ENA Board Meeting

October 11, 2023, 7:00 PM

Swantown Inn, 1431 11th Avenue SE

Members Present

Roger Horn (Vice President), Jim Sweeney (Secretary), Karen Clemens (CNA Representative), Abigail Twombly, Nathan Allan

Guest

Kim Kondrat, Olympia Housing and Homelessness Program

Agenda

1) Approval of minutes

The September 13, 2023 minutes were approved with one correction as there was no Treasurer report in September.

2) Treasurer Report

Checking $615.32

Savings $964.49

Neighborhood Signs $1308.45

Legion Tree $153.69

Community Beautification $410.65

Total $3452.60

3) Plum Street Village

Kim Kondrat provided an overview of the housing and homelessness program and asked members about their experiences and perceptions of the homeless issue.

The Quince Street tiny houses (100 units) are almost always full.

Sergio’s day use center on Martin Way is open with limited hours.

Phase 2 of Unity Commons is under construction.

Kim made sure she had our email & contact information.

4) November Annual Meeting plan

Kim Kondrat agreed to do a presentation on the City’s homelessness response and Jim will show a slide presentation about the ENA.

5) Cider Press 

The cider press is now residing at 1613 Union Ave SE. We had good help on Saturday thanks to Jim Sweeney, Tim Smythe, Hank Lamar, Sherry Chilcutt and Isaac Leff. Tim brought over 4 big boxes of Macintosh apples, Hank recruited hyper local neighbors and we produced about 9 gallons. It’s a beautiful machine and wonderfully efficient. Hank and Sherry are donating $400 to the ENA for a future tree purchase as a thanks to the donors. The press was owned by 3 families: Tim & Linda Smythe, Michael Moore and Joe Roush.

6) Eastside Talent Show

It’s going to be held at Swantown Inn on Saturday, October 14. The performance will take place from 3 to 5 p.m. We’ll set up from 2 to 3 p.m. and close up from 5 to 6 p.m.

7) CNA Report

Karen talked about the on-going sidewalks issue. The City Council, Planning Commission, BPAC and others have all weighed in. The focus is on downtown sidewalk repairs. The CNA is hopeful the program can be expanded outside the downtown area. They are interested in a phone app which would allow neighborhoods to participate in sidewalk condition surveys. A CNA sidewalks subcommittee will be meeting tomorrow.

A group has been working with the City to update the neighborhood grant procedure and to increase the available funding.

The Capital Mall Draft EIS out for review.  

Multi-family tax exemptions may be expanded.

A Southeast Area annexation appears to be moving ahead; cost is a major issue.

An Urban Futures Farm survey is available online.

The meeting adjourned at 8:30.