DSNA Meeting Minutes: March 2021 Meeting Minutes

1. Call to Order

2. Sign-In & Introductions

3. Treasurer's Report

• $965.33

4. Announcements - 7:00 p.m.

• Urban League new tenant at Dunbar. Every third Thursday starting in April, they will be hosting a heritage market with food and other vendors to spotlight black owned micro-businesses. Go to MyTucsonUrbanLeague.org for details.

• Main Avenue Road Diet construction will be starting in May 2021.

• A proposal is before the County Board of Supervisors for county to provide public defenders to Pima

County residents facing eviction. Board of supervisors meet will vote on issue tomorrow, March 16th.

• Karen says that Pima County Woods Library will now be open, Tues-Saturday from 10-5 pm.

• Introduction to Sam Brown (new Dunbar Coalition President), where he says his grandfather was among first African American students to attend Dunbar. His father also attended after it became John Spring. Works as an attorney for TUSD. Works for Urban league and Pima County Community Economic Development. Also part owner of Wildcat Auto Glass. Grew up in Sugar Hill neighborhood with parents active in community. Proud Tucsonan. Helping to develop a vision for the Dunbar Pavilion, which begins with a capital campaign to fix the cracked foundation of The Dunbar building as well as creating an outdoor event space. Working on drafting a longterm plan. Reports that a new Clothing store, Freedom ETC, has opened at the Dunbar. Sees the need for unifying black community and Dunbar Pavilion as being a hub for that. Natasha and Joanna expressed gratitude to Sam for reaching out and they look forward to deeper involvement between the neighborhood, DSNA, and Dunbar Coalition.

5. Committee Reports

a. 11th Ave: No new announcements.

6. Reports from the Field

a. DNARC: Karen wishes to note the difference in ideas between DNARC and Downtown Tucson Partnership. Downtown Tucson Partnership believes Tucson to be very bike friendly and very diverse. Regarding new gentrification issues, Iron Horse Neighborhood is fighting a new student dorm, which is being proposed to be built on First Ave and Tenth St. Meetings are on the first Monday of month 5:30 pm. Contact Karen if you are interested in attending and occasionally providing updates at DSNA meetings.

b. Downtown Links: Stone Ave is still closed. For resources and updates, please see the following link: https://www.downtownlinks.info/

c. Dunbar Coalition: Sam Brown (new President) reported on mission to “increase awareness and understanding of the historic and cultural impact of people of African descent, while operating a Pavilion and facilities that will serve the larger community as a gathering place for diverse voices and cultures to dialogue about the past and create vision and direction for a more unified future.” The crack in the museum is getting worse and needs to be addressed and volunteers must be recruited to help work on the museum. President also questioned the historical impact and why the museum is important.

7. Discussion

a. Nominations for next DSNA board—Abra Bentley expressed willingness to act as treasurer. She’s an environmental consultant and longtime Dunbar resident. Lives on Queen with husband and daughter. Damian is willing to run as Secretary. He works for the Nature Conservancy. He has two sons and has lived in Dunbar for 4 years. Looks forward to engaging more in neighborhood activities. Faffs Reider expressed willingness to sit as President. Especially focused on transportation and affordable housing. Teaches 3,4,5th grade math at IDEA School. Cedar is volunteering to run as Vice President. Newer resident to Dunbar and works as a postdoctoral scholar at UofA studying tomato genomes. Parliamentarian chair is still open. Joanna encourages someone to fill this position to ensure smoothly run meetings.

b. Small WTF Tower Construction (Bradford update)—Natasha shared how Bradford has made every effort to stop the small WTF tower, but tower looks like it will be built on 9th Ave regardless.

c. Bradford’s letter onto Dunbar website.

d. Neighborhood Glass Recycle Committee—Clay Morgan says that committee is communicating and crafting a recycle map to indicate which parcels of neighborhood are covered by which neighbors for glass pickup. Natasha will reach out to Menlo Park resident who owns Bottle Rocket, a company that uses recycled glass to make countertops.

8. Approve February minutes—Motion to approve minutes. 13 in favor and 0 opposed. 9. Adjourn—7:46pm