Midtown Neighborhood Association

Minutes of General Meeting held November 21, 2000

John B. Wright Elementary

GREETINGS

Brad Holland, MNA President called the meeting to order at 7:00 p.m. For the benefit of several new attendees, Brad introduced Officer Frank Damonico, Lisa Langford, David Kha, Martha Cooper, Howard Ward and Anna Marie Patti. He briefly described the specialty areas of each of these persons and christened Anna Marie the "Paleta Princess" for her hard work selling paletas at the Chile Festival. After the minutes and a couple of update reports, Brad drew a rough map of Midtown and asked those in attendance to identify by a show of hands, which quadrant they lived in. He stated that it would be a good idea for those living in the same quadrant to get to know each other.

 

MINUTES

Copies of the minutes were distributed among attendees prior to the meeting. On a motion by Martha Cooper and a second by David Kha, the Minutes of 10/17/00 were approved.

 

TREASURER’S REPORT (David Kha)

At the request of Martha Cooper, David provided a more detailed Treasurer's Report. This format will be used for all future reports, so reviewers can more easily see what funds are allocated to what projects.

 

Fund Cash on Hand Deposits Expenses Balance

Midtown General $ 685.87 $1,038.06 $1,363.81 $ 360.12

JBW Marquee $1,602.00 $ 432.27 $0.00 $2,034.27

Green Retrofit $7,089.31 $ 0.00 $ 867.50 $6,221.81

$9,337.18 $1,470.33 $2,231.31 $8,616.20

On a motion by Martha Cooper and a second by Howard Ward, the Treasurer's report for September 2000 was approved.

 

UPDATES

  • John B. Wright Report (Lisa Langford)
  1. JBW student council has been raising funds and collecting food cans the last two months for the annual Food Drive. Part of the collection will go directly to JBW for distribution and part to the Clothing Bank.
  2. The Book Fair will be 12/4-12/8 during the day and evenings on 12/5 and 12/6. Children's books will be offered for sale.
  3. Lisa presented MNA with $6.00 from paleta sales in Teacher's lounge and $140 from the silent auction at the Halloween party. This money will be placed in the JBW Marquee fund.
  4. Lisa noted Martha Cooper's attendance at the recent PTA meeting.
  5. The readers program is still in operation. The lead person has been busy preparing for a conference, but will be in touch with volunteers who wish to read to children at JBW.
  6. Lisa and eight teachers attended the National Conference of English Teachers and presented their work in children's' literacy. They received a good response and have been asked to publish their work.
  7. A JBW parent is enthusiastically pursuing Toys for Tots. Lisa will direct that person to Martha and Brad. Brad asked that MNA members all try to bring a toy to the next meeting.
  • Midtown Library and Learning Center (Carol Clark) - Carol reported optimism that the County will drop its policy of not paying anything over appraisal for property, so that the Orenstein property can be purchased. She noted that Fred Ronstadt is not going to let this project fail and will keep on top of the situation. Brad gave a brief summary of the project for the benefit of new attendees.
  • Bike Club Report (David Kha) - David reported lots of refugee participation and the continued volunteerism of Roman to keep the Club going strong. Brad gave and overview of the club for the benefit of new attendees.
  • Computer Club Report (David Kha) - David asked Howard to explain the Computer Lab that David began at the St. Vincent De Paul Society. Howard explained that there are 10 computers that David set up for SVP and that he recently graduated 10 students from his first computer course. A new volunteer is teaching the next course. Howard noted that this is an excellent program for new computer users and that graduates receive a certificate than can help them find jobs. He acknowledged David as having taken his experience in MNA computer endeavors and seeded a wonderful new program elsewhere.
  • Virtual Neighborhood Association (David Kha) - David reports 23 neighborhoods are now online with VNA. Brad encouraged those with Internet access to log on to VNA. He also noted that all MNA officers were on email and asked those who needed email accounts to see David.
  • Chili Festival (Anna Marie Patti) - Anna Marie noted that the MNA paleta sale at the Chili Festival more than broke even. MNA made $246. However, lots of paletas remain in freezers unsold and encouraged anyone with ideas on where to sell them to phone her with a list of places and volunteers. A suggestion to sell at the 4th Avenue Street fair was made and Brad said he would research this idea. Another suggestion was each Wednesday at noon on the Main Library Lawn coinciding with a weekly music event there. Brad noted that the paletas are fruit or creme based popsicles and sell for a dollar each.
  • Tree Planting (Anna Marie Patti) - Anna Marie reported that 68 trees were planted last month and that most went into trailer parks where they really improved the appearance of the properties. MNA is up to 800 trees in the ground and is aiming for 2,000. She noted that trees are still available for residents at $3.00 for a 5-gallon size, and that the trees this year were exceptionally large and healthy.

 

OTHER REPORTS

  • Rezoning and Variance Education (Brad Holland) - Brad gave a very informative 45-minute overview of the ins and outs of rezoning and variance requests. He noted that this is an important issue for MNA residents to follow, because significant changes in the character of the neighborhood can result from seemingly small variance or rezoning requests.

 

NEW BUSINESS/ ANNOUNCEMENTS

GUEST SPEAKER

  • Edie Lauver, Interfaith Coalition - Ms Lauver noted that the IC is the sponsor of Shalom House and helps run the Winter Shelter Program. She also described the mentoring program IC started at Catalina High School to keep at-risk students in school and how it has now spread to 7 inter-city schools. As a result of running that program, IC determined a need for transitional housing for some of these at-risk students. For example, if their parent(s) are incapacitated, they may find themselves worrying about rent and food, not school. She came to notify MNA of IC's intent to convert a commercial property at 3926 E. Pima into such a transitional home. She noted that the kids would live there 30 days or less (with some leeway for extension, based on circumstances). These kids are NON-criminal cases. It would be all-female at first and expanded to include males if successful. In addition to residency, they would provide some on-site medical care and a computer workshop. Midtown is a key location so that the facility can serve Rincon, Sahuaro and Catalina high schools. IC is partnering with Family Counseling Agency, Youth on Their Own, and Open End. IC wants to partner with MNA on the design of the facility and encourages residents to sit on the Building Committee.
  • April Baison, Wright Radiant Nature Park - Ms Baison introduced herself as a former graduate student who had helped design the JBW Nature Park. She now has a grant from Pro-Neighborhoods to improve the park. Specifically she wants to (1) put up an in-ground cement barrier and curb to keep Bermuda grass out of the park; (2) add signs to list the park rules and interpret the plants (using a keyed map) it contains; and (3) incorporate the leftover tiles from the MNA-CHS tile-making project from several years ago. This will happen over 1-2 weekends in January (20th and 27th are tentative dates). She noted that Lisa Rodriquez, a 4th grade teacher at JBW has volunteered to be the nature park coordinator, and that lunchtime volunteers are needed to supervise kids in the park.

 

ADJOURNMENT

On a motion by Martha Cooper and second by Anna Marie Patti, Brad Holland adjourned the meeting at approximately 8:15 p.m.

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