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Know Your Neighbor: Victoria Goral


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Over the last year, many of us haven’t ventured far or seen many familiar faces. With warmer months and brighter futures ahead of us, it’s time for our neighborhood to come together to celebrate our love for the West End and reacquaint ourselves with the people that help make it great.

“Know Your Neighbor” is the first of many blog posts that we intend to highlight people who make the West End a special place to live.

For those of you haven’t met her already, here’s your chance to get to know WEA Vice President Victoria Goral


Quick Facts

125042755_10118438207615954_1941445964539039221_n.jpgMama to three children

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…and Sasha

153282581_10221676350915620_2282442137265802510_n.jpgMarried to Kevin The “Silver Fox” Goral

How long have you been in the West End?

We’re transplants from Michigan and originally moved to Winston-Salem in 2006 but didn’t call West End home until 2015.

What is your role on the West End Association Board and how long have you been serving?

My role is President Elect and the Chair of the Social Committee, serving since 2018!

What initially drew you to the West End Neighborhood?

I moved to North Carolina in 2006 and settled in Clemmons. As I worked downtown I discovered the West End and fell in love with the tree lined streets, variety of historical homes and the mix of residential and commercial buildings.

The Goral House on Summit StreetHow has the West End changed since you first moved here?
So many great things have happened in the short six years we lived here. The Hanes Park renovation, the addition of many new businesses, the number of fun West End events, and the diversity of our community in the West End.

What are a few of your favorite West End hangouts or businesses, and why?
I am a social person so I love everything to do with enjoying great food, beverages and people. I love sitting outside at Mozelle’s on a sunny afternoon, the West End Cafe is my favorite for a Cesar Salad, Humble Bee for macarons, Lavender and Honey for incredible coffee and baked goods, Joymongers for a beer, bingo and food trucks, Joyners is my Cheers as I always run into someone I know. Love Fiddle and Fig and Elizabeth’s on Hanes for gifts and updates for our home. Theater Alliance never disappoints and Hanes Park is perfect for a stroll or a quick run on the track.

23916373_10208073493395744_4970903364079704240_o.jpgVictoria is a kind, hard-working woman who works diligently through retirement life to make her community a better place.

The West End is so fortunate to have wonderful people like Victoria that makes it the unique neighborhood it is to live in.

If you know someone that makes the West End great, please reach out to us in the contact form at the top of the page so we can feature them in future articles!

West End Membership, Service on the Board and Home Tour

West Enders,
February is our Annual Meeting month and as Chair of the nominating committee I am looking for neighbors who would like to serve on the Board.  You would be obligated to attending monthly meetings, email votes and discussions, and service on one of the neighborhood initiatives.  There are many great items on the neighborhoods agenda this year: Hanes park developments, Brunson School  future, Home Tour, traffic patterns, holiday events and more.
Please email me if you would like to be considered for nomination to the Board.
Remember we are in the middle of a membership drive with trying to increase our membership by 20%.  Please send in your membership in the yellow envelop or go on line and pay through PayPal.  Click Here to pay online.
The West End is looking for volunteers to lead the Home Tour scheduled for this Christmas.  Please email if you would like to be part of this exciting event that showcases our neighborhood.
George Bryan
West End Board

2016 School Bond Referendum

As many of you are aware, the Winston-Salem Forsyth County Board of Education will ask County Commissioners to include a $325 million school bond on the November 2016 ballot. Included in this bond are a replacement for Brunson Elementary at a “location to be determined”, increased capacity at Wiley Middle and replacement of the gym, and pedestrian and bus safety site improvements at Wiley Middle and Reynolds High. Please see http://www.wsfcs.k12.nc.us/2016bond for more information on specific bond projects.

WSFCS will hold 8 public hearings, the first of which is tonight, to gather input on all the proposed projects. The final proposal will go to County Commissioners in April.

Below are the dates of the public forums. Please attend one or more of these meetings to learn more about the bond proposal and to advocate for our community schools and the neighborhood at large.
  • Monday, Feb. 8 at 7 p.m. – East Forsyth High School (2500 W. Mountain Street, Kernersville)
  • Wednesday, Feb. 17 at noon – Kernersville Elementary School (512 W. Mountain Street, Kernersville)
  • Thursday, Feb. 18 at 7 p.m. – Carver High School (3545 Carver School Road, Winston-Salem)
  • Monday, Feb. 22 at 7 p.m. – Parkland High School (1600 Brewer Road, Winston-Salem)
  • Thursday, March 3 at 7:30 p.m. – West Forsyth High School (1735 Lewisville-Clemmons Road, Clemmons)
  • Monday, March 7 at 7 p.m. – North Forsyth High School (5705 Shattalon Drive, Winston-Salem)
  • Thursday, March 10 at noon – The Downtown School (601 N. Cherry Street, Winston-Salem)
  • Monday, March 14 at 7 p.m. – Speas Elementary School (2000 W. Polo Road, Winston-Salem)
Thank you,
Jan Wharton

