EPIC Community Meeting Minutes
February 13th, 2019, 6:30 –
8:50
East
Phillips Park Cultural & Community Center, 2307 17th Ave
S.
EPIC
web address: eastphillips-epic.com
Office:
2433
Bloomington Ave.,
Minneapolis, MN 55404
Phone: (612) -280-8418
Board Roster: Rosie Cruz, Laura Dale, Mary Gonsior, Cassandra Holmes,
Shontal Lajeunesse, Abah Mohamed, Carol Pass, Steve Sandberg, Sarah
Santiago.
Board Members Present: Laura Dale, Mary Gonsior, Carol Pass,
Steve Sandberg, Sarah Santiago
Board Members Not Present: Rosie Cruz (E), Cassandra Holmes (E),
Shontal Lajeunesse (U), Abah Mohamed (U)
Members: Carol Hill Kennedy, George Kennedy,
Emrys Stramer, Brad Pass
Guests: Ethan
Fawley, Inspector McGinty, Officer Hand, Abdullahi Abdulle, Nathan
Kemmer, Shirley Heyer
6:30 Social
Time and fill out cards on crime and safety concerns
6:45 Greetings and Introductions
6:50 Approve tonight’s agenda,
amended, approved
Approve minutes from
January community meeting, MG, LD, amended, approved
6:55 Announcements
· EPIC’s Annual Meeting will be Saturday April 18th
o EPIC has 4 directors up for re-election
o Primary qualifications for becoming an EPIC board of
director:
§ Must be 18 years of age and have attended one previous EPIC
General Membership Meeting in the previous 12 months.
§ Must reside or own property in East Phillips, OR be
designated as the voting representative of an organization or business in East
Phillips
§ Go to EPICs website for nomination forms
·
Next Board Meeting will be: March 7th
at 10am at the EPIC office (2433 Bloomington Avenue)
o
Board Meetings are open to the public
·
Next Community Meeting will be: March 13th
at 6:30 here at East Phillips Park
·
Next Executive Committee meeting is February 20th
from 7-8pm at the EPIC office
o
Executive Committee meetings are the third
Thursday of every month
o
Executive Committee meetings are open to the
public
·
Next Southside Green Zone meeting is Tuesday,
February 18th from 6-8pm at Stewart Park
·
If you smell a foul odor around Smith foundry
(28th Street and Longfellow Ave) please call 311 to report
·
Missing and Murdered Indigenous Women Awareness
Day is February 14th from 11am-2pm (12:30 depart for walk)
o
March for Missing and Murdered Indigenous Women,
Girls, Boys, LGBQI, Two Spirit and Transgender Relatives
o
No registration needed. This event is FREE and
open to the public
o
Please WEAR RED! Bring Banners, Posters, Staffs,
Drums, Rattles
o
Meet at Minneapolis American Indian Center (1530
East Franklin Ave)
·
To get training on
screen printing and start connecting with fellow Southside community members,
please plan to attend one of the following events:
o
Thursday, Feb 13, 12
PM – late at Minnesota Indian Women's Resource Center (MIWRC), 2300 S 15th Ave,
in the cafeteria/gym.
§
Show up for as
little or as much time as you can make. No need to bring anything but you are
welcome to bring fabric if you want something to print on and take home. These
two events will be screen printing in preparation for the Missing and Murdered
Indigenous Women awareness day
§
Permanent Affordable
Homeownership – Southside
o
Minneapolis Homes
and Grounded Solutions Network is hosting opportunities for broader community
input around Community Informed Housing Policy
o
The Southside event
will be Thursday, February 27th from 5:30-7:00pm at Sabathani
Community Center Gymnasium (310 East 28th Street)
§
Chicago-Lake
Mobility Hub Community Design Workshop
o
Monday March 23rd
5:30-7:30pm – kick off event
o
Tuesday, March 24th
5:30-7pm – open studio for community feedback
o
Wednesday, March 25th
5:30-7pm
o
Friday, March 27th
12-1pm – final community presentation; 1-5 community open house
o
Event info on Metro
Transit’s Facebook Page; contact sharedmobility@metrotransit.org for more information
6:58 Update on homebuyer program – community
member question
·
Homebuyer
Assistance –
o
Up
to $10,000
o
10
year term, if the borrower owns and occupies the property for 10 years, the
loan is 100% forgiven
o
Owner
occupied properties
o
Income
limit: at or below 115% Area Median Income as determined by HUD
·
Deferred
Rehab and Emergency
o
Minimum
loan amount is $1,000; maximum loan amount is $10,000
o
10
year term, if the borrower owns and occupies the property for 10 years, the
loan is 100% forgiven
o
1-4
unit residential properties with the geographical boundaries of the East
Phillips neighborhood. Townhomes, Condominiums and properties held in the name
of a Trust are permitted. Owner occupied only
o
Income
limit: at or below 115% Area Median Income as determined by HUD
o
Eligible
Improvements: loans may be used to finance exterior, major mechanical and
energy improvements, including but not limited to: plumbing, electrical,
roofing, siding, driveways, sidewalks and steps, energy star rated windows and
doors and solar. Funds may also be used to remedy conditions that makes a house
uninhabitable, extremely dangerous to the occupants or capable of causing
severe health problems
o
Ineligible
Improvements: interior remodeling. Work initiated prior to the loan being
approved and closed (unless an emergency situation). No recreation of luxury
projects (pools, playground equipment, saunas etc.). Funds for working capital,
debt service or refinancing existing debts are NOT allowed
