The UNC Charlotte Urban Institute is coordinating annual Jane’s Walks for Friday through Sunday, May 1-3. This year, because of the Urban Institute’s involvement in KEEPING WATCH on WATER: City of Creeks, there are a number of Jane’s Walks being held along Charlotte creeks.
Neighborhoods around the world organize Jane Jacobs Walks during the first weekend of May. The idea for these annual events is to encourage everyone to meet their neighbors, learn more about where they live and better understand their city. The walks are named for the well-known urban writer, thinker and activist Jane Jacobs, who died in 2006. Since 2012, PlanCharlotte.org, an online publication of the UNC Charlotte Urban Institute, has sponsored Jane’s Walks in Charlotte.
All walks are free and open to the public. Some walks are co-sponsored with partnering groups. Registration is not required but suggested in case of last-minute changes or rain dates.
The number of Jane’s Walks in Charlotte this year is up to nine, after the program started in 2012 with one.
More walks may be added; check back online. Anyone who would like to organize a Jane's Walk should email Mary Newsom (mnewsom@uncc.edu) or Lisa Shepard (leshepar@uncc.edu). 7
Scheduled walks are:
Friday, May 1
Myers Park neighborhood walking tour at 6 p.m. Participants will meet at Napa on Providence, 110 Perrin Place. Charlie Succop, education coordinator at Charlotte Museum of History, will lead the walk, which will end with refreshments at Napa. Co-sponsored with Charlotte Museum of History. The museum requires registration for the post-walk event at Napa: Click here to register online with the museum.
Saturday, May 2
Little Sugar Creek cleanup from 9 to 11:30 a.m. Meet at Parkwood Avenue and North Davidson Street. Walk ends at 12th Street. Walk along the greenway or hop in the creek with wading boots and help clean up trash. This event is part of the Great American Cleanup, a nationwide series of cleanup and community beautification events March 1-May 31 and is organized by Keep Charlotte Beautiful and Keep Mecklenburg Beautiful. Walk leader: Scott Adams. More information here.
Passage of Rain to Irwin Creek. 10:30 a.m. Meet at Clanton Pavilion, 3132 Manchester Dr., and end at Revolution Park Sports Academy, 1225 Remount Rd. Explore artist Stacy Levy’s Passage of Rain installation with the artist and with Revolution Park neighborhood leader John Howard, City of Charlotte’s historic district administrator. Levy’s installation in west Charlotte’s Revolution Park neighborhood reveals the path of rain and runoff along a .8-mile stretch from street to storm drain to stream to a final destination in Irwin Creek. Volunteers installed it March 28-29. The project will be on-site for one year. Co-sponsored with KEEPING WATCH on WATER: City of Creeks.
Little Sugar Creek Greenway, with landscape architect Beth Poovey, at 9:30 a.m. Meet at the ground floor entrance to the Target parking deck, off Charlottetowne Avenue entrance. Hear landscape architect Poovey discuss the design of the greenway from Seventh to Morehead streets. Co-sponsored with KEEPING WATCH on WATER: City of Creeks.
Stewart Creek, with Charlotte-Mecklenburg Storm Water Services, from 9:30 to 11 a.m. Meet at Boys and Girls Club Building, 2600 W. Trade St. Walk beside Stewart Creek through Biddleville-Smallwood, learn about plans to help water quality and lessen flooding. Co-sponsored with KEEPING WATCH on WATER: City of Creeks.
Munching Tour of East Charlotte eateries from 1:30 to 3:30 p.m. Tom Hanchett, historian at Levine Museum of the New South, a walk co-sponsor, will lead this exploration of immigrant entrepreneurship and ethnic eateries. NOTE: Tour has limited capacity and is full. To place your name on a wait list, contact Lisa Shepard, leshepar@uncc.edu, 704-687-1205. Meet in the parking lot in front of Nile Ethiopian Grocery, 3113 N. Sharon Amity Road. More information here.
Sunday, May 3
What Lives In Our Creeks? At 2 p.m. Participants will meet at Freedom Park near the East Boulevard park entrance. Walk upstream along the Liz Hair Greenway toward Morehead Street, as walk leader Olivia Edwards, environmental supervisor with Charlotte-Mecklenburg Storm Water Services, explores the fish and bugs of Little Sugar Creek. Learn how aquatic organisms have been affected by changes in the city through the years. Co-sponsored with KEEPING WATCH on WATER: City of Creeks.
Civic History at Pinewood-Elmwood Cemetery. 3 p.m. Meet at the main cemetery gates on West Sixth Street in uptown’s Fourth Ward neighborhood. Walk led by Fourth Ward residents Lynn Weis and Bill Hart. More information here.
Bike Ride, Sunday, May 10
Sunday Slow Riders' Bike Tour of Plaza Midwood: Then and Now at 2 p.m. Participants will meet at Okra, 1916 Commonwealth Ave. Riders will visit a few historical sites as well as more recent developments and discuss the impact on the neighborhood. Ride leaders: Pamela Murray and UNC Charlotte staff member Katie Zager. Riders must bring their own bikes and helmets. More information here.
PlanCharlotte's Jane's Walk initiative is funded with a grant to the UNC Charlotte Urban Institute from the John S. and James L. Knight Foundation.