April 2017

Dunbar Spring Neighborhood Meeting
April 17, 2017

Treasurer’s Report – Currently all neighborhood money is located at Tucson Old Pueblo Credit Union $1446.01.

Announcements

There will be some kind of mixed-use development happening at Speedway/6th Ave.

Upcoming programs at the Main Library – Thurs. April 20th, Gratitude, It Does a Body Good noon-1:30 p.m., Sat. April 22nd, Seed Library volunteer training 8:30 a.m., Tue. April 25th, Peter Biedermann guitar concert noon-1 p.m., Thurs. April 27 100 Years of Arizona Women Journalists noon-1:30 p.m.,

Gail is contacting TEP for more information re: recent article in the paper about meters emitting more radiation

One Tucson Municipal ID – a group is working on creating an ID that would help folks who don’t have the paperwork for traditional IDs – this would help with getting services. This will be an agenda item in May. Discussion

El Presidio update – Ezra met with their co-president Wiley Cornell

• El Presidio has hired a lawyer to help them as they work with a potential Town West development for the docks at 9th Ave/6th St. We are invited to be a part of this process – Natasha W. expressed interest in participating.
• Instead of the specific committees like our neighborhood has, they have broader committees such as streetscapes, infill, social media and outreach. This is something to think about for us moving forward
• They are interested in getting information from our neighborhood about our interactions with Salvation Army as we went through the process of their expansion/remodel. Please send any thoughts on this to Ezra.
• They have co-presidents written into their bylaws – again something for us to consider.

  Queen Ave. Parking Issues between 2nd St. and University

• There have been numerous issues concerning parked cars on Queen – the cars are blocking trash and emergency vehicle access, people are leaving additional trash, and they are moving the large collective trash cans away from their designated spots so Environmental Services won’t pick up the trash.
• Many of these concerns seem to surround the four-plex located there.
• One of the neighbors expressed concerns to Ezra who wrote a letter outlining issues of parking and violating city rules for parking, emergency access, etc.
• There is also a concern that the owners of the four-plex are the same owners of the building when other incidents have happened there over the years involving illegal activity. While that is not necessarily the concern at this time, the overparking is a problem.
• Motion that neighborhood sends a letter concerning the parking issues on Queen Ave to residents and any landlords on that block. 11 for, 1 abstain

  Reporting disturbances to the police

• Police have been notified multiple times about the person who has been wandering in the neighborhood, approaching homes and individuals and aggressively asking for money. In addition, he is checking doors to see if they are unlocked. There seems to be a need for social service intervention with this individual. At this time, the only way to get that intervention is to keep reporting him to the police. A photo has been taken and will also be brought over to the Salvation Army to see if he is staying there and if they can assist with this. Keep reporting this individual to the police, as the more reports, the more information they will have to get that intervention started.
• Question about booming sounds at night recently – possibly it has been fireworks set off to celebrate the Yaqui Easter time.

  Picnic in the park

• Neighborhood fun event on April 23rd from 4-7 in Estevan Park, 1000 N. Main Ave
• This is a leave-no-trace event, bring your own food (not a potluck), your own seating, tables, plates, utensils, etc. Walking/biking with a trailer of sorts is encouraged rather than driving.
• We have a beer permit – beer in cans allowed, no other alcohol or glass bottles allowed.
• This is an opportunity to meet your neighbors and meet your park!
• We’ll set up in the center of the park

