The meeting was brought to order at 7:04 PM.
Members present: Jim Barfoot, Chris Bull, Grant Dulgarian, Anneliese Greenier, Vishal Jain, Kerry Kohring, Daniel MacLellan, Michael McGlynn, Britt Page, Sheila Perlow, Lee Pichette, Joan Retsinas, Thomas Schmeling, Sharon Waldman, Dean Weinberg.
Members absent: Sierra Barter, Daren Bulley, Mary Ann Rossoni. Peter Sandby-Thomas
Guests present: David Kolsky (Advisory Board), Aaron Regenburg, Miriam Ross, Jorge Elorza.
President’s comments: Dean reminded of expectation of attending meetings and getting involved on a project. He encouraged each of us to find a project to work on.
The Membership Committee is our “flagship” project for the year. One goal is to get members more involved. We are looking for spring events.
We need to revise our advisory Board membership.
There is a Providence Rezoning meeting on May 6th.
Guests:
Aaron Regenburg is running for state representative. He told us that RI is better than our current state govt. We need fair and ethical government, and to make our community heard in the state legislature.
Miriam Ross. Business attorney and adjunct law professor at RWU. She seeks to create opportunity for RI’ers – jobs, development & education.
Jorge Elorza, candidate for Providence Mayor arrived later and was recognized by the Board.
Minutes:
Treasurer’s report (Annaliese): Membership is down significantly from last year’s Jan-March total of 960. Sheila suggests going back to the park to recruit. Sheila moved to accept the report. Dan second. All approve.
State Representative: Michael pointed out that Gordon Fox It was noted that Gordon Fox appears not to be participating in state government at present. Should we make a statement? It was pointed out that Gordon has been a strong supporter of the Board. Dean will contact Gordon or his COS Larry Berman and try to get a response regarding his attendance at the State House.
Candidate Forum: Dean asked for volunteers to set this up. Peter, Kerry, Tom & Vishal volunteered.
There are several races: Mayor, Governor, State Senate, State Rep. and City Council. In most cases, the primary election is the critical point. Primaries are 9/9. Two events were suggested, one for local and one for state offices. It was suggested that the events should be in August.
Community garden project status. Funding that Bob McMahaon was relying on from Kevin Jackson will not be available. The $55K amount was more than 2/3 of the total $75K cost. The Planning Dept. has told us we can’t get community block grant because we are not a low-income neighborhood. The project is thus postponed. The Parks Dept. will spend some of their budget to fill gap but they don’t get money until the end of the summer. We’re looking at waiting until September. Dean has meeting with Bob McMahon May 13th to think about what to do. Grant points out that we could have known this before.
Kerry talked to Monica Anderson of Miriam Hospital about the city’s slowdown. Miriam was ready with > $12.5k and is disappointed in the loss of other funds. SNA has about $15k. $2500 is available from a State Senate grant that is due in a couple of weeks. Mike points out that this is a small drop in the bucket.
Senate grant applications are due April 30th. Vishal suggests using it for the music festival. J. Elorza suggests a second Cyclovia. Dean notes that Cyclovia is coming back in September from HSMA. Michelle Cortez mentions that HSMA is working on furnishings, including street lamps, on Hope St.
Grant mentioned the lack of recycling in Lippett Park. Dean mentions that we have discussed this before and that that the recycling people will not go into park to empty the cans. Various solutions were discussed with no decision. Dean will make this issue part of the meeting with Bob M. on the 13th.
Streets of Summit Photo contest. Joan met with Monica Anderson who agreed to display photos at Miriam at the end of June. The title of the contest will be “People and Places of Summit”. The boundaries of “Summit” will be approximately the newsletter distribution zone. Joan seeks our approval for cash prizes $100, $50 $25 for 1st- 3rd places and Four $25 gifts certs to the two camera stores (Zacks and Camera Werks). The camera stores would display the photos after the contest and the owners were serve as judges. Total $275. Shiela moves Annaliese seconds. Dean asks about gift certificates as prizes Dean hopes to use photos for our website but Michael M suggests photographers might not like that. The funding request was approved unanimously. Joan is looking at deadlines around the end of June but needs to confirm with Monica.
Hope St Spring fair May 31st. Dean asked last month for ideas. We will at least have our table there. If you think of things we could do please bring them forward.
Yard sale. The format has been decided. There’s lots of time before September. Date is forthcoming.
Membership committee (Michale McGlynn). The committee so far is just Michael McGlynn. Annaliese, Jim Barfoot and Grant volunteer. It was suggested that Sierra Barter be contacted to see if she will join
Michael consulted with Jim Barfoot and Dean about our membership. We have 751 on our membership list out of 2,700 people in polic district 8.
One question is what defines a term of membership? How long are you a member when you contribute?
Next steps: Engage in conversation with other neighborhood groups about their membership strategies.
Events. The City has told us that they have approved funding for the music festival. Our application was for $4k, but we don’t know the dollar amount we wil receive. Dean will confirm the amount.The first 3 years we got money and use of a stage. The following year we got just the stage and raised our own money.
The Annual Cookoff will be in the fall. We still need ides for spring events. Michelle requests that we plan events for adults. She circulated a list of events. A Pub crawl suggested.
North Main Street. LA Fitnes has a proposal for the Sears Building. They would knock down the building and put in a parking lot with 300 spaces right on NMS. Their own study indicates a need for 150 cars.The LA fitness building would not show its face to NMS. Two planning meetings are scheduled for tomorrow. Providence meeting is at 4:45. The Pawtucket meeting is a 7pm at City Hall.
Tom moves and Lee seconds that Michael draft a letter to the city stating our concerns. The letter should state that SNA is not opposed to LA Fitness but we have concerns about landscaping, the entrance, lighting, the roofline and parking. We want to preserve/create a livable walkable community.
Meeting Adjourned 9:00pm.
Respectfully submitted: Thomas Schmeling
0 Comments