Next Steps for Hanes Park Master Plan

by Mark Lively

The 2014 bond referendum approved by the citizens of Winston-Salem includes $1 million for repair and renovation of Hanes Park. MLA Design Group, a prominent landscape architecture firm based in Winston-Salem, was hired by the City in early 2015 and charged with developing plans to repair and improve the park. After many months of careful review, consultation with the many stakeholders, and public meetings, MLA has prepared two closely related draft concept plans for improvements to the park. The details of the plans unveiled at a public meeting on December 9, 2015 can be viewed at their website (http://millerla.com/hanesparkplan/). At that meeting MLA requested comments and input from the community before December 31 to prioritize the proposed projects. The final Hanes Park master plan will provide the city with a guide for improvements to the park. The scale of the proposed projects in the master plan is far larger and the number of projects too numerous for all to be funded with the amount of bond money available. The individual projects proposed in the concept plans must be prioritized and costs estimated before a final version of the master plan will be ready for submission to the city.

Based on the information provided by the community at the end of December and on their careful research for this project over the last year, MLA is now working to prioritize and estimate the costs of the different elements of the plan. A third public meeting will be scheduled, possibly before the end of February, to present this prioritized plan to the community before MLA finalizes its submission to the city for consideration by the city council. The West End Association has reviewed the proposed elements of the concept plans and submitted our recommendations for priority of implementation. The full document detailing the WEA responses is available upon request (thewestender@yahoo.com).

Our recommendations are based on long standing positions adopted by WEA on the use and maintenance of the park and represent the consensus of members of the WEA board. They were reached through discussions among the officers and members of the Board with members attending regularly scheduled meetings of the WEA. Our objective is to identify the best choices for use of the bond funds designated for repair and renovation of Hanes Park. Our priorities are based on the use of the bond referendum funds and NOT for overall priority of proposed Concept projects without regard to sources of funding. Our priority is to use the available funds appropriated for the project (approx. $900,000 after planning costs) for the most important proposed actions for repair and renovation of the Park.

MLA has developed two slightly different concept plans for consideration. Each plan proposes to relocate the clay tennis courts currently within the running track to an area near Wiley Middle School adjacent to the existing clay courts on the South end of the running track. The main difference between the two plans is that Concept A would relocate only the tennis courts, leaving the tennis center buildings where they are within the track. Concept B would move the tennis courts as well as the tennis center buildings to a location on the hillside just above the relocated courts. The WEA is opposed to relocation of the tennis courts and the tennis center so we have not fully recommended adoption of either concept plan.

Hanes Park Concept Plan B developed by MLA Design Group. (http://millerla.com/hanesparkplan/)

We have assigned the highest priority to proposed projects in each concept plan that will repair and/or renovate existing features in the park. These projects include repairing bridges, stone walls, and walkways; clearing unwanted vegetation to improve sight lines; improved landscaping; and related actions that will repair the losses accumulated over decades of deferred and often inadequate maintenance.

The WEA does not support installation of lighting, including “uplighting”, within the park. We do support improvement of walkways and paths in and around the park but not by the addition of impermeable, hard surface paths except as needed to improve access by our disabled citizens.

Addition of new features such as new entrance stairways, overlooks, monuments, benches, “historical elements”, and related features should be considered only if sufficient funds remain after the repair and renovation projects have been completed. Proposed new additions should be organized into manageable projects, their costs estimated, and then prioritized by the community for possible future implementation as funds become available.

The WEA notes that the absence of a plan for provision of open public restroom facilities in HP is a major omission from the concept plans offered. This is an important objective that should be addressed before any other new features or elements are considered. At a minimum, the existing restroom facility adjacent to the tennis center should be upgraded to the extent allowable and city policies should be changed to allow the facilities to remain open during reasonable park hours, not at the discretion of the tennis center.

Proposed projects that are the responsibility of the WS/FC School system (such as backstops, screening for baseball equipment, ball field enhancements, ball field fencing, etc.) should not be prioritized for funding from bond funds. Funding for school facilities located on park property is the sole responsibility of the Winston-Salem/Forsyth County School Board as stipulated in the 1999 Hanes Park Usage Agreement signed by the City and the WS/FC/School Board.

The WEA will continue working with MLA Design Group and the City of Winston-Salem as the final Hanes Park master plan is finalized for presentation to the City Council for approval. Residents of the West End neighborhood should continue their engagement with this critical process to assure that Hanes Park will continue to serve the needs of all Winston-Salem citizens for another 100 years.

Contact us at thewestender@yahoo.com or start a public conversation using the West End listserv.

WEA Monthly Meeting: Dec 8th

West End Neighbors,

The board of the West End Association has decided to postpone our regularly scheduled 4th Tuesday meeting that would have been tonight (Tuesday 11/24) until Tuesday, December 8. We plan to discuss ongoing developments in the Hanes Park bond planning, the proposed RJR stadium, and plans by the school system to possibly relocate Brunson Elementary School. Please plan to join us at 6:00 PM on December 8 at our regular meeting place, the Central YMCA West End Room.

