NEED READER INPUT AND IDEAS!

Wow. Sister Susannah (the new age nun) told me about a year ago that I needed to make this blog a home improvement blog and document my projects. I think it has morphed into that now.
I have a very small project that needs to be addressed. Actually I have been addressing it for 8 years and nothing I have done has worked. This is truly a curb appeal thing. I need suggestions. I need brainstorming (which, according to my project management class means offer any suggestion that comes to your mind without editing, no matter how crazy it seems). I have this funky bit of dirt where my mailbox sits on the street:

It's about 12' long and at the widest point (where the mailbox post is) it's maybe 8" or 10" wide.

Here's the problem: whenever there's more than a light rain anything in this area is washed out and down the street due to a bad slope in the driveway. I first tried putting garden soil in there and planting it. Washed down the street. Then I put a heavy layer of pine bark mulch on it. Washed down the street. Then I tried landscaping fabric with river stones about the size of eggs on top. Washed down the street (in this case I would walk down the street after the rain with a big bucket to retrieve them but that got old very fast). Last year I planted a purple clematis at the base of the mailbox post. Over the winter most of the soil got washed down the street and now I have a struggling, sickly clematis and a lot of weeds.

I have no idea what to do with this area. It is an eyesore and I want to fix it. I refuse to concrete it all over. That is the only rule I have for this discussion.

This is on my May "To Do" list and any comments or suggestions would be greatly appreciated.