Downtown Minneapolis Neighborhood Association

Downtown Minneapolis Neighborhood Association

Minutes from Board of Directors Meeting on Tuesday, August 8, 2006

Hennepin Center for the Arts

528 Hennepin Avenue, Suite 310, Minneapolis, Minnesota

I. Call to Order and Introductions

Board Chair Kim Motes called the meeting to order at 6:33 p.m.

Other board members in attendance included Andy Hauer; Tom Hoch; Cynthia Newsom, Treasurer; Scott Parkin, Secretary; and Carletta Sweet, Vice Chair. Board members Jodi Pfarr and Gene Nessly were unable to attend.

Guests in attendance included Michelle Bruch, Downtown Journal; Gena Gerard and Kim Malrick from Restorative Justice Community Action, Inc.; Alex Hoag; Ward 7 Aide Doug Kress and Intern Dan Schned; Minneapolis Park and Recreation Board Commissioner Tracy Nordstrom; George Rosenquist; State Representative 58B candidate Alan Shilepsky; John Sten; and Sabina Sten.

II. Consideration of the Agenda

The agenda was approved as presented.

III. Consideration of July 2006 Board Meeting Minutes

Vice Chair Carletta Sweet moved and Andy Hauer seconded the motion to approve the minutes from the July 11, 2006 board meeting. The motion passed.

IV. Minneapolis Park and Recreation Board Update

Tracy Nordstrom, Commissioner for the 4th Park District, introduced herself and updated the board on her activities since elected to the MPRB in November 2005. The MPRB is, for the first time in over 40 years, undergoing a comprehensive planning process and as a consequence has scheduled seven city-wide, 2-hour forums to receive input from Minneapolis residents. Since the demographics have changed so dramatically over the decades with the influx of more residents, it is important to provide stakeholders’ perspective on needed park amenities and programming at these forums to ensure downtown is better served. Downtown’s meeting is scheduled for Tuesday, October 3, 2006, 6:30 to 8:30 p.m. at the Loring Park Community Arts Center, 1382 Willow Street. Tracy can be reached via phone at 612-230-6400, or via e-mail at [email protected].

When queried about more convenient dog grounds locations and, in particular, whether The Wave site would be available, Tracy advised that although the MPRB is not in favor of locating dog grounds along the riverfront, there may still be opportunities to do so elsewhere in the area (e.g., at the Amory or the U.S. Post Office), and The Wave site, due to its topography and lime stone outcropping, would not be suitable for a dog grounds. Funding for other neighborhood dog grounds varies but that some have been funded through state sources (such as Lake of the Isles as part of the regional park system) or city sources. Tracy has been encouraging planning staff to wait at least 6 months until the data starts coming in for the comprehensive plan to determine what is needed for downtown. Tracy agreed to work with DMNA to resolve its dog grounds issues.

When queried about how she would vote if the developer for The Wave project asked for a contract extension beyond December 31, 2006, Tracy advised that it would depend on what happens in the City Council and how much opposition there is against it.

For day-to-day maintenance and operations issues Tracy suggested contacting District Manager Paul Hokeness by phone at 612-313-7717 or by e-mail at [email protected]. She also suggested contacting the city-wide Commissioners at Large (i.e., Mary Merrill Anderson, Tom Nordyke, and Annie Young) as alternative sources or to invite to future DMNA meetings.

V. Land Use Committee Update

LUC Chair Andy Hauer advised that due to the National Night Out event on August 4th, no LUC meeting was held and therefore no items were up for review.

VI. Code of Conduct Survey Update

Crime and Safety Committee Chair Tom Hoch distributed his draft “Community Expectations” report and summarized the results of the Code of Conduct survey taken to solicit responses from downtown residents, business owners and visitors regarding what should be considered acceptable behavior in downtown Minneapolis. The four overarching themes that emerged from the survey were cleanliness, respectfulness, safety, and pedestrian friendliness. [For additional reading see the front page article in which Tom was featured entitled “Mind Your Manners” in the July 17th edition of the Downtown Journal.]

Chair Kim Motes moved and Andy Hauer seconded the motion to adopt the Community Expectations report. Tom Hoch advised that the Minneapolis Police Department would need to review to provide its input into the final draft. The motion to adopt the Community Expectations report after MPD review passed.

VII. NRP Implementation Update

In response to a letter dated August 3rd to Council Member Lisa Goodman wherein the DMNA iterated issues raised in its July 11th NRP Implementation Committee meeting regarding the dog grounds funding request of June 13th, Doug Kress distributed and summarized the updated proposal entitled “The Dog Grounds Project, A Private-Public Partnership, July 2006”.

After a brief Q&A with Doug, it was decided that Scott Parkin would liaison with all the appropriate entities involved to resolve the outstanding issues DMNA has regarding this project.

VIII. Restorative Justice Community Action Update

Gena Gerard, Executive Director of RJCA, Inc., distributed and summarized the community conferencing, outreach, system change, and evaluation activities conducted in downtown Minneapolis between July 1, 2005 and June 30, 2006. Thereafter, Gena advised that she would coordinate RJCA’s efforts with the DMNA’s Code of Conduct initiative.

Gena announced that Kim Malrick, Community Coordinator for Downtown (and surrounding neighborhoods) had just accepted a new job and that this was her last meeting with the DMNA as a RJCA staff member.

Gena then asked the DMNA if RJCA could rely upon its continued support. The NRP Implementation Committee Chair advised her that the IC had set aside funds to do just that but would still require a formal request be submitted to the board.

IX. Old / New / Other Business

Sue Jahn, National Night Out organizer for downtown Minneapolis, briefed the board on this year’s event held on Tuesday, August 4th, and thanked the DMNA for its continued support. The board applauded Sue on her tireless work on this community-building, crime awareness effort. For more detailed information regarding this event, Sue referenced the article in which she was featured in the ‘downtown life’ section of the Downtown Journal dated July 31, 2006.

Cynthia Newsom reiterated the need to find a more strategic site at a reasonable cost for this year’s annual board meeting. Staff member Christie Rock will continue to pursue potential opportunities.

Chair Kim Motes distributed a letter from NRP advising of its more than 5-year collaboration with the Center for Nonprofit Management to conduct Community Leadership Institute (CLI) training for current and emerging neighborhood leaders. Now, after a major redesign, they will be offering a more tailored program to a core group of leaders from a single neighborhood. Applications are due by 4:30 p.m. on Friday, August 25, 2006 at the NRP office in the Crown Roller Mill Building, 105 5th Avenue South, Minneapolis. For more information contact Margie Siegel of CLI at 651-962-4291 or Robert Thompson of NRP at 612-673-5149.

Chair Kim Motes also asked the board to consider appropriate fall revitalization projects for University of Minnesota students as described in the e-mail forwarded from Kris Nelson dated July 28, 2006.

X. Adjournment

Being no further business, the meeting was adjourned at 8:10 p.m.

Signed this ________ day of ________________________, 2006.

_______________________________ _______________________________
Chair Secretary