-ml

Mark Lively

President, West End Association

The NEW NC Historic Preservation Tax Credits

West Enders

Historic tax credits played a major role in rehabilitating our neighborhood. Both federal and state credits have helped. You have probably been watching the NC legislature grapple with this issue this year.

Attached is s summary of the new guidelines sent out by the HRC. If you are a homeowner living in the WE there is a high likelihood that your home is a contributing structure. ( you can look this up in the directory on our website).

Look at section of non income producing.

George Bryan

The NEW Tax Credits

Improper Satellite Dishes in West End

Before you decide to “Get Rid of Cable” as the current advertising campaign of one satellite TV provider urges, be sure you inform the person installing the dish that the location selected MUST be in an area of LOW VISIBILITY from the street.

The West End Historic Overlay District Design Review Guidelines state that the “West End Historic Overlay District was created to protect the unique character of the West End Neigh- borhood” and to preserve “architecturally and/or historically significant structures and features within the District.” Routine maintenance does not require prior approval of the Historic Resource Commission (HRC) unless it will change the exterior apperance of a property. “Installation of mechanical equipment, such as heating and air-conditioning units, and television or satellite systems which are completely screened from view with shrubbery or located in areas of low visibility” is considered “routine maintenance.” These rules apply to ALL properties in the Dis- trict, whether or not they are contributing historical properties.

Many of the contractors who install satellite services apparently are not aware of, or choose to ignore, the guidelines in effect for dish placement. They will often say that the dish can only be placed in a spot that is inappropriate by our Guidelines. If you choose satellite service at your West End home the satellite dish must be installed in a location that is screened from view.

INSIST that the satellite company con- tractor find a location that is not easily visible from the street or that is hidden behind appropriate shrubbery. If your dish is easily visible from the street the Historic Resource Commission will re- quire you to move it or screen it from view if it comes to their attention. Sever- al property owners have recently been required to relocate previously installed satellite dishes that were installed inap- propriately.

Improperly installed satellite dishes should be reported to the staff of the Historic Resource Commission at 336- 747-7054. You can find a copy of the Guidelines at this link: http://www.cityofws.org/departments/ planning/publications-and-maps/publications

by Mark Lively, Edited from version previously published in The West Ender, March 2014

New Central Library – A Long Time Coming

In 2010 when Forsyth County voters approved a $40 million bond issue for badly needed library projects, few of us imagined a seven-year wait for a new Central Library or the three years downtown patrons would lose access to the current building. Demolition to remove the one-story 1950s building and gut the 1980s section was scheduled to start the first week in August, and the new 101,000-square-foot building is projected to open in the summer of 2017.

The plans – as described in recent Winston-Salem Journal articles and the Forsyth County Library website – promise an open, light-filled design that will provide a stark contrast to the former building. A 71-foot setback at the Fifth Street entrance will make room for an outdoor activity space and a reading garden. Patrons can also enter by elevator from public parking space on the 4 1⁄2 Street level. The first floor will continue to house the children’s section and the circulation desk. A 240-seat auditorium will replace the 150-seat meeting space. A café or coffee bar, event space, and the computer lab will be located on the first floor, as well as Training Bridge, a program that promotes computer and internet literacy. There will also be a technology “petting zoo” where patrons can try out new electronic devices.

Teen Central and the North Carolina Room, the local history and research room, will move to the second floor. The North Carolina Room will have a larger space, special climate controls, and an adjacent art gallery. Makerspace – an area for people to work on creating group projects – will also be housed on the second floor. The library’s general collection and reading spaces will occupy the third floor. “The Forsyth Reading

Room will have fireplaces, while a covered terrace will allow people to sit outside and enjoy views of Pilot Mountain and other areas to the north.” (Meghann Evans/Winston- Salem Journal Sunday, July 26, 2015)

At the time voters approved the bonds for the library projects, county commissioners planned to spend $28 million on the Central Library and $6 million each for new branch libraries in Kernersville and Clemmons. When $34 million of the bonds were issued last year, $2.8 million from a bond premium became available that could

have been used to enhance the Central Library. The commissioners voted in March to keep the budget at $28 million, forcing architects to trim the final design to stay within budget.
Changes include the loss of several thousand square feet of space, downsizing the auditorium from 308 to 240 seats, the removal of a second entrance from Spring Street, fewer meeting rooms, less outside glass, and some changes to interior

finishes. Library administrators view the loss of the Spring Street entrance as a positive. “Consolidating our main entrance to Fifth Street is actually better from a security standpoint and will be more efficient to staff,” said Elizabeth Skinner, Associate Library Director. The main item they hated to lose was the special access floors. “This flooring costs approximately $500,000 per floor,” said Skinner. “It would have allowed us to

change and reconfigure data and electrical outlets as functions in the building changed over time. This is something that we thought would be very responsive to the uncertain nature of changing technology – the technology that is difficult to envision and project 10-20 years into the future.”
A donor campaign is currently underway to provide funds to enhance the budget for furniture and technology. Opportunities are available to name specific areas of the Central Library as a memorial to honor family members, friends, or important members of our community.

by Cyndy Lively