EPIC Community Meeting Minutes
August 13th, 2020 2019, 6:30 – 8:50
East Phillips Park Cultural & Community Center, 2307 17th Ave S.
EPIC web address: eastphillips-epic.com
Email: epic.ssantiago@gmail.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, Carol Pass, Sarah Santiago, Mary Gonsior, Steve Sandberg, Cassandra Holmes
Board Members Not Present: Shontal Lajeunesse, Abah Mohamed, Rosie Cruz
Members: Hannah Lieder, Linda Leonard
Guests: Shirley Heyer
6:30 Social Time
6:45 Greetings and Introductions
· How to become a member via a virtual meeting:
o Privately chat Sarah S with your name and email to be added to EPICs membership email list
6:50 Approve tonight’s agenda, approved as amended
Approve minutes from July community meeting, approved
6:55 Announcements
· Next Board Meeting will be: September 3rd at 7pm via Zoom – watch your email for the link to join
o Board Meetings are open to the public
· Next Community Meeting will be: September 10th at 6:30 via Zoom – watch your email for the link to join
· Next Executive Committee meeting is September 17th from 7-8pm via Zoom
o Executive Committee meetings are the third Thursday of every month
o Executive Committee meetings are open to the public
· EPIC has a housing program! 0% interest! Fix up your home or buy a new home in East Phillips – Check your email for the brochure or go to: mncee.org/eastphillips
· If you smell a foul odor around Smith foundry or Bituminous Roadways call 311 to report
o Write down your incident number
7:00 Working meeting – prioritize what to work on:
· Budget concerns – David Rubedor letter
o Big budget shortfall due to Covid – 15% cut of our budget
o They will have more updates on how it will impact neighborhood organizations
o Can ask Steve Gallagher any questions
o How do we hire staff now?
· Community partnership programs
o Make spreadsheet of all those we provided funding to for next meeting
o Contact those who we haven’t heard from after the next meeting
· Unarmed civilians article
o Over one million dollars to provide training to neighbors
o Put NRP safety discussions on Facebook/E-news
§ Mary will send to Sarah
o Look more into program
§ Pass onto 18th Ave block and board members
· Bikeways and Bike program – Hannah Lieder
o We need more north/south bikeways (lots of east/west bikeways)
o Who can lobby for this?
§ Hannah will research further
o In other neighborhoods there are speed bumps and clear signage
§ Need to make 17th Ave a robust bikeway
§ Idea to talk to Alondra and see how to get on the bike committee
o There is a bike program for children – it is free
§ Hannah will send the application to Sarah S
§ Free bikes for kids - needs to be applied for by a nonprofit organization
§ Hannah is having issues keeping the tires inflated, the kids keep getting flat tires
§ The children need locks-in the past EPIC worked out a deal with Welna to get locks at cost
· Can we do something similar with bike tire tubes?
· Traffic concerns – Hannah Lieder
o Idea to create a traffic committee
o Cedar Avenue is extremely busy at all times of the day
§ Cedar is a county highway – there is a program – our streets – trying to better care for county roads
§ The city did a traffic study: 27th and Cedar is the second worst intersection in the city
o Way too many cars and traffic all throughout the neighborhood – should only be for local traffic
o Speeding concern – make all the stops 4 way stops
o Come up with a cohesive plan and present to the city
· Walkie Talkies
o Download a free walkie talkie app: Zello, HeyTell, Voxer, TiKL Touch Walkie-Talkie, iPTT – Zello has best reviews
§ Create own network
§ Linda will send to Sarah
· Doodle Poll
o Send Mary reminder to do Doodle poll
· We need to decide what we can do
o Set up a group to get some of these issues addressed
· If you request it, the city will come out and do some kind of study to see how much lighting there is on your block, if you meet the requirements you can have lighting added – Steve will send the contact info for this and Sarah will put in the EPIC E-News
o 18th Ave is also trying to find someone to add lights to the front of houses
o If there is a business or a landlord on the block willing to foot the bill to add lights that is an option too
o EPIC could send a letter to landlords explaining some of the reasons funding something like this would be advantageous for them
· 7-Eleven going in on 25th and Bloomington
o Brad thinks EPIC should write a letter to 7-Eleven regarding advice on how to run a gas station in East Phillips
