Board Meeting: October 14, 2008

PRESENT: *Gregory A Hession (President) Chair, *Kwesi Albury, * Tony Anthony, * Jeri Gardiner, *Jim Llewellyn (Vice Pres.), *Walter Kroll, *Denise Moccia, *Liz Stevens, *Ben Swan Jr. (Secretary), *Marianne Winters (Treas.), Deborah Albury, Lowdean M. Boyce, Olivia Douglas, Archie Emmanuel Jr., Lisa Gaudreau, Sandra Hession, Nikki Johnson, Ceil Lewonchuk, Dimry Lovejoy, Filicia Mack, Phylicia Mack, Dimry Mack, Karan Parkin, Anne Richmond, Marvenia Shubrick, Rhodaja Shubrick, Rhayanna Shubrick, Roderick Shubrick Jr., Ray Talbot, Stephen Thibeau, Michael Wiersma, Kat Wright (*Members of the Board)

Guests: Ed Whitley, Deputy Director of Neighborhood Services, Springfield; Sgt. James Brown, Hampden County Sheriff's Department; Tammie Streeter, MNC Strategic Planning Consultant

Meeting called to order 7:10 p.m. 10 Board members present

PRESIDENT'S REPORT: Pres. GAH declared formation of new board committee - P.E.S.T. (Policy Engagement & Systems Transformation), Tony Anthony, Chair.

RAIL TRAIL REQUEST: LS announced she is meeting tomorrow with Patrick Sullivan, Director of the Parks Department, to discuss the McKnight Rail Trail, particularly its confluence with the proposed design for the Rebecca Johnson School playground & would like volunteers to accompany her. Asked that those willing to do so let her know by the end of this meeting. LS also met with Vice Principal Dr. Edison Santana of the school. GAH described the rail trail location and noted there is a presentation of UMass student designs of what the trail could be, scheduled on Wed., Oct. 22, at 6:30 pm at Bergen Circle community room; encouraged members to make a good showing and encourage others to attend.

SECRETARY'S REPORT: Minutes of Sept. 9, 2008: TA moved to accept minutes as written, JL seconded. Motion passed.

TREASURER'S REPORT: Treas. MWinters: Reported MNC the FY2009 CDBG contract has not been received, was told it is in "accounting" but not what the hold-up is. Nevertheless, we can still submit our 1st quarter reimbursement request. Received FY08 3rd & 4th quarter payments in Sept. Presented financial report to Sept. 30, 2008; Correction: Total expenses YTD should be $1,256.95.

GUESTS: Pres. GAH introduced Ed Whitley, who oversees our CDBG contract and scope of service, and who is also a McKnight resident.

* Mr. Whitley assured the members his first focus is to listen, to liaison with neighborhood groups throughout the city, look for different funding sources for neighborhoods, including targeted improvement programs. His office is at 70 Tapley St.; phone is 750-2174.
* Concerns voiced at that point included, primarily, better communication between MNC and the City & some kind of official recognition neighborhood opinions matter; keeping the rail trail project moving forward, getting the Mason Square Library back, crime & police presence, equity across the board council to council, comprehensive rules for boarding houses, a fancy "Welcome to McKnight" sign as other neighborhoods have, help with building capacity of the council, better efforts to address & communicate on properties in tax title and abandoned housing in the neighborhood.

STRATEGIC PLAN COMMITTEE: Consultants Anne Richmond & Tammie Streeter - Report on progress & presentation of the draft McKnight Neighborhood Surveys, of which there are two: Adult and Youth versions.

* Have been working with active community group and youth group, thanks to board member Kwesi Albury.
* Goal is to get a broad base of input to guide & inform MNC's work; all information will be gathered, synthesized and gotten back to MNC with recommendations. Result will be a 3-plus-year plan.
* Further goal is to build relationships within the neighborhood, to have these important conversations with our neighbors, engage people on another level.
* Everyone present took the survey in company of another person and then offered comments, which will be incorporated into the final versions.
* Discussion on how to reach all segments of the neighborhood, including multifamily housing. Consensus was that each board member be responsible for getting 10 surveys completed.
* Online and paper copies of the survey will be available; asked for 5 volunteers to input data.
* Prize drawing (for taking the survey) has been promised; need board members to garner prizes.
* Suggest December meeting be neighborhood potluck end-of-year gathering to include drawings for the survey prizes.

GUEST: Rhodaja Shubrick on the up-coming Kidney Walk. Ms. Shubrick spoke on the extent of kidney disease and need to raise funds for treatment, and on her personal experience as a recipient of a kidney from her father, Rodrick. MNC board has committed to support of the Kidney Walk.

