ECCO Meeting Minutes for June 3, 2010

ECCO Meeting Minutes for June 3, 2010

Meetings are held at St. Mary’s Greek Orthodox Church at 7:00

Minutes submitted by R. Kean

Attendance

Board members: Ruth Cain, Michael Ekholm, John Ellis, Gary Farland, Robert Kean, Ralph Knox, Judy Shields, Linda Todd, Nancy Ward (President).

Others in attendance: Monica Smith (NRP Coordinator); Briana Patsch (representing Councilman Meg Tuthill); Sarah Sponheim (Chair Environmental Committee); Anita Tabb (Park Board Commissioner); Joanna Shelton (on behalf of Minneapolis Pops); David Rubedor (Director, Neighborhood and Community Relations Department); Jeff Strand, David Crockett, and Matt Perry (from Neighborhood and Community Engagement Commission); Lucinda Redd and Sarah Wisneski (East Calhoun Residents).

Announcements and Community Forum

· Joanna Shelton passed out schedules for the 2010 Minneapolis Pops a made a request for a donation. A motion was made and passed to donate $500 per the amount in our budget.

· Kenwood School will be the default neighborhood school for East Calhoun residents. They are planning to do a second phase of site improvements to reduce the amount of rain runoff (pavement) and increase the amount of green space at the school; and are looking for donations. Part of the fund raising campaign involves selling “bricks” (with the donor name inscribed) for $150. While the Board was in support of the concept, our income for the year is uncertain due to the delay or cancellation of the wine tasting event and we had nothing budgeted for this request. A motion was made and passed to promote and publicize the effort, but to not donate any funds at this time.

Review and approve minutes

· The May minutes were approved, with a correction noted for the June meeting date.

Meg Tuthill Update (provided by Brianna Patsch)

· The recent murder on the west side of Lake Calhoun, was a targeted not random attack. Even so, Police have increased patrols for improved visibility.

· There has been an increase in car break-ins in uptown. People are reminded to record the serial number of any electronic items in your car (to facilitate recovery if stolen). Also, don’t leave valuables, purses, or bags in plain sight in your parked car and put items in your trunk before you arrive and park (some criminals are watching people as they park).

· Meg is continuing monthly lunch meetings at the 5^th Precinct building; the next one is June 8, 12-1. Bring your own lunch. Meg is looking to have invited speakers (to cover topics of concern) at these meetings going forward, so call or e-mail her with suggested speakers or topics.

· There have been complaints of aggressive solicitors. Solicitors need to have a license in Minneapolis, so send them away (and call the police) if they don’t have one on them.

· There was a suggestion that the city put some trash cans at bus stops and/or other heavy traffic points in the neighborhood. This would hopefully reduce the amount of litter in the neighborhood (e.g. from park visitors and bar/restaurant patrons parking on our streets). Meg’s office will look into it.

Anita Tabb Report on Parks

· There were a number of complaints about noise and litter at Lake Calhoun over Memorial Day weekend. This was mostly just due to the large number of people enjoying the parks. As a reminder: consumption of alcoholic beverages in the park is not allowed with the exception of 3.2 beer, and at specific concessions (e.g. at the Tin Fish). The parks are open till midnight, but the parking areas close at 10 P.M. Feel free to call the park police to report violations.

· The Park Board is making a large land acquisition this year, so discretionary spending will be extra tight. Plans are currently on hold this year regarding any more work on the Lake Calhoun master plan. However, they will proceed with the scheduled renovation of two playgrounds at Lake Harriet.

Committee Reports:

Environment

· A petition is being circulated encouraging our senators to pass a strong bill to address climate change. The board has been asked to add their endorsement. A number of board members expressed concern that this type of action goes beyond our role as neighborhood representatives. A motion was made and passed to add a link to our website, so that individual residents could view and endorse the petition if they desire.

SECSE

· The next neighborhood social potluck will be held June 22 (Tuesday) from 6:00-7:30 at the Gateway Art Park (East Calhoun parkway and Lake Street).

· There is still hope that the Wine Tasting fundraiser will be held in the fall.

· The board approved $67 to go to the premium level of merchandise offering on our web site. Michael displayed an East Calhoun T-shirt (with our new logo) that he recently purchased via the link on our site.

· The board passed a motion allowing a “neighbor” level of users on the website. Michael will accept all those who have requested to join the site as “Neighbors”. “Neighbors” will have a very limited ability to add things to the site.

· Nancy participated in a street painting event in St. Paul. She got two useful tips: Try to do the painting on a day when it is not raining (the rain washes away the wet paint), and do the event early in the summer so that it can be enjoyed longer.

· The Labor Day event is still planned for this year, but no specific plans have been made yet.

Zoning

· We are still in need of a new chair for the zoning committee.

NCEC

· The Neighborhood and Community Engagement Commission (NCEC) in conjunction with the City’s new Neighborhood and Community Relations Department (NCR) will be carrying on where the NRP left off. It is anticipated that this group will have $54 million available over the next 10 years for continuation of the efforts started under NRP. David Rubedor (Director of NCR) and three members of the NCEC attended our meeting to gather feedback on priorities and concerns with regard to how the new programs/systems can best support neighborhoods. Comments/suggestions included:
- Less red tape, more neighborhood control of funds (as long as spending is within certain guidelines)
- Ongoing and stable funding for neighborhood organizations (to help with administrative support)
- Help with training and networking of neighborhood leaders (and organizational staff),
- Leverage resources across neighborhood organizations (e.g. common web site support)
- Involvement of city departments, Park board, and school board to coordinate and supplement neighborhood initiatives.

· With regard to the funding formula (used to decide how much money is allocated to each neighborhood), suggestions included:
- Poverty/Need (major criteria in NRP formulas)
- Number of people living in the neighborhood
- Number of people using the neighborhood (factors in impact of parks and commercial districts).

NRP Phase 2 Report

· The NRP committee reviewed proposals from two groups for administration of the loan and grant programs. The committee recommended that we select CEE. CEE offered competitive terms and we have already elected to work with them on the Energy Audit program. A motion was made and approved to accept the committee recommendation.

No Meeting in July

The next meeting is August 5.