Seward Neighborhood Group May 28 meeting
Seward Neighborhood Group, 5/28 meeting
The May 28 board meeting also doubled as the “First Annual Seward Potluck Picnic.” Neighbors turned out in droves, with more than 80 people stopping by before night’s end. In addition to the various salads, spreads, pasta and drinks brought by members of the community, local business owners also contributed to the feast with donations of food. Dessert bars were provided courtesy of The Birchwood Café. The Himalayan Restaurant served up tandoori chicken; Pizza Luce offered several varieties of pizza and Zipps Liquor supplied ice for the various drinks.
Committee Tables: The Environment and History Committees each featured their own booths. At the history booth committee chair Dick Westby informed neighbors about an upcoming event depicting the history of several buildings and places in the neighborhood, to commemorate the city’s sesquicentennial this July. A more extensive ‘then and now’ tour would likely follow in the fall, Westby said.
Environment committee chair Carol Greenwood and other members of the committee showed off their recent accomplishments in a photo album detailing several of the group’s major projects. The Environment Committee table also featured a variety of literature on subjects ranging from green remodeling to a checklist of energy-saving tips.
SNG also collected donations at the event.
Recognition: Three current and former board members were awarded certificates of appreciation for their leadership during SNG’s recent financial crisis. Former Interim Treasurer Kevin Brown was honored for his “hard work” and “diligence … especially on the financial end,” SNG Vice Chair Ross Gabrick said, in presenting Brown’s award.
Accepting his award, Brown said, “It was really my pleasure to serve on the board for the last five or so years.” [Later in the meeting, it was announced that Brown had asked to be released from his board commitment due to other obligations. The board accepted his resignation, albeit “regretfully.”]
Gabrick cited former board president Jean Johnstad’s “unflagging determination” and said her “excellent leadership in a very difficult time” was “key to [SNG’s] survival.”
Current SNG treasurer Diann Anders was also praised for the vast amounts of time she has contributed to the organization in recent months. “Diann functions in the office of the Seward Neighborhood Group as the office,” Gabrick said.
Report from City Hall: Ward 2 Council Member Cam Gordon said he only brought 30 copies of his monthly report to the meeting, adding apologetically, “usually it’s a smaller group than this,” referring to the attendance at regular board meetings.
Gordon outlined two recent proposals by other council members, both of which he said he disagreed with. The first was a proposal to require pre-employment drug testing for all city jobs. The second was a plan for the Republican National Convention requiring protesters to attain approval of their demonstration plans prior to the convention, as Gordon explained it.
Gordon also said he was working on getting what he called an archaic lurking clause in the city ordinance repealed. The council member said he saw the lurking ordinance as a form of “institutionalized racism” that disproportionately targets racial minorities and the poor.
Gordon said he wants to have open lines of communication with the residents of his ward and urged people to invite him to their group meetings or set-up individual appointments with him. He also said his blog and website were additional ways to keep up with the latest news from City Hall.
Three items to vote on: Before presenting the two motions to come out of the Development Committee, Committee Chair Charlie Hoffman thanked Bernie Waibel, a former SNG staff member who he said had acted as a kind of “volunteer staff person” for the development committee in recent months.
The first motion from the Development Committee was a request by the neighbors at the intersection of 31st Avenue and 24th Street for a variance to make an addition to their home. The house plans unveiled by the homeowners showed the addition would not bring the home any closer to the property line than it already is, Hoffman said. He also mentioned that the immediate neighbors to the people asking for the variance “had no problem with it” and made an appearance at the last Development Committee meeting. The Development Committee had voted to support the motion. The motion passed a vote of the full board unanimously.
The second motion from the Development Committee was a request by the owners of Franklin Flats for assistance from SNG in completing the application for an improvement grant from the City. At the Development meeting, at least one person asked if supporting the project would take away money from other Seward projects. Hoffman reported that Council Member Gordon said it would not. Hoffman also added that the number of people displaced during renovations is expected to be no greater than the regular turnover of renters. Also, a representative from Franklin Flats said at the Development meeting that rent is only expected to climb $10-15 per month on average. Someone who currently lives in Franklin Flats raised his hand and said he had just received a notice from his rental management indicating that rent would be jumping “quite a bit more than that.” Hoffman said that the increase might not be at all related to the renovations. The individual sought more information and asked Hoffman where he might go to get his questions answered. Hoffman said he didn’t know the answer. The board later voted on the motion, which passed unanimously.
Environment committee member Hal Johnson presented a quick item to be voted on—something that was tabled at the April meeting while more information was sought. The item was a motion to make SNG an affiliate of Clean Energy Resource Teams (CERT). Johnson said he received additional information about the organization about four weeks ago and subsequently sent it to board members for their review. The motion passed unanimously.
Financial Update: SNG Treasurer Diann Anders said the organization recently got the end of the 2007 books switched over from cash flow accounting to accrual. Explaining the switch, Anders said it was necessary to revert back to the accrual method “after cash flow did us dirty.” Anders said now that the books had been converted to accrual, the organization is “ready for an audit in a way we haven’t been in a long time.” (The comment elicited claps from several in attendance.) Anders went on the say, however, that the organization still has “a lot of debt on our shoulders.”
Copies of the recently completed 2006 audit were available at the meeting, as well as current financial statements. The 2006 audit is expected to be posted on the website in the near future, Anders said, after she writes a brief introduction.
Board president Sheldon Mains told those present that he signed a check today to eliminate the organization’s credit card debt. Mains also said the situation with the copier machine (another major liability) “looks pretty good,” explaining that Brian Miller from Seward Redesign has indicated his organization might take over the lease in full.
Finally, SNG recently received a typed suggestion from Neighborhood Revitalization Program (NRP) Executive Director Bob Miller about how to deal with the thousands of dollars in housing program money that is still owed to NRP. Mains said SNG will offer a counter proposal in writing, but hopes to have the housing program up and running again no later than next spring.
In unrelated news, the board also introduced Matthews Park’s newest director, Debra DeRosa, before the meeting concluded.
The next SNG board meeting will take place on Wednesday, June 25, 7–9 p.m. Location to be determined. Contact SNG for details.
Contact:
Seward Neighborhood Group
2323 Franklin Ave. E
Minneapolis, MN 55406
Phone: 612-338-6205
www.sng.org
last revised: June 5, 2008