Photo By John HoffThere was a noteworthy item in the WHO agenda sent out by Al McFarlane recently, click here for a brief explanation of "Who is WHO?" The agenda item was as follows...
January 28, 2010
Community Planning and Economic Development (CPED) presentation on the Homewood Design Competition for the NE corner of Plymouth and Sheridan.
As regular readers know, this location is where the former "Uncle Bill's" store stood, dubbed "Uncle Lennie's" after it was purchased for a relatively small sum by self-styled "businessman" Lennie Chism. Now, as one resident of Jordan phrased it so well....
"Is this something Lennie Chism is involved with, or is it legitimate?"
Anybody who knows something about it is invited to use the reader comments function.
(Blog post by John Hoff, from Corinth, Mississippi)
January 28, 2010
Community Planning and Economic Development (CPED) presentation on the Homewood Design Competition for the NE corner of Plymouth and Sheridan.
As regular readers know, this location is where the former "Uncle Bill's" store stood, dubbed "Uncle Lennie's" after it was purchased for a relatively small sum by self-styled "businessman" Lennie Chism. Now, as one resident of Jordan phrased it so well....
"Is this something Lennie Chism is involved with, or is it legitimate?"
Anybody who knows something about it is invited to use the reader comments function.
(Blog post by John Hoff, from Corinth, Mississippi)
It's certainly interesting that every other item on the agenda, except this one, included the name of the person giving the presentation. Hmmmm.
ReplyDeleteDoesn't Lennie still own this corner? If somebody wins the contest, does Lennie have to agree to it or agree to sell the corner?
ReplyDeleteI believe this is legitimate. I heard this being discussed at the last business meeting of the HPC when they laid out their work plan for the entire year. If I remember right, Aaron Hanauer is one of the staff involved and I have always found Aaron to be highly competent and highly receptive to community input and feedback. I think this is legit.
ReplyDeleteIt would be interesting though to find out who exactly owns the property.
ReplyDelete@ M. Clinton - why would historic preservation be involved with development on a vacant lot?
ReplyDeleteCity and county show owner is still Springboard Econ Develop aka Uncle Lennie.
(2426 Plymouth Ave N)
I talked to someone at CPED recently who said they were going forward with development at the NorthWest corner of that intersection -- the 3 lots that are now vacant.
ReplyDeleteMy guess is that Lennie wants to apply for one of the "Great Streets" CPED grants, which he will then use to pay the $40K demolition bill.
ReplyDelete@ Annonymous. I'm not sure. I was wondering that myself today. It had something to do with a contest that focused on good design and sustainability. I don't know what the angle is that the HPC is interested in. I too looked at the city website to see who the owner is and saw the same thing you saw (although those websites are slow to update). I'll see if I can find out some more information and if I do, I'll post it here.
ReplyDeleteHow is the property zoned? I thought that it lost its non-conforming use status and has now reverted to R-1 (residential).
ReplyDeleteIf that is the case, then is he planning to build a house or put in a community garden?
Does anyone know the current zoning classification?
Anon 5:15 PM - the NW corner of that intersection is not the former Uncle Bill's -- it's across the street with a big sign about the Artist's Core, I believe.
ReplyDeleteWHO only does an official meeting with agendas and such when there is some sort of scam afoot to give it the scent of legitimacy and community participation.
ReplyDelete@ Anon 12:43: Yes, you are correct--the NW corner is the three CPED lots with the Artists' Core sign. The NE corner is the site formerly known as Uncle Bill's.
ReplyDelete@ Anon 6:48: Exactly.
It would be great if the agenda just had a typo, and the presentation is actually a legitimate CPED presentation about the NW corner, and not some crazy scheme regarding the NE corner.
It's a scam that Al has cooked up so he can purchase another $80,000 vehicle to tool around in while he delivers papers.
ReplyDeleteI did receive confirmation that the site of the development with the design competition is owned by CPED. But it sounds like this might be a site other than the former Uncle Bill's site? Is that what I'm gathering here? I'm confused.
ReplyDeleteI have a reliable neighborhood person telling me that the agenda must be wrong because it is for three parcels of CPED land on the WEST corner of Plymouth/Sheridan - not the East which would be Uncle Bill's/Lennie's corner.
ReplyDeleteWhew!*wiping brow*
If this is just the difference between "NW" versus "NE," (and please note the "w" and "e" are right next to each other on a standard keyboard) then this is another fine example of how failure to carefully proofread causes waves of confusion and extra effort.
ReplyDeleteAnd then people wonder why English Majors are always pointing this stuff out.