November 10, 1999
Neighborhood association celebrates anniversary
Central Neighborhood formed 26 years ago
By Carol South
Herald contributing writer
A not-so-neighborly dispute and the installation of a cyclone fence planted the seeds for the Central Neighborhood Association 26 years ago. When the fence went up in 1973, spanning someone's yard all the way to the curb, concerned residents nearby formed the Sixth Street Committee in response.
While city zoning laws eventually brought down the fence, these citizens on Sixth Street decided to continue meeting and start actively shaping the future of their neighborhood.
"The fence was the beginning of our thinking about what we would like to see the neighborhood be," said Larry Hardy, who along with Bill Terry and Carol Hale spearheaded the organization of the Central Neighborhood Association.
"We didn't know what would happen next, somebody might take their porch off. But we were careful to make sure that the association was what people wanted, that we weren't imposing on anyone," he noted.
The Sixth Street Committee was the precursor of today's Central Neighborhood Association, which was incorporated in 1974 and now includes 850 homes ranging from Division to Locust and Fifth Street to Griffin. With a 25th anniversary celebration scheduled for tomorrow evening, founding members of the Central Neighborhood Association recall those first galvanizing years.
"We started as a very small group, just Fifth, Sixth and Seventh Streets, then gradually expanded," recalled Hardy, who grew up on Sixth Street not far from his current home. "When someone organized a street and got street captains so we could distribute information, that street was added."
The first accomplishment of the neighborhood association was sprinkling the intersections in the area with stop signs, slowing down the traffic that inevitably zoomed through looking for a shortcut. Another galvanizing issue in the 1970s was to preserve the bricks on Sixth and Eighth streets.
Neighborhood association members also realized early on that establishing the area as a Historical District would help preserve its integrity and character. Residents traveled to Marshall, Michigan, and Old Town in Ann Arbor to see how historical districts were working there. Carol Hale and Sara Pillow provided the research and impetus to achieve this designation.
Over the years, membership in and activities of the association have ebbed and flowed as issues came and went. During the quieter years when there were no pressing issues, residents kept the association going in order to keep a structure in place if an issue arose or if the city needed to contact members. More recently, the association president participates with the Council of Neighborhood Presidents, which includes representatives from all the city's eight neighborhood associations.
"Unless there is some overt threat you don't see a neighborhood organization flourish," said former association president Fred Nelson. "When I was president in the late 1980s, we were sort of maintenance. But the neighborhoods are the foundation of the small town and in many respects Traverse City is still a small town in attitude."
Reflecting this small town atmosphere, during the slower times the association provided residents with a cohesive social outlet by sponsoring annual picnics and garage sales.
Current issues facing the Central Neighborhood Association include Munson HealthCare access and proposed auxiliary dwelling units. The neighborhood association recommended against these housing units after a survey, noted president Adrienne Rossi, citing the area's existing density and diversity.
Members of the neighborhood association and the adjoining Slabtown and Kid's Creek associations have been working with city officials and Munson HealthCare on ways to create a central access point to the Munson Campus.
While the final decision is still forthcoming on both issues, the Central Neighborhood Association steams along, stronger and more inclusive today that its founders could have imagined.
"I have lived most of my life in the Central neighborhood and I just think it is absolutely the best place to live," said Rossi. "You're really in the thick of the action here and I want to make sure it is preserved in case my children ever want to live here."
The Central Neighborhood Association will host Priscilla Holmes, a community specialist from Michigan State University, at their 25th anniversary celebration on Thursday, November 11, from 7 to 9 p.m. All neighborhood residents are invited to meet their neighbors and the many past presidents and association officers who will attend the meeting, which will be held at the Central Grade School Cafeteria.