Side Streets ~ Neighborhood people and issues

Archive for the 'Cheyenne Creek' Tag

IVYWILD IN THE TRENCHES IN BATTLE AGAINST BLIGHT

May 11th, 2011, 12:55 pm by

Ivywild is a neighborhood south of downtown Colorado Springs and northeast of the Broadmoor area.

Ivywild is a hard-luck neighborhood south of downtown Colorado Springs where folks have been struggling to combat encroaching blight and crime.

It’s been a working-class neighborhood for years. But recently it has suffered as a home to drug dealers, prostitutes, other criminals and homeless people.

It’s elementary school has closed and businesses have left as the neighborhood deteriorated.

In recent weeks, Ivywild has been declared blighted and qualified for an urban renewal designation, which would help spur economic revitalization by allowing tax revenue from future development to be used for public improvements.

One improvement residents want is the elimination of homeless camps like this one at South Cascade and St. Elmo avenues.

This pretty little creekside meadow actually is a homeless camp at South Cascade and St. Elmo avenues in Ivywild, south of downtown Colorado Springs.

The property is among 25 or so owned by On the Ivy, a company founded by developer Mark Morley, downtown club owner Sam Guadagnoli and real estate broker Robert Aertker.

On the Ivy amassed about 12 acres of land in Ivywild along Cheyenne Creek in 2007 with plans to develop an upscale urban region similar to Cherry Creek in Denver.

A closer look at a homeless camp in Ivywild, on property owned by On the Ivy development group. City code enforcement officers have been trying to close the camp since February.

But the economy went bust and all the big plans were shelved. Meanwhile, On the Ivy’s property in Ivywild continued to deteriorate.

Neighbors are upset because the homeless have dragged a lot of trash to the site and build fires in the brush.

Colorado Springs Code Enforcement officers have tried to clean up homeless camps in Ivywild, but Administrator Ken Lewis said On the Ivy has not cooperated with his team’s efforts.

In fact, Lewis said On the Ivy mostly ignores requests to cooperate.

Now, a small group of business owners including Martin Harper, a certified public accountant, is taking action. They are planning to clean up the worst of On the Ivy’s overgrown lots and try to keep the homeless from flopping there.

Neighbors are tired of the trash dragged to the area by homeless and they fear the fires they build at the camp.

And Lewis said he’s going to dedicate a couple of his team to working with Ivywild to address the blight.

Here's a view of On the Ivy's vacant lot at South Cascade and St. Elmo avenues in Ivywild. The photo is from FlashEarth.com.

I’ve written about Ivywild a couple times in recent years. Here’s a piece I wrote in 2009 after the Ivywild school closed. And this is the blog that accompanied the column.

A more controversial column was related to racist covenants filed with the original Ivywild development plans and attached to every property. Here’s the blog for that column with photos of the covenants.

For an in-depth story about developer plans for Ivywild, I recommend this excellent piece, published Aug. 3, 2008, by Gazette business writer extraodinaire Rich Laden.

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IS CITY TRYING TO TAKE EVANS AVENUE BRIDGE TOO FAR?

December 15th, 2010, 2:19 pm by

In 1925, bridge building was more art than science.

To cross Cheyenne Creek at Evans Avenue in Cheyenne Cañon, crews grabbed 16 old steel railroad rails — narrow gauge — framed them with wood, poured concrete and collected rock to fashion railings.

Voilá — a pretty little two-span bridge was created.

Given the small volume of traffic in Cheyenne Cañon then, it was plenty sturdy.

Not anymore.

Today, it is rated “structurally deficient.” The worst bridge in Colorado Springs.

Eighth-worst in Colorado. Unsafe for garbage trucks or fire trucks to cross.

You might think replacing it would be a no-brainer.

You’d be wrong.

The tiny 30-by-20 foot span is the focus of a big snit on Pine Grove Avenue, home of the famous Starr Kempf wind sculptures.

Folks there are fired up, convinced the city is conspiring to use $840,000 in federal bridge-replacement money to dramatically change their quiet, wooded little neighborhood.

Neighbor Ellen Casey has rallied neighbors to fight suggestions by the city that, as part of the bridge project, it’s time to consider realigning the confusing entrance to the North Cheyenne Cañon Park and parking for the Starsmore Discovery Center. Here’s a view from FlashEarth.com.

