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August 25, 2006
Hanging up the 'Closed' sign
At least for a few days, this blog will be inactive.
I'm out of town and out of the office until Sept. 4. So there may be a few tumbleweeds blowing through here while I'm gone.
But I promise to get it up and rolling again on Labor Day.
Y'all behave yourselves.
Posted by Jonathan Jones at 7:35 AM | Comments (0)
August 24, 2006
A Market by any other name...
The International Home Furnishings Market Authority decided to change the name of the twice-yearly furniture market.
Now we've got High Point Market instead of the International Home Furnishings Market, which is a mouthful. The authority is changing its name too and will become High Point Market Authority.
It's probably a smart marketing decision. As an outsider, I was thoroughly confused by the International Home Furnishings Market name when everyone I'd run seemed to call it either "Furniture Market" or "High Point Market."
It's sort of like when Federal Express caved in and started using FedEx since that's what most people called it anyway.
Then again, one of the journalists I work with, upon hearing the new name, said "That could be a grocery store." So maybe it isn't a good idea.
Posted by Jonathan Jones at 9:23 AM | Comments (2)
Follow the Teacher
Columnist Jeri Rowe plans to check in with first-year sixth grade teacher Kate Finch throughout the year as she makes her way in teaching at Ferndale Middle School.
You can read the first installment here. In it you'll find a 24-year-old nervous, scared and excited about having a roomfull of kids ready (or not) to learn.
Posted by Jonathan Jones at 9:20 AM | Comments (0)
College sports in Jamestown
The GTCC Titans are set to kick off their inaugural season with a volleyball game this weekend.
Posted by Jonathan Jones at 8:40 AM | Comments (0)
August 23, 2006
High Point U. expansion gets a partial OK
The Planning and Zoning Commission didn't quite agree last night with High Point University's request to expand its campus into the neighborhood west of campus.
The commission was primarily concerned with the northernmost of four blocks into which the university wants to expand. The university owns less than 50 percent of the lots in that block. In the other three it owns more than 50 percent of the property in the block.
George Holbrook made a motion to approve the university's request and it died for a lack of a second. For a few minutes it looked like that would be the end of it -- effectively killing HPU's plans for now. But then the commissioners -- led by James White -- came up with a compromise in which they recommended the council approve the request but remove the northern block properties. The vote was 5-1, with Holbrook in dissent, because he thought the full request should be approved.
The story in today's paper didn't make the Web site, so you can read it below the jump here.
HIGH POINT - Clarence Ilderton is an unlikely opponent of High Point University's expansion plans.
The 79-year-old has lived across the street from the u niversity nearly all his life. He moved there when he was 2 and even got his education from the college, and when he married his wife, Wanda, herself a High Point graduate, they moved into the family home together.
Ilderton said he doesn't mind the growth but is worried about what westward expansion will do to the property owners there.
"We want to see them expand and grow as much as we can without hurting the individuals," Ilderton said during a public hearing Tuesday night.
The High Point Planning and Zoning Commission recommended the university's plan be approved but without four lots north of North Avenue. Under the university's plan, those properties - including three next to Ilderton's - were to become parking lots.
The university had sought to zone 24 properties in parts of four blocks west of campus for institutional use.
What the planning commission recommended left out the northernmost block because it is the only one in which the university owns less than 50 percent of the properties.
"We know that growth is sometimes painful," High Point University's dean of students, Gart Evans, said during the hearing. "We've always tried to be good neighbors."
Evans said the properties in the other three blocks would be used for new schools of commerce and communication.
All of the properties the university requested zoning for are adjacent or across the street from the existing campus. HPU owns additional lots in the neighborhood that were not part of the request.
During the 1½-hour hearing, several residents of nearby neighborhoods spoke against the plan.
What the planning commission approved was a compromise after the university's full expansion plan failed. The compromise allowed the zoning case to go forward to City Council, which will have a public hearing on the proposal at 5:30 p.m. Sept. 18.
Contact Jonathan Jones at 883-4422, Ext. 228, or jjones@news-record.com
Posted by Jonathan Jones at 3:44 PM | Comments (0)
Boat races coming back to Oak Hollow
It looks like high speed boat races could be on their way back to Oak Hollow Lake. Races were held there for nearly thirty years (1973-2002) until the High Point Jaycess, which put on the event, pulled the plug after losing a bundle of money.
The convention and visitor's bureau has been working with the APR Superleague to bring them back.
Reporter Sue Schultz filed this report on it.
I've never been to that kind of boat race, but I'd be willing to check it out if they came here.
Posted by Jonathan Jones at 3:39 PM | Comments (0)
August 21, 2006
On the Agenda: High Point Planning
Tomorrow's High Point Planning Commission Agenda is fairly light.
