side of Sexton. On the south side is Douglas Neighborhood Association, so we're not
trying to leave anybody out, we just have -- so I was -- I was reminded again just the other
day when I found -- when I saw a blanket laid out just outside my yard that somebody
must have been using to sleep, how desperate we are for housing. And we -- over the
probably 25 years I've lived on Grand Avenue and have been involved with the Ridgeway
Neighborhood Association, we have seen a number of proposals for that area. And I've
never seen one that has been so sensitive about the history of the neighborhood, the
other houses in the area, that what used to be there, and also to keep the presence of
trees. I think we're about 85 percent rental, and since I've lived there, I constantly see
how we're losing tree canopy. So that was very important to the neighbors, and that's
why a lot of the decisions about reduced parking was made -- was made to keep the --
to keep those trees there. When I was at the meeting, we went out and walked, you
know -- you know, kind of stepped off the setbacks on Grand Avenue to just compensate
-- you know, to have something that was consistent. And I walk up that street all the
time, and as you -- as you go up the west side of Grand Avenue, there is -- you know, it
has those three houses that are about 15 feet from the edge, and then the next -- on the
next block, between Fourth and Third Avenues, it's actually both houses are side yards.
And then the block after that is the block where my house is, and I meant to count it out,
but -- you know, today, but it is close to the street. And so it's really nice to have that
consistent walk up that street with the common setbacks. Another street I walk on quite
a bit is Benton Street, and there are three houses that are, like, 30 feet back, and all the
other houses are a consistent setback and it's just -- it's kind of unnerving. And so I -- I
appreciate having a similar setback. And another thing is, I think, to keep in mind is to
make decisions not just for what we have today, but what we want to have. One -- Eric
Williams, who was the president of our neighborhood association, who passed away a
few years ago, he was a master plumber and went on construction sites all over town.
And one of the things that he noticed is that in more expensive neighborhoods, parents
could walk their kids down the street to school. And the elementary school in our
neighborhood, everybody is driving to from other parts of the town. And so if he had lived,
I think that would have been a big project that we'd be working on in the neighborhood,
and that there are other people who are interested to make that more of a neighborhood
school. Another thing that we've talked about is on the southwest corner where the
bio-retention device, that is, we've started putting in a rain garden, and among the
neighborhood, we see that as the future site of Ability Park. We want to have green
space, garden space, and those types of things there. And so we think that the
neighborhood is going to be much more walkable, and we want to work towards that. It's
been historically a walkable neighborhood. And also, I just wanted to note that when we
were here last year, I -- I have never walked through the Oak Towers parking lot that was
