Midtown Neighborhood Association

Minutes of General Meeting held January 19, 1999

Wright Elementary School

GREETINGS

Martha Cooper called the meeting to order at approximately 7 pm.

 

MINUTES

The minutes of the November 17th meeting were approved.

 

TREASURER’S REPORT (David Kha)

There were $167.76 in expenses in December, and deposits of $3,000 for the Bike Club and $600 from a TPAC grant program, leaving a balance of $4,137

 

UPDATES

  • Bike Club Report (David Kha):
  1. 65 bikes have been repaired and distributed in the community.
  2. The latest grant distribution should tide the club over for another year, then alternative funding will have to be found.
  3. Ana Marie Patti suggested advertising and selling the bikes. Margaret Leonard pointed out that the Community and Neighborhood Services will not accept advertising in the newsletter. Howard Ward suggested advertising the bikes in the Arizona Daily Wildcat and the Tucson Weekly newspapers in the Fall, when students are returning. The consensus of the group was that David should look into this.
  • Graffiti Report (Ana Marie Patti):
  1. The neighborhood is getting hit hard again.
  2. Ana Marie is getting calls, has the paint, but no volunteers to do the eradication.
  • Green Retrofit Program (Ana Marie Patti):
  1. The Green Retrofit Program consists of energy audits, public improvements, and low cost loans for improvements.
  2. The Justin Lane project is well underway. Almost all the energy audits are done, and the neighbors are discussing what public improvements they would like the City to build.
  3. Desmond Lane will be next, followed by the Bellevue-Walnut area. That will about finish the grant money available, but she is working on additional sources of funding.
  • John B. Wright Report (Lisa Langford):
  1. $1,400 dollars was raised from neighborhood donations over the past several months. This money will be put to good use supporting a fine arts and recreational curriculum. Thanks to all who donated.
  2. The book drive is on. Bookmans will trade the school children’s books for old, useable books from the neighborhoods. They have collected $50,000 worth so far, and are aiming at $100,000. So, bring your old books to the school.
  3. Wright Elementary is also collecting small toys to decorate the nature walk wall.
  • Wellness Center Report (Norma Zuniga): Norma was ill and did not make the meeting. There was no report.
  • GIS Report (Howard Ward):
  1. Howard Ward reports that the Midtown GIS project continues to meet and develop useful information for the neighborhood.
  2. Volunteers have been meeting about twice a month to discuss neighborhood needs and to create neighborhood maps.
  3. A web site contains their work (www.dot.co.pima.az.us/midtown). Web access should continue to drop in price and complexity. As web access increases in the neighborhood, more and more residents will be able to tune into this site to get useful information about the neighborhood and City in which they live
  4. Howard is currently working on a proposal to get City funding to continue the project.

 

ANNOUNCEMENTS

  • Borders Benefit Days (Martha Cooper): On January 23rd, Borders books will host a benefit consisting of youth reading their own writings.
  • Brush Bulky (Martha Cooper): On April 12 the next Brush Bulky day will take place. Residents can put their bulky items out for pick up by City crews. The next day will be September 6th.

 

ELECTION OF OFFICERS (Ana Marie Patti)

  • Originally the slate of officers nominated by the neighborhood was as follows: Martha Cooper, President; Brad Holland, Vice President; David Kha, Treasurer; Secretary (vacant).
  • Martha and Brad have agreed to switch; Howard volunteered to be Secretary.
  • The new slate was approved unanimously by those in attendance.

 

DISCUSSION OF ORGANIZATION OF ASSOCIATION (open floor)

  • A long discussion of how to make Midtown more effective ensued. Some key ideas were as follows:
  1. The business of MNA should be mainly accomplished in subcommittees
  2. Four subcommittees were suggested as a starting place: Community, Youth, Traffic, and Gossip. Community will deal with urban decay issues. Youth will deal with finding productive activities for youth and preventing youth crime. Traffic will deal with traffic volume and congestion on neighborhood streets, and Gossip is a catch-all for various neighborhood issues.
  3. The meetings will be structured as follows: 6:30-7:10 is a potluck and for the four subcommittee meetings only; 7:10-8:00 is for the main MNA meeting. Each subcommittee will have a table with a table-tent sign advertising itself. Residents can come and address the subcommittees, and any requests for time at the main meetings will be filtered through these subcommittees. The main meeting will then be free for such grass roots items as "Tenant Law Seminars."

 

OTHER BUSINESS

  • Ana Marie Patti (earlier in the meeting) reported that she has started a traffic discussion group and would like to meet with those interested to find creative ways to reduce neighborhood traffic.
  • Lisa Langford is soliciting applications from youth ages 16-18 to fill two position in a youth development program at the school. Call Lisa at Wright Elementary for more information.
  • Ana Marie Patti (earlier in the meeting) noted that there are free groceries for those residents who show up a the Pima Street Baptist Church (corner of Pima and Rosemont), Mon, Wed and Sat, 11:00-11:30 am, at the back door. This food is donated by Smiths and would otherwise be discarded. The type and amount of food is unpredictable, but the quality is good.

 

ADJOURNMENT

Brad Holland adjourned the meeting at approximately 8:20 pm.

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