South University Neighborhood Association

South University Neighborhood Association

Board of Directors Meeting

Minutes

February 3, 2010

Chair Marilyn Milne called the meeting to order at 7:00 in the Edison School Teacher’s Lounge.  Present were Vice Chair Carolyn Jacobs, Treasurer Janet Heinonen, Secretary Mimi McGrath Kato and Board Members Marsha Shankman, Tim Taylor, Mike Westervelt, Tim Shinabarger, Malcolm Wilson, and Mike Russo. Karen Hyatt and incoming board member Denise Sorom joined as guests.  Absent were Tyan Taubner and Jody Miller.

Karen Hyatt, UO Community Relations  Off campus housing fair on 3/31.  Karen shared letters that are going to property owners, non profits, etc.  So far have 5 or 6 different property owners, transportation options from city, EPD crime prevention, etc.  Karen’s suggestions for SUNA:  map, flyer with SUNA website, etc.

March 17th Livability meeting is in the works and Karen’s group is working hard to get all the right people at the table.

Livability Committee Mike W, Carolyn and Malcolm have contacted everyone they intended to with invitations to the Livability committee Summit on 3/17 from 7-9pm.  This meeting is by invitation only.   EPD putting 4 bicycle police and one squad car in the SUNA and WUN neighborhoods for the next month.  There was a suggestion to record some of the noise neighbors are hearing and a few neighbors have volunteered to do this.  They will play it at the March 17th meeting, perhaps, and possibly also at a city council meeting.

Mike R and Malcolm identified about 75 UO faculty in the neighborhood and received 35 responses to a request for support on livability issues.  They had a brief meeting with President Lariviere to impress upon him that the surrounding neighborhoods are an internal UO issue as well as a UO community relations issue.  He is very interested in moving the UO DPS to have the ability to patrol surrounding neighborhoods, but the timeline is 1-2 years.  We as a neighborhood have to be ready to provide support when this does go before the legislature.

There was a motion unanimously approved that the SUNA board supports the collaborative effort between the City, University and the neighborhoods toward improving the safety and livability of the near off campus neighborhoods.

Tim T raised the question of improving street lighting or sidewalk lighting in the neighborhood.  He will look into this and report back.

Treasurer’s Report Janet reported that there is $1,316.33 in the SUNA treasury.

Transportation Committee  Carolyn reported that the transportation committee is moving along.  They decided to deal with the most straightforward items first, which was vehicle visibility - so essentially addressing the blind turns around the neighborhood, especially on 19th.  They have met with a private transportation planner, who gave the committee the information on what the federal standards are.  They have done research in the area, making notes of which turns were blind, etc.  They have started another round of measuring all the corners they identified in their first round.  The federal standards are 288 feet sight lines, the intersections they have measured so far are 98 feet.

March General Meeting  This meeting will be held on March 30th.  Janet has planned the meeting, and she shared an agenda and assignments.   $50 was approved unanimously for general meeting expenses.

Newsletter  There are $1900 in the budget.  The newsletter will be $1100, and we have to do another mailing which will be a postcard.  That will cost around $350, so we will have roughly $250 - 300 dollars left.

There was a motion unanimously approved for Mimi to follow up with the city to get 10 signs printed out of the city allocation for publications. Anything above the $200 from this budget will come from SUNAs fund.

Tree Planting  Occurring on Emerald this weekend through the Eugene Tree Foundation.  Anyone is invited to attend.

Spray Park and Fire Hydrant Project Updates  The spray park is moving forward, we had a meeting a week or so ago that was very successful.  There is a survey up and ready and an article will go into the SUNA newsletter.

The fire hydrant application is up for final review now.  Mimi will go before a panel to respond to questions next week, and then we will receive notification.

SUNA Bike Committee Rep  Mike W was told that SUNA can be kept in the loop but that there was no room on the board at this point.  Their meetings are open to the public so we can go if we would like.  A few current board members were identified as potential connections for SUNA.  The group decided that when the transportation committee gets to this point, they will engage with this group.

