[Summit] Any news about Clarke's Flower Shop?

Tue Mar 13 16:13:47 UTC 2012

Regarding Bob's final point, perhaps it could follow the model used by the community in Saranac, NY: 

http://www.nytimes.com/2011/11/13/business/a-town-in-new-york-creates-its-own-department-store.html?pagewanted=all

Some sort of garden or cafe could be really nice for those people who don't live so close to the busier section of Hope and aren't enticed by anything on Thayer.. 
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Subject: Summit Digest, Vol 84, Issue 5

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Today's Topics:

   1. Re: Any news about Clarke's Flower Shop? (Robert Mathiesen)
   2. Governance, web site and chats (john lane)
   3. Reminder: Homestead Deadline is Thursday (John Bazik)
   4. Re: Reminder: Homestead Deadline is Thursday (John Bazik)
   5. Re: Reminder: Homestead Deadline is Thursday (Thomas A.Schmeling)
   6. Re: Any news about Clarke's Flower Shop? (Robert Mathiesen)

----------------------------------------------------------------------

Message: 1
Date: Mon, 12 Mar 2012 14:07:58 -0400
From: Robert Mathiesen <rmath13 at gmail.com>
To: "Harrison, Mary" <mary_harrison at brown.edu>
Cc: Summit Digest <Summit at sna.providence.ri.us>
Subject: Re: [Summit] Any news about Clarke's Flower Shop?
Message-ID:
        <CALgP6HcG9N1bmV4-Xs4mMTee3SP+XTRMxaxEs=mEQTJo78RKZA at mail.gmail.com>
Content-Type: text/plain; charset="iso-8859-1"

Elva and I were at the zoning board meeting that decided against a
drive-through, and we stayed to the very end.  I came away from that
meeting with the distinct feeling -- though nothing was said explicitly --
that the corporate owner of the Clarke's lot and building had decided to
abandon it, if no other option presented itself fairly soon at the time.
So maybe that is what is happening now.

So far as my layman's knowledge goes, there's not all that much a city can
do to compel a corporate owner, especially one that is near bankruptcy
itself, to take care of a piece of property.  A city can fine the
corporation (possibly pushing it closer to bankruptcy), it can condemn and
demolish the building as unusable, and/or it can seize the property for
unpaid taxes and attempt to sell it to recover said taxes.

Personally, if our only two choices actually are a drive-through coffee
shop or an abandoned building and lot, then I suppose the abandoned
property and decaying building may be slightly the lesser of two evils.
The drive-through seemed to me to be a truly horrible idea for that
location.

But I would hope that some of us in the neighborhood might come up with a
third choice -- one that they could make happen by their own hard work,
rather than just trying to get the powers-that-be to fix this problem for
all of us.

At the last SNA meeting there was a lot of good talk about community
gardens.  Would this patch of land be suitable, if the city were to seize
it and demolish the building?  I'm not a gardener, so I haven't the
faintest idea whether this could work.  Can anybody who is a gardener weigh
in on the discussion?

Bob Mathiesen

On Mon, Mar 12, 2012 at 12:00 PM, Harrison, Mary <mary_harrison at brown.edu>wrote:

> Hello, everyone,
> I walk by Clarke's every morning on my way to work. The windows are filled
> with rotting squash, the sidewalk is littered with old corn stalks and the
> dumpster looks full to overflowing. One of the panes is missing in the
> greenhouse, right next to the sidewalk. Recently I saw a notice posted on
> the door that said the water was being turned off.
> Has anyone heard any updates on the status of this building? It seems that
> the owners have abandoned it.
> All the best,
> Mary
> Hope St.
>
> _______________________________________________
> Summit mailing list
> Summit at sna.providence.ri.us
>
> http://mail.sna.providence.ri.us/mailman/listinfo/summit_sna.providence.ri.us
> SNA Website: http://sna.providence.ri.us/
>
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Message: 2
Date: Tue, 13 Mar 2012 08:41:41 -0400
From: john lane <jlane0014 at gmail.com>
To: SUMMIT <summit at sna.providence.ri.us>
Subject: [Summit] Governance, web site and chats
Message-ID:
        <CAKbKfbURH5qd-cU7Edo25adaoEGWReprVb9BYc=KXL-d64VksA at mail.gmail.com>
Content-Type: text/plain; charset="iso-8859-1"

Just an observation about Summit, compared to other neighborhood
organizations.
It seems that sna is active in 2 different circles -
one is the general chat function.  Fantastic communication on all kinds of
issues from home improvement contractors to concerts.
The second is the board and it's functions, which is also more connected to
the web.
It appears that there may have been some issues with the board, which is
not as transparent as other groups.  For instance, the web site is not
really up to date.
And although there is a great concern about crime in the neighborhood,
including a home invastion, that does not seem to be reflected at the
board, other than referring the issue to a crime watch group.
Is there a reason that the board minutes are not posted on the web?

Just curious, out of personnel and academic interest.
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Message: 3
Date: Tue, 13 Mar 2012 10:27:53 -0400
From: John Bazik <jsb at cs.brown.edu>
To: summit at sna.providence.ri.us
Subject: [Summit] Reminder: Homestead Deadline is Thursday
Message-ID: <20120313142753.GA9290 at cs.brown.edu>
Content-Type: text/plain; charset=us-ascii

If you own a home and live in it, your taxes will go up unless you file
for a homestead exemption.  You haven't had to file for this in the past -
the filing requirement is new this year.

http://www.providenceri.com/assessor/submit-your-reapplication-for-the-owner-occupied

Procrastinators note:

The forms have to be notarized.  If you use the online form, you'll have
to look up your plat and lot number.  If you use the form that was mailed
to you, the information is there.

