March 2017

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

Announcements

Request from Menlo Park to look at doing a joint 100th anniversary for both Menlo Park Elementary and Dunbar School for next year

Concern about person in the neighborhood that has already been reported to the police – his photo is on neighborhood e-mail list. If you have a negative interaction with this person, please contact police – submitting an online report works. If we report interactions every time, there is more of a chance police will be able to find him to get him the assistance he needs. We will discuss this more at the April meeting.

Watershed Management Group is going to borrow the bike racks for the pancake breakfast.

Two lights are out on the basketball court. Lisa will discuss this with the Dunbar Coalition. There is an electrician in the neighborhood willing to work on this.

Friendship Baptist Church will be using the Dunbar School parking lot for early morning services (5 a.m.) the week of April 10-14. They also will be sponsoring a Market on the Move on Wednesday mornings. Discussion

Pima County Community Land Trust - Maggie Amado-Tellez (724-2466 Maggie.Amado-tellez@pima.gov)

• This group is a non-profit group working on creating affordable housing. They purchased 89 houses that were foreclosed during the housing crisis – they were rehabbed and then sold to low and moderate income households. The land trust owns the land (homeowner is in a 99-year lease with the land trust for the land). When the homeowner wants to sell, they can only sell improvements on the house, not the land itself.
• There is no down payment, limited closing costs. When reselling, it can be done at any time but needs to be sold to another low to moderate income household.
• They sold the last of the initial 89 homes in May 2016 – now they are working on resales. The 1st resale was completed July 2016, the 2nd resale just happened in March 2017.
• The land trust vets the buyers to make sure they are low to moderate income. They also mentor the homeowners with financial literacy, housing counseling, etc. They practice stewardship and make sure the homes are maintained.
• The HUD definition of low to moderate income is 50-80% of AMI (area median income). Typically down payment assistance programs fall in this range.
• Washington Federal S&L does the majority of the loans for this program.
• Other recent projects are in Barrio Hollywood – they purchased a four-plex and rehabbed it and it will be a rental property for women with smi (serious mental illness). They also have three parcels where they will build six houses as an incubation project to get families mortgage ready. They met with the neighborhood so houses match and they meet the City of Tucson green building code.
• They hold annual homeowner meetings, and the board of the nonprofit must include a certain number of homeowners.
• They want to create perpetual affordability from one buyer to the next and create relationships with the homeowners.
• If the homeowner pays off the mortgage, they still have a 99-year lease on the land, so they still must pay for that.

  11th Ave Parcel Update – Glenn Moyer (837-5422 Glenn.Moyer@tucsonaz.gov) – City of Tucson Community Services Administrator

• The draft RFP for this project is currently being written – they want the scope to be broad so they have a variety of potential projects, not just one or none. They want to get someone who’s qualified and want to be sure developer follows through with building the project.
• Non-profits can apply and partner with other developers or non-profits.
• Question was asked about whether a non-profit can get additional points when applying vs. a regular developer.
• The city also owns land in Menlo Park (Westmoreland) and Barrio Anita and wants to try and do all three around the same time.
• The large personnel turnover in the planning dept has made internal review of the RFP take longer.
• Barrio Anita is looking at individuals as developers. Menlo Park – they are having many meetings with the neighborhood to make sure everyone is comfortable with project. They are looking at work-force housing which allows homeowner incomes to go up to 120% of AMI.
• The city can offer the land, with deferment of paying for the land as long as developer follows through with construction. They are putting in a preference for building the houses within two years.
• Question about whether we get to see the RFP before it goes to the public – yes.
• Question about whether we can put something in the RFP that allows a delayed time for construction if it is a project undertaken by an educational institution, such as the U of A – yes.
• The neighborhood needs to put together a letter for Glenn with any of these additional changes – 11th Ave subcommittee will meet shortly.

  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

  Garden update

• Picnic table and light under the ramada were badly damaged this past month. We will encourage the electrician to put together a quote and will check with nearby welders for a quote on fixing the table. Becky will fix the boards (Natasha has some boards to donate) once the frame is fixed. There is no proof as to who did this unless a witness came forward and reported to the police.
• Vince will look for donations for a replacement light.
• Suggestion was made to put security cameras up (even dummy security cameras)
• If you want to get involved, contact becky.graseck@gmail.com or e-mail Ezra and he will pass along Becky’s phone number.

  Elections reminder – next month April

• Ezra is not interested in being president again – he is willing to be co-president with someone else only until August. Please encourage neighbors to run for office.

  Committee Reports

• DNARC – report sent out earlier. Downtown Partnership working on proposal to activate Jacome Plaza (by the library). Lots of new businesses opening up downtown. Armory Park is dealing with developers trying to take properties out of the historic preservation zone. A city subcommittee will see where height variances of the zone can be used instead of taking entire property out.
• Downtown Links – unconfirmed rumor about start time for project. Ezra will contact Tom Fisher with Transportation Dept.
• WAMO – we will ask David Lesser to send a monthly report and/or website link if minutes of meetings are posted
• Garden – discussed earlier in meeting
• Dunbar Coalition – Passed on information about students still parking on 2nd Street, plus speeding and noise. Juneteenth will be held at the Dunbar School on June 17th.
• Speedway/Stone – no word from developer or Trader Joe’s
• 11th Ave Parcel – discussed earlier in meeting
• Walkability – report in newsletter. The group was not able to get to consensus. There needs to be an educational component for new neighbors – perhaps create a tri-fold document. The letters that were sent out last year brought attention to the issue, but upset a lot of people. If you have concerns about rights of way walkability issues, first step is to try and talk to your neighbors.

  Motion to approve February 2017 minutes. Passed 11-0, 1 abstention.