Wright State

Just a quick note of thanks to all who attended our very special Archive event. It was a beautiful day and we had a great turnout, including a few elected officials and folks from the media.

Here's a few shots:

Special thanks to Susan for leading this effort, and to Lee for hosting the ceremony and the celebration that followed. Most of all, our sincere thanks to Dawne Dewey and all the Library staff at Wright State University for their commitment to Dayton's history and St. Anne's Hill.

Archives

Here are the details for Sunday, as quoted from the newsletter:

You are cordially invited to

a Celebration of

the Donation of our Archives collection

to Wright State University

April 27, 2008

2 to 4 p.m.

at the

Bossler Mansion

136 Dutoit Street

For more information, visit our website or Wright State University's website. Kudos to Susan for organizing this project!

We hope to see you for this once-in-a-lifetime event, which represents over 100 years of history in St. Anne's Hill.

UPDATE: The Dayton Daily News printed a blurb about the event on Thursday.

P.S. As a reminder, our next general meeting is Tuesday, May 6 at 7 p.m. in the Liederkrantz.

Letter from the Mayor

Of Kings

We had a great turnout for the Mayor's Walk this week, and the new t-shirts were a big hit. The walk was fun and productive, and a great demonstration of the strong community we have in St. Anne's Hill.

Just for fun, here is a 1989 rock song that appears to mention the neighborhood!

Song: The Difference (in the garden of St. Anne's-on-the-Hill)
Artist: King's X
Album: Gretchen Goes To Nebraska

I walked through a garden in the morning
I walked right into a change
No words were spoken
just a feeling and I cannot explain

but I can feel the difference
I can feel the difference

wind it comes and it blows
where it comes from, I don't know
to look for a reason might just kill it

and I cannot explain
but I cannot explain
I can feel the difference
in the garden of St. Anne's-on-the-Hill

Remember, we have our big archive event coming up next!

Mayor's Walk

Please join us this Monday, April 14 for the "Mayor's Walk" in St. Anne's Hill with Mayor McLin and other top City officials. This is your opportunity to talk to City Hall about the postive and negative things happening in the neighborhood.

There are rumors that the SAH t-shirts might be available in time for the walk, so if you get your shirt please wear it with pride! It would be great to have a lot of people turn out for the Mayor's Walk to represent our community.

EDIT: The walk will begin promptly at 5:30 p.m. and everyone should gather outside the Bomberger Center at the corner of Fifth and High Streets. (Sorry I forgot to mention that!)


Also, don't forget that on Sunday, April 27 we will be having the special ceremony to officially hand over the SAH Archives to the Wright State University Library. It should be a really nice event and it's our social activity for the month, which will be held at the Bossler Mansion.


Finally, there is some new information about the upcoming Art & Garden Tour, so take a look and make sure you save the date - Saturday, June 21. Volunteers are welcome!

Graffiti

This saturday, our Spring Cleaning volunteers were suprised to find graffiti at several spots along Josie Street, in the south end of St. Anne's Hill. Unfortunately, this was not the first attack and it seems to be a growing trend in our community. Several buildings along Fifth Street have also been "tagged" in recent weeks as well.

Here are three photos of the latest crimes (click for larger size):

Other neighborhoods, like Walnut Hills, have been dealing with this issue, too. Some of these same designs have been spotted along Wayne Avenue. So it appears that this was not a first-time offense. The feminine handwriting seen above suggests that at least one of the perpetrators is most likely a young woman.

If you have ANY information about these incidents, please contact the Dayton Police at 333-COPS (non-emergency line) as soon as possible. Calls to the DPD found that the dipatchers require the property owner to make the report.

So if you are a vicitim/witness of graffiti or any other crime, please make sure to contact the Police and provide as much detail as you can. The more information they have, the better they will be able to respond. So to borrow a phase, call early and call often.

Take the Bus

Do you take the bus to work or school? Maybe just for fun? The Greater Dayton Regional Transit Authority (GDRTA) wants to hear from you. By special request, here is their recent announcement:

We know that our riders have a lot to say about our service. More importantly, we know you have great ideas to share. RTA is accepting applications for members of a Riders’ Advisory Council to begin meeting at 6:30 p.m. the first Wednesday of every other month. Refreshments will be served. Applications are due by April 11th.

Council members’ thoughts and ideas will be directly reported to the RTA board of trustees. If you are an RTA customer, please apply to fill one of 21 seats on the council. Members will not be paid, but your ideas can help make a difference in the way the RTA provides service to all customers.

For more information, please visit our website or call Nathan Owens at (937) 425-8374. For assistance in planning an RTA trip, visit the website or call RideLine at 226-1144.

"Providing transportation for 138 years, Greater Dayton RTA is Ohio’s fourth largest public transit system serving Dayton and 19 surrounding communities in Montgomery and parts of Greene County. RTA provides more than 11 million passenger trips per year on fixed and paratransit vehicles. The RTA is the only public transit agency in the country to provide continuous electric trolley service for 120 years."

That last part is pretty cool. 120 years? Think about that. They were around when the houses in St. Anne's Hill were just being built. Maybe the family who built your house took the trolley down the hill to go downtown and buy some tools.

So if you're interested, lend your voice to help shape the next 120 years.

... and don't forget, we're doing some spring cleaning on Saturday morning!

Spring Cleaning

We had a great turnout at our regular meeting this month. Over 25 people came out to the Liederkranz to spend time with their neighbors. As usual around here, Maggie the dog happily wagged her tail all night long and a few folks enjoyed drinks at the bar.

Our guest speaker, Roane Smothers from the City of Dayton, gave a nice refresher course on the guidelines for owning property in a historic district. His main point was to remind everyone that ANY exterior work requires a call to the City. He can handle most situations, like minor repairs or painting, over the phone. Roane can be reached at 333-3670.

In other news, Tom is looking for volunteers this weekend to do some Spring Cleaning in St. Anne's Hill. If you'd like to help, bring your work gloves this Saturday, April 5 and meet at the corner of High and Josie Streets at 9 a.m. The team will take a relaxing walk around the neighborhood to pick up litter.

At the meeting we also talked about some of the great events coming up, so mark your calendars and look for more information in the April Newsletter, which should be in your mailbox this week. We'll have more information here on the blog, too.

• April 5 - Spring Cleaning Walk
• April 14 - Mayor's Walk in SAH
• April 27 - SAH Archive Event with WSU
• May 6 - General meeting
• May (?) - Social Event
• June 3 - General meeting
• June 21 - SAH Garden & Art Tour
• June 28 - Trash & Treasure Sale

If you have any ideas, questions, or just need more information, please feel free to post your comments here!