There's one North High Point item, and it doesn't appear to be much of a big deal. Premier Center is adding two lots that total less than two acres.
The only other item of note is High Point University's request to expand its conditional use permit to include 24 lots in the neighborhood west of campus and to rezone those properties for insitutional use. The university plans to turn those properties into a new western entrance to campus. You can read a March story from higher education reporter Lanita Withers about it here.
What: High Point Planning and Zoning Commission
When: 6 p.m. Tuesday
Where: City Council chambers, 211 S. Hamilton.
Posted by Jonathan Jones at 3:36 PM | Comments (1)
August 14, 2006
Speaking of Piedmont Parkway ...
The city is having a workshop for the public Thursday about the possible extension of Piedmont Parkway possibly to the Forsyth County line.
The workshop will be a "drop in"-style, which means there isn't a formal presentation but there will be displays and High Point Department of Transportation officials around to answer questions. So people can show up at any time during the program.
What: Piedmont Parkway Extension workshop
When: 4 p.m. to 7 p.m. Thursday
Where: Media Center at Southwest Guilford High School
Because of school construction, the city is asking attendees to take the first parking lot entrance on Southwest School Road and then follow signs around to the door on the west side of the school.
Posted by Jonathan Jones at 10:51 AM | Comments (0)
August 10, 2006
Piedmont Parkway
OK. I've got your update on the Piedmont Parkway.
High Point Transportation Director Phil Wylie says construction is ahead of schedule for a summer of 2007 open date and that if things continue moving well they may be able to get it open a little bit early. It's still too early to tell yet, if that's going to happen.
"We are certainly pleased with the way things have been going," Wylie said.
If you've driven by in the last few days you might have seen the seal-coat, which looks like tar and basically is, spread near the intersection with Wendover Avenue. That's a step that's taken after its treated for lime and before the road-bed is put in. Stone will go on top of it and then they'll start putting the road down. That area of the extension is where most of the current activity is going on.
Over half of the extension has most of its asphalt down already, Wylie said. They're prepping that section for sidewalks and it will need about another inch of pavement before its ready to go.
Posted by Jonathan Jones at 3:05 PM | Comments (1)
August 9, 2006
Another one bites the dust
Southern Family Markets announced today that it's closing stores in North Carolina, including the ones on North Main Street and West Wendover Avenue in High Point. (The Wendover Avenue one has a Jamestown zip code but is in High Point city limits, before someone busts my chops on the discrepancy).
It looks like they've been closing stores all over the place lately.
The local stores will close Aug. 26.
They haven't been in the local market long. Southern Family bought some of the old Bi-Lo stores last fall.
It's always sad to see a major retailer pull out of a market, but Southern Family never won me over. I live about the same distance from the North Main Street Southern Family and the Eastchester Drive Harris Teeter. The latter got most of my business although I'd occassionally stop in the Southern Family.
In the last year and a half we've lost Bi-Lo, Winn Dixie and now Southern Family Markets from the local market.
Posted by Jonathan Jones at 1:10 PM | Comments (0)
August 8, 2006
A big, traditional neighborhood approved
High Point City Council unanimously approved a large "Traditional Neighborhood" development at Barrow Road and Clinard Farms Road called Smithfield at Piedmont Crossing. It's not large in the sense of physical size: it's only about 61 acres. But it will be fairly dense, potentially as many as 500 homes, condos and apartments, and also have room for shops and offices.
And to answer a question already posed this morning -- sheesh Numbersgame, asking questions before I get a chance to update the blog in the a.m. I'm just teasing -- here's how many kids city planners think the development will bring to Southwest schools.
Southwest Guilford H.S.: 66 to 75 students
Southwest Guilford M.S.: 55 to 60
Southwest Guilford E.S.: 110 to 120
The "traditional neighborhood" zoning is a relatively new classification for the city that was created to take advantage of the growing trend in New Urbanism-style developments. It's the idea that people will be happier in communities that mix residential, retail and offices in close enough proximity that you can walk to get the things you want, much like we did in old urban neighborhoods. A couple of examples are here, here and here. Those developments were on much larger pieces of property, but you get the idea.
Posted by Jonathan Jones at 9:50 AM | Comments (9)
August 4, 2006
The news you need on a hot Friday
From this week's new business licenses department:
Planet Ice Cream is opening up soon on Guilford College Road. That's that strip of shops at the intersection of Guilford College and Piedmont Parkway where it has a Jamestown address but is in High Point city limits. So confusing.
Posted by Jonathan Jones at 3:28 PM | Comments (2)
August 3, 2006
Incentives for Future Foam?
The High Point Economic Development Corporation this morning identified the unnamed company in this story: Future Foam.
