Windshield and Walking Tour
Team Members:
Patricia Knoepp
Laura Bolton
Pauravi Shippen-How
Olivia Jackson-Lewis
Devyn Shaw
Christa Thornton
Days/Times observations were completed (note the team members for each visit):
Wednesday, September 10th, 2014: 6:00pm - 8:00pm (All team members present)
Thursday, September 18th, 2014 2:30pm-4:30pm (All team members present)
General information:
1.
Name of Neighborhood: Glenwood
2.
Congressional District: District 12
3.
Location (zip code): 27403
4.
Boundaries:
● North: West Lee Street
● South: Intersection of Coliseum Blvd. and Freeman Mill Road
● East: Freeman Mill Road
● West: Coliseum Blvd.
Neighborhood design for physical activity:
5.
Sidewalks: Network of walkable sidewalks that are unobstructed, well
maintained, and level (Describe):
● Over half of the sidewalks are uneven and cracked. Additionally, there are
parts of the sidewalks that end abruptly, and do not pick up again until
many blocks down. On some blocks, there are overhanging branches and
bushes obstructing the pathways, as well as dog feces left to be stepped
on. The sidewalks were also just on the main streets in Glenwood like
Grove Street, Lexington Ave and Glenwood Ave. The side streets, for the
most part, did not have sidewalks.
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6.
Bike trails or routes: Network of biking routes that are unobstructed, well
maintained, and easily identified (describe):
● There is only one bike lane in the Glenwood neighborhood, which is by the
elementary school. This bike lane was easily identifiable with the bike lane
sign, and it was clear (no branches or bushes blocking the lane).
However, throughout the neighborhood, there is no network of biking
routes or trails. On our windshield tour, we did see several people riding
bikes.
7.
ADA Accessibility: Walking and biking routes are accessible to people with
disabilities and in compliance with Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA)
requirements (describe):
a. Routes are mostly flat with no large dips or inclines
b. Routes are smooth with no large level changes, breaks or gaps
c. There are smooth transitions (e.g., curb cuts or ramps) from the routes to the
streets.
d. Routes are free of other major impassable features (e.g., mailboxes, light
poles, trees).
The descriptors of a. through d. do not fit the accessibility of our neighborhood.
The neighborhood does have many hills and few of the sidewalks are connected,
unless you are just walking on the main streets, as mentioned above. Additional,
several sidewalks were obstructed by overgrown plants. The sidewalks are
uneven with some sections split in half to create gaps. The areas that were ADA
accessible in Glenwood include facilities such as a church with a ramp, and the
handicap accessible buttons that you push to operate the doors in the Glenwood
Public Library. Many private homes also had ramps to make them accessible to
their owners.
8.
Neighborhood parks (public or private), shared-use paths/trails, and open spaces
are provided and maintained within easy walking distance (i.e., within a half mile)
of most homes or public transportation stops.
● Name parks, describe location and facilities
○ Facilities accessible by those with disabilities (e.g., accessible
parking, restrooms, sinks at appropriate heights, water fountains,
accessible playgrounds)
■ Morris Farlow Park (Glenwood Avenue) This park is for
children aged 5-12 and is closed from dusk to dawn. We
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noticed there weren’t any water fountains or bathrooms
located on the property for children to use. However, the
playground area was very clean, and none of the equipment
seemed to be broken. There were swings and a large jungle
gym, but there was not a lot of open area for playing football
or Frisbee. There were sidewalks around the park that
seemed to form a loop, but there was a random bush that
took up some of the sidewalk that you had to walk around to
leave the property.
■ Ruth A Steelman (925 Highland Avenue) This park is closed
dusk to dawn. The play area is quite large with playground
equipment as well as a large open field that could be used
for tag or playing football. There were not any water
fountains or bathrooms in the area. Additionally, at this park
is where the community garden is located. The community
garden is located around a locked fence, and the plants
were overgrown and dying.
■ Neither of these properties was handicap accessible.
○
Opportunities for physical activity, indoors and/or outdoors
■ Swimming pools- none located in the neighborhood. The
closest swimming pool near the Glenwood community is
Greensboro Aquatic Center next to Greensboro Coliseum.
