Saturday • Sept 8
Noon – 4:00pm
Armatage Rec Center

Back by popular demand, Mobile Menders will again set up shop in the Armatage Rec Center. From hemming a pair of pants to replacing a lost button on your favorite shirt; a ripped seam in a bathrobe to repairing a treasured teddy bear – Mobile Menders provides FREE mending/repair services to anyone in need.

Learn More >> https://mobilemenders.weebly.com/

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Tuesday, September 11
7:00-9:00 • Red Wagon Pizza

Join your neighbors for some free pizza and conversation! Cash bar.

Will appreciate feedback on our Summer Festival, new safety rebate program, and other things we may be able to do to support our neighborhood!

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Check out the event photos!

Thanks to everyone who made it down on that hot and steamy day! Suggestions and ideas for our 2019 event always welcome, as we hope to continue to make this an event for everyone!

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Sign up today for the 12th annual Minneapolis Bike Tour!

Sunday, September 16, 8 am
Start-finish at Boom Island Park

The Minneapolis Bike Tour was created to bring cyclists together and support bike-related initiatives. Proceeds from the tour will benefit bike safety and education events for Minneapolis youth as well as bike trail improvement projects throughout the system.

Event details:
For more information, please visit our website at www.minneapolisbiketour.com
Online Registration through September 9: $30 (youth $20)
Walk-up Registration September 12-16: $50 (youth $40)
Please see bike tour website for walk-up locations

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The City of Minneapolis Public Works Department is updating its 10-year Transportation Action Plan to meet the transportation vision and policies outlined in Minneapolis 2040, the City’s draft Comprehensive Plan. Minneapolis 2040 provides the foundation and supporting policy from which the Transportation Action Plan will be developed.

We are in the early stages of developing the Transportation Action Plan, but there are many ways to be involved now:

• Check out our website
• Take our short survey and enter to win one of two $25 giftcards
• Sign up for email updates
• Use #gompls to spread the word
• Visit the Public Works booth at Open Streets and various farmers markets

• 2040 City Website
  • Comment on the Plan
• Mpls2040_Armatage – a summary of proposed changes in Armatage neighborhood (PDF file)

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.

 

• Take community survey here: https://www.surveymonkey.com/r/swcommunityinput

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

 

March 20, 2018 Minutes

 

Date: March 20, 2018

Called to order: 6:38pm

Presided by: Denis Houle, President

Note taker: Nikki Lindberg

In attendance: Board Members — Kelly Falsani, Laure Luxenbergl, Stephanie Vigen, Ryan Antkowiak, Michael Kootsikas, Br Keeneyi, Joel Federer

Other Attendees — Gary Remafedi, Fred & Joanne Linehan, Nikki Frederich/Parks, Rachel Ireland-Henry, Betty Lyke Urie, Nikki Lindberg

 

(Jim Hoch, Judy Vecere)

 

Safety

Emily – summary of break-in; Fred (bldg owner 20 yrs) — crime prevention

2 break ins in 20 years, but car thefts (smash/grab) issue  — 2017 avg 2/month

has added lights on dusk/dawn — 2 security camera installation (5, 3 on parking lot, 2 in back) – 2 bids (and Emily talked to Peter – 3rd option)

Gary – safety summary – presenting ideas; approving resolutions shared and getting “ballot” with the 16 interventions that you can rank

Denis – would like to contribute to cost of cameras – Fred doing no matter what (3 mega-pixel option)

Gary – smart technologies (rebate idea) for residents; could host vendor forum

 

Pres Report

Annual Report – motion Kelly/Michael – carries

2020 Roadmap – NCR proposal (summary of situation) – links sent to proposal and give feedback (due by end of April) 3/37 5-7 NCEC meeting public comments on Road Map (at downtown library)

