ECCO Meeting Minutes for March 3rd, 2011

ECCO Meeting Minutes

March 3, 2011

ECCO Meeting Minutes for March 3, 2011

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

Minutes submitted by Katherine St. Martin

Attendance 

Board members: Nancy Ward (President), Sarah Sponheim (Vice President), Katherine St. Martin (Secretary), Tim Norkus-Crampton, Heather Wulfsberg, Kaitryne Durham, Blake Harper, Linda Todd, Jim Smith

Monica Smith (NRP), Meg Tuthill (City Council Representative)

Nick Kakos (NRP Policy Board), Tim Springer (Midtown Greenway Coalition), Becky Spence (Joyce Uptown Food Shelf)

 Minutes from Feb 3rd Meeting approved

Announcements

• Becky Spence opened the community forum discussion with the announcement that Joyce Uptown Food Shelf annual Hot Dish Potluck fundraiser with an additional theme this year of  “Trash or Treasure?” antiques appraising event on Sunday, April 10^th from 4 to 8 pm at St. Mary’s Greek Orthodox Church.  She requested that the ECCO board consider continuing to sponsor the annual event with a donation.  

The Board unanimously moved to discuss the potential of sponsoring the Joyce Food Shelf. 

Board members asked Becky to give some details on the scope of operations at Joyce.  The food shelf (started in 1969) supports a huge area of residents from 31^st Street in the North to Fremont Street in the South between France Street in the West to 35W on the Eastern boundary and feeds approximately 40 families per day. The food shelf receives food in bulk at 12 cents a pound and distributes this food for free to struggling residents.   There are 5 paid part-time employees and the rest of the operation is conducted through volunteers.  They are planning on 250 to 300 people at the annual fundraiser.  The Board made the decision to vote on this sponsorship issue during the charity sponsorship agenda item at the end of the meeting.

• Nancy read a letter to the Board from a person who committed a non-violent street crime within the neighborhood and completed their community service through the Restorative Community Action Justice Group.  This letter was particularly moving because it was not a required part of the community service, but rather an unsolicited formal apology to the community for disrespecting our home.  The Board sincerely appreciated the sentiment.
• Tim Springer, representing the Midtown Greenway Coalition, asked the Board to endorse a Greenway Coalition proposal to include the Greenway in the design concept for the new Walker Library.

Background Situation- The Walker Library construction project was approved as a Hennepin County project to bring the Library out from underground and redesign a new building.  This project has an assigned Community Advisory Committee currently creating design proposals to present for approval.  The Midtown Greenway Coalition would like the design for the Library to incorporate the Park Board owned land (a section of the Mall) between the Greenway and the Library into the overall Library design proposal. 

The Midtown Greenway Coalition needs to show support and interest in the concept of expanding the scope of the Library design to incorporate this parkland by petitioning the local neighborhood community groups.  The Greenway Coalition is always interested in creating a planned connection between the Greenway and surrounding public spaces.  They also feel that this nexus of public spaces should create a gathering space at the Greenway level in order to support a future train station at the Hennepin transportation hub. 

The Board unanimously moved to endorse the Greenway Coalition’s petition to incorporate the Greenway into the Library design discussion at the Community Advisory Committee’s level. 

Meg Tuthill (City Council Representative)  

