September 2014

Treasurer’s Report: Same as of last month $765.73

Announcements

• The library is having a variety of programs coming up – Tuesday Oct 7 noon – 1 Successful Desert Gardening; Thursday Oct 9 noon-1 A Taste of Tai Chi, Tues. Oct 14th noon-1 Plaza Planter Work Party plus Ask a Master Gardener; Sat. Oct. 18 1:30-2:30 Planetarium show

• Two Porch Fests coming p – Sept 28 4- at Broadway/Broadmoor neighborhood and Oct. 1 5-7 Vista Del Rio neighborhood

• Concern about overgrowth in chicanes, especially on 1st Ave near hotel and near traffic circle on 9th Ave. We will need to get some work parties going. Jenny C. will assist with putting together work parties and this will be an agenda item for next month.

• Broadway Coalition is urging folks to attend the Mayor and Council meeting that will discuss the Broadway alignment. The CAC does not have consensus and members are not pleased with the process. UPDATE: This will be discussed at the Oct. 9th Mayor and Council meeting.

• Steve Arnquist from Ward 1 office told us that there are three community block grants on the table – they were not originated from his office, but they must pass through. The projects are Estevan Park improvements for $741,000 (football/rugby field, lighting, shade structure, seating, parking, restroom); improvements on South Nogales Highway – two different Hawk signals.

Discussion

• Gordon Yarrington and T. Van Hook from Habitat from Humanity came to talk about the possibility of the neighborhood partnering with them in terms of the land on 11th Ave we will eventually be getting from the Salvation Army. The Salvation Army has to prepare the land first (demolish the building, deal with archaeological findings, etc.), then the city would put out an RFP for developers to create work-force or low income housing as the neighborhood has requested. If the neighborhood already has a relationship with a particular builder, such as Habitat from Humanity, the process could move forward sooner as the city is able to use a single source procurement process. Habitat for Humanity would like to see how their model of building would match with what our neighborhood wants. They are committed to building sustainably and they partner with people to pay for the house. There is a requirement of 200 hours of sweat equity. Habitat holds the mortgage and it is usually paid off in 20 years. If the family leaves the house it gets recycled to a new family, so it doesn’t go in to market rate housing stock. Habitat would like to start the dialogue with our neighborhood. Natasha will send the document that we had put together that lists our requests for the houses to look like. 93% of Habitat funding comes from small donations.

• Broadway Coalition would like us to write a letter of support in their disagreement with any of the alignments presented to the CAC for Broadway. Many historic buildings would be torn down, and members of the CAC are not pleased with the process they have gone through. There is no consensus among the members to present to Mayor and Council one alignment or another. Motion to write a letter in support of Broadway Coalition position. Passed 11-0

• Discussion carried over from last month about creating a policy regarding pruning some of our neighborhood trees in amenities like chicanes, trees in right of way, traffic circles, etc. in terms of talking to the person whose house is nearby. We are in need of stewards to take care of plants in all of the above locations. Some ideas tossed around were creating work parties, having people sign up as stewards, hiring people who live in the neighborhood to take care of the plants, etc. Ideally before someone pruned they would leave a note for the neighbor to indicate pruning was going to be happening. There are also issue with non-native species invading. This will be discussed further at the October meeting.

Committee Reports

• DNARC – report submitted separately – highlights are: Westside Development meeting with variety of stakeholders. The Carrillo House, Mission Garden and Origins Heritage Park will be preserved. The county is looking to partner with the Western National Parks Association and create a Regional Visitor Center – this would go on the next bond package. They are looking to reforest the Santa Cruz from 22nd – Grant creating a mesquite bosque and remove invasive plants. Rio Nuevo will be giving $300,000 for the Mission Gardens. Sunday Evening Forum at the Fox on Oct. 5th with Linda Ronstadt – it is free.

• Downtown Links – all three buildings have been demolished at this point. The art committee selected the artist for the Deck Park – Gregg Payne who does lots of interactive, large sized, music oriented sculptures. http://www.greggpayne.com/

• Garden – Having issues again with water use. Need to hold a work party later this fall.

• Dunbar Coalition – The weavers/spinners guild might occupy space in the building. They want volunteers for Days of Caring on Oct. 25 from 7:30-2:30. They will be planting drought tolerant plants around the building. Motion to approve August minutes passed 10-0. 1 Abstention.