OLD BUSINESS:

· PRIMUS MASON LOT - JL reported the Springfield Preservation Trust is interested in working with MNC to improve this overgrown lot at the corner of Dartmouth & Bay streets; JL made the following motion, BS seconded: Resolved that:

1. The McKnight Neighborhood Council will pursue partnering with the Springfield Preservation Trust to construct a memorial that honors Primus Mason on the site of the Mason family property at the corner of Dartmouth and Bay streets in the McKnight Historic District.

2. The McKnight Neighborhood Council will continue to request that the parcel of land on which the Mason's house stood be withheld from any future city auctions until such time as a course of action is charted to create the aforementioned memorial or the project is abandoned.

o Discussion: Parks Dept. would have to be part of plan, they already maintain triangle parks, could easily take care of this one as well; ST noted the lot is the first property outside the historic district, asked whether historic district could be extended to include it; concern about undesirable elements using it & cost to build; could look for donors; WK asked if abutters have been approached. Motion passed.

· ZONING ORDINANCE CHANGES - Tony Anthony reported on his reading of the City's proposed changes, particularly Article 4, Use Regulations, as they pertain to the neighborhood; noted these are still proposals that have not yet been voted into law. Also stated he is not offering legal advice, but a brief review.

o These proposals can be accessed at www.springfieldcityhall.com/planning

o Combination of levels of review; commercial has greater review than private;

o Most useful feature is a table that shows review levels broken down by categories; definitions of categories; which boards, commissions, etc. have review jurisdiction.

o Gave example of lodging/ accessory apartment in residence: can rent 800sf or 1/3 of family residence, but 1200sf must remain as primary residence; noted in hard times people may want to rent, we should be aware.

o BS asked about parking structures proposal that 2 vehicles, garage can use 10% of the lot or up to 1,000sf; current law is that building it needs a permit from the city.

o Other examples, family day care (6-10 children); conversions from one to 2-family or multi-family homes; home-based businesses.

COMMITTEE REPORTS:

§ PUBLIC SAFETY - (Walter Kroll, Chair) WK reported: Asked for block volunteers; working with Sheriff's Dept on neighborhood watch; met with Deputy Police Chief Cochrane on reduced staffing, problem speeding, connecting thru ‘neighborhood stat' program; will continue to report crime; contacted City Councilor Tosado re their safety subcommittee. Report attached.

§ HOUSING - (Denise Moccia, Chair): DM reported

o Of the two problematic lots behind River Inn, between Thompson and Westminster streets, one is owned by the City and the other by "Monmouth Street Defense Committee" (aka David Gaby) which owes $38,000 in 19-years' worth of back taxes; she emailed C. Dietz at Office of Housing & is waiting for a reply. JL reported the Spfd Preservation Trust has asked the City that $100,000 of the historic properties restoration grant be used for 52 Westminster St., included in a new RFP on the property.

o Question on deteriorated carriage house on Bowdoin Street, which is shared between two owners, one on Bowdoin & the other on Florida St., who cannot agree on who will repair it. Report attached.

§ GOOD NEIGHBOR - (Greg Hession, Chair) No report.

§ FINANCE & FUND RAISING - (Marianne Winters, Chair) No report.

§ DEVELOPMENT & PLANNING - (Demetrios Panteleakis, Chair) No report.

§ COMMUNICATIONS - (Jim Llewellyn and Ben Swan Jr., Co-Chairs) JL reported work on website is progressing; newsletter will be printed and ready for delivery by tomorrow. Report attached.

§ MASON SQUARE LIBRARY ADVISORY COMMITTEE (Liz Stevens, Chair) No report.

§ P.E.S.T - (Tony Anthony, Chair)

o TA characterized the committee purpose as problem-solving (finding ways to have the system work for residents; creating mechanisms to get around roadblocks when they occur) and changing regulations and laws to increase MNC influence;

o Committee met to begin to develop strategies, benchmarks, expectations, & using tools such as educating ourselves, legal action, political action, political issue and candidate forums, local media, etc. as needed; primarily to be pro-active.

o Ideas to be considered: When hirings occur in City staff, can we be informed? BS noted we provided previous mayor with a top 10 list of issues, our proposed solutions, & he acted on them; can do the same now; ST noted the tax page on City website is not as informative as it was; MW suggested collaborating with other council on events on various issues. Committee mission document attached.

NEW BUSINESS:

§ MASS INC. Economic development project public meeting Thurs., Oct. 16 at Central HS

BS moved to adjourn; JL seconded. Motion passed.

9:45 pm - Adjournment