Hello Astor Neighbors,

Bellin Health is sponsoring a FREE concert in Astor park on Saturday June 4th from 5 - 8 p.m. for the residents of Astor in recognition of the 40th anniversary of the Bellin Run. The event will be promoted through the Astor Neighborhood Association and the Astor East River Neighborhood Associations. Read the flyer.

Bellin Foodservice will sell brats, burgers, hot dogs, chips, water and soda, but please do not bring alcoholic beverages, as they are not allowed in the park. Acoustic guitarist Chase Maxwell will open from 5-6 p.m., followed by Big Mouth & the Power Tool Horns from 6-8 p.m.

Come dance and relax and have a good time. Great time to meet many of your neighbors.

Hope to see you there!

Regards,

Ron Dehn

Join Aldo Leopold Community School at the Sting Cancer Walk 5K. Read the Flyer.

This past summer I wrote an article as I usually do for the Astor Outlook newsletter. It was just about time for the August issue and the article was titled "How to slow it down on S. Monroe Ave". In the article I talked about how traffic was an issue people talked about. It was about the speed and lack and traffic control in the crosswalks on S. Monroe Avenue  Now, as I read the article back I probably should have more clearly defined the greater problem as being between Eliza and Emilie Streets in front of Aldo Leopold School. Well, regardless of my lack of specificity, by the article's end I asked if anyone had any ideas that they think might help solve the situation. I asked if they did, they should let me or an Astor board member know. I did not receive any responses. Neither did the Astor Board at that time. That was August, 2015.  On October 28th, 2015 we had an unfortunate car vs. dog accident. A pedestrian was legally and rightfully in the crosswalk with the dog on a leash when the incident happened. The Press-Gazette and Fox 11 news, among others, did numerous stories on the incident. The headlines read "Aldo Leopold parents, students, pushing for Monroe Ave drivers to slow down" and "Dog killed by driver spurs traffic crackdown". As much as the accident pushed the traffic issue to the forefront on S. Monroe, we are still no closer to finding a long-term, comprehensive solution. A meeting that took place on November 23rd highlighted among other things the strong need for safety in the crosswalks. Several residents wanted more police traffic enforcement in front of the school. Others wanted more effective signage and environmental designs put in place to slow traffic.

What is really needed is a combined strategy to solve the situation. Enforcement action alone cannot do it. Captain John Laux explained that the Green Bay Police Department cannot commit two traffic cars to S. Monroe on a daily basis for an extended period of time. Doing this without any other factors in place is not an effective solution. Signage alone will not work for an extended period of time either. As traffic professionals have told me in the past, driver reaction to signs alone is eroded over time. The signs become part of the everyday clutter drivers see, thereby reducing the effectiveness of having them there. Adding the issue is that S. Monroe is a State HWY 57 traffic corridor and a main artery into downtown Green Bay. So how do we keep traffic flowing and keep it safe? It is a neighborhood, and overall a community issue. The dialogue was started November 23rd. Let's keep the ideas, tempered with rational action going until a more permanent solution is found.

The problem won't get solved overnight; it will take some doing. As I said back in August, if you have any ideas that have not been mentioned at previous meetings and want it to be heard, please let me or an Astor Board member know. The best solution might be the one you have thought about or seen work well in another city, and it could work here just as well.

Thanks,

Paul Van Handel
GBPD Community Police • Director NE Wisconsin Association of Community Oriented Policing (WACOP)
paulva@greenbaywi.gov
Office 448-3143 Ext. 3

Monday, January 18th, 6:30 p.m. - First Evangelical Lutheran Church. In 1993 the state of Wisconsin passed a law requiring cities with properties listed in the National Register of Historic Places to enact local historic preservation ordinances. As a result, the City of Green Bay, like dozens of other communities throughout the state, enacted a local historic preservation ordinance and created a Historic Preservation Commission (HPC) tasked with preserving the community's historic structures, sites and districts.

Recently the HPC has been considering whether Green Bay's historic resources are adequately protected and whether the City should pursue Certified Local Government (CLG) status. With regard to the question of adequate protection, the HPC notes that the Astor National Register District has lost 60 properties (or 15.5% of the contributing historic properties in the district) since 1980. Certified Local Government status offers the benefit of making preservation grant funds available to the City; however, in order to become a CLG the city must revise its current historic preservation ordinance. A revised preservation ordinance could accomplish two things—it could provide better protection for the community's historic resources and allow the city to obtain CLG status.

The purpose of the upcoming presentation is to generate awareness of the HPC's role in the community, describe the current historic preservation ordinance, and discuss what a possible revision of the historic preservation ordinance would entail. Ultimately, the HPC would like to gauge whether or not the residents of Astor would be in favor of a revision to the historic preservation ordinance or if the ordinance should be left as it currently stands.

Would you be in favor of a revision to the ordinance? Do you think the ordinance should remain as it is? Please join us at this meeting so you can learn more about the proposed changes. We will be in the basement of First Evangelical Lutheran Church, 743 S. Monroe, starting at 6:30.

Molly Martzke
President Astor Neighborhood Association

I live with my spouse Ron at 1010 S. Jackson St., a home we purchased from a former Astor Neighborhood Association President. I have been involved in downtown revitalization since 1995, when I was elected to the Board of Directors for Neighborhood Housing Services, now NeighborWorks Green Bay. Soon after I was hired as the Program Manager and help many new homeowners purchase in the Astor Neighborhood. I still serve on that Board  Shortly after I joined the Navarino Neighborhood Association and served as president for many years. I work as a Business Development Officer for Wisconsin Housing and Economic Development Authority. Keeping neighborhoods viable and community connectedness is important to me, which is why I joined the ANA. I look forward to serving our neighborhood

Thank you,

Deby Dehn