  President’s Report

• If you are still interested in a neighborhood t-shirt, they are available for $20. Contact Ezra.
• Dunbar / Spring Neighborhood- 2016-2017 President’s Annual Report By Ezra Roati, DSNA President
• Over the past year, I have been grateful and humbled to serve as President and I look forward to passing the responsibility on to another neighbor at tonight’s meeting. If you are inspired, please consider running for office. Thank you to everyone who has entrusted in me this duty, and I look forward to taking on more of a behind-the-scenes role in the coming year. This past year in the Dunbar/Spring Neighborhood has filled with community building events, and peaked on October 16th with the Neighborhood Tour. Beginning last May, we collaborated with El Presidio Neighborhood to mitigate the mosquito population that was thriving in the Arroyo Chico Wash. Culminating this April will complete the current year term with a fun-filled ‘Picnic in the Park’ event on Sunday April 23rd. As we continue to see new faces and changes in the neighborhood, I am excited and hopeful for the coming year in Dunbar / Spring Neighborhood.
• Starting last July, I helped organize a series of monthly “mini cleanups” to help with pruning and weeding at chicanes and traffic circles which were especially unsightly. As a neighborhood, we are responsible to maintain the public ROW areas (chicanes and traffic circles) and we will continue to work together to keep them up. In July we had two participants, in August four, in September nine, so we started to pick-up momentum. This all led up to the October 1st cleanup, where we had over 25 participants who all helped for a long day of pruning and chipping. It even spilled over to the next day where we chipped and shredded neighbors’ fresh prunings for a small fee to keep all the green biomass in the neighborhood. Special thanks to Omar, Brad, and Glenn for making this event such a huge success. We also filled three dumpsters to the maximum for free through a City Environmental Services program. This was utilized to remove dry branches, furniture and large trash items from streets and yards and many neighbors participated in this amenity. If you are interested in getting more involved in this effort, consider joining the Urban Foresters group.
• All this cleanup effort was planned to get ready for the Neighborhood Tour that took place on October 16th. Special thanks to Amanda, Anna, and Karen who were paramount to the event’s success. That event not only showcased a few of the amazing homes (many historic), we were also able to show off businesses and public artwork as well. These categories and more make this neighborhood an amazing place to live, and I was especially excited to see so many positive interactions among hosts and attendees. We had close to 200 participants, generated positive publicity for the neighborhood, and raised some funds for future events. We also donated $500 to Caridad Kitchen, and had a great time at the after party. Thank you to our community partners and sponsors who made it all possible. We also had some custom t-shirts made, and raised a small amount of additional dollars. Our diversity of people, rich history and variation in home styles make this a wonderful neighborhood, and I’m happy that we were able to show it off to our City.
• October was a busy month. We also had a tree planting event on October 29th where we planted over 12 trees and dug basins to plant the rain. Omar dug basins with his min-excavator and we had great success in building rock basins and utilizing mulch from the pruning event. Thank you to everyone who participated, and especially to Brad and Omar. There was even a Halloween event on October 31st that was organized for the neighborhood children which was a huge success and increased my trick-or-treaters by 1000%. Thank you to Mike and others for organizing that.
• We’ve also been collaborating with the City of Tucson on a workforce housing project at 11th Avenue and 1st Street. This is especially important as home prices increase, we need to make sure that we encourage all income levels to live in and thrive in our neighborhood. We are hoping that this project will break ground in the next year or so, and bring some affordable housing to our neighborhood.
• The Community Garden at the Dunbar School is now up and running again. Thank you to Becky for reinvigorating the garden and working hard to make that a reality again this past year. It has been fallow for too long, and we appreciate your efforts. Unfortunately, there has been vandalism in the garden recently, but I am confident that the garden will continue to be a neighborhood amenity that is safe and comfortable for all neighbors to use.
• On February 11th, we had a Chipped and Mulchy event where we pruned and chipped at several locations throughout the neighborhood. This was the official launch of the Urban Foresters, and it was a great event with many participants. Thanks to Omar, Brad, and Aleck the Pedaling Arborist for putting that together.
• The coming year will be filled with fun and community building events, and I look forward to meeting and interacting with more neighbors. Thank you all for your continued efforts. There are many challenges that have been faced, but together we will make this neighborhood a more walkable, and an even friendlier place to live. If you are interested in running for office, please speak up during tonight’s election. Thank you, everyone for attending tonight’s meeting, and I look forward to seeing everyone on Sunday.

  Elections – Officers voted in with a vote of 10 votes for the slate

• President, Karen Greene
• Vice-president, Natasha Winnik
• Secretary – Joanna (and Matt) Williams
• Treasurer – Sky Jacobs
   

  Committee Reports

• DNARC – report sent out earlier. Downtown Partnership putting out a shopping and entertainment guide soon. A national retailer is looking to move into the Chicago Store. A sushi restaurant is open in TEP building, and tea bar open on Congress (near the Rialto). Even Stevens will be opening up on Broadway – they donate one sandwich for every sandwich purchased. Two student towers going up near Speedway/Stone. Armory Park is looking to see if the park itself can be listed as a historic landscape.
• Downtown Links – no update, question if anyone knew what was happening with the railroad ties.
• WAMO – Steinfeld is looking to hold more events
• Garden – picnic table is being replaced. They found the circuit for the lights for the basketball court so that work can happen. Still working on finding a vandal-proof light for the garden area.
• Dunbar Coalition – The Butts Sisters will be performing April 29th at the Dunbar School
• Speedway/Stone
• The real estate department for the city has been looking at parcels the city owns that they want to sell to raise money – this includes the parcel at Speedway/Stone. Trader Joes is not interested in this location at this time, although if we decided we really, really wanted Trader Joes, we could talk to the city about making a pitch to them.
• The city wants to work with the private developer that owns the adjacent parcel (One West), to create a joint sales agreement with them to sell it all as one continuous parcel.
• The city wants to come to the neighborhood to see what we want to have there.
• The Speedway/Stone subcommittee met and a flyer will be delivered to everyone’s home later this month asking for input and stating what we already discussed as a neighborhood about what we would like to see there. This input can happen by phone, e-mail, drop-box (still working out location) and needs to be collected by May 10th so we can discuss it at the May 15th meeting.
• 11th Ave Parcel – subcommittee meeting later this month
• Walkability – no update
• Urban Foresters – no update

  Motion to approve March 2017 minutes. Passed 9-0, 2 abstentions.