■ Basketball courts- Yes, basketball courts are located at the
Clara J. Peck Elementary School and Ruth Steelman park.
The court at the school only has one goal and has no paint
to outline a free throw line or three-point arch.
■ Baseball/softball fields: Yes, there is a large baseball/softball
field at the end of the neighborhood called Lonnie Revels
Ballfield. It was not clear if this was for a specific team use or
public use. No one was playing during our tour. Additional,
there is a baseball field at the Salvation Army on Aycock
Street. The lawn seemed to be moved in both of these
locations
■ Soccer/football/lacrosse fields: Not applicable
■ Tennis courts: Not applicable
■ Health/wellness/recreation centers: Yes, there is the
Glenwood Recreation Center. We were able to talk with the
director, Elizabeth Brannock and she informed us there are
free line dancing and Zumba classes open to the public.
■ Golf courses: Not applicable
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■
Playgrounds with play structure: Yes, the playgrounds are
located at the parks mentioned above and Clara J Peck
Elementary School. The play areas seemed to be safe to
use as there was no tree branches and nothing was
apparently broken.
■ Nature, skateboard, pocket, pet, water, or garden parks Yes, there is the Glenwood Community Garden in the Ruth
Steelman Park. However, the community garden is
unmanaged as seen from dying and overgrown plants.
○
Which are publicly available?
■ Glenwood Recreation Center, the parks, and Glenwood
Community Garden are available to the public.
○
Which are accessible by foot, bike, or transportation?
■ The playgrounds and Glenwood Community Garden are
accessible by foot and bike. If needed, the GTA 2 bus stops
are located throughout the neighborhood.
○
Which seem to be used by the local residents?
■ The Glenwood Recreation Center and the Glenwood Public
Library both had several people using the facility when we
were on our windshield tour. We did not see local residents
using the playgrounds or the community garden
●
Neighborhood parks, shared use paths/trails, and open spaces are connected
through a network of greenways, sidewalks or paths that enable most residents
to get to there by foot or bike.
○ There is no connection between the parks through a use of greenways,
paths or sidewalks. There are sidewalks within Morris Farlow Park. Both of
the parks are located within a fifteen-minute walk from each other, and
there are sidewalks on Glenwood Ave, which would be the main street you
would use to go from one park to another.
●
Neighborhood offers many destinations (e.g., parks, playgrounds, stores,
community centers, and libraries) within easy walking distance (1/2 mile) from
homes or public transportation stops.
○ There are a few convenient stores; Kenneth Store, RIZ mart, and Andy’s
Pantry Food Mart with varying degrees of fresh fruits and vegetables, all of
them sell tobacco and alcohol. These are mostly by the intersection of
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○
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Grove Street and Glenwood Avenue. This is within a ½ mile walk for the
majority of residents. There is also a Food Lion on Coliseum Blvd. that
would be accessible by the GTA route that runs through Glenwood.
Additionally, Glenwood contained a few parks; Ruth A Steelman, Morris
Farlow Park, Lonnie Revels Ballfield, and a Glenwood Community Garden
within a half-mile walk from one another. However, Lonnie Revels Ballfield
is a bit of a walk from the rest of the neighborhood and would probably
take about thirty minutes from the intersection of Glenwood and Grove,
where most of the shops are.
Moreover, on Glenwood Ave there was a Barber Shop; ‘Barr-Ber Shop’,
and distributed around the community at least two Little Free Library’s.
The Salvation Army is within walking distance to many of the houses;
however, it is not close to the Clara Peck Elementary school. Therefore,
the students would need to be bused from the school to the Salvation
Army.
The Carelink Solutions Inc.- A behavioral health care agency, the Unity
Club and the Servant Center provide support for community members
struggling with alcohol addiction or mental illness.
Other neighborhood assets:
8.
9.
Schools, public and private: Locations of all schools, public and private.
● Names and locations:
○ Clara J. Peck Elementary School is a public institution located on
1601 W. Florida Street.
● Accessibility by walking
○ Peck Elementary is accessible by walking and is in the middle of
the Glenwood neighborhood.
