October 2018 Meeting Minutes

Minutes Date

Treasurer's Report: $100 was deducted for the Gentrification Forum. New balance is now $2,216.67

Announcements

Lisa Scoblink is selling tickets for the Dunbar Pavilion Centennial Celebration on Sunday, November 11th for $100 each. The celebration is from 1-4pm. Lisa wants to reserve a table to represent the Dunbar Spring neighborhood. She is currently looking for people to contribute for the table. The cost is $1K for the table. If anyone is interested in contributing, reach out to Lisa at lisascoblink@yahoo.com. There is also a free community open house on the day before on November 10th from 10am - 2pm. Natasha will be giving tours of Dunbar Spring neighborhood's 100 year old homes that day.

Library Announcements:

  • Every Monday from 9:30-12:30pm there is a free legal clinic for folks having landlord/tenant eviction situations. Call Amanda at 276-3875 to register.
  • Every Friday from 9-12:30pm Pima Council on Aging will have people to help people sign up for Medicare.
  • Saturday Oct 27 from 11-12:30pm a presentation about age discrimination in employment
  • Tuesday Oct 30 a lecture about Dea de los Muertos flowers from 12-1pm
  • Saturday Nov 3 11-1pm Writing for self-reflection workshop
  • Saturday Nov 3 9-12pm Starting and running a nonprofit

There will be facility upgrades for the TEP substation will begin soon. The substation is on 4th between Queen and 11th. They will be upgrading, replacing and installing new equipment from October 15th through April. Upgrades will involve asbestos abatement. Karen asked TEP to send letters to nearby residents of the substation informing them of the asbestos abatement.

Sky also found old letters that the neighborhood sent to TEP about requests to have our current substation be on the level new substations are. For example, to have walls, to not be so close to homes, to be not as loud. The neighborhood has not gotten a response but the TEP contact said she would look into it.

There's an interactive map at TucsonAZ.gov/parksbond where you can see the proposed upgrades for each Tucson park if the Parks Bond passes. The bond will be voted on in the November election.

Discussion

A) The harvesting basins are in! The basins are west of 11th on University. The basins were a leftover piece of a grant that was written and approved. Karen has gotten no info back about who will be watering the basins. She got info about two companies that could come with a truck and water the basins. Brad will check it out the companies and how much they cost. Karen also asked the Idea School to see if they're interested in taking on watering duties. Becky will ask Debi if the Dunbar Coalition would be use their water source to water.

The neighborhood needs a designated person or persons to water the basin. There could be a small stipend from the grant to pay the person or persons who will take on the job. 

B) Becky who has been watering the neighborhood garden wants to pass the torch of being the caretaker of the garden. Also asking the Idea School if they might be interested. Does anyone want to be the caretaker of the community garden? That is up for grabs. Let Karen know if you are interested. 

C) Street Lights. Natasha, Matt and Chris submitted lists of street lights they found in the neighborhood that are currently out of order. Karen will be forwarding this information to our TEP connection. Natasha highlighted three other areas in the neighborhood that are very dark. There is a question of how the neighborhood will pay for lights. Natasha mentions that one of the dark areas is by the substation. Perhaps as part of their substation upgrade TEP could put in a light. Karen says she will also submit the list to the other TEP contact for the substation. Karen will also ask Ryan Anderson (the TEP contact for the lights) about a shield for the lights.

D) Bunny Signs. Karen has presented options for the Bunny Signs. She got a proposal for cost. There are different thoughts and different costs. There are also different shapes, text and designs. Karen thinks the 12 inch sign is the way to go because the 14 inch is about double the cost per sign.

Cost breakdown: You can get 14 of the 12in signs for $16 per sign or 30 of the 12 in for $15 per sign. But if you go up to 14 inches its $38 per sign. Rectangle is also more expensive. About $32 to $35 per sign. Natasha volunteers to get a 2nd proposal for the cost. There is a discussion that maybe the neighborhood pays for some signs that are on 1st street and then any neighbor who wants to can buy their own, attach them to light poles or they can buy their own poles. There's discussion of color options for signs. Karen will post this information on the list serve soon. Karen asks people's thoughts on this. Matt asks how much the neighborhood is willing to put in for the signs. Natasha says that if we did three signs each direction on 1st street half of them could be attached to telephone poles which means that would only be the cost of the signs themselves. $15 or $16 each. The other three need actual poles. Natasha has been looking at 8 foot poles which would be $30 each. Six signs at $15 that's $90. Three poles, that's another $90. There's some discussion about poles and how signs are mounted. There's also discussion of how much text should be on the sign. Karen says we'll put it out for discussion on the list serve but emphasizes that a consistency in style of signs is a good idea for the neighborhood. But it's up to the individuals who buy the signs what kind of design they want. Matt asks if there's a minimum order for the neighborhood and if we could inquire about how many variations of the signs we can get. Can there be multiple designs on one sheet?

Natasha says you could buy 32 12 by 12in signs or 20 12 by 18in signs. As of now. Nothing has been voted on.

Committee Report

  1. DNARC – 75 east Broadway, a design for 20 story building for that lot is due by October. The building might be offices and retail at on the ground floor. JE Dunn is the developer. Parade of lights is December 15th. Hotel McCoy at Silverlake and the freeway just opened. Update on the parking garage that the UA put in Rincon Heights by the stadium: The UA will put workforce housing on the 1st floor. UA design build will be doing that. There will be 6 1-2 bedroom apartments there.

  2. Downtown Links – No updates. This Saturday living streets, 6th Ave. and 7th. Will be painting crazy colors. Putting tables, chairs and planters. Doing it as a painted thing because they're anticipating downtown links so didn't want to put anything permanent in place. All day. Starts at 7 am. Karen will be asking RTA to come back in January to give the neighborhood an update on Downtown Links. January or February will have been a year since they presented on Downtown Links.

  3. WAMO – No updates

  4. Dunbar Coalition – Debbie will be dedicating her time more to the University. So the coalition was looking to hire for three positions. Office manager, facilities manager, and events manager. Two positions have been filled. The coalition is still looking for a facilities manager. All their financials is being transferred to QuickBooks. The Coalition is also gearing up to do a fast pitch with Social Venture Partners for the chance to win a $50k grant. Debbie Chess Mabie is also running for the board at Pima College.

  5. Neighborhood Foresters – The foresters are planning a tree planting but there's no official date yet. Sky volunteers to do a January neighborhood cleanup. He's picking a date. TBD

Minutes: July and August minutes approve. September minutes will be approved next month.

Eva motions to approve July and August minutes. Lisa 2nds.

7 vote yes. None opposed.