EPIC Community Meeting Minutes
December 12th, 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: Steve Sandberg, Mary Gonsior, Sarah Santiago, Carol Pass, Rosie Cruz
Board Members Not Present: Laura Dale (E), Cassandra Holmes (E), Shontal Lajeeunesse (E), Abah Mohamed (E),
Members: Francisca Pass, Joani Esseenburg, Brad Pass
Members: Francisca Pass, Joani Esseenburg, Brad Pass
Guests: Lt. Richard Hand, Julia Roessher, Mahamed
Cali, Tanya McCaleb, Antonette Mcitic, Larry Matsumoto, Kali Pliego, Halima
Abdi, Chad Hebert
6:30Social Time
6:45Meeting as committee of the whole
6:45Greetings and Introductions
6:50Approve tonight’s agenda, CP, MG, approved
6:50Approve tonight’s agenda, CP, MG, approved
Approve minutes from November community meeting, StS, CP, approved
6:51Announcements
• Next Board Meeting will be: January 4th at 10am at the EPIC office (2433 Bloomington Avenue)
o Board Meetings are open to the public
• Next Community Meeting will be: January 9th at 6:30 here at East Phillips Park
• Next Executive Committee meeting is December 19thfrom 7-8pm at the EPIC office
o Executive Committee meetings are open to the public
• Next Southside Green Zone meeting is Monday, December 16th from 5:30-8pm.
• 2020 Calendar changes – see calendar handout
o July 4th, 2020, is a board meeting
o Board meeting is changed to July 11th
o Community meeting is changed to July 16th
o Sept 5th, 2020, is the board Saturday of Labor Day (9/7/20) weekend
o Board meeting is changed to September 12th
o Community meeting is changed to September 17th
➢ 2020 important dates
o Annual meeting – April 18th
o Summerfest – June 14th
o Phillips Clean Sweep – October 10th
o Garden Fall Harvest Party – October 17th
7:53Officer Hand and Kali Pliego – 10 minutes
• Updates on community concerns from past community meetings
• Community members: please fill out the index cards with your concerns for Officer Hand and Kali Pliego
o Homelessness concern from November community meeting
▪ Some things in the works:
• Peace house – open in the day time and now working to extend to night time hours from 9pm to 7am
• American Indian center working to set something up
• MWIRC working on something as well
• Mike Goze has 40 beds currently and trying to get total of 64 beds at 1800 Chicago. There is a minimum time of 12 hours to help with withdrawal
o Community member expressed that it is nice to have the sidewalk cleared at 25th and Bloomington free of people and is wondering if there is a plan for spring when people may return.
▪ Kali refers to how Metro Urban Indian Directors MUID used a solutions based approach, talking to people who are homeless
▪ Community member points out that the city and county are the ones with the resources – the community shouldn’t be the ones having to be the ones that have to do the work
▪ Another community member pointed out how well the ‘Navigation Center’ worked
▪ Kali points out that she and Officer Hand are the police department and some of the community members requests are outside of the role of police
7:262020 Street Resurfacing Program - Larry Matsumoto from Public Works – 20 minutes
• Handout (emailed out in EPIC member email with agenda for December community meeting)
• Asphalt road improvements
• South Phillips consists of 6 miles of roads created in 1974
• There is a public hearing for those people who live on those red lines, pre-public hearing is March 10th at Stewart Park at 6:30pm and March 17th is the public hearing.
• Community member asked how is square footage assessed?
o Measure square footage of the lot, everyone is charged the same amount, even those that live on corners
• Community member wonders if departments talk to each other to coordinate so there is less disruption
o Gas, water and sewer department are the groups that work underground the most and they all talk to each other to coordinate
• Question about funding
o Gas tax doesn’t really apply anymore, used on truck routes (!!!)