● Crosswalks
○ There were crosswalks in the blocks surrounding the schools.
However, there were no crosswalks adjacent to the schools
entrance. The rest of the neighborhood did not have crosswalks.
● Safe routes to school; walking school buses
○ The safe routes to school are located near West Florida Street. The
majority of students appeared to be taking the school buses or
picked up by their parents.
Churches, clubs, and membership organizations:
● There are several churches in the area, which are interspersed throughout
the neighborhood. Many of the churches had large signs out front
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welcoming new and old members. At least three were wheelchair
accessible. Below is the list of churches and clubs in the area and their
respective addresses:
1. Glenwood Presbyterian Church - 1205 Glenwood Ave
2. Ever Changing Lives Ministries - 1114 Grove Street
3. Grace Community Church - 643 W Lee Street
4. Spring Garden Community - 1403 W Florida Street
5. Words of Faith Christian Center - 719 Dillard Street
6. Aycock Fellowship Ministries - 1036 S Aycock St
7. Youth for Christ - 824 S Aycock St
8. Florida Street Baptist Church- 1403 W Florida Street
9. Unity Club- 918 Glenwood Ave
10. Coliseum Boulevard Church of Christ- 2116 Coliseum Blvd
11. Prophetic Ministries of the Apostolic Faith - 3304 Woodlea Dr
12. Glenwood Emanuel - Corner of Florida Street and Glenwood Ave.
10. Places where people like to linger or hang out:
● We noted about three middle-aged men chatting outside the convenience
store and bookstore on Glenwood Avenue. During our windshield tour, we
asked a group of African American adolescents ranging from ages 13-16
where they liked to hangout; they referenced the neighborhood park
Morris Farlow, Glenwood Avenue, and the Glenwood Recreation Center.
The Salvation Army is also an area where school-aged children are after
school. We were able to talk the librarian at Glenwood Public Library and
she informed us that the children sometimes skip school to hang out in the
library.
11. Community organizations, associations, and health and social service agencies:
● Names, locations, types of services offered.
○ The Servant Center: 1312 Lexington Avenue.
■ The Servant Center provides services for local disabled and
homeless veterans by providing transitional housing,
permanent supportive housing, and grocery assistance
program.
○ The Unity Club: 918 Glenwood Avenue.
■ The Unity Club offers Alcohol Anonymous programs free of
charge to those who have a desire to stop drinking.
12. Health care providers:
● Names, locations, type of provider.
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○ The only health care provider that we saw on our tour was a place
called: The Carelink Solutions Inc.- A Behavioral Health Care
Agency. It is located on 1214 Grove Street. This organization
provides medication management, outpatient therapy, psychosocial
rehabilitation, health and fitness, social, personal care and
educational services for those with behavioral health concerns.
They also participant in community outreach with a food bank and
clothing resource.
13. Block by block description of types of housing
● There are several types of housing developments in the area. Most of the
area seems to be single-family homes even if several families share them.
The apartments off Lee Street are called Spartan Village and there are
others further down Lee Street are called The Lofts on Lee. Both of these
areas are very well maintained with crosswalks and sidewalks. These are
high-rise type apartments.
● When continuing further into the neighborhood away from Lee Street, in
the blocks surrounding the land recently purchased by UNCG, there is a
high number of abandoned or condemned houses. These houses are
boarded up or have broken windows. Many of them have condemned
signs located on the front door.
● When walking down Glenwood Avenue, there are a variety of houses.
Some have no trespassing signs or the front has fallen into disrepair (i.e.
needs paint, rotting porches, broken or boarded up windows). However,
others on the same block seem to be very well maintained and a lawn
properly kept. There are about 1 to 2 abandoned homes per block.
● On Lexington Street, across from the Servant Center is the Haworth
House. This is a permanent local housing development for veterans that
use Servant Center services.
● On the corner of Oak and Silver street, there was a one-story apartment
complex. It appeared no one lived there. In the parking lot surrounding the
complex, there were only two cars parked for approximately 20
apartments. Also around the neighborhood, there are several abandon
cars with all of their tires are flat.
