SGNA Board Meeting — January 10, 2012

Present:

Board:  Britt, Lew, Jackleen, Dan, Stephan, Kari, Carol, Chris, Brenn

Others:  Lee, Shoshana, Teresa (new to Gulch), Marcelo, Officers Anderson and McCalister, PDX Police Dept.

-Officers update:  Theft not up from last year.  Cars getting stolen at theatre and dumped in the Gulch. A couple of pedestrian robberies by Safeway.  Transients have seemingly been pushed downtown and are not being seen so much in our area.  Albina fuel property is being patrolled and when they are arrested, they are released in 4 hours and right back.

-Approved Minutes from last month. 

-66 people were cited and 44 cars were towed (tow pick up is $165 if within 1 hour and $250 after that).  Debate about why the vote was to tow rather than give warnings.  Resident,  Marcelo was here, upset about being towed, even though his car was not working at the time and he has no trees on his property.  Question from him is "Will the Board write a letter of support for him at the court date?"  Chris motioned that a letter from the Board will be written, Carol seconds the letter, Kari asks "therefore we are to write letters for the other 43 residents?"  Britt agrees, yet states non of the others' have come forward.  Letter, to ask the Judge to forgive all or part of the towing fine due to his financial hardship.  5 in favor, 1 opposed, 4 sustaining.

-Treasurer's Report:  $5,005.98 current balance  
Britt appreciates Kari prudence in applying dollars during last meeting and how valuable her thoughts and statements are to the board.

-Safety:  Brenn stated that the next emergency preparedness meeting will be January 19th, 6:30-8 at Brenn's Blend Studio in the Lloyd Center.

-Communications:  Chris would like someone to volunteer to take over the newsletter

-Lifestyles:  Stephan says nothing much going on until spring and summer.
Dan asked about Stephan amping up the soup nights and making them more often.  Stephan reminded everyone of the Soup night coordinator asking that the SGNA remain separate from the soupnight gatherings last year.

-Trail News:  Senior Center from 6-8pm January 11th.  Maps, presentations, and more.  Dan said that Brad Perkins, representing the Trail Committee, would like a letter from our board (and Irvington N.A. as well) supporting the trail and also a letter to PDC to assign any available funding to the process of the trail in their District.  Kari suggests that the letter be from Dan's perspective and his agenda, rather than Brad's.  Dan will write a letter and submit to our Board for acceptance regarding said issues.

-Land Use:  Fred Meyer remodel and Wasco/28th crossing.  We don't have a slam dunk from PDOT to have them impose the upgrading of crossing on Fred Meyer, but do have enough information to go to Fred Meyer and continue the request.  Federal Consumer Safety standards will be met on the playground upgrades being done by Fred Meyer on their playground.

N-NE Quadrant, talking with NEBBA and NECN about setting up a meeting with the neighborhoods immediately adjacent to the area regarding setting perimeters and discussing the vision for the corridor and the future of the area and what the possibilities are.

KAL Properties still overseas the Albina property.  Britt suggests its simply lying dormant until the time that its ready for use.  TriMet using it for a MAX stop will be costly for them due to the need for multi level building and elevators.

Parking Permit district information.  3 different alternatives for the parking permit district.  A study must be done to examine the necessity for and the boundary possibilities.  Once a boundary is approved, 50% of the residents would have to sign on and say they want it, then the application goes to the city/PDOT and they make final decision to move forward o not.  If the TriMet fare less square goes away there is no need for the parking permits aren't needed.  The 3 Options, 41-48-52 block faces for the parking boundaries will be emailed to the Board.  There is concern that a study was done in the neighborhood to survey the impact of those parking in our neighborhoods then riding MAX in the free zone.  Chris gave Britt Will Elder's number to contact him and find out where that study is. Britt asked that the Board support he and Carol is sending the information forward to Murray and NEBBA to get their feedback on the possibilities.  All agreed.

-NECN:  Solar panels for homes will be bought in bulk and the information will be available on the NECN website.  January 19th committee meeting.  Economic Development Forums are coming up February 1 is on High Level Development.  April 3 is on small organizations and economic development.  May 1is a workshop style event to discuss what is going on in individual communities.  Candidate Forums coming up, and dates are posted on NECN website.   www.necoalition.org  Shoshana requested that board members email her with any questions, suggestions, or personal experiences regarding Solarize or the above.  

New Seasons on Fremont, part of the old Wonder Bread site, will have their pre-application conference in a week.  It will take sometime before they can break ground.

-Board Member Retreat:  February 11th, 2-6pm, 15-16 people, Stephan has accepted responsibility to plan and coordinate location and food, Linda has volunteered to assist.  Lew will check on possible rooms at Holladay.  Shoshana will provide discussion questions and meeting planning to Britt.                                                                                                                                   

-Brenn asked if anyone had any ideas for the Secretarial position.  No one had an answer.  A motion was made to elect Brenn to Secretary, second, and third, she declined.                                         

Comments and corrections to these minutes should be addressed within 24 hours of this email.  Otherwise, the content stands until approved or amended at the next official meeting.
Meeting adjourned at 9:13pm.