Events:

Thursday, December 8: Urban Cottage Holiday Open House, 5-8 p.m.

Thursday, December 8: Cornerstone Christmas at Urban Cookhouse benefiting Woodlawn-based Cornerstone Schools of Alabama, 6-9 p.m.

Saturday, December 10: Urban Suburban Sidewalk Sale, 10 a.m. – 4 p.m.

Saturday, December 10: City Arts Boutique Grand Opening Party and Open House, 5-8 p.m.

Saturday, December 10: Desert Island Supply Co. Creative Writing Workshop, How to Hold a Butterfly, 2-3:30 p.m., Ages 9-12, Woodrow Hall, Register here

Saturday, December 10 and Sunday, December 11: Christmas Open House & Sale at Zan’s Antiques in Irondale, 11am to 3pm each day, Enjoy wassail, wine and cheese while shopping. Zan’s Antiques, 1910 First Avenue N.

Tuesday, December 13: Good People Great Cause benefiting Girls Inc., 5:30-8 p.m. Good People Tap Room

Wednesday, December 14: Redeemer Community Church presents Nine Lessons and Carols, 7 p.m., Woodrow Hall

Saturday, December 17: 2nd Annual Crestwood Aglow, 6-9 p.m.

Saturday, December 24: Traditional Christmas Eve Candlelight Service, Woodlawn UMC, 7 p.m.

Sunday, December 25: Come-and-Go Communion, Woodlawn UMC, 10 a.m. -noon

Announcements:

Crestwood Aglow Luminary Fundraiser for Girls Inc.: We know you’ll agree that Crestwood North is a wonderfully unique community full of beautiful homes and fabulous neighbors. This December we hope you’ll choose to participate in the 2nd Annual Crestwood Aglow event which will shine a light on one of Birmingham’s favoritecommunities. If you’re a Crestwood North resident, we ask that you please consider placing white paper bag luminaries outside your home on your sidewalk, walkway or stairs on Saturday, December 17th from 6PM-9PM. If you’re a fan of fabulous holiday displays, we ask that you plan a driving or walking tour of our neighborhood during the event.

In conjunction with the Second Annual Crestwood Aglow event, Girls Inc. is now selling candle luminary sets online. Each $10 set includes enough candles, bags and sand for 12 luminaries. These sets make great holiday gifts and can be received during Girls Inc. office hours from 9AM-5PM weekdays. Delivery is available for Crestwood residents only. Order your luminaries today by visiting www.girlsinccentral-al.org.

Cast your vote for the Green Home Giveaway: Three Crestwood North homes are in the running to receive a Green Home Giveaway from My Green Birmingham, Alabama Power and several other sponsors. The finalist that has the most votes will win over $40,000 in green home upgrades. Learn more about the project and how to cast your vote here.

the35212.com is now accepting news, announcements and events for the35212 Winter 2011-2012 print newsletter, due out in late January.

Please send in all content to the35212@gmail.com by December 20. We will try to print all of the content sent in, but we can’t guarantee that we will be able to do so.

We are proud to provide some great content for our neighborhood and beyond. You may have noticed with the most recent issue that we’ve changed to a longer newsletter format which will allow for more full text articles and larger sponsor logos/ads.

We hope you will consider becoming a sponsor of the35212 print newsletters. This is a great way to show our neighbors that your business is committed to building community in this area.

For rates and more information about the35212 print newsletter sponsorship, please email us at the35212@gmail.com.

Redeemer currently worships at Girls Inc. in Crestwood at 5 p.m. each Sunday. For more information about the church and its ministries, visit www.rccbirmingham.com.

Tucked back from 1st Avenue North next to the Woodlawn branch library is one of the most charming buildings ever erected by the people of Birmingham: “Old” Fire Station No. 12, now the “Birmingham Dream Center“.

The Tudor-revival style brick and sandstone fire station was designed by Turner & Slater, Architects as one of a number of new stations built between 1910 and 1929 to provide property protection in the newly-annexed suburbs of downtown Birmingham.

The planners conceived that this station, located across the street from the then 8-year old Woodlawn High School, would be set into a park-like lawn which welcomed schoolchildren. The plans even included restrooms specifically designated “for visiting boys and girls”. The two large truck bay doors were turned to face an alley on the right side of the building, while services such as coal delivery and hose-drying were accommodated from a concealed courtyard in the rear.

The visual mass of the building was reduced with smaller grouped openings, a stair turret, lowered eaves and heavy rustication. The roof over the truck bays was divided into two parallel gables with deep arches protecting the large wooden doors. The firemen’s dormitory was tucked into the roofline on the left side of the building, and a standard fireman’s pole gave quick access to the equipment garage. While the scale of the building is residential, the architects confidently expressed the station’s purpose in its design.