The neighbors’ reaction shocked Dan Krueger, senior civil engineer overseeing the bridge project. He said it simply makes sense to examine other issues at the Evans Avenue/Cheyenne Boulevard intersection besides just the bridge.

Folks driving west often are confused by the three-way intersection of Evans, North Cheyenne Cañon and South Cheyenne Cañon roads. School buses and trucks often veer right up the north road and get stuck trying to turn around, the city told Pine Grove residents.

Another issue is the parking lots for Starsmore. School kids must cross the busy south road to reach the center.

So he created 10 options. One option is to do nothing. The second is to strictly replace the existing bridge. The next 8 are more elaborate. See what you think.

This one shows Evans Avenue curving into the park, over a new bridge. The old bridge is preserved for foot traffic. Pine Grove would remain a side street.

In this version, the bridge is replaced and the intersection realigned.

This is a more radical realignment. It curves Evans into the park over a new bridge, preserving the old for pedestrians. It also swaps the parking lot and the road so visitors to Starsmore don’t have to cross lanes of traffic.

This configuration replaces the bridge and squares up the intersection but leaves Evans Avenue basically the same with a change to the parking lot and road in the park.

This version uses a traffic circle, or round-about,  at the intersection and preserves the old bridge for pedestrians.

In this version, the bridge would be replaced and a traffic circle built.

This incorporates the realigned Evans, parking lot and road and traffic circle.

This is the last version with the traffic circle and a bridge replacement.

Let me know what you think about these options.

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IVYWILD . . . R.I.P.?

September 27th, 2009, 12:34 pm by

  For more than a century, folks have called Ivywild their home. It started as a small collection of homes on the old Dorr ranch on the south side of Fountain Creek, along smaller Cheyenne Creek. Below is a look at the neighborhood from FlashEarth.

ivywildflash1

 It was an unincorporated community, much like Falcon, Black Forest, Stratmoor Hills, Security/Widefield, the Broadmoor and others.

 It’s elementary school was founded in 1901 on land the Dorrs donated. At first, students studied in a two-room bungalow. Soon a second bungalow was added.

 Daniel Kennett was born in 1900 and went to Ivywild Elementary School in the bungalows.

ivywildclarawide

 His daughter, Clara, above, attended the “new” Ivywild, an impressive blond brick building opened in 1917 after the bungalows were moved. See if below.

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 One of the bungalows was moved across the street and become the Ivywild Presbyterian Church and the other was moved to Ramona Avenue and now is Edelweiss Restaurant.

Clara graduated sixth grade in 1940 and moved on to junior high. Clara and her husband built a house in Ivywild in 1951 and sent their own two children, Dan and Mary, to the school, which had been expanded again.

But everything changes and that certainly true of Ivywild. And in this case, the change is not all for the better.

Over the years, Ivywild was surrounded by the city of Colorado Springs and eventually annexed in 1980 after a great commotion.

In addition, the Dorr ranchland and pastures gradually were transformed into neighborhoods, commercial properties like the motels along South Nevada Avenue and even into Motor City Drive north of Brookside Street.

In 2005, the neighborhood got a boost when the city transformed the Dorr’s old orchard and horse pasture into a neighborhood park, seen below with its restored Wishing Well.

ivywildpark

Here’s  a plaque placed next to the wishing well:

ivywildparkplaque

   Now, Ivywild is struggling.

 Ivywild Elementary did not open this fall.

 Seen here last week, it is vacant and up for sale.

 It’s playground empty.

No crossing guards helping children cross busy Tejon Street or Cascade. It was among several schools closed by Colorado Springs School District 11 due to poor enrollment.

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Ivywild suffered another blow when, on Sept. 13, the Ivywild Community Church – formerly the Presbyterian Church, shut its doors after 93 years.

Here’s a look at the church.

ivywildchurch

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                                                     The closures have Clara Robinson worried. She has watched South Nevada Avenue decay. ivywildclararobinsoncloseup

 

 She remembers when it was a family neighborhood where folks like Bob Isaac grew up to become longtime Colorado Springs mayor.

 

The Starsmore family lived there. And part of the Sinton dairy family, as well.

 

Today, it is a haven for drug dealers, prostitution, gang fights and problems associated with a heavy concentration of homeless.

 Same for Brookside Street. She fears it will creep into Ivywild and her little neighborhood.

 ”This was always such a nice, quiet, safe little neighborhood,” she said. “I don’t know what’s going to happen to it now.”‘

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