It’s Almost Ours

by Peggy Berg

$232,729 is an exciting number for the Civic Association. That’s how much we still owe on our loan for North Highland Park at the corner of North Highland and St. Charles, a lovely site that is home to our holiday tree lighting and the Warren Bruno Summerfest Celebration Ride.

The Virginia-Highland Civic Association bought this land to increase the neighborhood’s greenspace. The purchase was supported by an $855,000 loan from  the Georgia Environmental Finance Authority (GEFA); additional funds and a generous grant from Park Pride covered the construction costs. Paul Burks, Sandy d’Aprile, and Peter Hughes handled a lot of the administrative efforts, and the park’s landscape architect, Peter Frawley, made a huge in-kind donation.  (Frawley’s considerable skills are also on display at John Howell Park, which he also designed.)

Many other citizens made significant contributions, but this park’s existence will always be associated with Pamela Papner, whose boundless energy and determination made it happen. We owe her – and the hundreds of neighbors and board members whose volunteer efforts at Summerfest and Tour of Homes each year have helped pay for it – a huge amount of appreciation. We also thank the anonymous special contributors who have given extra donations for the last several years.

We pay the loan down about $73,000 each year in scheduled mortgage payments and have made additional principal payments three times in the last four years. We are delighted to report that over $622,000 of the loan has been paid off. We hope to retire the loan in the next three years.
So $232,729 may seem like a big number, but we’ve come a long way and the end is in sight.

Peggy Berg is a VHCA Board Member and co-chairs the Budget Committee.

Photo by Stephen Cohen