MidTown: The Garden District

Regular Business Meeting

7:00 PM, September 17, 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 said he would accept a motion approving the minutes for the last meeting. The Minutes of the August 20, 2002 meeting, as amended, were unanimously approved on motion by Pat Riggs, second by Martha Cooper.

 

Treasurer David Kha presented the monthly treasurer’s report as summarized below:

Cash on hand            Deposit                    Expenses               Balance

1063.59                      1299.36                    1209.69                    1153.26

This month’s treasurer’s report was approved on motion by Peter Hauschildt, second by Millard Tucker.

 

OLD BUSINESS:

 

LEGO Club:  David Kha reported that the club did have move to larger quarters, at Ward 6 near Campbell.  David said that he told the city the club would bring lots of kid members and their parents downtown, which would help the city with the downtown revitalization project.  He thought that would help the club win the “Back to Basics” $60,000 grant they applied for.

 

Trees for Tucson:  Jo Townsend and Lourdes Frese brought paperwork about available trees, that will only cost $4 per tree.  Brad pointed out that our neighborhood would be lovely if it was filled with trees.  Anna Marie Patti distributed bags of flower seeds to all of us, each bag could plant wildflowers over 200 to 300 square feet.

 

MidTown Library and Learning Center:  Brad reported that this project is still being held up by negotiations between the county and the city.  He recommended that we call both Ann Day and Fred Ronstadt to encourage action.

 

John B. Wright Elementary:  Martha Cooper distributed information about Wright Elementary asking our MidTown Association to be part of their decision-making site committee.  Ballots were passed to our members to learn if we would agree to become an official part of the decision-making process.

 

Chili Festival:  Anna Marie Patti passed a sign-up sheet around for signatures of more people to help this year (and receive free admission to the festival). We will be selling paletas again

at the Tucson Botanical Gardens October 26 and 27, 10:00 a.m. to 5:00 p.m.

 

Pima Street Re-Striping:  Brad reported that the painting was being done in the same configuration it is now instead of the way we were promised.  He believes an editorial in the Tucson Citizen about the lack of cooperation by the City Transportation Department on this issue will appear in the next few weeks.

 

 

 

 

 

NEW BUSINESS:

 

 

Midtown Police Seminar:  Jerry Cota-Robles reported on the area that is having a large number of car break-ins and encouraged us all to lock our cars and not to store personal items inside them.  He asked us to help be eyes and ears for better law enforcement.  Ida Plotkin first reported on how accessible she finds the Police Department and then on the seminar: an Internet hookup between neighbors could be used to report on crime to everyone at once, the fact that crime in our neighborhood is down and reporting is up, police issue red tags to noisy parties, evacuation in place is recommended for stressful situations.

 

Use of Chili Fest Profits:  Anna Marie Patti wants to hire Rob Zonfrelli from these funds to write grants to benefit our neighborhood.  David Kha pointed out there would be no guarantee of success.  Brad Holland volunteered to pay Rob $750 to write a Pro Neighborhood application, initial underwriting of a potential grant writing committee.

 

Oriental Rug Display: Daoud Azizi laid out many oriental rugs from his business and answered questions about them.

 

The meeting was adjourned at 8:00 PM on motion by Pat Riggs and second by Julie Hamann.  Next meeting to be held October 15, 2002, 7 PM.

 

                                                                        Carolyn Isaman, Secretary