14. Food stores:
● Types (corner stores, supermarkets, ethnic and specialized markets,
convenience stores):
● Location:
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○ Food Lion is located on South Aycock Street and Coliseum Blvd,
but otherwise only convenience stores and three established
community gardens.
○ The convenience stores are Ritz Mart: Your Neighborhood Grocery
is located on 1400 Glenwood Avenue and Kenneth Convenient
Store on 902 Gregory Street.
● Availability of fresh vegetables and fruits of acceptable quality
○ Food Lion provided a wide variety of foods as expected from a
supermarket. There are very few options of fruits and vegetables in
the convenience stores, mostly just bananas.
15. Farmers’ markets:
● Location, available times, number of vendors
○ We didn’t see any Farmers’ markets in the neighborhood however;
there was an open parking lot with a sign “The People’s Market and
Gardens”. We hope to find out more information during our
interviews if this market is still going on.
16. Commercial enterprises:
● Types, location, and ethnicity of management
○ Convenience stores, barbershops, and a bookstore are all located
on Glenwood Avenue. The manager of the convenience store, Ritz
Mart, and the barbershop are both African-American. The manager
of the bookstore is an older Caucasian man. We did not get a
chance to enter into the other convenience stores, like Kenneth
Convenient Store, to see the ethnicity of the management. On
Lexington Ave, one block away from the Ritz convenience, there is
a body shop and a construction contractor’s office. We did not have
a chance to find out the ethnicity of the management of those
businesses.
17. Historical sites, sites of particular social significance:
● Name, location, description
○ In 2005, former resident Lynn Parrish began the Glenwood
Neighborhood History Project. In his research collecting oral
histories from nearly 100 former residents and 500 photos he has
started a Glenwood Trolley to share this rich history with everyone.
○ Several points of interest are:
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■ The Carolina Baking Company on 719 West Lee Street built
in 1926,
■ The former Charles D. McIver School on 643 West Lee
Street built in 1922 now home to Grace Community Church
■ Hannah - Ernsting Housing on 720 Dillard Street built in the
1920s was one of the first duplexes in Greensboro at the
time.
■ The old A&P store on 901 West Lee Street served residents
from 1929 to 1954 and was an example of a small business
in a residential area.
Safety
18. Sidewalks, parks, and parking areas are well lit to enhance safety at night.
● Parks are open from dawn to dusk; however, they are not well lit, as we
did not see any street lamps in the parks. The sidewalks that are available
are mostly on the main streets, where there are streetlights equally
spaced. However, many of the streets that did not have sidewalks also did
not have street lamps. We did not see many open parking areas except
the “People’s Market and Gardens”, which did not have any lighting.
19. Motor vehicle drivers obey the speed limit and yield for pedestrians to cross the
street.
● Motor vehicles seem to drive over the speed limit the majority of the time
especially around Peck Elementary School when it was flashing to only go 25
mph. However, drivers do slow down to let pedestrians cross the street.
20. Law enforcement officers at local parks.
● We did not see any law enforcement on any of our tours.
21. People who walk and bike during the day can feel free from traffic hazards or
threats to personal safety.
● There are no bike lanes or sidewalks throughout for people to walk or
bike. Sometimes with cars going over the speed limit and not expecting
pedestrian could be a threat to personal safety.
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22. Locations of abandoned or vacant buildings, empty lots, etc. Do these pose a
threat to safety?
● Distributed throughout the neighborhood, there are a high number of
abandoned/ condemned homes in this area, usually about 1 or 2 per
block. The abandoned/condemned homes in the area can pose a threat to
safety due to low maintenance in the yards, bushes and trees. This can
cause unwanted wildlife to come in the neighborhood. Also, this can hurt
the presentation of the Glenwood neighborhood.
23. Geographic barriers, natural and man-made, such as major thoroughfares,
waterways, etc.
 The major thoroughfares are Florida Street as well as Aycock
Street that could be difficult to cross, as there are no pedestrian
crosswalks. Additionally, a waterway called Mile Run Creek goes
through the neighborhood. However, there are sufficient bridges so
this creek is not a problem to cross.
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