September 15th, 2016, 6:30 p.m. – 8:50 p.m.
East Phillips Park Cultural & Community
Center, 2307 17th Ave S.
EPIC web address: eastphillips-epic.com
Office: 2536 18th Avenue S.,
Minneapolis, MN 55404
Phone:
(612) -280-8418
Board
Roster: Laura Dale,
Shawna Dillon, Linda Leonard, Carol Pass. Margarita Ortega,
Kristin Hanks, Rosie Cruz, Jenny Bjorgo, Mary Gonsior
Board
Members Present: Margarita, Carol, Linda, Laura, Rosie (L)
Board
Members Not Present: Shawna Dillon, Mary Gonsior (E), Kristin Hanks, Jenny Bjorgo (E)
Members: George Kennedy;
Carol Hill Kennedy; Lee Samuelson; Pat
Fleetham; Brad Pass
Guests: Shirley Heyer; Bob Byers county public works; Dereck Sunstrom and Allan Klugman
Guests: Shirley Heyer; Bob Byers county public works; Dereck Sunstrom and Allan Klugman
MOTION:
Meet as a committee of the whole. Approved.
6:49 Introductions:
·
Greetings and Introductions:
·
Approval of Agenda: BP, GK Passed.
·
Approval of Minutes from August 11th, 2016. Rita
and Carol Kennedy; passed
6:45 Announcements:
· Next EPIC Board Meeting will be October
1st, Saturday at the Park 10:00 am to 12:00 noon.
· CLEAN SWEEP – October 8th,
Welna’s Parking Lot for breakfast at 9:00 am. Bring your friends and Neighbors.
Come early for a T-shirt
- Next EPIC Community meeting will be October 13th, Thursday at the Park 6:30 to 8:45 pm.
- EPIC Garden Harvest Party, October 15th, Good Food, Pumpkin Carving Contest, Bring your musical instruments.
- Neighborhood Network invitation to participate. Next Door is a private social network for you and your community. Talk to your neighbors online.
7:15 Traffic Changes on Franklin/Cedar/ Minnehaha Aves – Bob Byers, Hennepin
County
Plans
for changes to the Cedar Franklin Minnehaha intersections. Concerns: semis and
large trucks congesting roads, too many stoplights on Cedar (between Franklin
and 24th St.) Safety and Congestion.
- History review about how the original grid system has been intersected by other additions so there isn’t good alignment. Cedar/Franklin is a top crash intersection. The objective is to try to remove chaos; improve safety; make it easier to get through the area.
- Difficult to get consenses; budget constraints; delayed action;
- County is going to repave Cedar and Franklin so we NEED to have a plan for bigger improvements.
- Recent bids too high because contractors 30% higher than expected because they are busy.
- Negative environment for pedestrians, traffic, and bikes.
A
visual presentation explained that traffic flows will be better because of
alignment of lanes and “squaring” the cedar/franklin intersection. They have
used video and simulations from real data to design 22nd to carry
much more traffic. The street by taco bell will become two way. There will be
no need for a light on 22nd and Cedar because traffic will travel in
“clumps” allowing time for left turn lanes. There will be safer routes for
bikes and pedestrians. The planners know the model may be “off” and they intend
to monitor carefully how drivers manage the changes. The bids will go out again
next spring and they hope bids will be lower.
CEDAR
BRIDGE REPAIR AND OR WIDENING WAS BRIEFLY DISCUSSED. Pat Fleetham will follow
up with the county about the project and what the historical and other
constraints will be. Discussion will continue
7:45 Efforts to respond to
the crime situation—Concerns?, Discussion, Information Intake, Solutions?
2900
block of 15th
The officers are not arresting people. There is
information to share off the record.
Cano door knocks Little Earth with Rita to host
political meetings with the mayor and LaDuc
To talk about crime is to talk about your family at
Little Earth and the families are huge and can include four or five households
so you are talking about their uncle or cousin or brother or grandma and no one
is going to talk to an outsider about that.
There
was discussion about getting youth at Little Earth feeling good being outside
of their community to widen their perspective.
People offered resources for helping youth get out into communities for
construction. The playground at Waite House tomorrow is an example.
The
police cameras are not very helpful. Rita reported that the current camera in
the park has such a narrow field that it doesn’t catch any of the dealing.
Terry
at emergency operations said no one can place any more cameras because there
are over 150 cameras and they can’t place the cameras in Cedar Field because
they don’t have enough servers. We might be able to do one camera in the future
on Cedar Field and one on 16th maybe. Wells Fargo want 5 cameras on
Chicago and Lake and they get to go first. Rita said the police probably won’t
monitor our cameras unless we force them tol
A majority of the meeting of the whole wants
to see the barricade improved and made more beautiful.
A
majority of the whole wants to encourage the City Council to add additional
servers to the emergency operations center so more cameras can be installed for
the police department.
8:00 Update on Pollution Problems--- Discussion,
Information Intake, Solutions?
Let’s scan and enter the MPCA minutes for information
purposes. The meeting was September 7th.
The city is going to use half the roof depot building. Rita
spoke with some employees at an emergency planning meeting and learned that we
can still press to use part of the building. She knows about a planning group
that might use aqua culture. We could
submit a different proposal. Jenny Lansing from the City of Minneapolis is a
contact with environmental climate change.
8:15 Clean Sweep –Brad Pass
Handout
for October 8th
8:30 EPIC Harvest Party plans -Brad
Handout
for October 15th
8:45 Adjourn