May Annual Meeting 15th – collect neighborhood input how to spend our money (with actual dollar amounts with some ideas, and free pizza)

share some of what we’ve done (safety, park, green team, happy hour)

ideas – what we heard, and what we can/can’t address – themes for ideas (micro grant, tool library, community brick oven/from bricks to bread); ideas from safety poll; do it like cafe with – generate ideas at your table

pizza/drinks – door prizes (plants/centerpieces) and gift certificates

can leverage social media polls after meeting to gather further input (Nextdoor and Facebook)

board election

 

Summer festival support / ways to get involved – game

 

Secretary – approved online

Treasurer – financials sent

 

Park Update – new summer guide (printed copies on hand)

Egg Hunt on Saturday (registration req’d) expect about 150 10-11:30, hunt at 11 (lots of activities, face painting, characature, Abrakadoodle, bunnies, snacks, and The Bunny) will be outdoors so dress accordingly

Track & Field, Baseball & Softball

Friday Field Trips for summer (school age kids) 11-4 (bag lunch)

Skate Park camp (3rd Lair)

 

Committee

Community Engagement

Washburn Park – final engagement happened; back at Chris to get $ input

Happy Hour – very well attended; concerns about reliability and space isn’t great but don’t feel like we have a better option at this point

Book Club? New BBQ place? Kwan’s

May 1 – have Annual Meeting card/postcard to hand out

Garage Sales – June 2 online/paypal

 

Green Team

Long list – and our new plot at 61/Washburn

 

Safety discussion – tabled to April

 

Summer Festival

Carnival – need help sponsor as group

 

Coord – SW CAC

Neighborhood Forests

Ward 13 Summit

4/21 Shred event

 

NEW

Mobile Menders – went well, organize another for this spring? request another $50 Kelly/Ryan – carries

iMatter Minneapolis – draft letter of support

Malea – Bush Foundation Fellowship recipient

 

Meeting Adjourned at 7:54

 

February 20, 2018 Minutes

 

Date: February 20, 2018

Called to order: 6:38pm

Presided by: Denis Houle, President

Note taker: Ryan Antkowiak

In attendance: Board Members — Ryan Antkowiak, Kelly Falsani, Jim Hoch, Denis Houle, Bri Keeney, Michael Kootsikas, Stephanie Vigen, Judy Vecere
Other Attendees — Nikki Lindberg, Coordinator; Gary Remafie, resident; various other residents

 

New Business

• Neighborhood Forest Program @ Kenny Elementary
  • Board approved up to $1,000 grant to support program
• MCN workshop (The Essential Sponsorship Clinic)
  • Board approved $125 registration fee so Nikki Lindberg (ANA Coordinator) could attend for educational advancement.

 

Welcome to the Neighborhood

• Introduction to the new tenants of 5400 Penn (the old gas station space)
• New Restaurant: Colita’s
  • Esteemed chef Daniel Del Prado’s take on BBQ
    • A lighter, herbal experience with Tex Mex and Thai influence
    • Healthier approach to BBQ
    • Locally sourced – MN and Midwest
    • Aiming to open in late June/early July
  • Sought community approval to pursue a full bar/liquor license
  • Responded to concern about traffic in alleys. Dispelled concern as the restaurant will be closed off to the alley. Entrance/Exits will be directly on Penn and 54th only
• Colita’s owner and Chef – Daniel Del Prado
• Restaurant Consultant – Geri Wolf
• Restaurant Manager – Morgan

 

Meeting Adjourned at 6:55 to accommodate Palmisano Presents

 

• Final plans were approved for the Washburn tot lot and the ANA will be paying to replace picnic tables and benches and adding a bike rack (up to $17,000 in improvements).
• Continued our neighborhood happy hours, and are engaging with new residents who have some great ideas for future events.
• In partnership with Metro Blooms, worked with 12 area homeowners to install rain gardens. The ANA subsidized this program, contributing over $7,000, and hope to continue supporting more gardens in 2019.
• Initiated a safety rebate program for residents and businesses and awarded 60 rebates in 2018.
• Held a series of community conversations on pedestrian safety at 54th & Penn in November and December for residents and local businesses.
• Sponsored holiday lights in Armatage Park and kicked off the season with Holiday Tree Lighting and Donation Drive to benefit the Greater Minneapolis Crisis Nursery.

