Oakland Drive - Winchell Neighborhood

Welcome to the Oakland Drive - Winchell Neighborhood Association website!

NEIGHBORHOOD NEWS

* Woods Lake Park - Update
The City held an informational meeting regarding the status of Woods Lake Park on December 10, 2014. A total of 14 people attended, including three ODWNA Board members and two city employees (Ryan Johnson, Parks Manager and Sean Fletcher, Parks and Rec Managing Director).

A summary of the meeting is as follows:
Proposed Improvements to Woods Lake Beach Park Include:
• New restroom with attached outdoor shelter
• Boardwalks with fishing and observation stations
• Trails
• Re-configuring paved parking area, and specifically limit vehicle access to beach area (i.e., only emergency vehicles plus a couple of disabled parking spots)

Grant Budget
• Improvements to City Park only. Routine activities such as removal of dead branches overhanding the parking lot not included in grant budget.
• Have $591K in grant moneys with $53K already spent on design by Harris and Associates.
• Grant funds received from various sources: Gilmore, Dalton, Natural Resources Trust Fund, and perhaps another one.
• Project sent out for bid with 2 bids received. Both bids over budget (totals ~ 635K + contingency).
• City is now evaluating ways to re-engineer the plan to reduce costs while not altering the overall intent of the design. This may be accomplished by changing some of the building materials, eliminating or deferring some walkways, constructing the improvements in multiple stages over time, etc.
• City hopes to rebid job and select contractor by April 2015 and do construction June – Dec. 2015.

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FYI
- See the City's full Fall/Winter 2014 "View From The Curb" HERE

* Our next Association meeting will be held Wednesday FEBRUARY 18, 2015; 6:30pm ("Meet & Greet" @ 6:30pm; meeting starts @ 7:00pm) in the Winchell Elementary library

UPDATES:
NEW FOR 2014-15: This year, we are trying something a bit different for our Association meetings. We will still begin our meetings at 7PM (with our speaker starting around 7:15PM) However, you are welcome to arrive at 6:30PM in order to informally gather to talk to the ODWNA board members and/or just visit with your neighbors! We like to keep our meetings informative (for you and us) and not go too late, but some have requested that there is very little time to just talk & visit, so please come a bit early to share your thoughts!

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2014-15 Speaker Series Lineup
Our speaker on 2/18/15 will be JDiana Morton-Thompson, PG, C.P.G.; a Registered Professional Geologist, who will discussing the Natural Processes behind the Landscape of Kalamazoo and the Oakland Drive – Winchell Neighborhood

Go HERE to see the full lineup of 2014-15 speakers!
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November 2014 Speaker Topic: Native Americans In Kalamazoo - Guest Speaker: Dr. David Brose; Brose & Brose Consulting

More than 1,300 Mastodons have been found in Southern Michigan. It wouldn’t be surprising if there was one at the bottom of Kleinstuck Preserve. The Native Americans came from North Asia, probably to hunt large animals. By 9,000 BC, the large animals were all gone due to climate change and hunting. Trading of tools and jewels was taking place between regions.

There are many mounds where people were buried with their possessions. Many of these mounds have celestial orientations. These mounds frequently had “earth works” involved. For example, there is one near the Ohio River that involves a large serpent as part of the mound.

From 1,000 AD on, there were scores of developed languages.

The Native Americans left sculptures and lived in nomadic tent like homes. In the Great Lakes Region, the natural resources centered around the water, specifically, rice and fish.

People in this area became committed to agriculture. They learned to cook in a pot. This enabled cooking all kinds of things that you could not cook without the use of a pot, such as maple syrup.

Native Americans decorated pottery, tools, arrows, etc. to indicate their group.

Experimentation with agriculture here led to various types of corn. Corn varieties spread south, and corn became plentiful. This allowed permanent villages to start to take hold. In cold climates, people started using raised beds in about 1100 AD, which allows for a longer growing season. In 1800 AD, the Europeans came to Kalamazoo and made drawings of the raised bed designs.

The Europeans brought many things to the Native Americans: iron fishhooks, needles, smallpox and measles. In 1584 the first European settlers arrived. In 1587, the French helped another tribe attack the Iroquois. Afterwards, the Iroquois wouldn’t let the French into this region. The French made many maps of Michigan, which are some of the first historical records of the geography and the various tribes and what areas each occupied. Around 1690, the maps of Michigan became much more accurate. In 1760 Pontiac attacked posts at Detroit, Green Bay, Niles and Mackinac City. In 1796 the Shawnee and Ohio were involved in the Battle of Falling Timbers and gave up most of Indiana, Illinois, Ohio and Michigan to the Europeans. In the 1770’s and 1780’s, the Miami were here.

After 1796, the Potawatomie started moving back into this area. In the 1800’s, the Native Americans gave Michigan up to the government and accept just having small tribes. Our neighborhood was given to the Potawatomie in 1821 and the U.S. took it back in 1827. The Potawatomie were given little reservations near Gun Lake and Athens. The Dowagiac have a good size reservation and were protected by the Catholics. There are several reservations in Michigan still today, and Central Michigan University is partially on a reservation.

Kalamazoo plans to mark the corners of where the Potawatomie reservations was.

You can always go HERE to read the full meeting minutes of any of our ODWNA Association meetings
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Asylum Lake Preservation Association
What is the ALPA?

It is a volunteer organization dedicated to assuring the the Preserve remains a natural open space, to see that it is preserved as a habitat for wildlife and continued use by the community.

It started in 1990 when there was a threat that the area would be developed and a great public asset would be lost. Citizens organized and Asylum Lake Preservation Association (ALPA) was born.

Please consider beaing part the supportive community! This property is not a Preserve by accident, many people have worked long and hard to keep it this way.

Visit their website HERE for more information, to support their mission, or to get involved.
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As always; feel free to email us with your thoughts for the neighborhood!

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2014-15 ODWNA Board Members
President - Peter Kushner
Vice President - Chris Shook
Secretary - Sandy Bolstad
Treasurer - Diana Morton-Thompson

Board Members at-large:
Tom Kayser
Becky Mutzaers
Barb Ross
Paul Scott
Kathy Shook
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ODWNA Statement of Purpose

-Preserve and enhance the neighborhood living concept in the area.
-Protect the natural beauty of the area.
-Encurage the beautification, physical well-being and neighborhod spirit of the residential area.
-Constructively assist the Kalamazoo City and County Planning Commissions.
-Provide a forum for open and frank discussion of different points of view on neighborhood development.
-Provide for communication on matters of neighborhood interest to residents.

The Oakland Drive-Winchell Neighborhood Association was founded in 1973 in response to the City of Kalamazoo's proposal to widen Oakland Drive, which would have required the removal of many trees.

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