TANGLETOWN NEIGHBORHOOD ASSOCIATION
REGULAR BOARD MEETING MINUTES (DRAFT)
Monday, September 19, 2011 7:00 p.m., Fuller Park
Board members present: Mary Jane Mitchell – President, Tony Proell – Vice President, Carolyn Dungan – Secretary, Andrea Siegel, Tjody DeVaal, Jane Elias, Jeff Gears, Lynell Voigt, Ryan Fisher
Also present: Tom Balcom, Carol Anderson, Matt Perry (NEHBA President)
1. Meeting was called to order at 7:05 p.m.
2. Introductions
3.August meeting minutes were approved without change.
4. Treasurer’s Report – Ryan reported that there were no expenditures since the last report.
5. Coordinator Rhea Sullivan’s leave of absence. The board was given two other resources to answer questions during Rhea’s absence: Amanda Malone (Windom) and Ruth Olson (Kenney). The board will be in contact with Rhea before next month’s meeting to get an update on Rhea’s status as coordinator of TNA Board.
6. NRP Subcommittee report – Ryan, April, Mary Jane, Jane. The subcommittee has not met in the last month. Mary Jane reported that there are discussions open on the business facade and safety committee. Safety committee funds might be allocated to canvassing the neighborhood for neighbor contact information, a safety presentation to the neighborhood by Amy Lavender, new neighbor welcome packets, and initiatives to promote pedestrian traffic. Jane and Rhea finalized the mural project process and submitted proposal to NRP. The mural project is slotted for next spring. Mary Jane has moved the invitation for Ralph Seaver of the Minneapolis parks to present on Emerald Asch Bore to next spring.
7. Halloween Haunted Home Tour – Tjody Devaal. The event has been renamed to the Halloween House Tour so that fall themes are included. Contest entry forms for the house decoration contest will be sent to Jeff’s home address along with a $3.00 entry fee. There is a 10/15 deadline to enter the contest. The tours will be Sunday, October 30. There will be a family tour at 1pm and a PG13 tour at 7pm. A panel of celebrity judges will be invited on the PM tour. The committee is looking into transportation options s.a. Dillon’s van or the Head Start buses. Neighbors will meet at Fuller Park to start the tour.
8. Safety Subcommittee report – Jeff, Janine, Steve. The subcommittee did not meet in the last month and had nothing to report.
9. Communications Subcommittee report – Carolyn, Lynell, Kay Quinn, Tjody, Mary Jane. The subcommittee met and discussed supporting the safety committee in obtaining block leader information, welcome packets for new residents, E-News, and email lists. Also discussed were neighborhood initiatives such as book club, restaurant reviews, and other special interest clubs. It was decided that interest would be calibrated by announcing one initiative at a time in the Newsletter.
10. Newsletter – Tjody DeVaal. Tjody proposed and the board agreed to a change in the focus and delivery of the Newsletter. The Newsletter going forward will focus on human interest and be delivered once every two months via the Southwest Journal. The postage cost was $658 and the cost of inserting in the SW Journal is $102 so it’s a savings of over $500 for this delivery method. Ryan expressed a concern that we would no longer be delivering essential hard news items. The suggestion was made to continue to carry hard news items but to highlight them in green in the Newsletter. Ryan suggested that the content, frequency and distribution method be under the umbrella of the Communications Subcommittee.
11. E-News. In Rhea’s absences, Ryan will educate himself on the process for sending the E-News. Ryan commented that the E-News reaches approximately 500 residents. For the Halloween House Tour there will be two E-News messages – one the first week in October and one the week before the tour with a link to the TNA website page that provides information and a map of the houses on the tour.
12. Public Service Announcement (PSA) guidelines for TNA publications (newsletter and E-News) – Rhea and Tjody will pull these together using Fulton guidelines as a template. The guidelines will speak to things like article word counts and submission deadline for anyone interested in submitting an article or announcement.
13. Lyndale Avenue Bridge Reconstruction – Tom Balcom. Tom Balcom is still working on Lyndale bridge restoration project and has met with Bruce Chamberlin the new Park Planning Commissioner. All bike and pedestrian traffic will go under the bridge. There will be development required by the Park Board for this and Bruce will work on budgeting for this. Scott from Tangletown Gardens has offered to partner with TNA on landscaping around water tower and planters on Nicollet Avenue bridge. Scott will be invited to the next NRP Subcommittee meeting. Matt Perry brought attention to the fact that the bridge will be out from Spring to Fall of 2012 and that this will be a hardship for the local businesses. There is a grant from NEHBA to fund communication efforts working with businesses making their clientele aware of how to access the businesses during construction. Mary Jane suggested that in the next Newsletter an article is devoted to this project.
14. Dollar Store lighting issue – Ryan. The residents who live adjacent to the Dollar Store on Nicollet Avenue have complained of light pollution issues because the store keeps their lights on 24 hours. Matt Perry of NEHBA worked with the property management to get the store to turn off every other light, but it is still an issue for residents. Another suggested solution might would be to install awnings over the windows. Matt will continue to work on the issue with the property manager with whom he has a good relationship.
15. CAC Dog Park – Tony Procell. At the last CAC meeting it was decided to exclude the only Tangletown site on the creek at Pleasant. It was also decided to discontinue the CAC meetings and leave the decisions now to the Park Board. Farmsted sites are still possibilities, however, there is pushback from neighborhood residents on those sites as well.
16. Fuller Park Update – Carol Anderson reported that the fall classes and daycare are in full swing. The park has expanded their hours to M-F 3 to 9 and Sa 9-4. The community room is available for rental for $20/hour. The parking lot was recently resurfaced. The blood drive on Monday, September 12th was very successful. The Halloween party is a joint effort of local parks and will take place at Fuller Park on Halloween from 6pm – 8pm with entertainers, games, a magician, and goody bags and it is all free to the public.
17. Other Business Announcements – The massage parlor in the Nicollet & 48th business node was quickly shut down due to zoning laws that prohibit businesses whose primary use is massage. There is a NEHBA initiative for a destination marketing plan for the 9 business nodes in the area. Interviews with local business owners and the findings of the survey can be viewed in an online video that Matt Perry will soon make available.
18. The meeting adjourned at 8:38 p.m.