• Question about whether the city will be doing the work or will be contracting out
o Use as much city workers as possible, contract out when necessary
7:48Stewart Park Improvements Project – Francisca Pass
• Stewart Park is outside of East Phillips but they are trying to reach out to surrounding areas
• Stewart Park has CIP money available for Master Plan improvements
o Restraint on funding that it can only be on master plan (2 year community engagement etc) $300,000 is CIP money and is allocated for master plan and $40,000 is curb allocation to assist with new amenities
▪ Can’t do everything they want with the budget
▪ Asking what priorities the community would like to focus on to start improvements
▪ Benches, nets, fence (6 foot high) and taking out sidewalk can be under the master plan and won’t need amended master plan
• If need a master plan amendment will need a great deal more community input
• Community ideas:
o Benches around soccer field and basketball court
o Fence or net around fields so balls don’t get out
o No stop light near soccer field. Take out sidewalk near soccer field because encourages children to run out onto 26th Street
o Question about how much baseball field is used
o Needs full size basketball hoop
▪ Park and rec says that the basketball hoops are still the school’s so they would need to agree
o Park seems like it belongs to the school, make sure the community knows its theirs
o Space to lock up bikes
o Question about whether Mpls park board has rules about concessions to raise money for sports teams
• Will put together feedback and come back with updated plan
o January/February engaging with the public
o Assess whether there is enough feedback
o Best case scenario is to start in summer
8:162nd vote on Community Driven Projects
2nd vote RC, Approved (1 abstained) MOTION: WHEREAS, The EPIC Board was very appreciative of the number of applications received in the short window of time for submissions; and
• WHEREAS, the timeline imposed by the City allowed EPIC only one meeting ( our Sat. 11/9 Board Mtg.) to evaluate proposals and make selections (we asked to have an additional meeting before the 11/12 EPIC Community Meeting, but the City said no; if we didn’t make choices on Saturday, they would make them without us); and
• WHEREAS, the choices made reflect the board’s inability to consider such things as partially funding some projects, or working with applicants to amend their proposals to fit the guidelines; and
• WHEREAS, Guidelines for what spending was eligible were not clearly stated in the application due to the severely constricted timeline; and
• WHEREAS, The City will help us write responses to each of the applicants explaining their/our decision, andsuggesting ways that they may apply to receive funding from other sources, or from EPIC in the future.
• WHEREAS, The list of proposals that EPIC agreed together with the City to bring to the November 14th EPIC Community meeting for funding in calendar year 2020 are:
--
* *:eligible for funding but there is some kind of stipulation from the city
ORGANIZATION PROPOSAL TITLE $ AMOUNT
ORGANIZATION PROPOSAL TITLE $ AMOUNT
Little Earth Residents Association Native Youth Arts Collective $21, 483
AICDC AICDC East Phillips Targeted Outreach Program $20,000
*Semilla Transformation Through Community Art $20,000
KRSM radio Voices of Phillips $12,500
*Women’s Environmental Institute -- $41,460
Indigenous Peoples Task Force (IPTF) IPTF Mobile Harm Reduction Unit $13,338
African Community Services/Somali Comm. Outreach for Opioid Abuse Prevention $26,771
*
THEREFORE, EPIC moves to approve $155,552 of the $175,000 to the above-listed organizations/proposals with $19,448 left to be decided.
Discussion: Who determined the amount? The proposal stated how much the project was seeking
MOTION: EPIC moves to approve $19,448 to the Banyan proposal, 2nd vote: AM, amended (wording changed), approved, one abstained
8:30Housing Program
• Look over amended draft program guidelines handout
• Almost identical to our past housing programs
• Only requires one vote
• Plan to launch at EPIC Annual meeting in April
MOTION: Approve the East Phillips Housing program as presented in the Draft Program Guidelines. BP, AM, approved
8:35Unified Housing Policy – Carol
• City council is considering amendments to the City’s Unified Housing Policy and Revenue Loss Offset Assistance Policy in connection with development of a permanent Inclusionary Zoning Policy. Inclusionary zoning is intended to advance the City’s housing goals by ensuring that affordable housing is provided in new residential or mixed-use developments
8:40Updates (3 minutes each)
o Roof Depot and delisting – Steve or Brad
▪ Still contesting the city’s decision to dismantle the community’s plan for the roof depot site
▪ There will be an open hearing – don’t know when yet
▪ 73 times the amount of arsenic under the roof depot site than there should be
o Development at Lake Street – Steve
▪ Still have not re-applied
▪ Held up with liability insurance
▪ What ways are there to fund these types of stipend programs and background checks? – board meeting
o Public Works Jobs – has anyone received notice of these jobs?
▪ EPIC is in discussion about adding where to look for jobs and training to our website
▪ We invite you to write or call the following people and express your concern about the failure to inform East Phillips about jobs at Public Works after they promised to outreach to the neighborhood for these jobs
City Council Members:
Mayor:
Director of Public Works:
Robin HutchesonTweet: @rchonthego
