• President’s Message
• Community Presence: We’ve Been Busy Since the Last Newsletter!
• Social and Membership Committee: From Party Central!!!It’s a TGIT!
• Communication
• Yard of the Season
• This ‘N’ That Around the ‘Hood
• Special Addition to the Old Town Messenger

Proposed Designation of Old Town as a Historic Preservation District

As one of Tallahassee’s surviving downtown neighborhoods, Old Town owes much of its charm and character to the remaining original homes from the 1930’s and 1940’s. Clearly without these endearing original homes, Old Town would not be nearly so special. Many of Old Town’s original homes retain the character and architectural distinctiveness of the period in which they were built. A survey of the neighborhood conducted in 1997 indicated more than 75 houses considered to be of sufficient architectural significance to merit the protection afforded by a local historic preservation district designation. Is your home one of the 75?

The OTNA Board is presently exploring the possibility of putting a historic preservation designation up to a neighborhood vote. There is a great deal of information available on the subject, which we will be posting ASAP on the OTNA website under historic preservation. Our goal is to provide Old Town residents with the factual information they need to make an informed decision. In response to development pressure, Myers Park has already become a local historic district and Lafayette Park residents are considering it as well. The program is not intended to prevent infill or development of vacant tracts, but it does provide guidelines for these developments. Most significantly, historic district designation provides a measure of protection to Old Town’s original homes. We have been fortunate that the most recent developments in the neighborhood have been of a very high caliber. However, as land prices increase the prospect of older houses being purchased as teardowns, either singly or in groups, increases. New houses are very nice indeed, but if we loose our older homes in the process, the name Old Town will lose it’s meaning.

Establishment of Old Town as a Historic District would provide owners of architecturally significant homes with maintenance and restoration assistance through low interest loans and grants. Also, permitting fees related to preservation and restoration work are waived. Homes classified as contributing to the historic district qualify for special markers identifying them as being listed on the local register. The neighborhood as a whole would be eligible for special street markers such as those located in Myers Park.

If approved by the property owners, the process of establishing Old Town as a Historic District will take time. Before we move forward to neighborhood vote, information on the subject will be posted on the website.

The winner of the OTNA Yard of the Season is small in size but extensive in design elements. At 502-A Hillcrest Street, pink hydrangeas border the front walk and baskets of impatiens greet visitors near the door. In the side yard along Carolina Street, plantings of green and variegated liriope frame the pear trees along the gray wall. A whimsically painted shed at the back of the lot with a sunrise design over the door and a window box of white caladiums looks like a tiny cottage. A green canopy to the side of the shed protects a motorcycle. From every angle, this yard has structures and plantings to delight the passerby. Take a stroll past this lovely yard some evening. The Dodson’s will receive a gift certificate from Tallahassee Nurseries and a “Yard of the Season” sign for their yard.

If you have looked at the OTNA website lately, you’ve probably noticed a few changes. Our site has a whole new look, with all new material and capabilities. We hope it will become a major resource for Old Town information as well as a center for discussion of issues relating to the neighborhood. For ease of navigation, the new site is divided into five main sections. Each section is further divided into subsections. Hopefully this organization will make what you’re looking for easier to find. The main sections are:

• News: On the front page (which you can reach from anywhere on the site by clicking the Brokaw-McDougall House in the top left corner) you’ll see the latest news posting. If you’d like to see older news items, clicking the News link will bring you to a page listing every article available on the site, arranged by date.
• Community: The Community section deals with the Old Town neighborhood itself, and will include feature articles about the neighborhood, calendar of events, and a list of links to areas of interest to Old Town.
• Members: This section includes a list of OTNA members and information on how to become a member.
• Board: Special news items relating to the OTNA Board go here, along with minutes from meetings.
• Forum: The most interactive section on the site, the Forum is a discussion area where Old Town residents and friends can weigh in on a broad range of topics relating to the neighborhood. Any visitor may read posts in the forum. To make new posts, you must register for an account on this site. Apart from your name, the info you enter in the registration process will never be seen except by the webmaster (me). When you sign in to your account, you may see links to items that seem to allow you to modify or expand this site. Don’t worry. The links won’t work unless you have the proper privileges, so clicking on them won’t break anything!

If you haven’t seen the new site already, stop by and have a look around! On the navigation bar of your Web browser, type: http://www.oldtowntallahassee.org and don’t forget to save it to your favorites list. Suggestions? Comments? Ideas? Feel free to email me at: glider@pd.net.

Missed seeing you all at the April Block Party. Getting rained out was such a shame because we had a great event planned and so many people worked hard at putting it together. So you’ll just have to bring all that pent-up party energy to our TGIT Party on July 20th, from 6 to 9 p.m. No, that’s not a typo. We’re having our next gathering on a Thursday so folks heading out of town for a long weekend won’t have to miss it.

We’re lucky that Mary and Rick Carroll have graciously offered to be party central again. If you attended out TGIF soup social in January, you know what a great place they have at 520 Short Street. Our theme this time will be summer salads, but feel free to bring hors d’oevres or a dessert instead if that’s your specialty. Soft drinks will be provided; beer and wine will be welcome.

In addition to having good food and a good time, the party will be an opportunity to do good in the ‘hood. We’ll be collecting cash donations to help buy school supplies for needy kids at Kate Sullivan Elementary, and we hope candidates for School Board and other positions will attend so you can get to know them.

Looking forward to seeing you again or meeting you for the first time!

Tom and Sam Kramer, Debi McDaniel and I attend the Red Cross “Hurricane Zolo” workshop, a 4 hour training program aimed at making neighborhoods alert to each other’s needs in case of a hurricane or other natural disaster. We had a great time learning about neighborhood hurricane preparedness and hope to have at least eight people there next year representing Old Town. We’ll be sharing information (and door prizes) at the July 20th TGIT party.

Mary Lou Rajchel, Jack Davis, and Beverly Frick attended the Council of Neighborhood Associations’ annual awards banquet. We vowed to be contenders for Neighborhood of the Year next year.

Gerald Jaski represented us at a breakfast sponsored by the Police Department and made some important connections for us.

Beverly represented OTNA at a committee meeting at the Senior Center to begin planning for amenities for neighborhoods for “Aging in Place”, or more appropriately stated, “Neighborhoods for a Lifetime”. Expect to be hearing a lot about this in the future.

We are so appreciative of Rick & Mary Carroll for offering us their lovely home in the bend on Short Street once again for our summer “TGIT” Party (in this case, Thank Goodness It’s Thursday, July 20). Having our block party rained (and hailed!) out has made me want to see my neighbors all the more, and I am so in hopes you will mark your calendars and show up with a salad, ready for a good visit.

We’ll be spreading information about hurricane preparedness, historic preservation, beautification, the website, baby cuddlers, and more. We hope that your financial donations will add up to a generous contribution to Kate Sullivan Elementary for school supplies for kids in need. We’ll be looking for people who would like to seek election to the board, and for those who would like to do just about anything but that. We welcome your suggestions and involvement and hope that you will catch our spirit and enthusiasm for this wonderful patch of dirt we all share. Can’t wait to see you at the party!

Beverly’s Wish List for the future:

• Social Committee helpers
• Party planners
• Newsletter grant writer
• Yard of the Season Committee expansion
• Newsletter labeler/taper
• TGIF sponsors
• New Board members for next year

Calendar of Events:

• July 4 – Independence Day
• July 9 – Board Meeting
• July 20 –TGIT Party