The meeting was called to order at 7:00 PM.
Members Present: Jim Barfoot, Erik Christiansen, Grant Dulgarian, Vishal Jain, Kerry Kohring, Dan MacLellan, Michael McGlynn, Britt Page, Sheila Perlow, Tom Schmeling, Mark Tracy, Sharon Lee Waldman, Dean Weinberg,
Members Absent: Lee Clasper-Torch, Anneliese Greenier, Emily Spitzman, Karina Holyoak Wood
Guests: Pernilla Frazier, Karen Klingon, Ralph Mero,
Announcements: Dean reminded us that meetings are the 3rd Monday of each month at 7pm and discussed the format of meetings. SNA was featured in the Superlatives issue of Providence Monthly.
Jim noted that Providence Village, a neighbor to neighbor support system mostly for senior has had 4 public meetings.
Parking Meters on Hope Street. Pernilla Frazier met with Leo Perrotta, the city parking administrator, at the HSMA monthly meeting. Despite reports, there are no plans for meters on Hope St in the next 6 months to 2 years. There does not seem to be a need and the area is though to be too residential for this. But this is an evolving issue and there is great pressure to expand paid parking. Pernilla also noted that the HSMA Block Party was a huge success.
Minutes for May were unanimously approved on a motion by Kerry, seconded by Sharon.
Treasurer’s report. There was no formal report as we transition from past to current treasurer. The annual meeting produced $300-400 membership and $100 in t-shirt sales. Kerry reported on expenditures at the annual meeting. We have some material resources left over from that meeting.
Mt. Hope/ SNA board swap. We have approved a member swap. MHNA is meeting Thursday this week to discuss. We will hear back whether they want to go forward. A more efficient alternative might be an occasional joint meeting of officers.
Go Solar Summit is a program for pooled buying of solar panels for houses. West Broadway Neighborhood Association is participating. This round closes June 30th, so there is little time for us to act. SNA could potentially partner with WBNA on this in the future A public forum/ company presentation is possible. Interested people should contact Dean.
Advisory Board. We continued our discussion regarding the appropriate make-up of our advisory board. There was general agreement that it should include the following as ex officio members: The Ward 3 Council person, Our State Senator, State Representative, SNA immediate past president, HSMA president.
We need to amend the bylaws to create this board, which has existed unofficially.
Dean encouraged us to think of names for the advisory board and bring them next time. It was mentioned that, in thinking of people, we should think carefully about the purpose of this board.
Program and Committee Reports
- Zoning. Grant wants a survey of the listserv regarding acceptable building heights on N. Main. Jim Barfoot agreed to send it out if Grant will write it.
- Membership. Michael manned the table at the Hope Street Festival and found interest from people who had recently moved to the neighborhood. He was unable to get the window stickers before the annual meeting, but will work on that. Vishal suggested that we should sell t-shirts through the website.
- Snow Brigade. Britt and Tom hosted a lunch for the brigade. Four out of six shovelers attended. They discussed ways to improve the service. A receipt for $90 was submitted.
- Events. The Music Festival is August 15th. A contract with the headline band has been signed. Dean has lined up sponsors. He encourages members to find more. $250 is the minimum. $500 or $1000 is better. Budget is $14k. $13k from sponsors and 1k from vendor fees. We may raise more. We need volunteers for the event..
- Newsletter. On hold waiting for final information on the Music Festival. Printing will probably be in July.
- Nominating Committee. The committee’s work for the year is done now that the new SNA Board has been elected.
- Summit Ave Park. There will be a meeting June 22 at 6:30PM at the Rochambeau Library. Greg Garritt has volunteered to take the lead on the park. 7 people have expressed interest in serving on its board.
Volunteers. We discussed the role of non-board volunteers in our various projects such as the snow brigade, newsletter delivery, the music festival, etc. Tom asked about insurance liability. Dean will explore insurance with the firm that insures the music festival.
The Year Ahead. We will reprise events from previous years:
- Music Festival, Fall Cook off, Yard Sale, Snow Brigade, Annual Meeting (we need to set the date, Political Forums for 2016 elections.
Suggestions for additional board activities for the coming year:
- Crosswalks on Hope St. (Tom, Jim, Sheila, Dan)
- Building a volunteer pool
- Education sub-committee (Tom, Karina, Erik, Emily)
- One neighbor has asked us to explore making Frost Street 2 way.
- Karen Klingon raised the issue of the Hess station exit onto North Main. There was general agreement that this has created a hazardous situation, now that Smithfield Ave. is two-way.
- A Shredding Event.
- SNA “Welcome Wagon” for new neighbors. We tried this previously, but it was not successful due to the difficulty of identifying and contacting new neighbors. It was pointed out that the easiest thing to do is deliver information to realtors to share.
- North Burial Ground. Erik has been part of a group working on creating walking tours and making the NBG a destination. The group met with Parks Director Wendy Nilsson about forming a “friends of NBG and Randall park”. This would include improving crossings on N. Main.
Meeting adjourned 8:57
Respectfully Submitted, Thomas Schmeling, Secretary
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