July
6th, 2013, Saturday, 10:00 am
East
Phillips Park Cultural and Community Center
EPIC web address: http://www.eastphillips-epic.com/index.html
Office: 2536 18th
Avenue S., Minneapolis, MN 55404
“The world needs
dreamers and the world needs doers,
but most of all
the world needs dreamers who do.”
Present board members: Mary Gonsior, Carol Pass, Linda Leonard, Aisha Gomez, Jenny Bjorgo, Rosie Cruz,
Not present board members: Sherdl Kordian, Earl Simms, Ali Macalin,
Members: Brad Pass
Meeting as a committee of the whole (AG,
LL) passed.
10:00 Introduction:
·
Approval
of Agenda – approved.
·
Approval
of Minutes from 6/1/2013 EPIC Board Meeting (LL, CP) approved with correction
to title, (change Agenda to Minutes).
10:10 Announcements:
·
EPIC
Membership Meeting: Thursday, July 11th, 6:30 pm, the East Phillips Park Center
·
A
few empty garden plots and Garden Grant
·
Plus it Forward. Affinity Credit Union
has been a sponsor of East Phillips – they are seeking service projects on
Saturday, Sept. 21 for community service. They are willing to do a neighborhood
service project with and for East Phillips. Discuss at the GMM.
Haitian cultural event
A concert of
well-known Haitian musicians are planning a concert on July 20th,
beginning at 5 pm at Cristo Ray.Waite House is sponsoring $500.
MOTION: (CP, AG) EPIC will support the July 20th
concert with a $500 community outreach donation with EPIC being recognized as a
sponsor. EPIC will also promote through flyer at GMM and email/web posting.
Passed.
10:15 NCEC
Equity Project – Blueprint for Equity Handout…What should we do?? Options
·
NCR Plan
·
4 Neighborhoods’ have raise issues and
stated changes and suggestions…
The
most frequent is for the neighborhoods to join together and craft this process together.
Discussion
of the Core Principles for Community Engagement – Especially principles 1, 4
and 5.
This
project may significantly impact our neighborhood, but we have not been involved
in the design of how we are to be engaged. The process was created by NCR, not
us.
Board
Members’ Questions:
1.
Why haven’t we been asked to participate in designing how we participate?
2.
Why haven’t we been provided with information we need to be able to participate
in a meaningful way?
3.
How do we know how our input affects decisions? We haven’t been told what
decisions this participation will even impact.
Our
neighborhood is unclear about the goals, strategies and intended outcomes of
the process, the use and transparency of the data collected, and public access
to the data. We don’t know what the other neighborhoods have said.
Linda’s
questions: How will these questions be posed? Where and how will they advertise
these meetings? Will there be interpreters? Will these meetings be recorded?
Will there be trained facilitators? How will we know that what is distilled
from this process really reflects what people have said? Where is the
transparency?
QUORUM
ESTABLISHED: 11:45
MOTION:
(CP, AG) Meet as a regular board meeting and ratify the previous motions.
Passed.
Board
works to craft a motion.
MOTION:
(CP, AG) EPIC will join with the other District 7 neighborhoods to respond to
the BluePrint for Equity from NCR, and will question the outlined process and
seek to honor the Core Principles of Community Engagement , in particular items
4 and 5. Our concern is that the initial design of the process was not done in
consultation with the neighborhoods, and the intake of information, and
ultimate goals for this process are not transparent, were not initiated by the
neighborhoods, and appear to violate the Core Principles of Community
Engagement. Passed.
10:45 Housing-
Income cap too low?
The
income guidelines are 80% of the median income. We are finding that the cap is
too low, and many people are supporting extended family and as a result, we are
excluding many people who need this funding, but don’t qualify. A second factor
contributing to ineligibility is any late mortgage payment
MOTION:
(CP, MG) EPIC recommends that we move our income cap from 80% to 100% of HUD
medial income guidelines. Passed.
11:00 Crime
concerns:
Hotspots-
26th and Cedar, 29th and 16th, Lake Street-the Problem
Strategies
Cameras
· Where to place a
camera. More than one?
o
We
will proceed with the purchase
o
Do
research to determine where the camera will go
o
Discuss
at the next GMM
· Monitoring
Other Strategies
·
Meeting with Powderhorn and Corcoran
o
Need to pay more attention to Lake St.
·
Bloom/Cedar/Lake Commercial Assn
o
Dissolved; we should get this group
together for a meeting
·
Patrolling
o
Should we start some patrolling? Calling
911; collecting license plate numbers. Biggest problem seems to be around 10
pm. Increased crime including a manslaughter.
·
Closing the Salvation Army parking lot at
night
o
Letter from EPIC asking him to close that
parking lot (put a chain up).
o
Lock the dumpster (taking clothes out to
change appearance).
o
Remove the vans.
·
Driver Vehicle Look up- letters
·
Letter to Gas Station
o
Post no loitering signs
o
Lock the dumpsters
o
Discourage “sitting” on stoops.
·
Landlord letters
o
We need to know housing
o
Look up owners on Mpls. property
information web site.
·
Don Greeley, Mike Sullivan
o
Why wasn’t the van in SA parking lot
taken care of?
o
Get the walkie talkies out to walk, and
call 911 – all at the same time from different positions in the neighborhood.
o
Get together one day and do a “mock”
trial run
o
Ask to police to do a knock and talk at
2916 and 2918 17th Avenue
o
Everyone needs a notepad – document
everything. Date and time, what you see and where, addresses, and lic. Plates,
etc. keep this information!
o
Request attendance at our joint meeting
with Corcoran and Powderhorn; hold meeting in the conference room at Lake and
Bloomington.
o
Distribute court watch clean sheets at
membership meetings.
o
EPIC letter expressing invitation to
discuss together the level of narcotics, assault, prostitution centered on Lake
St.
o
Funding and training people in our
neighborhoods for public relations; stationed at a couple of locations in the
neighborhoods with vests and ID for community assistance.
o
Invite Mad Dads to partner with
neighborhood youth.
o
Partner with Affinity on the service
project to address crime. Block off Lake St. and have a giant block party with
Powderhorn and Corcoran.
11:30 Adjourn