o
Sweat
equity: work can be performed on a ‘sweat equity’ basis. Loan funds cannot be
used to compensate for labor even if the owner is a licensed contractor, only
for materials. Loan funds cannot be used for the purchase of tools or
equipment, only for materials or rental of equipment necessary to complete the
project
7:00 Crime and
safety – Inspector McGinty and Officer Hand
·
10 minutes updates
o
Increase in auto thefts especially people
leaving their cars to warm up
o
Theft from auto increase as well, don’t leave
valuable property visible in your car
o
Past two Thursdays did details of 29th
and 16th
§
In one detail they recovered 13 guns, 4
recovered cars, heroin, meth and prescription drugs
·
Judges need to hear from residents that live in
the precinct about the impact of living in East Phillips – can also email
impact statements to judges
o
Judges hearing from community members is much
more impactful than inspectors or council members contacting judges
·
10 minute question and answers (if your question
is not able to be answered, fill out a note card with your name and email
address so Officer Hand or Kali Pliego can reach out to you)
o
Question about plan at 25th and
Bloomington when it gets warmer
§
Inspector says MPD now has citable things that
they can use to move people out of the area
o
Community member stated that it is dangerous to
equate our homeless people with people who are outsiders and criminals
·
Inspector says the people who were at that site
were offered services dozens of times – they do not want help
·
Nobody was cited for being homeless or having
injectable drugs
o
Question about plans for harm reduction sites
·
Inspector said MPD filmed 25 drug deals right outside
the navigation center every couple hours
·
People were overdosing and wouldn’t let people
in to do NARCAN
·
Inspector McGinty – contact (612) 673-5576
·
Last Monday of every month at 6:30pm – 3 Pack –
entire 3rd Precinct
§
Open to the entire precinct
7:25 Safety
Improvement Project on 29th Street and Bloomington – Abdullahi
Abdulle
·
Most of the streets in South Minneapolis will be
resurfaced
·
Doing the safety improvement at the same time as
resurfacing to take advantage of the street already being torn up
·
Looking for potential intersections that need
safety improvements in the area
o
After looking at data this is the intersection
that has the highest pedestrian use and the most traffic crashes
·
Proposing
o
Bump outs, ADA ramps
o
Better signage for Greenway
·
Community input:
o
Concern about getting rid of on-street parking
o
Concern about possible new building at 17th
and Lake (1626 East Lake Street)
o
Question about pedestrian cross light – they are
considering this
o
Can also talk with Councilmember Cano about
concerns
o
Contact Abdullahi Abdulee: Direct: (612)
673-5306; Cell: (612) 297-7924; Abdullahi.abdulle@minneapolismn.gov
or Nathan Kemmer Direct: (612) 673-3274 nathan.kemmer@minneapolismn.gov
7:45 Potential regional solicitation
application for safety improvement project in Phillips neighborhood – Ethan Fawley
·
Currently not installing speed humps,
considering wide variety of traffic calming techniques including lowering speed
limit
·
Preliminary stage of Phillips Pedestrian Safety
Improvements
·
Planning to apply for federal funding
·
Looking for input on sites for Pedestrian Safety
Improvements
§
24th Street where the streets don’t
align – no crosswalks currently present
§
17th and 24th in front of
East Phillips Park
§
East 26th Street and 18th
Ave
§
Cedar and 24th Street
§
ADA Compliant curb ramps are great, but sewage
drains are too far away and the city isn’t plowing them, so water is building
up and extremely icy, the city should plow, not rely on homeowners to clear
8:06 Development at
1626 East Lake Street
·
A
new land use application is about to be submitted
·
The
developers ran into difficulty with blocking off the alley
·
The
city is out of credit for affordable housing
·
Community
member concerned about not having enough affordable housing
8:21 Events and
Garden committee (sign up sheet)
·
Inviting community to be involved in the
planning of the various events EPIC puts on (i.e. Harvest Festival, SummerFest,
Clean Sweep) and community garden committee
8:23 First of two community votes on two
motions regarding EPIC funding
· EPIC was not able to fund many of the
projects EPIC wanted to fund through the East Phillips Community Partnership
funds so the EPIC board decided to come up with a process for reviewing
applications that were not able to be funded. The board came up with the
following motions to address this:
MOTION: EPIC moves to fund the following projects totaling
$25,399.00
·
MPRB Swimming $6,000
·
MPRB Summer in the City $6,899
·
PACE – basketball camps $6,500
·
Standing Solid Cheer Team $6,000
Board, GK,
approved
Discussion:
If the park board was
requesting funding, ask them to stop using pesticides in the parks.
MOTION: EPIC moves to fund 50% of the cost up to $33,000 for the
Little Earth NELC Playground project, upon receipt of three bids and subject to
secured funding for the balance of the cost. This commitment will expire on
3/31/2021 in the event that Little Earth is not able to secure the remaining
funds. Board, StS, approved
8:54 Adjourn