Later Engine Company No. 12 moved from Woodlawn to East Lake, the station which presently serves as a polling place for many 35212 residents. Jefferson County Health Services purchased the station and used it for storage for its neighboring Eastern Health Center. The windows were boarded up and the equipment garage gradually filled up with boxes and old furniture. Maintenance was minimal and the structure’s obsolescence was hastened with the move of the health center to Roebuck in 2008.

In 2009 the fortunes of this architectural gem reversed as the Church of the Highlands took over the former clinic as well as the fire station as a hub for outreach efforts in Birmingham’s eastern neighborhoods. The so-called “Dream Center” is a multimillion dollar investment in downtown Woodlawn which is kept active by a dedicated staff of professionals and volunteers.

The building and grounds were treated to a complete physical overhaul. The city’s inspection department unearthed Turner & Slater’s archived building plans and architect Clay Birchfield donated hundreds of hours of time and expertise to transform the ill-kept station into a beautifully-restored showpiece, as well as to renovate the clinic for up-to-date patient care. Robert Record, M. D. is the center’s full-time director. He shares the enthusiasm of hundreds of volunteers who use the Dream Center as a base of operations for a broad slate of individual, community and public outreach efforts.

*Additional photos of Company 12 can be seen on the Birmingham Retired Firefighters Local 117 website.

In spite of a tumultuous late summer, we have continued to brew water kefir, harvest the occasional tomato or pepper from our garden and even operated a farm stand for several weekends.  As the seasons change, we are again turning to our homesteading urges.

***The O’Quinn Organic Garden farm stand. We sold tomatoes, jam and flowers. Great way to meet and visit with neighbors!***

In late summer, Aine and I had a weekend farm stand in our yard.  We sold whatever was available on that day – tomatoes, peppers, green beans, squash, along with anything we had made, such as bread or jam.  It was a great way to get reaquainted with old neighbors and meet new ones.  Most folks seemed impressed that an eight-year-old girl would choose to sit in a chair in her yard on a Saturday morning, waiting for customers.  It turned out to be a good lesson in money.  We made a few dollars, which helped pay the vet bill for our new rescue kitten, Roadie.

***Meet Speedy and Skitter. They jumped from the next when their mom had been dead for a few days. Thanks to Lou Barbeau for alerting us to the situation!***

One day in the hottest part of the summer, a neighbor alerted me to the presence of a small animal crawling around a dead squirrel on the sidewalk.  A bit of investigation yeilded a grim tale.  Mom squirrel died.  Baby squirrels, presumably hungry, were leaping from thier nest on high (very high) onto the sizzling sidewalk.  Over the next two days, three babies jumped.  Two survived.  Thus began an intensive feeding schedule, around the clock, with special milk.  Many trips to the pet store for powdered formula and some bleary-eyed  days, and I’m happy to report that they have matured nicely, from wriggling, blind, furless creatures, to frisky, furry squirrels.  Skitter and Speedy are living in a cage outdoors until they are mature enough to release.  The kids have really enjoyed feeding them acorns and fruits! Other critters that have joined our household have been a praying mantis and betta fish.

***Jacques’ new betta fish. He bought it with money that Grammy sent for helping care for her wild birds while she’s gone. The fish’s name? BLOOD!***

Our plan to have urban chickens (someday) was able to move forward a bit.  We now have a coop!  I noticed a neighbor putting his coop to the road and stopped to ask about it.  He had freecycled it some time back from someone else and had just built a new coop for his chickens.  He even offered to walk behind my truck and steady it as I transported it to our garden.  I gladly accepted.  One thing I love about Crestwood is the awesome neighbors!  The kids helped me wash it out and find a spot for it along the house.  It even has a cute little door that’s painted to look like a stained glass window.  Now we’re just waiting for the right timing for new animals.  Sick cats and baby squirrels have delayed our plans, but not indefinitely!

In the garden, the morning glory vines that grew over and strangled most of our plants are blooming beautifully now.  I guess there’s a bright spot to every situation.  Next phase of the garden will involve putting in winter veggies such as turnips, collard greens and broccoli.  I’m determined to keep something growing out there year-round.

As the days grow shorter, our crafty, homesteading nature resurfaces and we begin pulling out the crafting kits, beading, crocheting and cookbooks.  We also go to all the cool festivals and farm events.  Seeing all that creative energy really gets us going!  This is often our most productive time of the year, making Christmas gifts, baking more and learning new crafts.  Aine has taken an interest in making beaded bracelets and latch hook rugs.  I’m getting an itch to crochet hats again.  Jacques’ crafting interests lie in making guns out of paper and robots out of pine cones.

