July 15, 2014 Minutes

Armatage Neighborhood Association Meeting

Meeting was called to order at 6:35 by Board President, Denis Houle. Meeting was called to order without a quorum, but a 6th board member arrived a few minutes later, so we did have a quorum for the meeting.

ANA board members in attendance: Denis Houle, Jeff Forss, Tom Alagna, Bri Keeney, Sarah Broich, Lance Custer

Others in attendance: Tina Erazmus, ANA staff member; Matt Perry, NEHBA; Nikki Friederich, Park Director; City Councilmember Linea Palmisano; Ray Hoover, Principal Aide to Marion Greene

Park Update by Nikki Friederich, Park Director

  • Sports registration starts next week for soccer and volleyball. Football registration is open now.
  • The first family “Out Is In” event was held at Minnehaha Creek and was a success with about 40 people in attendance. There is a “Picture a Park” photo contest currently going on and submissions for that are welcomed. There is also a 3 day safety camp coming up for 3rd and 4th graders.
  • Fall is around the corner and registration opens August 4th for fall programs. Park Director is currently hiring for after-school programs (hours are approx. 2pm-6pm), and she is looking for applicants.
  • More information on all of these events/activities is available at the Armatage Park building.

Councilmember Update by Linea Palmisano, Ward 13 City Councilmember

The 13th Ward office recently published a toolkit for Neighbors of New Construction. The toolkit is available on the website and there is also a link in the most recent Ward 13 Newsletter. The Planning Department conducted a planning study of the most recent 320 homes built in Minneapolis and from that some small zoning code changes are being proposed. This will end a process that started back in February, and there is now a website is dedicated to this study which has all the current updates. Linea highlighted some of the proposed changes. She answered questions and there was a short discussion on the new codes. She emphasized that they have been trying to create code that addresses all possible scenarios, which is difficult. Councilmember Palmisano left for the Kenny neighborhood meeting but asked that Tina (ANA coordinator), update her on the Upton Bikeway discussion.

Hennepin County Commissioner Update by Ray Hoover, Principal Aide to Marion Greene

  • Commissioner Greene put out her first newsletter in July with basic information on what Hennepin County does.
  • Her main projects/goals include Early Childhood Education, Pushing for and prioritizing “one stop shops” for social services (hubs where people can get connected to all services and resources they might need), and improving communication from the commissioner’s office to the public. She wants to be accessible to the public. Marion is now chair of Health and Human Service Committee.
  • A question was asked about flood damage cost- Mr. Hoover confirmed that the county has indeed reached the threshold to qualify for federal aid and will be reimbursed by the federal government for damage costs.

Upton Bike Boulevard Update

A meeting was held on 7/8/14 to discuss the Upton Bike Blvd. At that meeting there was a proposal for 2 speed bumps. Neighbors in attendance at that meeting expressed not wanting speed bumps and it seems that the speed bump proposal will now be delayed because there will be a new stop sign at 58th at Upton. The hope is that the stop sign alone with alleviate the speed problems, and they will re-evaluate the need for speed bumps after another year. It seems that most residents are against speed bumps. There will also be a crosswalk at 56th.

A request was made by a resident for a board statement against the speed bumps. Motion was made to draft a letter stating neighborhood’s opposition to speed bumps on Upton. Motion carried.

Coordinator Update, by Tina Erazmus, ANA Coordinator

  • There is just one more month until the Armatage neighborhood festival on Monday, August 11th. Everything is coming together. Tina will email the board as it gets closer if she needs help (might need help with silent auction items). She will be dropping off extra flyers to the new businesses in the neighborhood this week. The band, Stereo Confession, is booked for the event.
  • Tina presented the board with an opportunity to “Adopt a Precinct.”  This is an effort to recruit election judges. The organization (Adopt a Precinct) pays a coordinator to recruit 10-20 people to serve as election judges. Tina offered to be the “coordinator” if the board is interested in the opportunity. A portion of the pay will also be donated back to ANA.  A motion was made to pursue the opportunity and to hire Tina to coordinate it. Motion carried.

Treasurer Update

No revenues for March and April. The only expenses were operating expenses and annual meeting expense. The largest was our website expense.

New Business

Matt Perry made some announcements about the 70/30 charter removal that will be on ballot. He explained that what might be confusing is that at the same time City Council is addressing the 60/40 rule which would be an ordinance change. The ordinance change will be addressed regardless of what happens with the charter removal.

Update on “fix-up” program- Tina is meeting with rep from GHMC and will have an update at our September meeting.

Meeting adjourned at 7:50 pm.