Folks,
Sorry if you might get this
twice … but there are folks on the RCAC email list that I do not have on our
Annual Holiday gathering list and I do want to extend an invitation to each and
everyone.
(Besides if you get this
twice, reading it once is all that is required. ;-) )
Hope you will be able to join
us!
Bill
PS Yes this time I did mean
to send this email out to everyone!
================
We would love
to have you join us, Bett & Bill @ our Annual Holiday Party
(always first Friday in
December & always you are invited)
Friday, Dec. 4th,
2009 5:00 to 10:00
1213 Dixie
Trial
Bett@BettPadgett.com
& Bill@BillPadgett.com
787-6378
(RSVP if possible)
Friends,
Please
join us for our annual Holiday Gathering on Friday, December 4th, 5 PM - 10 PM. This
may well be our LAST ‘LEGAL’ Holiday Gathering … see end of this message as you
will find this very interesting. Our Holiday Affair is one where many of our
friends and colleagues (technology, music, environmental, political and neighbors)
get together and enjoy good food, company and holiday singing and music. We
invite you to romp around the house and grounds and have pizza and other things
to nibble on, sodas, cider, beer and wine.
If
you would like to contribute dishes, desserts, appetizers, or your favorite
beverage, etc. please feel free to do so. We welcome the variety! It is helpful
that if you plan to bring something to share – Thank
YOU! Also please try to RSVP if you are planning to come since it is
very helpful for us to plan for the evening and the food, but please come
whether you remember to RSVP or not.
PLEASE
EXTEND THIS INVITATION TO YOUR SPOUCE, FRIEND, PARTNER, KIDS, PARENTS AND CLOSE
NEIGHBORS and PALS! The festivities begin at ~5 PM ...Anytime right after work,
but we go on into the evening.
***********
There is always a little something special under the tree for the little ones **********
***********
Hopefully Some Special Entertainment ~6:30 **********
***********
SINGING BEGINS AT ~ 7:30! *************
MOST IMPORTANT: We celebrate ten years of happiness at Little Lake Hill, the name
of the house and grounds given by Nancy and John Ferguson in 1932. We are
grateful for the success of a wonderful house
concert series and that we have been able to share of our home with many
organizations and events and friends who have helped in making all of these
gatherings so special and have become part of continuing ‘spirit’ of Little
Lake Hill.
This
gathering is SO MUCH FUN and hopefully will start you holiday season with the
singing with kids joining in on an array of instruments
and everyone running around the house, inside and out.
1213
Dixie Trail is the first house on the left north of Wade Avenue. Parking is
available on both sides of Dixie Trail after 6 PM,
but you will probably be safe if you park on the street a little before that
time. If you need special access or are
carrying in food, you may park along the horseshoe driveway on the grassy
areas, but be careful not to block anyone in and keep the carport
free
for passage. Looking forward to seeing you on the 4th!
Please let us hear from you!
Bill
and Bett
Some of you are aware that the City
of Raleigh’s Inspections and Zoning department has cited us for having gatherings
– in this case house concerts - in our home, charging us with operating a
‘prima facia business’. We were more saddened to learn that our citation is due
to an anonymous person who only stated they thought we were in
violation of the city’s zoning code. This was not a nuisance complaint – it did
not concern noise, parking, etc. in fact in our nearly 10 years of having about
9 house concerts each year, there have not been any complaints of parking or
disturbance and our concerts end well before 11 PM I may add! As a matter of
fact, many of our neighbors attend the concerts and are happy that they are
close enough that they can WALK! Also we have talked with all of our contiguous
neighbors and they are unanimous in support of our community and art gatherings
and they will be writing letters of support that
they will have to have notarized! We have never profited from any event in our
home – of course we have raised money for charities, artists, and even politicians
by asking for donations at many of our events – so if we are a ‘business’ we
are not real good at it. ;-) Just for the record, we do carry a business
license for Bett’s Music Studio located at 1213 Dixie Trail for 30 years where
music is taught – guitar, rhythm, song writing, performance and bringing in
artists that mentor and demonstrate the skills of that business.
We feel that the interpretation of the zoning code of
Raleigh is in conflict as to how we want to use our home. As long as it is not illegal nor a disturbance or detriment to the neighborhood
(we have laws for that) how we use our homes and the
nature of our gatherings in our homes should be determined by us. So we have hired an attorney and are making
an appeal to the Board of Adjustments asking for an interpretation of the code
which states that we are in violation of
the law because we have more than three (3) events per calendar year. ‘Event’
has been defined for us on several occasions by Inspections as any gathering of
people i.e. Bible Study, Garden Club, Book Club, Political Meet and Greet, Boy
or Girl Scouts, 501 3C board meeting, Community meeting as well as House
Concerts and even birthday parties – so we assume
also our HOLIDAY CELEBRATION. In conversations with the inspections staff, they have used the terms,
‘Regular Basis’, which would imply a scheduled event, such as our first Friday
in December or Bill’s monthly Dix306 board meetings. Whatever our code interprets as an ‘event’, households in Raleigh are
allowed to have only three ‘events’ in any
calendar year. Many of you may be in violation as well, and note that anyone for whatever reason can make your
life interesting - anonymously ;-) by reporting you. We hope that the city will
review their interpretation of ‘events’ and will allow that more than three (3)
can take place as long as there is a consensus especially when the gatherings are a benefit to the community and
have no negative impact on the neighborhood. If they do not agree to a text
change, we may appeal to higher courts based on issues like ‘freedom of speech
and freedom to gather’, depending upon the cost. (For the record, you may have three (3) events up to 24 hours each or one
(1) ‘temporary event’ up to 20 days – we are guessing that ‘the 20 days’
is included so
that all the homes & yards around the Fair Grounds can become a
parking lot for the weeks of the fair.)
For
9 ½ years many of you have joined us for good music, community building and
fellowship. Some of you have come to nearly every house concert and appreciate
that we open our home to you. If you have indeed enjoyed the musical experience
& education at Little Lake Hill House concerts, or if you value that one’s
home is not just a place where you eat and sleep but also can be enjoyed shared
with friends and others more than three times a year, there IS a way you can
help. Letters can be written to the City’s BOA (Board of Adjustment) affirming
the benefit to the community of the house concerts.
These letters must be notarized to have standing. We hope that if
one of you is a Notary you will consider coming to the party and help us
notarizing letters. If you are a notary (or know of one), please contact us at
919-787-6378 or email Bett at bett@bettpadgett.com.
We will have a station in our house where letters can be notarized and we will
take them to the Board of Adjustment hearing when we meet with them, probably
on December 14th. We may have a petition for you to sign, or a list you
can sign up to get more information as we go further with this process. We are
sad to bring you this news at such a joyous time of year, but friends stick
together, and we hope you will help us make it legal for all of us not to be
limited by three (3) events in their homes each year!
Thanks
& we hope everyone has a wonderful and safe Holiday Season & we hope to
see you on the 4th!
Bill
& Bett