What's Happening in Whitland
So many of us love to wander along Rolland Road to look down at our beloved stream or gaze into the water from the Carden Avenue walking bridge to see the fish who live and thrive there. But next time you’re fish-gazing there’s something new to look for: a Streamside Salamander, also known as an Ambystoma barbouri.
Can You Find One?
Back in the sixties, six populations of this salamander were spotted in the Green Hills area probably in fishless small streams with no other streams feeding into them. Sadly, the salamanders are so rare these days, they’ve become a protected species, and Tennessee Department of Environment and Conservation would like to know if they still survive here. Rediscovery of this species would be an important find.
Look in Winter
A. barbouri lives hidden for much of the year, but are winter breeding. It’s only as they move towards their breeding site from mid-December to mid-March that they can be spotted. Though they’ll breed in streams that flow year-round, they are most often drawn to ephemeral streams. Think of the streambeds along the alleyway from Craighead to Leonard and along Rolland across from the Richmeade townhouses, streams that are dry in summer, but flow gently in wetter seasons.
Take Photos NOT Salamanders
You can identify these creatures by their grey and black speckles and by this photograph. If you see one, take a photo, please! And contact david.withers@tn.gov who is a zoologist with the Tennessee Natural Heritage Program to let him know. But please do not turn stones looking for the salamanders, or disturb their delicate habitats. We want to encourage this rare friend to think of our neighborhood as his own!
The Whitland Area Neighborhood Association will host "Dumpster Day" on Saturday, October 1st. The main feature of this day are neighborhood-wide yard sales from 8:00am to 1:00pm.
We make this easy for you by providing the following:
- Advertising the sales
- Posting signs that direct shoppers into the neighborhood
- Marking your sale with balloons at the curb
- Providing maps to help shoppers locate all of the sales
All you need to do is empty out those closets/attics/basements, price your items, set them out by 8:00am on Saturday, October 1st and sell, sell, sell!
To register your sale, please send an email to Bob Glenn at re.glenn@yahoo.com so your sale will be included on our neighborhood map of the sales so shoppers can find you!
The 4th July on Whitland Avenue event will take place beginning at 11AM on Monday,the 4th of July,2016. This is the 39th year of this annual fun-filled family celebration which involves a patriotic program with speaker, a wonderful musical presentation,fellowship,& family-styled picnic. If you've never attended before, we promise you will not be disappointed!
This notice also serves as a courtesy to inform you that on-street parking will be TEMPORARILY restricted in the area of Whitland Avenue on Monday, 4 July 2016 from approximately 9:00AM until 3:00PM that day. Please plan to park your vehicle in an alternate location on the event date. Any vehicles left in NO PARKING areas during the times listed above will be ticketed and towed at owners' expense. (please refer to attached map).
We begin setting up for this event on Saturday, the 2nd, and Sunday, the 3rd of July. Although the time is not certain,Crown Tent & Awning will be here sometime during the day (most likely afternoon) of July 2nd to install the large tent at the very small block between West End Avenue & Whitland Avenue at Carden. The tent will be there for the duration of the event and will not be removed by the tent company until the morning of Tuesday,July 5th. (see attached map please)
Blinker Lite provides us with barricades for street closures. They will be placed at West End Avenue so that no cars can enter Carden Avenue from West End where the tent is installed. There will also be barricades at the intersection of Whitland & Cantrell on the day of the event (4th July) and also at the intersection of Whitland & Craighead Avenue the day of the event. This is to insure the safety of all the guests,as the event primarily takes place between these blocks of on Whitland Avenue (please refer to attached map). The Whitland barricades are removed once the site is cleaned up and everyone has safely left the event. The barricades where the large tent is located (see map) will not be removed until the tent is removed (Tuesday AM,July 5, 2016)
We will have one port-a-potty available on-site (see map for its location). Since this is a neighborhood event, if you see anyone in need,please offer them assistance at your home.