Who knows what all we’ll be into as the seasons change, but one thing is for sure, we will NEVER BE BORED!

Loving Crestwood,

The O’Quinn Family

***Waldo the praying mantis kept us company in the kitchen and ate the flies that came in.***

That was back in 2000. A decade later, I still am an active cyclist, but haven’t turned a pedal off road in longer than I’d like to admit. Crestwood’s close proximity to some prime cycling roads to the east and to UAB is ideal for recreational rides and for commuting to work. However, I’ve come to know through experience that even in Birmingham one’s determination to ride a bike is often tested.

So, needless to say, I was intrigued when I learned of Freshwater Land Trust’s Our One Mile greenway project. As the Freshwater Land Trust web page states, “Our One Mile is an ini­tia­tive of the Health Action Part­ner­ship, funded by the Depart­ment of Health and Human Services. The Health Action Part­ner­ship is a coali­tion of more than 100 non­profit orga­ni­za­tions [including Freshwater Land Trust] work­ing along­side the Jef­fer­son County Depart­ment of Health to encour­age phys­i­cal activ­ity, reduce obe­sity, expand food access, advance smoke-free poli­cies, reduce tobacco use and improve the over­all health of Jef­fer­son County res­i­dents.” As you are probably already aware, obe­sity is a national epi­demic, and Alabama has the sec­ond high­est rate in the country. The Our One Mile project aims to get people moving so the current generation of Birmingham residents has a better opportunity to avoid being the first in modern history with a shorter life expectancy than their parents.

The name “Our One Mile” comes from the collaborative design process utilized by the greenway project architects in their effort to identify the best routes for those on foot or riding a bike. Numerous public forums have been held to all over the city to determine where ‘our one mile’ in each of these communities should be. But a central goal of the project is to also link each of these routes together and with the city’s green spaces and parks, creating a county-wide network that will that will make our com­mu­ni­ties health­ier, safer, and more con­nected. [Here is a great video summary of the project produced by Jason Hamric – who happens to have a Crestwood connection.]

Jane Reed Ross, the principal architect of Greenways Master Plan, recently presented an overview of the project at an August neighborhood meeting, held jointly with both Crestwood North and South. Too extensive to detail here, the plan will, if fully implemented, create a vast network of bike paths and walking trails that will be the envy of any major city without such a system already in place.

As an example of neighborhood-level involvement in the planning process, neighbors on the south side of Crestwood Boulevard have been actively working with Mrs. Ross to integrate the already existing Clairmont walking trail into the greenway project. One of the chief goals there is to extend the trail eastward along Clairmont to 12th Avenue S as originally envisioned by the trail’s designers. However, the greenway plan also calls for street based connectors at each end to establish connections with Crestwood Park and Triangle Park (click on accompanying aerial map). Extending the Clairmont walking trial to the east will also allow for a connector along 52nd Street down to Montclair Rd., which will see some changes under the proposed plan as well. Currently a four lane boulevard with a central turning lane, the greenway plan calls for a “road diet” on Montclair where the two outside lanes would be converted to sidewalks and bike lanes (Figure 1).

Another exciting component of the proposal is the renovation of the already existing Crestwood Blvd. pedestrian underpass at 7th Avenue S (Figure 2). Reopening the tunnel would reestablish a once important pedestrian link between the adjacent neighborhoods while also allowing for a low traffic route between Crestwood and Avondale Parks, each of which offers unique amenities.

Elsewhere on Crestwood Blvd., the section between 58th Street S and Eastwood Festival Center is currently an intimidating section of road for a cyclist. However, greenway planners call for the addition of shoulders with bike lanes along the boulevard from 5th Avenue S to Cresthill Rd. Anyone ready to ride their bike to the Edge for a movie? How about justifying extra toppings on that Alfredo’s pizza by getting some exercise on the trip? A lot of possibilities arise when safe connections are available.

On the whole, the details of implementing these plans are small projects relative to other infrastructure efforts such as new road construction. Some parts can accomplished with no more than paint and signs. However, the impact on the growth of our city and the health of its residents is potentially huge. For example, businesses will reap benefits by being able to recruit better candidates. Better hires equals more successful businesses, higher incomes, more jobs, increased tax revenue, etc., etc.

And lest you think that this may all just be wishful thinking, Mark Kelly, publisher of Weld for Birmingham, recently reported in the October 6 edition plans for submission of a $30M grant to implement the first stages of the greenway plan. Let’s hope it gets funded. But whatever the case, you can count Freshwater Land Trust’s Jefferson County greenway plan among the many reasons that Birmingham residents have to be hopeful for our future.