EPIC General Membership
6-8-2009 Minutes
Attendees:
Brad Pass (BP), Carol Pass (CP), Chiffon Williams (SW),
Rosie Cruz; Mary Gonsior; Stephanie Allen; Linda L
earl sims; eonar
CP Chaired and
called the meeting to order at
Introductions:
MOTION: Approve the agenda. Moved, Seconded Motion Passed
Meeting called to order as a committeee of the whole.
BP moved to approve the agenda and Earl seconded it. No
objections.
May minutes...Mary arrived for a quorum. Chiffon and Rosie
arrived.
mary moved to approve the minutes and there was no
objection.
ANNOUNCEMENTS
Milwaukee Trip...Rosie wants to go; Linda suggested Sarah
and Becky of the Urban 4H group about going.
Development on Hiawatha...No one seems to know about the
Seward Redesign Group and what it is doing or when it was established.
Modification 113 may just be a minor change is what Kathy explained. Carol will
try to meet with them to find out the history. Bystrom may have been bought by
the redesign group Mike said.
Charter commission: Carol reported that it was very
interesting. Our city charter has a commission that can propose changes. We
have a strong council; independent board of taxation and have a city mayor.
Council Ostrow proposed a number of
changes. The park board was left independent; board of taxation will be on the
ballot; city manager will not be proposed.
Hope Community will present a significant analysis of
comparative expenditures per capita for children in different parts of the city
and different demographics. 6-8 pm June 3rd at Hope.
Introductions
Report on Design Team
Brad said the cost will not go beyond the budget set for the
total budget for the architects.
[linda was out and Brad can type this] The city spends more
on dogs than kids in our neighborhood. Now we have partnerships to reestblish
and approach them with programming. We had 21, but things might change. We plan
to be fully operational when the building opens: soccer/tutoring; soccer;
baseball; urban 4H
Xcel
There is a motion from the board about preference for the
location of the facility to keep it from housing and away from the park planned
by the Greenway coalition. A proposal would be to have xcel take the site of a
building for sale on Minnehaha. We know they plan to expand a substation by
Hway 280.
Motion to support Xcel’s putting the substation
inside the empty building that exists just east of the Greenway Park, or tear
down the existing building and use that space. The greenway trail should be
moved to the south side of the building, providing space for the substation to
expand north if needed. (JB) (CW)
Motion passed.
Board motion with the addition that the lines be
buried. Passed unanimously. Made by Mary
seconded by Chiffon
Future of neighborhood
Eight districts. The 8th crosses the river. We are group 7.
We are easily overlooked and overshadowed by the neighborhoods south of us. The
Board has 16 people. 8 are appointed by the mayor and predominantly a group of
the mayor's friends and white male. Other agencies that were in NRP will not be
represented. The election is the 16th.
Chiffon ia the elector and Jenny the alternate. Linda asked about NRP funding
and a change about wording. Carol had pointed out publically that the Native
groups will now be left out. For seven years the mayor has tried to unravel
NRP.
7:40 24th and
Bloomington and Village in Phillips
Comments
It needs to be developed as close to what we want as
possible or a private developer will impose a plan that could be adverse. Carol
met with a developer called the Velvet Hammer! PRG has tried to find an
appropriate developer and AICDC seems to be the one. There will be fewer people
than another plan with larger families.
Mike said they run the county detox and other buildings. The
site is small. The elders will bring low impact with their age and lifestyle.
There should be stability for the neighborhood with this plan.It is partnering
with Common Bond.
Stephanie said it seems like too much rental. They would not
have bought had it been a rental plan. Cynthia voiced similar concerns.
Carol said in1999 about 90% was rental. Now we are closer to
30%. Other neighborhoods are still high rental. We had lots of vacant lots and
put in houses. We lost about 70 buildings in 1.5 years. Carol never endorsed
condos.