We employ Metro Nashville Police Department Secondary Patrol unit for security at our event. There w:ill be two officers present at all times during the day of the event. Contact telephone number for their office is {615) 880-3278. The after-hours pager number is 615-963-0230 One of the officers on duty that day can assist you whenever needed.
Other important contact information you need here:
Rory.Rowan@nashville. gov (615) 862-8782 Rory is with Metro Public Works who can provide more detailed information about the street closure permits issued for this event
Gordon.Richard@nashville. gov (615) 862-8697 Gordon can provide more detailed information about the
Special Event Permit issued for this event.
David Fox,4th July Host Committee and neighbor: (615) 218-3000 dfox@mpf.com
Denise Hawkins,4th July Host Committee and neighbor: (615) 298-1880 or (615) 804-7645 necer@bellsouth.net
CarolArmes 4th July Host Committee & neighbor 615-305-7497 c for texts carolarmes@gmail.com
Bob Pitz 4th July Host Committee & neighbor 615-218-1955 c robert.w.pitz@vanderbilt.edu
Additional Comments about Parking
While this is a neighborhood event and most guests walk to the event,if you have relatives or close friends planning on attending,just make sure they are aware of the temporary street closure (barricades) on Whitland the day of the event on 4th July 2016 and our on-street parking policy during the hours of the event on the 4th. There are side streets of Leonard Avenue or Craighead Avenue where visitors may park. But we ask that you make sure that no homeowner's driveway is blocked. Please be courteous at all times of others who live in our neighborhood. Carden & Cantrell Avenue side streets are dead-ends and are very narrow -- please do not use these streets for parking unless you reside on these streets. We need to make sure that residents on these narrow dead-end streets have access to emergency needs should that arise and parking along these two streets makes that very,very,difficult.
In the event of an emergency,please notify one of the hosts listed above who will be on-site and available during the days leading up to the event and the day of the event. We will assess the situation and take all measures necessary to insure the absolute safety and comfort of our guests.
Thank you!
Please have a safe & happy 4th of July
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Among our Whitland neighbors, we have lots of proud graduates and their parents to salute this spring. They include:
Sam Fisher, son of Luci Crow graduated from USN and will be attending Washington University in the fall.
Jackson Regen, son of Robinson & Doug Regen graduated from Albion College
Anna Pitz, daughter of Bob Pitz & Carol Armes received her DDS from Virginia Commonwealth University in Richmond, ,VA She will continue with a 3-year residency in prosthodontics at the University of Texas Health Sciences in San Antonio in July, 2016
Joel Bell Covington V, grandson of Charlotte and the late Joel Covington, graduated from Hillsboro High School with an International Baccalaureate diploma. He will be attending Furman University in Greenville, SC in the fall
Crawford Lyons, son of Bob & Melissa Lyons graduated from USN
Elizabeth Conrad, daughter of Marty & Jim Conrad completed her PhD in Molecular Physiology at Vanderbilt University
Will Allen, son of Kelly Motley and John Allen graduated from Montgomery Bell Academy and will be attending Kenyon College and playing baseball for the Lords this fall.
Congratulate these neighbors when you see them!
The May 21 cleanup of Kingfisher Creek took place as scheduled. In spite of the event being advertised as annual it had not been done last year. Vegetation had grown up so high the creek could not be seen almost the entire way from Wilson to Bowling. What a difference a day makes to improve the appearance of the street when there is a crew of about 20 neighbors and friends to help. 80% of the work was completed in 2 hours. Click on photos to enlarge.
Lessons Learned
1. Unwanted papers are washed down Carden and Leonard during rain storms and wind up littering in near the creek. Please clean up these papers when delivered and advise the advertisers to take you off their list.
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2. A significant number of filled doggy bags were tossed into the brush and not carried home. This is worse than not using bags where the waste disintegrates in a few days. Bags can take years. Photo too disgusting to show.