• Casual connections – bi-monthly happy hours have gained a good following. Welcome bags delivered on a regular basis, and people are aware of them now, and sometimes even request to get one!
• Re-instituted our Business Facade Grant program for our local businesses.
• Engaged residents around the redevelopment of Washburn tot lot park.
• Created an Armatage Green Team and partnered with Metro Blooms to begin installing rain gardens in the neighborhood.

March Meeting Agenda

March 21, 2017 • 6:30pm • Armatage Rec Center

• Welcome
• City Council Update
• Park Update
• 2040 Plan & Resolution Update
• Committee Updates
  • 2017 Goals & Priorities
  • Community Engagement: Renter engagement • Washburn Tot Lot • Happy hour • Welcome bags
  • Safety Team
  • Green Team
  • Summer Festival Team
• Coordinator Update
  • Annual Meeting
  • Annual Report
  • April Newsletter
  • Financial Audit
  • Trees for Kids
  • Tree lights and charity drive 2017
  • May 8th – Art of Hosting (MLK 6-8:30pm)
  • Garage Sale (June 3)
  • Movie in the Park (what do we want to do)
• Treasurer Report
• Secretary Report – February minutes approved online
• New Business
• Adjourn

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$15 workshops: Creating Weather Resilient Yards

Unseasonably warm weather, long droughts and flooding rains are the new normal for spring and summer in Minnesota. Learn how your yard can adapt to and even help mitigate threats posed by these extreme weather events.

Participants receive:

• An overview of Minnesota’s changing weather patterns and ways to minimize their impact in your yard by using alternative turf, raingardens, and other resilient-yard practices.
• 1 on 1 design assistance from Metro Blooms and Blue Thumb landscape designers and U of M Extension Master Gardeners from Hennepin County.

For more information and to register, go to metroblooms.org or call 651-699-2426.

Space is limited.

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MSP Aircraft Noise Analysis for 2016 is Now Available

02/27/2017 03:03 PM CST

Each year, the MAC reports aircraft noise exposure associated with operations at Minneapolis-St. Paul International Airport (MSP) and uses the results to determine homeowner eligibility for the MAC’s Noise Mitigation Program. To qualify for mitigation, a home must fall within a higher impact area for three consecutive years.

The report, called the MSP Annual Noise Contour Report, details the development inputs for aircraft noise exposure contours that represent the geographical areas exposed to aircraft noise levels of 60 dB DNL and greater surrounding MSP.

The 2016 Annual Noise Contour Report is available now on the MAC Noise Program Office website here:  2016 MSP Annual Noise Contour Report.

The report concluded that a total of 286 single-family homes are eligible for mitigation in 2018. (NOTE: None are in the Armatage neighborhood.) The eligible blocks are shown in blue in the graphic online. MAC will begin reaching out to these eligible homeowners in late 2017 to begin project orientation.

The MAC is also actively initiating mitigation projects for homes that qualified last year. These homes are shown in green on the graphic online.

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Southwest Communities “Future of Neighborhoods” Conversation

May 8th, 6:00 pm (dinner) 6:30 – 8:30 pm (program)
Martin Luther King Jr. Park, 4055 Nicollet Ave, Minneapolis, MN 55409

The neighborhood organizations of Southwest Minneapolis, in partnership with the Minneapolis Department of Neighborhood and Community Relations, invite you to come discuss your viewpoint regarding the future of neighborhoods, including creating stable communities through respecting residents’ voices and empowering local solutions.  Attendees will work with other Southwest residents to discuss current and future challenges facing neighborhoods and suggest policy and funding streams to support communities to creatively address these challenges.

