map


PLEASE CLICK on Aerial Photos of portions of Aspen Ridge and Rochier Hill (proposed Summit development site) to ENLARGE.

Top photo is early 2006 view with south at the top.
Second photo is early 2006 view with west at the top.
Third photo is early 2005 with west at the top.
Bottom photo is older view with north at the top.

Town Branch neighborhood from Google Earth


View Larger Map

Saturday, January 5, 2008