Kathy had two points: they tried every possible scenerio for
owner housing, but the number of units possible would not support the land
cost. A study about property values with nonprofit well-managed rental
properties did increase value compared to 4 plex and duplex properties because
of funds available for landscape and upkeep. She offered more information about
a similar site in St. Paul.
Chiffon said St Paul has better housing optons. She
recommends that we look at what they are doing because it is working.
Kathy discussed the factor of having an elderly population
and that it would have a lower impact on the neighborhood in terms of numbers.
Mike talked about the partnership with Common Bond in
managing the building over the next 40 years. Once the original agreement is
over, the partnership typically owns the building and follows up with
"sustenance funding" for replacing the roof, and other major repairs
to sustain the building into the future.
AICDC likes the design of the original VIP plan and wants to
maintain the architectural idea and is working with the original architect.
PRG and AICDC are meeting with Midtown Phillips on the 23rd
to talk about AICDC's interest in the west side of Bloomington Avenue, and
their commitment to work with the neighborhoods to build projects that enhance
the neighborhoods.
Linda reported on previous presentations from Common Bond
where they discussed about the many
different ways they can work with a community to build partnerships between the
developers and the residents. She encouraged AICDC and Common Bond to think of
ways to build bridges to the closest residents, the townhome association.
Mike would like to receive a motion of support for AICDC but
didn't come expecting this. We discussed ways that more information could be
presented to the townhome owners in a written format so that association
members can be informed about the proposal and prepared for a personal
presentation and meeting AICDC.
Carol pointed out the EPIC board members and long time
participants in the VIP plan tend to view the opportunities that come in terms
of what fits best with the original plan and meet the needs of the community in
spite of all the challenges that we are confronted with. EPIC would prefer to
wait until we can bring more townhome owners into the process.
Midtown Greenway
Margaret Kirkpatrick presented a report on the Xcel Hiawatha
Project. There was an update at the
coalition meeting. The Utilities Commission accepted Xcel's application as
complete (which is questionable). Midtown Coalition has one member on the
commission to study the Xcel Plan. Each neighborhood touching the line gets one
member on the committee, city council members will probably serve on the
committee, along with a number of other relevant groups having a rep. There is
going to be a very large committee - 15 or so.
June 18th will be the first big public meeting about the
application from 6-8 pm. We are encouraged to get a lot of people to attend
this meeting which will be held at the Midtown Global Market. Our effort will
be to help define the "table of contents" on the environmental impact
station. People should come and tell their story, bring petitions explaining
their position (EPIC and other groups.)
Main points: underground, not on the greenway, location of
the substation. the more consensus we can get among the neighborhoods the
better, as consensus will tend to be adopted if widely accepted. This is the
start for building consensus.
Linda noted that her HP Printer (recently purchased) that if
your printer is operated under high power lines, your print product may be
diminished. She also asked where Allina's reports are on the impact of this on
people's health. As they are the primary customers for the Xcel power generated
by this line, why haven't they presented information on the health factors.
Tim will distribute talking points from the Midtown Greenway
Coalition point of view and possibly petitions also.
Urban 4H
Meeting every Saturday in the garden from 10 until about
noon. All EPIC neighbors from 5 to 20 years old are welcome to participate.
Parents of children must be involved. The group has a plot and has planted
vegetables and flowers. By the end of the summer the group will decide whether
to incorporate as a 501(c)(3) organization. Sara is the groups unofficial
leader and all the parents take turns helping. There are also some volunteers.
The club focus is urban 4H and gardening.
Anyone interested in being an urban 4H volunteer can contact
Sara (612) 810-7581. Sarah has children participating in the program. The kids
have been meeting for about 6 weeks.
EPIC (owner of the East Phillips 17th Avenue Community
Garden) requires that anyone writing grants for programs going on in the garden
must first get approval from EPIC. EPIC is ultimately responsible for the
performance expections of any grant. Brad pointed out a grant program for 2010
up to $1,000 from Home Depot. The grant would be a perfect fit for the Urban 4H
group.
Meeting Adjourned 8:50 pm.