1. There are 3 crews constantly working on fixing potholes on any City streets.  If you see a pothole that needs attention, please call 311. 
2. There is a public hearing to gather public opinion regarding Amore Victoria's request for an expansion to include a rooftop dining area. Amore Victoria's expansion will include construction of an elevator to access a rooftop dining area, and a kitchen expansion at 1601 Lake Street West. If approved they intend to have a seasonal rooftop dining area which will have a maximum capacity for 124 people.  Meg is opposed to this expansion for 2 reasons:
   1. The business currently has six off street parking spaces as required by the City of Minneapolis zoning requirements. This will not change because the seasonal seating on the roof does not require off street parking.  She felt that it was irresponsible to add 124 seats to the restaurant capacity while maintaining only six off street parking spaces; the residents of Uptown would feel increased parking stress on their neighborhood streets.
   2. Meg also stressed that while a vibrant business community should be encouraged in Uptown, there must be a balance between this business community and the neighborhoods.  She expressed concern for the neighboring apartment building and single-family homes within earshot and bedroom eye level of the proposed outdoor seating. There are also some zoning concerns regarding expansion over other businesses for the City to consider.
   3. Meg encouraged residents of all opinions to attend the City’s Public Hearing March 23, 2011 6:00 - 7:00 p.m.  at Bryant Square Park, 3101 Bryant Ave. S.  Minneapolis, MN 55408
3. As always, you can contact Meg’s office at 612-673-2210 or meg.tuthill@ci.minneapolis.mn.us.

Committee Reports:

Safety Committee:

• · Meg contributed the sad fact that residents of Uptown have had their car windows broken in order to use the garage door opener to break in and steal from resident’s garages.  Please be aware of this trend and keep your garage door opener hidden if you are parking outside.

NRP Committee and Agenda Discussion Item of NRP funding freeze by City of Minneapolis:

• Nancy began this discussion by soliciting a Board member to represent ECCO at the April 16^th NCEC meeting. The purpose of the City-wide all-neighborhood meeting is to review recommendations for uniform selection procedures to promote diversity on the commission and to adopt coordinated election process improvements. Linda Todd volunteered to attend this meeting. 
• Nancy gave a summary of her diligent research over the past month into the funding inequities existent between neighborhoods when the City seized control of all NRP funds and froze a large amount of the funding.  Linda prompted some clarifying discussion regarding whether or not there was a direct correlation between neighborhood foreclosure rates and NRP funding and the Board came to consensus that while the foreclosure rates are certainly indicative of the neighborhoods in the most need and NRP funding does include rehabilitative programs for foreclosed-on homes, the funding itself cannot prevent foreclosure. Nancy’s main point was that these neighborhoods in the greatest need saw the most funding freeze and that the City had no legal right to seize control of this State allocated funding.

The Board unanimously moved to write a supporting statement for pursuing legislation to protect the original NRP allocations:

Be it resolved that the ECCO neighborhood association supports the efforts of the NRP Chair and the NRP Director to develop and pursue passage of legislation that will preserve and protect all NRP funds that have been appropriated to NRP in accordance with state statutes and present City ordinances for now and in the future and urges them to take all steps necessary to secure passage of any such legislation. 

• Monica announced that the City approved ECCO’s application for the 2011 proposed budget and application for the City’s $18,000 allocated to ECCO based on the NCR neighborhood funds.  However, the charitable funding section of the budget was removed because it did not fit the operational and staffing definition that the funds were tagged for.  Monica proposed using the ECCO internal budget for these charitable donations as discussed during the Feb meeting.

The Board unanimously moved to support a charitable donation of $500 to the Joyce Uptown Food Shelf. 

Social Committee:

• Monica announced the “Meet at the Movies” Social event for the ECCO neighborhood.  The social event will center around the Suburban World Theater’s showing of vintage cartoons from 10 am to noon on Sunday March 13^th.  A free pancake breakfast will be provided to ECCO kids under the age of 12 and breakfast will be available for purchase for adults.

Zoning Committee:

• The main topic for the zoning committee was Amore Victoria’s proposed expansion.  The committee emphasized that this is the first attempt to put an rooftop dining in ECCO and the Board proposed that committee member, Jim, draw up a draft statement and send to the group for consensus before the March 23^rd public opinion meeting so that ECCO’s concerns regarding the late night sound so close to residential homes and lack of parking are adequately presented.

Meeting adjourned.

Next ECCO Meeting will be held on April 7th 2011 at 7 pm inside St. Mary’s Greek Orthodox Church.