HAND General Meeting
May 20, 2008
Board members present: Co-chair Susan Pearce, Secretary Carolyn Brock, Treasurer Holli Ballestrem, Communications Chair Liz Gatti, Alex Bassos, Dave Kaplan, Wendy Kunkel, Amy Lewin, Matthew Masini, Lindsey McBride, Sean McCusker, Marilee Tillstrom, Ethan Timm
Board members absent: Co-chair Linda Nettekoven, Frank Dufay, Jack Spadaro
Meeting called to order at 7:12 PM by Sue Pearce.
Crime Report:
Officer Josh Letter spoke about the recent crime statistics for the HAND District. 4/19/08 – 5/19/08: 4 burglaries and 5 larcenies. Also motor vehicle theft parts i.e. catalytic converters. He cannot say how much crime in the neighborhood has increased or decreased since last month. Amy mentioned that she has noticed an increase in transients along her street. The Officer said to call if there are any problems.
Introductions:
Chris Schloe of Edible Arrangements had brought a sample of his product for all of us to enjoy. They deliver in the area. They are at NE 27th and Glisan. Insiders’ tip: pull fruit off the skewer so you are not wrestling with the arrangement.
Approval of April Meeting Minutes:
Sue explained that at 10 of the 12 monthly meetings only Board members are allowed to vote. She added that those that live, own property, or operate a business in the neighborhood could vote in the General May Meeting.
• No corrections or additions. Dave moved to approve, Ethan 2nd. 11 yea 0 nay and 1 abstention.
Treasurer’s Report:
Current balance: $30,684.79. That includes deposits of $2,475 including money from the cleanup. $216 for the costs with reimbursements to be covered by SEUL. Starbucks donated food. Liz asked if there was money coming from Starbucks. Lindsey said about $1,000 is expected from Starbucks and will take about 4-6 months.
Two requests: Hosford School Foundation to help fund positions. There is also another request to help fund the Somali Girls’ BB Team. Ethan asked what the foundation is. Dave said that schools could have foundations to help subsidize the school activities.
The Somali Girls’ BB Project is for girls that attend Hosford Middle School. Amy explained that they wanted us to have intent to donate. The Executive Committee will take up the issue. Lindsey said that we should come up with a set of criteria to help us decide how we donate money.
Announcements:
1. Parking challenges surrounding New Seasons Market. Brian Rohter will attend.
2. Development of 20th and Market.
3. Eastside Streetcar Loop. The alignment is established. Things are stalled in Washington DC because of funding uncertainties.
4. Dave added that Hawthorne and Broadway/Weidler alignment are at the top of the list for consideration of new streetcar lines.
5. Light rail is looking at alignment plans including a bridge from the eastside of the river to the Westside as part of the line south to Milwaukie. Open House at Cleveland tomorrow from 6:00-8:00, another on Thursday, same time, at the Marriott Residence Inn in the Riverplace Neighborhood. Now until 20th of June to make public comment.
6. Pocket Park where 19th would be just West of New Seasons. HAND is looking at doing something to have a Pocket Park since we are park-poor.
7. Division Clinton Business Association Street Fair on July 26.
8. National Night Out on August 5th. How neighborhoods can work together.
9. June 17: next HAND meeting.
10. Muddy Boots September 5-7. The keynote speech will be on the 5th by Dr. Wes Jackson.
11. Kina Voelz will be serving as our Land Use/Transportation chair, although she is not joining the board at this time.
12. Cleanup: Marilee gave a recap of Cleanup history. To start was to get the junk out of the neighborhood. Now it has evolved to collecting non-curbside recyclables. We will act as a middleman to get the materials where they need to go. This year we had 7 dumpsters, 3 for trash totaling 8.5 tons and 3 for debris at 7.95 tons. The 7th dumpster was for metal, and we got a $163 credit. We have hats for the volunteers 21 volunteers and 36 hats. $50 grant from SOLV. Ann and Craig Swinford, big thank you for sweeping the whole parking lot. Another big thank you for the communication to Liz, Amy, and Holli for helping to put together the cleanup for mailers, posters, etc. Outstanding bills: SEUL will pay $626, and we have bills for $611. Holli gave the actual amount raised from the clean-up: $2,257.
Elections:
Up for re-election: Ethan Timm, Wendy Kunkel, Lindsey McBride, Sue Pearce, Linda Netekoven, Marilee Tillstrom, Dave Kaplan.
We are not putting Frank Dufay on the ballot without his approval.
Open up the floor to more nominations: Joseph Murphy, Lois Hankins.
Dave moved to close 2nd by Amy to close nominations. Unanimous.
Marilee move to accept the slate as is. Liz 2nd the nomination as a whole:
Ethan Timm, Wendy Kunkel, Lindsey McBride, Sue Pearce, Linda Netekoven, Marilee Tillstrom, Dave Kaplan, Joseph Murphy, and Lois Hankins.
• The slate was elected unanimously.
20th and Market:
Trying to decide on a meeting for response of the Executive Committee. Wednesday the 28th of May at Palio’s at 7:30 PM. Discussion of what the developer’s intentions are. Dave will set up the meeting space for the discussion.
Green Team:
Alex spoke about a sustainability Initiative for HAND. There was a point in time in the ‘90’s saying it was too difficult sorting the information on the Internet. Google counted the clicks and links to a website. Gas prices are skyrocketing. We are trying to deal with problems individually how to solve them. We can pitch in and help to make our neighborhood cleaner.
There is no reason why my apple cart should sit in a garage when my neighbor has an apple tree and another goes to the store to buy apples, cider, etc. Imagine if the neighborhood could share information for topics that people have. Block-based green teams can help with this.
1. Green Team potentially on every block in the neighborhood. Connect the different teams to each other.
2. Third Place between work and home to help share information.
3. Rolling out project in September.
Tim O’Neal from SEUL spoke about the project. Help build sustainability committees across the coalition. This may be neighborhood specific. The point is to initiate the process. Brainstorm to get the project moving. He can collect what worked and did not work to help future neighborhoods with the process of establishing the sustainability committees.
Ethan feels that the sharing of ideas and have it spread organically throughout the neighborhood.
• HAND passed a policy to reduce the neighborhood’s carbon footprint. We decided to go after the low hanging fruit. Take little steps to help bring about changes.
Dave raised concerns about how some technologies that are now feasible i.e. solar panels, and how that fits in to historic districts such as Ladd’s Addition.
New Recycling Program:
Tristan Whitehead from Master Recyclers was back to answer questions after last month’s presentation. One cannot recycle pizza boxes. With food debris cannot include store bought foods in the yard debris bins. Putting in consumer items goes against DEQ.
Meeting adjourned.
Submitted by:
Sean McCusker, Note-taker
Carolyn Brock, Secretary