April board meeting minutes

Minutes from the ENA board meeting on Thurs April 21, 2006

Held at Jessica Archer’s house

Board members present

Margaret Frost
Katie Stoll
Ann Mataczynski
Nathan Allan
Jody Suhrbier
Casey Frazier
Carol Wilson
Terry Zander
Jessica Archer

Steve Lyons and Jean Keoning (not sure of the spelling) were also in attendance.

Special Guest speaker was Jerome Parker

The minutes from the last board meeting were read and approved with the correction of Jim’s Rioux last name. Jody made the motion and Margaret seconded it.

Jerome Parker told us about the proposed increased activity at the port of Olympia. Weyerhauser has proposed to greatly increase their current level of activity at the port and greatly increase the number of log trucks using Plum Street. He is representing the Citizens for Public Accountability and they are very concerned that no environmental impact statement was done before improving this change.  He asked for our support and will keep us informed on how things are progressing.

Jody is continuing to monitor any developments concerning the development on the corner of 11th and Central. She will continue to be in touch with the planners.

Old Madison school sale is still in the process Jean expressed some concern about amount of traffic that will be generated by the church development. She is also concerned about any payment arrangements the school district may be considering involving the church.

The entrance signs continue to be discussed and we are still looking for the best way to spend the money. There are many options for the posts, materials, and methods to put them up. We will pursue donations for materials, labor and the actual making of the signs. We will decide on the locations after we know the exact number of signs we can afford. We are hoping to be able to do at least 8 signs. Jessica agreed to contact business and see if they would sponsor a sign or make a contribution to the fund. She
will put together a flyer to hand out to businesses and offer them free advertising in the newsletter. Jessica will also put together a presentation for the general meeting to try to drum up some interest.

We were awarded the Active Lifestyle grant. We received $3000.00 Terry and Jody are working on a schedule of events. and other board members have offered to help or lead a walk or ride. Terry will have a presentation for the May general meeting. The kick off party will be June 3rd at Lions Park. Terry has sucessfully gotten some donations and offers of help from businesses. Anyone who volunteers to lead a walk can receive $50.00. The culmination of events will be at the neighborhood picnic on August 19th.

The general meeting is scheduled for Thurs May 11th. It will be at the usual church location and some board members have agreed to help with coffee and goodies.

Jody will ask a representative of the Parks department to come and talk about the Madison Scenic Park, the possibility of a Sonic basketball court, and any dog park plans More information will be given on the sale of old Madison and the Active Lifestyle program.

The schedule was discussed for distribution of the newsletter.

Mark reported that we need to generate some more income to cover the newsletter costs. We discussed charging $50.00 for a business card size ad, $100.00 for a bottom of the page ad (equivalent in size to 2 business cards) and $150.00 for 1/4 page ad. The possibility of classified ads from individuals is being considered.

The next board meeting is scheduled for Thurs June 15th at Carol’s house. There will be no board meeting in May.

The meeting was adjourned at 9:13.

Respectfully submitted

Carol Wilson, secretary

Healthy Lifestyle events

All events start at 10 am at Lions Park.

  • June 10 – San Francisco Bakery & beyond bike ride – refreshments @ bakery [map at Wayfaring.com]
  • June 17 – Toddler/senior stroll to Bigelow Park w/ refreshments
  • June 24 – Longest downhill bike ride (I-5 bike path on Wheeler St.)
  • July 1 – Walk to San Francisco Bakery via scenic route – refreshments @ bakery
  • July 8 – I-5 bike path ride to Sleater-Kinney tunnel – ice cream @ McDonalds
  • July 15 – Walk to Eastside Food Co-op w/ refreshments
  • July 22 – Mystery bike ride
  • July 29 – Historic walk w/ refreshments at Swantown Inn
  • Aug. 5 – Ride to Farmer’s Market w/ refreshments

June Board Meeting

The June board meeting will be held on Thursday, June 15 at 7 p.m. at 515 Central St. SE.

Agenda:

A. Welcome and Intros
Action: Review and Approve April Minutes

B. Unconfirmed Guest: K. Kraig Chalem, Associate Planner, City of Olympia, CP&D, re: Neighborhood Development Projects

C. Old Business

  • ENA Letter Re: Log Export Facility Development (Mark)
    Action: Vote on whether to send letter
  • Neighborhood Entrance Sign Project (Nathan/Jessica)
    Action: Vote on sign material

D. New Business

  • Bread & Roses Temporary Site Changes (Jody)
    Action: Vote on next steps, if any
  • National Guard Training at Madison Elementary (Margaret)
    Action: Vote on whether to draft letter
  • Treasurer’s Report (Mark)
  • Lakefair Fireworks (7-23) & ENA Ice Cream Distribution (Jody)
    Action: Vote on whether to continue this tradition, and set $ limit; identify distributors
  • Newsletter, Ad. Rep. & August Issue (7-31 content deadline) (Jody/Katie)
    Action: Appoint new rep.; determine length of Aug. issue

E. Announcements and Adjourn

Neighborhood meeting with B&R board chair

Michele Zodrow has arranged a meeting with the Bread & Roses board chair for May 31 at 7 p.m. at her home. Any of the neighbors are welcome to attend. Her goal is to impress upon the B&R board the need for communication prior to these changes
happening and to set a system into place.  Contact Michele at [email protected] for address or more information.

Follow-up on Bread & Roses

An update from ENA president Jody Suhrbier:

Hello again everyone,

I hope to have this be my last blanket email about the temporary changes taking place at Bread & Roses, so as not to inundate you with email. Please feel free to contact me if you have questions, and as always, feel free to use the forum on our website, www.eastside-olympia.org, to share thoughts with neighbors, on this and other topics.

As you know from my message from May 16th, Bread & Roses has decided, with Thurston County Housing Authority input, to move 8 of 32 men from the current Devoe street shelter to the women’s shelter on 8th. This will last until approximately December of this year, depending on how quickly the new Devoe street shelter is completed.

The driving force behind this change is 1) Bread & Roses was originally told that all men at the old shelter could stay until the new facility was built; it was just recently that they found this not to be true, and 2) women are slightly easier to place into alternative housing than men, using federal tenant rent vouchers, available at the county level.

Comments received from neighbors in the last week have varied from strongly supporting Bread & Roses mission, and their place as one of our neighbors, to wanting more information about the situation, to wanting the ENA to step in and block this change.

Information that I have obtained from Bread & Roses administrator, Selena Kilmoyer since my last message includes:

  • the 8 men staying at the 8th Ave. shelter have been screened; there are no drug users or sexual predators.
  • 4 are on Social Security disability, and 4 are day laborers, when work is available.
  • Selena has successfully implemented a “no visitors” policy at the existing men’s shelter, and will do the same with the men on 8th Ave.
  • Selena is requesting the City of Olympia police department to do “run-throughs” of this portion of the neighborhood more frequently than they currently do, to help ensure further safety for surrounding neighbors.

I have also learned, from a City of Olympia housing specialist, information that is available for public viewing relating to Bread & Roses conditional use permit issued in 1988. At that time, a permit was issued that allowed B&R to have women and children only at the shelter. As of two years ago, families were placed elsewhere, and only single women were housed there.

Fair housing laws have changed since 1988, and there is the possibility that such laws barring discrimination on several issues, including sex, would override the conditional use permit, though a legal opinion has not been sought by the city.

That’s about it. Again, please let me know if you have further questions.

Jody M. Suhrbier
Board President
Eastside Neighborhood Association
[email protected]