April 18, 2018 Minutes

Meeting Minutes

 

Date: April 18, 2018

Called to Order: 6:34 PM

Presided by: Denis Houle, President

Note taker: Laurel Luxenberg

In attendance: Bri Keeney, Tara Brown, Laurel Luxenberg, Ryan Antkowiak, Michael Kootsikas, Stephanie Vigen, Judy Vecere, Jim Hoch, Joel Federer.

Other attendees: Nikki Lindberg, Coordinator, Nikki Friederich, Park Director, Jennifer Waisanen, City of Minneapolis Crime Prevention Specialist, Kathy Waite, 5th Precinct Inspector, Colleen O’Dell, Park Planner MPRB. Residents: Tyler Mulcahey, Ann LaBrea, John Prokop, Blaine Havtay (sp), Adriana Dobrzyuce (sp).

 

Public Works:

  • Jennifer Waisanen: Crime and Safety: 1 acquaintance rape; 1 robbery from Holiday (likely a Juvenile, no injury); Domestic assault; Officer assault (spitting); 5 burglaries – 2 garages (1 door open), Pizzeria Lola, 2 home break-ins by suspects known to the victims. 10 auto thefts, often in business parking lots when people are leaving things in cars visible to people walking by (crime of opportunity). Parking lots included Red Wagon Pizza, Cave Vin and Book Club. Be mindful of leaving things in cars, especially in business parking lots. Crime patterns similar in comparison to surrounding neighborhoods. Thefts of credit cards being used to buy gift cards.
    • Question about folks going up and down alley: Advice: look at behavior of individual, if it’s unusual or suspicious for your neighborhood, call 911 (not 311).
  • Kathy Waite: follow up re: death of a woman hit by a car as a pedestrian on 54th and Penn several months ago – there was a long process of obtaining search warrants for the computer of the car involved which took some time but now with that info gathered, the investigator has sent it to Hennepin County Attorney’s office to consider charges.
    • Question from resident re: how many officers, on average, do we have on a beat in the 5th precinct. Answer, there are several shifts but the mid-day watch + dog watch will have between 6-15 squads out at this time but there is some crossover with Edina, Richfield, etc. When incidents happen in other precincts (like SWAT situations) our squads will go to those areas for support so we might see fewer squads on the street at that time.  
  • Colleen O’Dell: Park Planner and landscape architect with MPRB – Southwest Service Area Master Plan (SWSAMP): landmark funding agreement with city is coming in for infrastructure now so we want to talk with community about what we want to see in the parks. 5 areas of city have been divided up, and SW is the last area being done, south of 394 and west of 35W. Not looking at regional parks, looking only at neighborhood parks (42 total), doesn’t include buildings but does include playgrounds, pools, fields, etc. This process will take 12-18 months to put together a plan with draft plans coming out in the fall. Over winter they will be finalized and final plans will be brought to public hearing in April 2019 followed by a 45 day comment period. Hopefully it will be adopted middle of next year by their board.

 

President’s Report – none

 

Secretary Report – March minutes approved online, no update

 

Treasurer Report – Financials emailed, no update

 

Park Update, Nikki Friederich – Spring baseball on standby because of the snow, gym being used right now for baseball. Some spots still open for baseball and softball; stop in to park to register. Summer registration open now.

    • Movie Night (7/9) Mighty Ducks
    • Sports and summer program registrations open now

 

Committee Updates

    • Community Engagement
      • Washburn Park Update – Hearing 4/18 at Park Board Office: 2117 West River Road, Minneapolis, MN 55411.
      • Buying additional items for the lot to be considered by board using neighborhood money: suggestions presented are bike racks, picnic tables, concrete pads, benches. Feedback encouraged. See email for cost breakdown (sent by Bri). Discussion. $15,000 approx. for total replacement of picnic tables, benches, less the grill. Some in favor of bike rack and grill to build community, others opposed due to safety, clean-up. If we do all of it, $17,000. Motion from Bri for spending up to $17,000, no grill. Second by Judy Vecere. Discussion.
      • Discussion: who wanted the grill in the first place? Where did that request come from? No water access, no bathroom, could be a safety concern. If we spend $17,000 where does that leave us in terms of monies? Nikki: some uncontracted monies still available from city, over $100,000. In our contracted monies we have $43,000, so enough to fund this motion. Vote: all in favor, motion carries.
      • Happy Hour – May 1 at Red Wagon 7-9
      • Neighborhood Garage Sale (June 2) online registration & payment available, info will be included in newsletter. Nikki will need help distributing maps day of.
    • Green Team – No update.
      • Meeting update – no meeting scheduled at this time, will be in near future
      • Rain Garden installation delay due to weather. (July 30-Aug 1)
      • Earth Day event: CANCELLED Kenny Park/Grass Lake (1328 58th St. W) 9:30-noon 4/21 rescheduled to 5/12
    • Summer Festival August 12
      • Tasks by board member
        • Showmobile (booked)
        • Food vendors: Red Wagon, LaLa Homemade Ice Cream (Bri and Stephanie)
        • Band: Chime (Joel)
        • Sponsorship – forms online, outreach started
        • TapMpls (booked)
        • Car Show – Marc is on top of it 🙂 (online registration available)
        • Raffle – Judy and Jim
        • Kids games – Denis
        • Volunteer coordinator – Kelly?
        • Table vendors – Ryan

 

    • Gary Safety initiative (Gary not in attendance) – need subcommittee, Nikki will send out doodle poll to get things moving
    • Special project subcommittee proposed by Denis to work on requests we get from annual meeting

 

Coordinator Update

    • Ward 13 Board Member Summit April 18 7-8:30 at Armatage Rec Center to talk about neighborhood issues with Linea Palmisano: Neighborhood 2020 conversation and future funding, 2040 comprehensive plan, open for questions – moving to Book Club following end of meeting to socialize.
    • NCEC seat – Denis’ term limit is up. You can apply for an appointed position, applications due Friday 4/20. Contact Denis with any questions if interested.
    • SW and Creek CAC appointments
    • Paper shredding event hosted by Kelly O’Neil Realty 4/21 10am-noon at Armatage Park – reminder from Tara that this option is better for the environment than putting shredding in recycling bins.
    • 2020 Roadmap feedback – due to the city by 4/30 after we review. Nikki sending out after we provide feedback/edit/contribute to final version.
    • May meeting Sen. Scott Dibble would like to attend meeting to check in
  • New Business – Bri not running for re-election due to new job; congratulations Bri! There are 2 open seats coming up in May, Tyler will be running for a spot. President seat up for vote in June. Stephanie – land at 62nd and Washburn: what are we doing with it, has large pine trees – Green Team looking into it and will report back with decision. Fence on Russell – variance update: we did send note back to welcome them to the neighborhood but we declined to take a stand on the variance request. The city wants us to have input on these things which is why we receive them.

 

Meeting Adjourned at 7:46 PM