Attendance

• Board members: Luke Bowerman, Sherry Chilcutt, Sandia Slaby, Nathan Allen, Whitney Bowerman, Katie Beatie, Bev Kooi, Nancy Thompson, Mitch Dennis, Pat Bayle, Brad Archibold Bev Kooi
• Neighborhood Residents: Kara Randall, and Domenico Spatola-Knoll

Previous Meeting Minutes

Read and ratified February General Meeting Minutes

Parks & Pathways Proposal

Brad Archbold presented a proposal he wants to submit to the City’s Parks & Pathways program as a project for our neighborhood. It proposes putting in a walking trail, as a small connector of the thoroughfare, starting at the west end of 13th Ave past Boundary St., along City right-of-way, to Eastside St., nearby the Puget Sound Blood Center.

An idea  was proposed for a second project – a connector trail on 11th Ave, connecting McCormick & Central.

The motion to support these two proposals to the City passed unanimously.

2013 Garage Sale

Lee Bickle, Garage Sale coordinator was not able to attend the March meeting but later confirmed by email that date for the Neighborhood Garage Sale will July 20.

2013 Summer Picnic

Date chosen was August 24 (changed to August 17 during April board meeting)

Disaster Preparedness

Sandia Slaby reported that the county’s “Training-the-Trainers Workshop,” related to Disaster Preparedness (specifically about “Mapping your Neighborhood”), that occurred on March 13th in the North East Neighborhood was attended by two ENA members. Both volunteered to be the first two “block captains” in the Eastside neighborhood. This role involves convening a get-together at their homes for those residents who live on their block to watch a 90 minute interactive video together. Those residents then begin organizing to work together in the event of a disaster. The county provides the video & literature for these gatherings. Anyone with questions about the “Mapping Your Neighborhood” program, or who is specifically interested to know more about becoming a block captain or getting this started on your block, contact Sandia at (360) 866-4561. The intent of this county-wide effort is to get residents organized with their direct neighbors for help & work that can prevent injury & death, when first responders (fire, police, medical) are overwhelmed by the disaster.

Neighborhood Outreach & Communication

Improving Neighborhood Outreach & Communication

The ultimate goal is to have more folks join the ENA to support & be more active in our neighborhood.

Board and Membership Meetings

A calendar has been published on the ENA website of 2013 monthly board meetings and general membership meetings & events.

May General Meeting / Early Summer Picnic

After a discussion a motion was passed to hold the May general meeting as a neighborhood gathering / potluck format. The start time will be earlier – 5:30 or 6 pm, as opposed to the usual 7 pm. The hope is that this will make it more feasible for families with young children to attend. Date and location will be finalized shortly.

Sidewalk clean-up day

Work to identify locations (aiming for ~10) where the sidewalk is over-grown with vegetation. From there the project would include contacting the adjacent property owner to discuss ENA members clearing vegetation, organizing to do such work & to coordinate with the city to collect the debris, etc. Luke agreed to take the lead on this sidewalk cleaning project.

Discussion ensued about recent work the City did at Madison Scenic Park including fixing trail & handrail, clearing much of the blackberries, putting in bollards, & planting new low maintenance native vegetation. City Parks planner Jonathan Turlove has been in charge of this particular project. If anyone is interested in anything further being developed at this park, please contact Whitney Bowerman at wh*************@***il.com.

Newsletter

Discussion ensued questioning the value & effectiveness of our current ‘Newsletter approach’ to reaching neighborhood members. The newsletters are currently distributed by hand, a time-consuming task for volunteers. It would cost ~ $400 to bulk mail the current newsletter to all residents of ENA area, whereas it would cost ~ $200 to mail a postcard. After much discussion, a motion passed unanimously to spend ~$200 doing one trial ‘postcard’ bulk mailing to everyone in the ENA area, in lieu of the next quarterly newsletter. The postcard will include calendar of all 2013 events & meetings, a link to ENA website for more info, request for feedback, etc., The ultimate goal is to have more folks join the ENA to support & be more active in our neighborhood. Luke will create the first postcard & have it ready to view at the April Board meeting. Some discussion on how to measure the effects of such a mailing occurred & further discussion was tabled for the April meeting.

ENA Web Site vs. “Nextdoor”

Luke cited that the ENA website is a public site, i.e. anyone can view it. ENA bylaws require that meeting agendas and minutes be published publicly and the web site accomplishes that whereas Nextdoor, a closed network, does not. Nextdoor.com is accessible only to those who live within the neighborhood. We have control ownership & control of the ENA site & all the information on it. We do not have control or ownership of Nextdoor web site (Nextdoor is privately held company).

Bev Kooi brought up the issue of whether the churches & businesses in our neighborhood could post on Nextdoor. She brought up an example of how she’d like to post the Easter week schedule of events at the Methodist church. She said they were hesitant to post themselves, wondering if it would be appropriate, not wanting to be seen as proselytizing. Luke promptly said they could send any announcement to him & he’d post it. Sandia asked why they couldn’t just post themselves, and Whitney said they might not know how but if they felt comfortable posting they were welcome to do so and that would be preferable. The churches are members of the neighborhood and have all been invited to become members of Nextdoor.

Online Payment of Membership Dues

Luke suggested we create a way for members to pay their dues online with credit card, suggesting they may get paid more regularly. The motion was passed unanimously.
Membership dues

Luke to suggested that it might be worth increasing the dues a small amount to $12/year. The dues have been $10 for at least 10 years (perhaps significantly longer?).