Free Dinner and Childcare provided

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Community Connections Conference 4/1 at Convention Center

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Southwest High School Performing Arts

Sweet Charity (Musical)

March 16-18 & 23-25 at 7 pm and March 19 & 26 at 2 pm.

Music by Cy Coleman, lyrics by Dorothy Fields and book by Neil Simon. It was directed and choreographed for Broadway by Bob Fosse starring his wife and muse Gwen Verdon.

Charity works at a dance club and has only seen the dark side of life but thinks things are changing when she meets Oscar.  Even when things turn sour, Charity stays Sweet and hopeful of her dreams

To find our more or purchase tickets go to http://southwesttheatre.org/

To All Neighborhood Organizations:

With the City’s general election less than a year away, there have been a lot of questions about how neighborhood organizations can be involved in increasing voter registration, turnout and education. You can download a copy of NCR’s guide on Neighborhood Organizations and Elections, which answers many of these questions, at this link: http://tinyurl.com/nhood-orgs-and-elections.

I especially want to remind you that your contracts with the City state that your organization may not engage in political activity. Partisan political activity is also absolutely prohibited by the Internal Revenue Service for all 50l(c)(3) organizations. The City uses the same rules as the IRS in our oversight of the political activities of organizations.

The IRS states that 50l(c)(3) tax-exempt organizations “are absolutely prohibited from directly or indirectly participating in, or intervening in, any political campaign on behalf of (or in opposition to) any candidate for elective public office.” Whether an organization is engaging in prohibited political campaign activity depends on the facts and circumstances in each case. The IRS rules state that the motivation of an organization is not relevant in determining whether the political campaign prohibition has been violated.

The IRS rules cover the publishing of information in organizations’ publications, advertisements in these publications, speakers at organizational events and meetings, and the acts of individuals in their capacity as officers of an organization.

Any activities related to candidates or campaigns for political office must be conducted in a non-partisan manner. For instance, if one candidate is allowed to speak at a meeting of the organization, then all other legally qualified candidates for the same office should be invited to speak. All candidates must be given an equal amount of time on the agenda. Similarly, if a forum is sponsored by the organization, then all candidates must be invited, questions must be prepared and presented in a non-partisan manner, the topics discussed should cover a broad range of issues of interest to the public, each candidate must have the opportunity to present his or her views on the issues discussed, and the moderator must not comment on the questions or otherwise make comments that imply approval or disapproval of any of the candidates or their responses.

Since the IRS prohibition is an absolute bar, it would be wise for your organization to avoid any activity that even hints at partisan participation in a political campaign. If your organization does have an interest in some level of participation in the election process, however, it is strongly suggested that you contact an attorney to ensure that your activity is not a violation of the ban on political activity. Any violation of this ban could result in the revocation of your organization’s tax-exempt status and the cancellation of your organization’s contracts with the City.

Here are some examples from recent years that may put your organization at risk:

• A candidate shows up at a neighborhood meeting and asks for time to discuss their candidacy. Note that allowing a candidate to even mention their candidacy could violate the IRS’ absolute bar on political activity. We recommend immediately informing the candidate that, while they are welcome to participate, they may not campaign or mention their candidacy in any form.
• Conducting a candidate forum prior to an endorsing convention can violate the absolute bar, since it would appear to be favoring a group of candidates (e.g., those seeking endorsement from a particular party). We recommend not holding a candidate forum until after the deadline for candidate filings.
• Introducing an elected official at a neighborhood meeting as a candidate and encouraging (or discouraging) support for that candidate. While an elected official can present at your event in their capacity as an elected official, you should not refer to their candidacy in any way.

Please see the guide on Neighborhood Organizations and Elections for more information, and contact your Neighborhood Support Specialist here at NCR with any questions you may have.

 Sincerely,

David Rubedor
Director of Neighborhood and Community Relations
ADA Title II Coordinator