MidTown: The
Garden District
Regular
Business Meeting
7:00
PM, April 16, 2002
John
B. Wright Elementary School Cafeteria
President Brad Holland called the meeting to order at 7:00 PM. He offered all attendees a chance to review the
minutes of the last meeting, and then said he would entertain a motion approving the
minutes for the last meeting. The Minutes of the March 19, 2002 meeting were unanimously
approved on motion by Carri Rondeau, second by Lee Sloan.
Treasurer
David Kha presented the monthly treasurer’s report (mentioning
$200.00 from the Lego Club) as summarized below:
| Cash on hand |
Deposit |
Expenses |
Balance |
1159.08 |
302.00 |
280.00 |
1181.08 |
OLD BUSINESS:
Lego
Club: David Kha reported that the club is doing
so well that they plan to offer the club Tucson wide, to other neighborhoods, and to
continue the very successful meetings held at Bookman’s the fourth Sunday of each
month from 4:00 to 6:00 PM. They average
about 50 to 60 kids at each meeting, which is tremendous for a new club. They expect a grant from the Volunteer Center.
MidTown
Library and Learning Center: Andy Squire reported that the next
committee meeting will be on the 24th from 6:30 till they’re done at the
Ward VI Council Office at 2205 E. Speedway, the corner of Speedway and Plumer. The county has not moved on this issue for a long
time but now there’s a new Supervisor who may be interested in putting a huge success
in his column by clearing away the 4-year-old gridlock over this issue.
Pima
Street Re-Striping: Andy Squire
also reported that the Council Office is working on this issue. Councilman Fred Ronstadt believes
there was an understanding of a commitment to complete this work, and if the re-striping
cannot be successful confirmed through casual channels, he will proceed to send memos to
the City Manager and the Director of Transportation and keep moving forward.
Freestanding
Building at Wright: Andy Squire
said that the Ward VI Office wants to meet
with TUSD as soon as possible about this issue. They’d
like updates on everything that happens; Lisa Langford said she’d
make sure the Council Office will be informed of all developments and that TUSD is working
hard to listen to all the concerns of neighbors. Another
meeting about the multi-purpose room will be scheduled.
John
B. Wright Elementary: Upon
question about the semi parked on school grounds, Principal Lisa Langford
said the semi is an Artmobile that will be there for a maximum of three days. She invited MidTown to the Third Annual Art Show
on April 25 and the Book Fair April 25 and 26. An
evening at “La Galeria de Wright” will feature the art show, author/illustrator,
biome studies, Project Shine, live performances, and the unveiling of the Special Mural. Langford also assured us that Wright would
definitely not be closing down in TUSD cost-cutting measures about under-utilized
facilities.
Swan/Lee
Rezoning: Two speakers were each given 15 minutes
to present their viewpoints, show their graphs, and answer questions from the audience.
Don
Laidlaw, representing property owners Keith and Michele White, said the Whites
want to establish maximum value for their land before selling it to a potential developer. Therefore they want the property rezoned to O-2 to
allow one and two-story commercial buildings for business and professional offices and to
mandate that the 1938 historic residence on the land be protected from destruction and
converted to more office space. Entrance and
exit from the development would be from Swan Road and another exit at the far southwest of
the property onto Venice so that Lee Street would be unaffected by traffic and parking. Lighting in the complex will be aimed down with no
overhead lighting fixtures. There will
probably be three public hearings as part of the rezoning process.
Chuck
Hudspeth, speaking for concerned neighbors, said tonight’s presentation
answered some of the questions they had with former rezoning plans they’d seen. The neighbors want to be sure that all the
restrictive covenants would definitely transfer to any new owner/developer. He believes there is no need for an exit from the
west side of any development, according to information he had received from the department
of the city traffic engineer.
NEW
BUSINESS:
Northeast
Quadrant of MidTown Neighborhood Watch Program: Andy Squire said he’d been working
with Marty Ittner about developing this new project. There seems to be an issue with the new DNR about
covering costs both for the neighborhood newsletter and neighborhood watch materials, but
he will keep working on it for us.
Guest
Speaker: Bonnie Poulos of Enough! encouraged audience members to get
out and vote. Her group believes the proposed
transportation sales tax is the worst way to pay for roads.
We have the state-mandated gasoline tax to pay for roads and it hasn’t
been raised in over a decade and is not indexed to inflation. The gas tax is a true user fee; whoever uses the
roads helps pay for them. A sales tax hits
most of us every time we buy anything. That
sales tax is going to affect us whether we drive our cars or use alternative modes of
transportation and will last forever. Enough! is
also upset because Tucson levies no developer impact fees, which could help pay for
infrastructure improvements. The group is
also disturbed that the upcoming vote connects three matters for voting, instead of
putting each item up for a vote individually.
Brad
Holland pointed out that the upcoming vote promises sidewalks, but the fine print
adds “in new developments.”
Carri
Rondeau spoke of how much work Martha Cooper has done for
MidTown, and she proposed that we should pass a basket around, with MidTown matching the
amount donated, to give to Martha as a gift certificate to her favorite mail order catalog
in appreciation.
Another
member invited MidTown to the Friends of the Library Book Sale May 3 through 14 at the
Book Barn, 2230 N. Country Club.
The
meeting was adjourned at 8:00 PM on motion by Anna Marie Patti and second by David Kha. Next meeting to be held May 21, 2002, 7 PM.
Carolyn
Isaman, Secretary