January 20, 2011 6:30
p.m. – 8:45 p.m.,
Holy Rosary Church Board
Room, 24th and 17th Ave
Board Present: Carol Pass,
Mary Gonsior, Earl Simms, Linda Leonard, Jennie Bjorgo, Rosie Cruz
EPIC Members: Brad Pass,
Hannah Lieder, Mahamed Cali, Alfonso Cruz, Jim Gonsior, Sherzad Kordian
6:30 Introduction:
· Greetings and Introductions, Meeting
was moved to JAN. 20th to give more time to circulate CPP and board members out
of town.
·
Approval of Agenda
·
Minutes from EPIC General Membership Meeting 12/16/2010
Motion:
Meeting as a committee of the whole (BP, MG) passed.
6:40
Announcements & Reports:
·
Grand
Opening of the East Phillips Park
Cultural and Community Center – Saturday, January 22nd
· Waiting to hear about
next meetings for 22nd St. &
Franklin Ave Street Design
·
Mahamed Cali has
resigned from the board to devote more time as ED of Somali American Community
Org.
7:00 East
Phillips Park Community Center- Grand Opening January 22nd.
Pick up a Flyer and Give One to your Neighbor.
There are some
problems with heating - the building is very tight, and if there is a large
group of people using the building, they need to open the windows for air. The
temp. drops too much and the heating doesn't keep it up. This will be pushing
back the use of the building until Mar. 1, and starting programming around
April 1.
7:20
Phillips Community Center Partnership and Swimming Pool Hannah Lieder
Karen Clark
wrote a bonding bill for $2.1M for restoration and the addition of a second
teaching pool. The Park Board passed the Final Approval of the United Solution (developed by the
Phillips Community Parks Initiative.)
7:30 Earl Simms and Linda L. arrived, Quorum was present.
Motion to meet as regular Membership Meeting and accept the actions of the Committee of the Whole.
7:35 NRP Phase
I Review:
Carol distributed copies of a
first draft of our Phase I Review report. There is still much information that
needs to be added, but the information is in, results of the survey and
Dot-Mocracy are being tabulated.
MOTION: Accept the first draft of
the Phase I Review. Passed unanimously.
7:45 CPP Grant Request:. worked out by the board at
the last Board meeting and then completed and reviewed during the week by individual
board members. Budget crafted to benefit many of EPIC’s collaborators. See
individual collaborators mentioned. This budget is a motion to work out
memorandums with our present and future collaborators mentioned. Any new
collaborators will require a new vote by the EPIC board and membership.
MOTION: EPIC endorses the CPP Plan
and Budget created by the Task force & board. (BP/HL)Passed Unanimously
7:50 Participation
Agreement:
Carol
distributed a first draft of our Phase II Participation Agreement. Neither the
Phase I review nor the Participation Agreement is complete, so EPIC is applying
for $58,000 from the new NCR Dept. NCEC Commission, which we will receive. In
addition, EPIC applied for $10,000 from NPI. These funds will form the basis of
our spending for 1-2 years. It is important to note that these funds can only
be used to fund activities/groups that contribute/participate collaboratively
with EPIC. Only programs, no real projects.
Questions/Comments
about the Draft Participation agreement.
Brad: Looks
nice. Looks ambitious. May have to amend the time line.
LL: Agreed…May
not be able to keep to the time line. How required is that? It can be moved. If
we can’t do it…we just can’t, but it’s a good goal. fearful of the actions of
the Mayor.
JG: It’s a cold
time to do a survey. Safer than spring or summer. This can happen.
Board memers who
choose to plus anyone else who wishes to join can be a part of steering
committee. Broadcast email and place ad in Alley.
JB has agreed to
bilingual, Board motion to pay. MC for Somali, at least in his building and
focus groups.
Rosie is
recruiting more Latinos for Task force. Concern about lack of a Native
presence. JB will survey Little Earth and AIOIC. We will just go there and ask
if we can’t get the residents to join our meetings..
Focus groups:
Rosie’s garage. Mahamed’s building vestibule. Need more task force members.
Sherzad and some of his friends will join us.
8:05 NRP
Phase II Planning and Future Funding for Neighborhoods: What does the Council Decision and lost funding
mean for EPIC and other neighborhoods??
How can we spend
our Phase II money in the next 6 -8 months, in a way that the money comes back
to EPIC? These themes should be discussed the focus group meetings.
- Planning money for the Greenway development
- Revolving loan fund
- First Time homebuyer deal
- Urban Homeworks (restoring houses)
30% of remaining
funds can be spent on other things, including the kitchen in the park,
beautification for the neighborhood, etc. Ventura Village zeroed out most of
their 30% beyond housing. Did that raise questions??
Conclusion of
the group: people want to make a full plan. Is that true??
Proposed action
(under review for further discussion at board meeting: Board Proposal presented
to all focus groups ( geographic groups and language groups) at a venue such as
Holy Rosary (basement.) or annual meeting. Consider bumping up the annual
meeting to March. Provide a written timeline for various proposals; Hold it in
the same venue and time.
Because of the
issues of inequity related to taking away neighborhood funds from poorer
neighborhoods (not to mention the hand-off to wealthy neighborhoods in the form
of tax breaks), the city council has formed a closed committee, in violation of
their city charter rules and regulations regarding open meetings, to decide how
to make the appropriation of neighborhood funds equitable to the poorer
neighborhoods.
Three possible
responses of the neighborhoods to this entire action of the city council:
- do nothing
- take legal action (money was designated by the legislature)
- initiate legislation to protect the funds
MOTION: Hold
the annual meeting no later than the end of March, if possible. (CP, MC) motion
passed.
8:30 2600-2606 17th Ave. PROPOSAL FOR
APARTMENT of 20 UNITS of HOMELESS
HOUSING by Alliance of the
Streets. Issues with Alliance, EPIC’s Response, Kris Brogan’s Letter
The proposal came up again
before the city council and they passed the extension of their right to develop
again.
2908 16th Ave. Very poor
condition, est. $80-100,000 restoration, minimum. Consider options for this
building, which could serve a large family in the neighborhood.
8:30 Adjournment