According to the EDC, Future Foam would expand it's existing 336,000 square foot plant by 24,000 square feet. It would add 12 new jobs and invest $3.8 million in capital improvements. The city is looking at giving Future Foam $90,000 in incentives.
If the name sounds familiar, well, this might be why: It's the same plant that had an explosion in May. One of the workers, Ricky Dale Hardin, died a few weeks later.
You can read the EDC's press release below the jump
Future Foam considers expansion in High Point
For its home furnishings-related operations
HIGH POINT, NC – A home furnishings-related local company could be growing soon in High Point.
Future Foam North Carolina -- the local operation of Future Foam, Inc. (www.futurefoam.com) -- is considering expanding its foam manufacturing facility at 1300 Prospect St. in southern High Point. With the expansion, the company would:
·make a $3.8 million capital investment;
·build a 24,000-square foot addition to the existing 336,000-square foot facility and add new equipment;
·create 12 new jobs, adding to its current workforce of 105.
On Monday, August 7, 2006, the High Point City Council will hold a public hearing on proposed economic development incentives for the expansion, in an amount up to $90,440.
On August 2, the board of directors of the High Point Economic Development Corp. unanimously voted to recommend the incentives package to the High Point City Council.
“We are pleased that Future Foam is considering expanding in High Point,” said Loren Hill, president of the High Point Economic Development Corp. “The company has operations in 12 states and could expand in any number of places. It’s especially important to us that another home furnishings company may soon be growing in High Point, the Home Furnishings Capital of the World™,” he added.
There have been several other home furnishings projects announced this year in High Point, including Legacy Classic Furniture; Stroheim & Romann, Inc.; Master Design Furniture; and Russell Turner, a retail licensee of Ashley Furniture Industries.
ABOUT FUTURE FOAM
Future Foam, Inc., began producing foam in 1958 for the furniture industry in Council Bluffs, Iowa. The company was founded in 1956. The headquarters of the company remains in Council Bluffs. The company has operations in 12 states.
The High Point facility became the company’s fifth pouring plant when it started operations in 1998.
At the High Point facility, raw materials are converted into flexible polyurethane foam for use in furniture cushions, mattresses, and other applications for home and industry.
According to its website, the company’s “goal is not to be the biggest producer of polyurethane foam, but to be the producer of the best polyurethane foam.”
Posted by Jonathan Jones at 10:41 AM | Comments (0)
August 2, 2006
Israel-Lebanon protest this afternoon
A group of local Muslims and peace activists plan to hold a demonstration this afternoon in front of High Point Public Library.
It's the same groups that demonstrated several times last month in downtown Greensboro.
Badi Ali, President of Muslims for a Better North Carolina, said his group along with the Islamic Leaders of the Triad Youth Council and North Carolinians for Peace adn Justice in Palestine, is putting on the demonstration. The goal is to protest Israel's military action in Lebanon and raise awareness about what is happening in the Middle East.
If you'd like to join them, or see the protest, or are just curious driving by: It's expected to last from 4 p.m. to 5:30 p.m.
Posted by Jonathan Jones at 2:21 PM | Comments (0)
Macedonian National Television ...
... was here yesterday to see the High Point Police Department's community drug initiatives. That's the program where police give drug dealers a chance to clean up or go to jail for a long time and a third one was recently launched in Southside. West End and Daniel Brooks were done in previous years.
The Macedonian's presence was a big piece of my portion of this story from National Night Out, but it apparently got cut out -- I'm assuming for lack of space.
Check below the jump to see what I wrote that would've gone in right after Pastor Newton's quote:
High Point’s community initiatives attracted a crew from Macedonian National Television working on a documentary about American police tactics. Police in Macedonia are still struggling with the transition from Communist tactics.
The crew witnessed a call-in earlier in the day where two drug dealers from Southside were given the choice of getting out of crime and the help to do so, or going to jail for a long time. Later they attended the community gatherings in Southside and the West End, where the first community initiative in the city was run.
“It’s a model for change” said Jasminka Anevska, a member of the Macedonian television crew.
Talking to the Macedonians was interesting. They described police tactics in their country that are still heavily influenced by the old Communist way. They witnessed a "call in" and were amazed that criminals would get a chance at reform like that.
"It's very humanitarian," Anevska said.
Their visit is sponsored by the U.S. Department of State and they'll visit cities across the country to see how police interact with their communities. High Point's the smallest. They were in Charlotte Monday and headed to Chicago today. Before coming south they spent time with the Metropolitan Police in Washington, D.C. and Fairfax County, Va. law enforcement. They'll head to Sacramento and San Jose before swinging back to Baltimore on their way home.
The State Department recommended High Point because of the community initiatives.
Posted by Jonathan Jones at 10:14 AM | Comments (0)
