Armatage Neighborhood Association Meeting

Meeting was called to order at 6:33 pm by Denis Houle. 

ANA board members in attendance: Ryan Antkowiak, Kelly Falsani, Denis Houle, Steve Johnson, Bri Keeney, Michael Kootsikas, and Laurel Luxenberg

Others in attendance: Nikki Lindberg (ANA Coordinator), Nikki Frederich (Park Coordinator), Linea Palmisano (City Council Member), and 4 other Armatage Residents – Eric Raney, Joel Federer, Jim Hoch, and Ed Lund.

2040 Plan & Resolution Update

• NCEC (Neighborhood Community Engagement Committee), advisory board to city council
  • In January, Community Planning and Economic Development (CPED) compiled a list of surveys in which one comment was to abolish neighborhood associations. This is at the very same time neighborhood associations are trying to increase their funding. The current agreement expires in 2020. There is concern about this comment making it into the official 2040 Report.
    • This was alarming and created some confusion because we have learned that all opinions are viewed as equal even if they are the opinion of one person. But at the same time, not all opinions make their way into the final report.
    • Healthy dialogue about how comments should not be overlooked and all should be heard regardless if we like or agree with the comments.
      • We do not understand why some comments made it on the report while others did not.
        • Example: one such comment was also to abolish the police department but this comment did not make the report.
      • Resolution approved by board. With that in place, we will join other neighborhoods requesting the “Abolish Neighborhood Associations” comment be moved to raw data and not be referenced in the official resolution.
    • Community Connections Conference coming up in April
    • Art of Hosting event at MLK – May 8^th 6-8:30pm
      • Future of neighborhoods conversation 

Park Update (Nikki Frederich, Park Director)

• Summer Registration is out for all events now
• Next Event: Armatage Kenny Egg Hunt (10-11:30, 11 Egg Hunt Begins)
  • Saturday, April 8th
    • Pre-Registration encouraged
  • Family Yoga – Wednesday Nights – $48/family
  • Toddler Playtime: Monday Nights 5-6:30pm, ends next week
  • NPP20 Report available online

City Council Update – Linea Palmisano, City Council Member

• Gypsy Moth update – concerns about getting the word out; could create a stir if people are not made aware of this. This will begin based on weather “soon” – late April/early May.
  • No harm to the community but do not want to be out and about when they spray. Mostly occurs in Richfield but it will affect parts of 60^th Street in Armatage.
  • There will be low flying plane/helicopter so communication is critical not to create fear or scare neighbors
    • Nikki already active on Nextdoor and will put in the April Newsletter as well
  • Audit committee update – seemingly everyday there is news coming out about US Bank Stadium. Plan to ask for all of the promises being made to the public surrounding the stadium. City manages a parking garage, a public park, other items surrounding the stadium. This is all about accountability.
  • COPS program took a look at how the 4^th Precinct handled the Jamar Clark shooting incident which occurred in 2015. Overall analysis of how the city handled this situation. The results were measured which was deemed as a positive but of course improvements could be made.
  • Discussion surrounding: Less Tension Around Teardowns (article from ANA Newsletter)
    • Linea wanted to get additional feedback from us. This was something we brought up several years ago as major concern for our neighborhood.
      • Less dramatic than in years past but it is very much case by case.
    • Community Engagement – Municipal Election Year; Caucuses are coming up.
      • DFL caucus is April 4
        • Mayor, Park Board, City Council, among others
      • Independent party, Republican party, and Green party caucuses are coming up but no dates are set as of right now

Committee Updates

Community Engagement Update
(Bri Keeney, Ryan Antkowiak, Michael Kootsikas, Laurel Luxenberg, Nikki Lindberg)

Renter Initiative Engagement (Bri)

• Landlord communication has been a challenge

Tot Lot (Bri)

• Awaiting project manager assignment

Happy Hour (Ryan) – odd months, first Monday

Welcome Bags (Michael) – 8 companies are participating

Safety Team (Nikki) – Nikki is meeting with Lance to meet on Friday

• Trying to pin down the next safety event or communication; nothing solidified at this point

Green Team (Laurel) – first meeting was last week (Nikki, Tara, Laurel, and 4 neighbors)

• Brainstorming meeting
  • Primary Initiatives – Zero Waste National Night Out, Organics Promotion, Budget for 10 Rain Gardens (Metro Blooms – turnkey solution to dig plots for on-property rain gardens)
    • Rain Garden Budget Approval would be roughly $5,000-$6,000 ($500-$600 contribution from ANA per owner, and roughly $500 to each owner)
      • This would be for 2018; motion to approve a budget for a community rain garden. Getting 10 families involved appears to be not a problem. Seems as if there is a lot of interest here from the community.
        • Motion passes
      • Discussion brought up to have a community garden
        • This has been explored but we do not have the community land available to offer this to our community.
          • Suggestion to have some forage planting in parks (Apple Trees as an example). City is discussing this coincidentally.
            • This can be added to the discussion for the Tot Lot planning.

Coordinator Updates (Nikki Lindberg)

Summer Festival Team

• Leadership roles have been assigned
  • Individual assignments to come
• Food vendors are all interested in coming back
• Band lined up
• Striving for a Zero-Waste Event
• First draft on a sponsorship letter
• Request for a chip reader purchase (x2)

Annual Meeting

• Red Wagon will provide food
• RT Ryback could be the speaker; Denis working on this
• Meet and Greet Format
• Elections for Tara Brown, Sarah Emmenecker, Kelly Falsani, Steve Johnson, Laurel Luxenberg, and Judy Vicere
  • 1 (EVEN YEAR) board position available

Annual Report – recap from 2016

• Motions approves Annual Report submission

April Newsletter

• Denis will be our featured Board Member
• Gypsy Moth acknowledgement
  • Suggestion to have a picture of what the spray plane/helicopter will look like so people are prepared for a low flying plane/helicopter.

Financial Audit

• Procedural audit with the city. Nikki working with Michael Wilson (CPA for ANA). Judy involved as well.

Trees for Kids

• Neighborhood Forests supplies children with a tree to plant on Earth Day. Take the tree home, plant it, and watch it grow.
• Haven’t heard back from Kenny Elementary or Kenny Neighborhood Association.
• Online discussion about whether or not to include Armatage Community School. Learned Armatage only has 60/600 students actually live in the Armatage neighborhood.
• Did not vote on whether or not to pursue this.
• Discussed having it based on a certain dollar amount per school or certain allocation per school.
  • More information to come

Tree lights and charity drive 2017

• Discussed adding an activity to the event. Tough on the Friday after Thanksgiving. Bri to champion this initiative.

Garage Sale (June 3^rd) – Armatage and Kenny

• Open Streets in Kenny on Lyndale June 4^th

Movie in the Park (scheduled for June 19^th)

• Movie: Peewee’s Big Adventure
• Green Team to have a booth giving tips
• Food truck for desserts
• Bike shop to give tune ups

Treasurer Update (Judy Vecere)

• Previewed via email. Highlighted in meeting. Budget is on track and cash flow is good.

Secretary Report

• Approved

New Business

• 5801 Russell site plan to move front of home from Russell to 58^th. Approved. CPED to review. Has two years to execute or permit will be revoked.
• City doesn’t have any news regarding 54^th/Penn despite rumors of an Argentinian Fish Restaurant.

Meeting was adjourned at 8:06 pm.