3. The use of woody plant pullers, borrowed from Warner Parks thanks to Melissa, made it much easier to pull up invasive species by the roots easily. This stops the plants from just growing right back. Left side photo shows one standing up. Right side shows Kevin in action.
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4. Where the creek runs under Leonard, there is a dam of gravel which creates a pond that could provide a mosquito breeding ground. Committee Chair Bob is removing some of invasive plants at the bridge.
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5. Committee Secretary Cyril provided and operated a chain saw which made quick work of some of the invasive trees and dead branches. Left photo right to left Lucius, Revell & Cyril
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6. How to identify plant signs all along the route were a great help to workers to avoid t
he poison ivy.
7. It took three people to clean up around the Carden bridge.
8. Most of the crew worked the creekfrom Carden to Leonard. Amazingly there was very little trash to collect along Rolland Road (see 1 & 2 for the exceptions). Chairman Bob G. arranged to have one lane of the road blocked on the creek side. This was a brilliant move since we avoiding having to submit a comprehensive plan and employ an off duty policeman. A number of cones and lane blocked signs were rented. Traffic on the open lane proceeded with caution with very few exceptions. Being able to put so much brush on the road made it much easier. Thanks very much to the Rolland Residents for putting up with this. Metro is scheduled for Monday to take all the brush away.
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9. At noon a potluck lunch was enjoyed by all. Two residents unable to attend the clean up kindly provided homemade BBQ pork tenderloin.
Report & photos by Bob Duthie
Google fiber is being installed in the Whitland Neighborhood. Crews were up installing the cable between Carden and Leonard a week ago. Google will leave door hangers before coming to do construction in this neighborhood. Those door hangers also include Google contact information should you have any questions or concerns during the construction process. This new fiber network will offer up to 100 or 1000 MB/S Internet, TV service with DVR, and Local and International Phone service. I learned at a presentation yesterday that once the fiber is brought to your home your existing coax and Ethernet wiring can be used within your home to connect your TV's and computers. Our good neighbor and Halloween costume prize winner, Martha Ivester, who is also Google fiber's Operations Leader was interviewed by the Tennessean and stressed that customer service "Is something we want to always deliver on. When we tell you someone is going to be there at 8:35 they are there at 8:35 ". What a refreshing statement to hear from a utility provider. More here or call 877-454-6959
Bob Duthie, 220 Carden
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The crown jewel of our extraordinary neighborhood was here long before the first house was erected. It's Kingfisher Creek, a rare taste of wild beauty in an urban world.
On May 21st from 8:30 12:00, come pitch in to help maintain our natural gem with the Annual Creek Clean-Up. Neighbors will join side by side to clear away brush, overgrown vegetation and garbage that can inhibit the creek's ability to renew itself. And as a reward there will music, a potluck lunch and barbecue.
It may be more than a month away but mark your calendars!
Also if you'd like to be part of a committee now forming to chart the course for creek maintenance and renewal, please contact Bob Glenn: re.glenn@yahoo.com
Neighbors - ENDADA is a community event April 16th run by the students at MBA. It's a FREE celebration of all things art. There will be live bands on two stages, art demonstrations by local and student artists, art-centered activities for kids, local food trucks to celebrate the culinary arts,and much more . The weather is forecasted to be glorious. Come on down to the campus and enjoy a beautiful spring day!
Beth Preston
If you live in the city block defined by Carden, Whitland, and Leonard your power was out for 23 hours. This was no simple outage usually fixed in a few minutes. 
A high voltage line snapped and was lying on the road on Carden. Nashville Electric must have had a lot of failures due to the high winds and was unable to get to Whitland until Thursday afternoon, April 7th. It took 3 hours to fix the problem and restring new lines. 
Power was restored around 4 pm. At least one neighbor was seen buying dry ice to save the food in her freezer. It was tough to watch all the other homes across the street with lights blazing while we had to resort to flashlights, candles and oil lamps.
