Northside Night Out

Last night, once again the Northside neighborhood participated in the National Night Out, an event designed for neighborhood-building and community support for fighting crime. Paul and I were there. It always seems to be on the first Tuesday in August. I don't know why it's invariably on the hottest day of the year--a test of fortitude perhaps. Anyway, even in the heat, this year's event went well. We ended up at the Hargraves Center. I've been going for a number of years, at least since I was involved with the neighborhood in creating the Northside Neighborhood Conservation District. Back then, the gathering place was the vacant lot that formed a kind of peninsula at Sykes, Whitaker, and N. Graham Streets. But by now, Empowerment, Inc. has built two houses there, strategically filling a gap in the neighborhood, providing attractive affordable housing, not coincidentally enabling more "eyes on the street."

The folks in Northside have a lot to be proud of. They're actively "taking back" their neighborhood, and by being the first neighborhood conservation district in Chapel Hill--not an easy process by any means--they paved the way for four others.

House wide open

I caught the tail end of the open house yesterday at 603 Nunn Street in Northside. This newest Land Trust house is a beautiful Craftsman-style house that feels bigger than its 1,300 sq. ft. The open kitchen and dining room span the length of the house down one side--living room on the other side of the handsome wooden staircase. Light pours in from every direction.

Empowerment had an open house at the same time on a property next door, also placed within the land trust for permanent affordability. A total of four lots on what had been a very troublesome patch of vacant land are being developed for home ownership.

The Northside neighborhood conservation district was created in 2004. It was one of my first Council votes; I'd served on the committee for it as a planning board member. It limits the size and scale of houses and makes design recommendations as a way to retain the look and feel of the old neighborhood. I think it's working the way we hoped. As you can see from the pictures Ruby took during the NCD process, there was room for improvement on many levels.