Some discussion occurred, including questioning what the increase would fund, if we needed it, etc. The decision for both was tabled until April meeting.

 

Meeting adjourned at 8:20 pm

Attendance

• Board Members:
  • Nancy Thompson (President)
  • Jennie Fleming (Treasurer)
  • Brad Archibold
  • Andrew Beattie
  • Sandia Slaby
  • Roberta Golden
• 20+ neighborhood members in attendance
  • Tom Nogler,  Whitney & Luke Bowerman, Joe Hanna, Brad Archibold, LaRay Armstrong, Bev Kooi, Andrew Beattie, Katy Beattie, Nathan Allan, Sherry Chilcutt, Mitch Dennis, Pat Doyle, Terry & Ruth Middlebrook, Ann Mataczinzki

Treasurer’s Report by Jenni Fleming

Savings	$528
Neighborhood Signs Savings	$1295
Legion Way Trees Fund	$150
Community Beautification (from PSE Green Neighbors program)	$504
Checking	$445
13 Month CD (Matures on 4/20/13)	$1026
Total	$3948

Association Officer Elections

The President explained that there are currently 7 board members who have completed their two year term, & 4 who have one more year remaining in their term. She added that our Bylaws require there be a minimum of 10 and a maximum of 20 board members.  The President asked for volunteers to step forward to re-up or join the board.

The following people were elected: Luke Bowerman, Bev Kooi, Katy Beattie, Nathan Allan, Sherry Chilcutt, Mitch Dennis, Pat Doyle

President:  Luke Bowerman volunteered & was elected with no objections
Treasurer:  Sherry Chilcutt volunteered & was elected with no objections
Secretary:  Sandia Slaby volunteered & was elected with no objections

Eastside Community Garden

Roberta Golden brought to our attention that the gardens need more people to be involved. There are plots available for $50 per growing season, which includes water & membership to Sustainable South Sound (and with that, a “Buy Local” coupon book). Plots are 20’ x 20’.  The gardens are on the south side of 13th Ave S.E., just west of Central St S.E..  Contact Jennifer for more info at  (360) 481-4235 or ho******@**ve.com.

City’s Trail Connectivity grants

Brad Archbold explained the status of this City program. The neighborhood association has previously been awarded funds for the Fairview walk-through trail (that project was not completed). He said there would possibly additional funds available for next year. If anyone has any ideas for creating such trails in our neighborhood they should bring those to the ENA Board’s attention.

2nd Annual Garage sale

Lee announced that she will coordinate the 2nd Annual Neighborhood Garage sale and suggested the 3rd week of July, to be after Lake Fair. The ENA will take care of advertising and will frame it as a ‘BIG Neighborhood’ sale.  Call Lee at (360) 943-1538 or email at  be************@*****st.net  for more info. There was a discussion about the benefits to doing this the week of Lake Fair – a westside neighborhood has done this successfully for years.

Annual Picnic

Early or mid-August was mentioned for the ENA Annual Picnic. Nancy Thompson confirmed that she will continue to organize this event.

“Mapping Your Neighborhood”

Sandia Slaby announced that the North Eastside Neighborhood Association (NENA) is hosting a “Map Your Neighborhood” event at Roosevelt Elementary School on Wednesday, March 13th, 6:30-8:00 pm.

The event will be a review of the video called “Mapping Your Neighborhood,” which the county provides to anyone who wants to be a “block captain” or “trainer.”  This person’s role is to facilitate a small population (their own city block of households – a maximum of 1015 households) getting together at the “captain’s” home to watch the same video. This helps the block residents get familiar with their neighbors, and get organized and prepared to work more effectively together for increased health and safety reasons in the event of a disaster.  This is when our regular emergency responders (fire, medical & police) are overwhelmed by the numbers in need of help, when our neighbors may either need or be the best source of help available more quickly. For more information about these events email Sandia at sa****@***********nd.org or call her at (360) 866-4561.

Presentations by Concerned Eastside Neighbors & the Medela Development Group

Representatives of the group Concerned Eastside Neighbors (Joe Hanna & Teresa __?) and LaRay Armstrong of the Medela Development group gave extensive presentations, including an update about the current and historical facts regarding these 9+ acres of property (including 2-4 residences). The area is bordered on the north side by the Forest Grove Cemetery, on the the east side by Chambers Street, and on the south side by the freeway. The Medela group has applied to the county for a rezone for greater density.

The Medela group said they had not been able to sell their property and were advised that there would be more interest if the zoning was for greater density housing.  The Concerned Eastside Neighbors group, a group of about 7 neighbors near the property, appealed the county’s decision to accept the re-zone application.  The group claimed the city had been in err with the decision. The appeal was denied and the rezone for greater density in that area has been passed. It will go into effect once the County Commissioner’s formally adopt the rezone sometime this year, no later than December 31.

For more info from the neighbors’ perspective, email them at co************************@***il.com.  The group intends to stay organized and hopefully grow and to be prepared to challenge any actual development that begins to take form when and if the property sells. From their research, they believe they have solid ground upon which to challenge many development projects that would be proposed for a more densely-zoned property.

The CEN group is very interested in more people getting on board now, in order to be better prepared for what seems now like inevitable happenings in the future.  They believe that any major development will affect our neighborhood significantly.

The Medela development group is a small family of siblings who are in or near retirement.  “We want to sell the property… we grew up there… but I  [the one resident landlord] can no longer maintain the land or dwellings that are part of the property…  and we are all three [sisters & brothers] older & want to retire and move on with our lives.”

The meeting came to a close at 8:50 pm.