Bob Duthie
We are conducting a brief survey about activities and events sponsored by the Whitland Area Neighborhood Association. Please take a moment to share your feedback through this survey. We appreciate your time and hope to better serve your interests in the future based on these results. We will be sharing the results once we have tabulated responses and look forward to sharing that with you. Please click here to take the survey.
Thank you!
Bob Glenn, President, Whitland Area Neighborhood Association
Neighborhood photographers were out along side the Rolland Rd creek after the rain on Sunday March 13. Adele Tyler took the pair of ducks on the left. Bob Duthie took the other two photos. It was amazing to find the pair of ducks enjoying the rain garden (right photo) at the bottom of Carden Ave. Will we have baby ducks soon? Click on each photo to enlarge.
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Sunday, Jan 31st at Blakemore United Methodist Church in the Fellowship Hall
Please mark your calendar. 3:30 PM - 4:00 PM coffee and dessert, 4:00 PM - 5:00 PM - Annual Meeting
Agenda to Include:
Invited guests, Metro Council Member Kathleen Murphy and Sgt. Linn of the West Nashville Precinct
Review of Past Year's Events
Election of the 2016 WANA Steering Committee
The 2015 WANA Steering Committee acted as the nominating committee for the 2016 WANA Steering Committee, in order to canvas as much of the neighborhood as possible. If there are other neighbors who are interested in joining the committee, please plan on attending the Annual Meeting and being nominated during the meeting.
2016 Steering Committee Slate
Officers (1 year term)
President - Bob Glenn, Vice President - Brooke Shuster, Secretary - Cyril Stewart*, Treasurer - Gwyneth Neuss
New/Renewing Members (2 year term)
Kirk Davis, Melissa Donahue, Lynne Falk*, Bob Lyons*, Robinson Regen, Kevin Stack*, Cyril Stewart *
*=new members
Continuing Members (not up for election)
Luci Crow, Bob Duthie, Lesley Omary, Brooke Shuster, Bob Glenn, Gwyneth Neuss
Thank you to our retiring members!!
Mike Jameson, Denise Hawkins, Revell Michael, Dianne Neal, Michael Rook
The new website is hosted on a private server and will be more secure than the old site. It is also much easier for volunteers to add content. Whitland Area residents can download a draft copy of the new directory more easily than our old site. Check it out under the Directory Tab.
Make a note, the Annual Meeting will be on Sunday January 31st, 3:00-5:00pm at Blakemore United Methodist Church. Our council representative, Kathleen Murphy and Metro Nashville Police, Sgt. Steve Linn will talk about the latest developments in the neigborhood. Come and meet your neighbors and enjoy desert.
Looking for the online form for the Whitland Directory update? Click here for a Google Form that you can fill out to update your contact information.
There is lots going on this weekend in the Whitland Neighborhood! Beginning at 8 AM Dumpster Day will kick off with over 30 yard sales around the neighborhood. We will also have dumpsters and Goodwill donation sites located on Craighead and Carden Ave respectively.
That evening we will have Movies in the Dark. Located in the open area near the Carden Ave footbridge.
First Feature: Epic 7:15 PM
Second Feature: Divergent 9:00 PM
Come join in the neighborhood activities!
Please save the date and join us after the neighborhood yard sales on September 27 for Movies in the Dark at the Carden Avenue footbridge.
Have a movie recommendation? Please email suggestions to Bob Lyons at bob3@bandbmfg.com
Want to celebrate your successful yard sale by going "out" to eat that evening without the hassle of getting all dressed up? Then a food truck would be the perfect addition to Movies in the Dark! If you are in favor of the idea, or if you have a specific food truck recommendation, please let Bob know. (note: There would be a minimum amount of food sales required to get a food truck, so commitments to purchase food are requested).
Mark your calendars now for Movies in the Dark on September 27!
Online Directory
The 2017 WANA updated Directory is available to residents for down-loading from this Website. Check the "Directory" tab