NLC Sustainability Committee Rep  Marilyn will stop pursuing this, after one candidate declined and after the board ranked other neighborhood projects higher than this use of a volunteer.

Furniture Exchange  Saturday June 5th.  This is the weekend right before finals week. The idea is that students can swap furniture or have a large “yard sale” type of exchange instead of putting old used furniture on the curbs when they move out.  It will be a staffed event, with U-Haul’s available.  Tim T will prepare a flyer for this to be shared on the livability table at the March General Meeting.  Malcolm offered to help Tim connect with Central Lutheran Church.

SNAP Update  Marilyn got a call from Michael Kinnison from Neighborhood Services asking SUNA to really consider the SNAP.  Now calling it the Strategic neighborhood assessment and planning program.  Neighborhood board would play a big role and would plan, survey, identify projects, etc.  Participants would receive $3000 toward their projects.  Tim S offered to talk to Michael tomorrow and send an email to the rest of the board to provide us with more information to help make a decision about this.

Off Campus Housing Fair, March 31  Tim T suggested possibly providing information on what is available in the neighborhood, neighborhood stats (% families, % students, % long term families, etc.).  Other ideas were to include churches, restaurants, parks, businesses.  Maybe let them know about regular neighborhood meetings.  Decision was refreshments, looping video, and a pamphlet or flyer of some kind.  Tim T suggested providing a double-sided card saying services on one side and expectations on the other.  The livability committee will prepare something.  A suggestion to do a more thorough card or flyer for the Fall.

There was a motion unanimously approved to spend $25 for refreshments for the Campus Housing Fair.

We-gene Award, Neighborhood of the Year Award  There were suggestions for us to nominate South University Neighborhood planning group - this was approved by all.  Carolyn suggested that the project be nominated rather than the group.  Janet will follow up to find out the parameters.

SUNA Charter  Marilyn will email the SUNA charter to the board for review.  The board will consider updating this in the near future.

Adjournment   There being no further business, the meeting adjourned at 9:05 p.m. to meet again April 7, 2010.

Respectfully submitted, Mimi McGrath Kato, Secretary

February 3, 2010, Edison Elementary’s Teacher Lounge

Chair Marilyn Milne called the meeting to order at 7:00 in the Edison School Teacher’s Lounge.  Present were Vice Chair Carolyn Jacobs, Treasurer Janet Heinonen, Secretary Mimi McGrath Kato and Board Members Marsha Shankman, Tyan Taubner, Tim Taylor, Mike Westervelt, Tim Shinabarger, Jody Miller, Mike Russo and Malcolm Wilson.  Karen Hyatt and Vania Laredo joined as guests.  Pamela Miller and Denise Sorom also joined as incoming board members, as well as Bob Cassidy, as an EWEB representative.

Karen Hyatt, UO Community Relations  Karen reported that relationships are continuing to develop between neighborhoods, UO, the City, property developers/renters, etc.  They are making progress and working toward building capacity through better communication, understanding of issues, etc.  There is agreement with the UO team that there needs to be a close collaborative effort as the livability work moves forward.  The UO Office of Student Life still plans to host a housing fair/concerted education effort this spring.  They are not sure what it will look like but it is definitely happening.  Karen suggested that the board invite Angie SanMiguel from EPD to a board meeting to discuss issues and open that channel of communication.  She also encouraged everyone to include as much specific data (location, incident, time, etc) when using the good neighbor email to report incidents.  Data will be key in getting the story told.

Ordinance revision is still a possibility for Dept of Public Safety to be able to have some reach into the UO neighborhoods, although this is a long term goal as it requires legislative revision.

Livability Issues  Malcolm proposed that the board needs to set some goals and that this should be high on the list.  The timing is perfect with the success of the zoning effort.

Malcolm also reported that he has been in touch with University of Nebraska, where they have worked extensively on livability issues.  Theirs has been a very intensive and far-reaching effort.  Learning more about their approach has led Malcolm to consider that we may need a revision of strategy and tactics.  Increased University concern with these matters is encouraging - but there is no reason to wait for them to lead.  Neighbors can drive these conversations and efforts, and it will be essential to bring other neighborhoods, city officials, etc. to the table.  It is important to note that other students are also having livability problems -their voice should certainly be included, too. One of the first things to do is to host a big round table and get all the players on board.