The deadline is March 15th - Thursday.

John

------------------------------

Message: 4
Date: Tue, 13 Mar 2012 10:32:08 -0400
From: John Bazik <jsb at cs.brown.edu>
To: summit at sna.providence.ri.us
Subject: Re: [Summit] Reminder: Homestead Deadline is Thursday
Message-ID: <20120313143208.GA9393 at cs.brown.edu>
Content-Type: text/plain; charset=us-ascii

On Tue, Mar 13, 2012 at 10:27:53AM -0400, John Bazik wrote:
> to look up your plat and lot number.  If you use the form that was mailed

You can look up plat/lot at:

http://providence.ias-clt.com/parcel.list.php

John

------------------------------

Message: 5
Date: Tue, 13 Mar 2012 11:10:03 -0400
From: Thomas A.Schmeling <TSchmeling at ric.edu>
To: John Bazik <jsb at cs.brown.edu>
Cc: "summit at sna.providence.ri.us" <summit at sna.providence.ri.us>
Subject: Re: [Summit] Reminder: Homestead Deadline is Thursday
Message-ID: <418E556A-6EFF-4DE2-B8C6-2CB76E749645 at ric.edu>
Content-Type: text/plain; charset="us-ascii"

John (or anyone)

Thanks for this service.  I am one of the procrastinators and just printed out the form when I saw your email.  I have lost the original mailing.

The link below gives a parcel number, but not lot or plat.  Do you know if the parcel number is sufficient?

Thanks,
Tom

Thomas A. Schmeling
Associate Professor and Chair
Political Science- Rhode Island College
(401) 456-8056

On Mar 13, 2012, at 10:32 AM, John Bazik wrote:

> On Tue, Mar 13, 2012 at 10:27:53AM -0400, John Bazik wrote:
>> to look up your plat and lot number.  If you use the form that was mailed
>
> You can look up plat/lot at:
>
> http://providence.ias-clt.com/parcel.list.php
>
> John
>
> _______________________________________________
> Summit mailing list
> Summit at sna.providence.ri.us
> http://mail.sna.providence.ri.us/mailman/listinfo/summit_sna.providence.ri.us
> SNA Website: http://sna.providence.ri.us/

------------------------------

Message: 6
Date: Tue, 13 Mar 2012 12:00:50 -0400
From: Robert Mathiesen <rmath13 at gmail.com>
To: "Harrison, Mary" <mary_harrison at brown.edu>
Cc: Summit Digest <Summit at sna.providence.ri.us>
Subject: Re: [Summit] Any news about Clarke's Flower Shop?
Message-ID:
        <CALgP6Hccdy68TeLkYRgWMQoSZD0yxgZ43iNx35bXwQfqhAQvCg at mail.gmail.com>
Content-Type: text/plain; charset="iso-8859-1"

This morning's Providence Journal (section A) has an article about the
corporate owners, who (if I remember the article correctly) have just filed
for chapter 11 bankruptcy.

Bob Mathiesen

On Mon, Mar 12, 2012 at 2:07 PM, Robert Mathiesen <rmath13 at gmail.com> wrote:

> Elva and I were at the zoning board meeting that decided against a
> drive-through, and we stayed to the very end.  I came away from that
> meeting with the distinct feeling -- though nothing was said explicitly --
> that the corporate owner of the Clarke's lot and building had decided to
> abandon it, if no other option presented itself fairly soon at the time.
> So maybe that is what is happening now.
>
> So far as my layman's knowledge goes, there's not all that much a city can
> do to compel a corporate owner, especially one that is near bankruptcy
> itself, to take care of a piece of property.  A city can fine the
> corporation (possibly pushing it closer to bankruptcy), it can condemn and
> demolish the building as unusable, and/or it can seize the property for
> unpaid taxes and attempt to sell it to recover said taxes.
>
> Personally, if our only two choices actually are a drive-through coffee
> shop or an abandoned building and lot, then I suppose the abandoned
> property and decaying building may be slightly the lesser of two evils.
> The drive-through seemed to me to be a truly horrible idea for that
> location.
>
> But I would hope that some of us in the neighborhood might come up with a
> third choice -- one that they could make happen by their own hard work,
> rather than just trying to get the powers-that-be to fix this problem for
> all of us.
>
> At the last SNA meeting there was a lot of good talk about community
> gardens.  Would this patch of land be suitable, if the city were to seize
> it and demolish the building?  I'm not a gardener, so I haven't the
> faintest idea whether this could work.  Can anybody who is a gardener weigh
> in on the discussion?
>
> Bob Mathiesen
>
>
> On Mon, Mar 12, 2012 at 12:00 PM, Harrison, Mary <mary_harrison at brown.edu>wrote:
>
>> Hello, everyone,
>> I walk by Clarke's every morning on my way to work. The windows are
>> filled with rotting squash, the sidewalk is littered with old corn stalks
>> and the dumpster looks full to overflowing. One of the panes is missing in
>> the greenhouse, right next to the sidewalk. Recently I saw a notice posted
>> on the door that said the water was being turned off.
>> Has anyone heard any updates on the status of this building? It seems
>> that the owners have abandoned it.
>> All the best,
>> Mary
>> Hope St.
>>
>> _______________________________________________
>> Summit mailing list
>> Summit at sna.providence.ri.us
>>
>> http://mail.sna.providence.ri.us/mailman/listinfo/summit_sna.providence.ri.us
>> SNA Website: http://sna.providence.ri.us/
>>
>
>
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