Malcolm also noted that the student conduct code revisions are in process.   A Livability Committee will be created, and Malcolm will lead the committee.  The board brainstormed a list of potential committee members and Malcolm will follow up to get the committee together.

Minutes Approved  Minutes from the January general meeting were approved unanimously. 45 people were in attendance at the general meeting.

Treasurer’s Report Janet reported that there is $1,323.47 in the SUNA treasury.   There was a motion unanimously approved to purchase self sticking flip charts.  Carolyn will shop around and find a good price.  Marilyn will get reimbursed for her purchase of nametags for the general meeting last week.

Debrief January Meeting Everyone agreed that it was an excellent and productive meeting.  Much thanks to Carolyn for organizing it.  Carolyn reported that many people are now asking what next.  We need to identify and define action for next steps.  Two tiers of potential action came from the meeting discussion:  1) on the ground short-term things, most of which involve Tom Larson, 2) longer-term planning issues that need to be addressed.  David Roth let Marilyn know that there are some city funds set aside to address the smaller traffic issues.  Mike R pointed out that it may be time for some of us to go down to Jeff Petrie’s office, since he has been so helpful in coming to us to discuss these issues.

There was a decision to set up a subcommittee and divide up tasks.   That subcommittee will draft a summary response to the ‘what next’ question.  Carolyn will collect names and organize the first meeting of a subcommittee.  Janet will follow up with Tom Larson about parking too close to  intersections, specifically 19th and Harris.

The board also decided to have a neighborhood representative on the bike committee, if possible.  Mike W will follow up to learn more about this.

NLC Sustainability Committee  The committee would like a SUNA representative to work on city-wide  sustainability issues.  The group brainstormed names and Marilyn will follow up.

NEI Committees  Neighborhood Empowerment Initiative was a subcommittee of the Neighborhood Leadership Council.  While there is no longer a need for NEIs, the NLC has elected to continue some of the work of the subcommittee by adopting two of its initiatives.  There will be now be two NLC subcommittees developed around these two items.  Tim suggests we wait and see what these subcommittees’ work will be before we nominate members.  Tim will get back to the board with more information next month.

We-gene Award, Neighborhood of the Year Award There were suggestions for us to nominate SUNA, the planning group, Paul Conte, JWN.

Spray Park The board voted unanimously to officially support the spray park effort.

Safe routes to school Tyan reported that the grant was funded. So the project is moving forward.  Great news!

March General Meeting  This meeting will be held on either March 30 or  31.  Janet will plan the meeting with Jody and others’ help.  Because there will be voting, a less formal agenda is best.  She suggested ‘interest stations’ where attendees can learn more about various projects happening within the neighborhood: spray park, hydrant painting, transportation subcommittee, livability subcommittee, historic home information, etc.  Also, she will invite the Edison choir to perform.  Tim T will invite UO President Lariviere, as well.

Newsletter content  The newsletter needs to be to city by end of February for printing, so content should be to Mike W by the week of Feb 22nd.

SUNA Charter  There was discussion that the SUNA Board Charter needs updating, specifically around communication and board position addition of past-chair position.  There was agreement that this is important and the board will work on this in the upcoming months.

Sale of Civic Stadium Need to be aware of what is happening with this property, as it may affect SUNA.

UO Foundation Progress  Mike R reported that the work is moving forward.  It is now up to the Foundation to identify benchmarks in other University communities.  Mike is hoping to get an agenda item on the Foundation board meeting in June.

Garden Exchange Site  All agreed it would be a good idea to post a garden exchange on the SUNA website this summer.

Garage Sale  Tyan will talk to Edison to see if a few parents might be interested in helping to coordinate the garage sale.

EWEB  There will be a public hearing on the EWEB proposed property development along the river.  Maps provided of potential property.

Adjournment There being no further business, the meeting adjourned at 9:00 p.m. to meet again March 3, 2010.

Respectfully submitted,