Downtown
Minutes from
A regularly scheduled meeting of the Board of
Directors of the Downtown Minneapolis Neighborhood Association, Inc. (DMNA)
was held on
With a quorum present, Monroe Bell, Chair, called the meeting
to order at
After circulating the updated DMNA Board Committee Members’ list to board members for review, the Chair asked for any improvements/corrections/ additions to be noted on the list and returned to Scott for accurate updating.
Turning to the business of the September 14
board minutes composed by the Chair, Secretary and DMNA/NRP Coordinator,
After everyone introduced themselves to Lisa Goodman, Andy applauded the hard work and long hours that the downtown councilmembers devote to the issues affecting downtown residents, and announced that following Lisa’s presentation to DMNA's board, she would also be giving a presentation at The Towers that evening from 7:00-10:00 p.m. regarding the issues relevant to The Towers' residents (i.e., the new Library, the Milwaukee Depot, the Marquette Plaza project – old Federal Reserve Bank property), and thanked her profusely for doing so.
Lisa mentioned that in addition to attending all of the monthly neighborhood association meetings, at the request of some condominium associations she will also attend condo association meetings, as her schedule permits, to accommodate those who are unable/unwilling to attend neighborhood association meetings or public hearings.
Turning to her update, Lisa announced a major
victory by the City Council regarding the new
For clarification, Lisa then explained the two major differences between the
primary and secondary office cores, i.e., building square footage and parking
requirements. In the primary office core, building square footage may exceed
1 million, and there is no parking requirement. However, in the secondary office
core, building square footage is limited to under 1 million (about 33 stories),
and after the first 400,000 square feet, there is a parking requirement of 1
parking space per 15,000 square feet. Lisa expressed that this parking difference
between the two office cores is important given the parking problems facing
downtown residential structures, such as The Towers, The Churchill, and The
Crossings, which have insufficient parking spaces (due to the original premise
that residents who worked downtown would walk to work) to meet the needs of
its residents. If parking is not required of the larger office structures,
parking will still need to be built to accommodate downtown employees, and we'll
be required to pay for it - an expensive proposition. Currently the larger
office structures build just enough parking spaces to accommodate executives,
instead of the majority of its employees, resulting in a parking encroachment
on the surrounding residential neighborhoods. So in Lisa’s opinion, it is important
that we mandate that the larger office structures build sufficient parking spaces
to accommodate the building's employees, and that we rethink our overall downtown
parking policy now that the compact downtown core has blended with the peripheral
parking. So in the final analysis, Lisa noted, the fight was over land speculation.
As background, Lisa indicated that the Downtown, Elliot Park and
Lisa further mentioned that the new zoning code, which is up for vote on November
12, affects the entire city, not just downtown where most of the fighting has
been focused on. All property in
In conclusion, Lisa expressed that the news is good, that the downtown residents have made tremendous progress in trying to get more of what they want which is (the joke of it is) also what the developers want – to live and work downtown in a pedestrian friendly, crime preventive, environmentally conscious and friendly neighborhood.
The Chair then commented that one of DMNA’s program
focus at the annual meeting on November 9 would be to have Tom Hook (Scott
verify name) give a presentation featuring the Hennepin Avenue streetscape
design project affecting 4th Street through 8th Street. Lisa agreed that would
be a great idea since DMNA board members have been involved in that project,
through the arts committee of the NRP process, and would appreciate the designs
that are being proposed – creating a streetscape design called the Hennepin
Avenue Theater District with specialized marquis, lighting, and signage modeled
after the
The Chair then mentioned that Lisa would be the only councilmember present at the DMNA annual board meeting due to the Mayor’s and the other downtown councilmembers, Joan Campbell’s and Jackie Cherryhomes’ conflicting schedules.
The Chair updated the board on DMNA’s involvement
in the Restorative Justice 3-year pilot project. The Chair stated that the
project initially arose from the Stevens Square Community Organization initiative,
and subsequently included the cooperation of the other downtown associations,
Elliot Park, Loring Park, and Downtown (with Dee and Monroe appointed to serve
on its advisory committee since DMNA’s participation
in 1997). And as the program ends its pilot period (ending
The Chair then explained that at Joan Wilshire’s
request the board postponed voting on the CCNP Restorative Justice Program (RJP)
proposal dated
After Cara distributed information on the RJP,
its organizational chart, and financial data (program income, budget overview,
program expenses, and audit of
The Chair then distributed literature regarding
RJP’s open house on Tuesday, November 23,
Larry Calhoun briefly updated the board on his progress to date concerning DMNA’s advertising its annual board meeting in City Pages and/or Skyway News. In essence, City Pages would be too expensive, but Skyway News would be significantly more reasonable depending upon the board’s ultimate ad specifications. In addition to running a potential ad, the board discussed the content of the flyer and its subsequent distribution within the downtown residential properties, working through each building’s management. Laura moved and Ashu seconded to authorize Larry, Carletta, and Scott to purchase ad space in Skyway News to publicize DMNA’s November 9 annual meeting, at a amount not to exceed $500, and to photocopy the appropriate number of flyers for distribution to the various downtown residential properties. The motion passed unanimously. Then Andy reiterated that the League of Women Voters’ willingness and availability to conduct the board’s annual elections at a cost of $75.
In response to Andy’s motion of September 14 requesting a treasurer’s report, Laura Lazar explained the DMNA’s 1-page financial summary and 2-page check register dated September 21, 1999 as prepared and distributed by the Chair.
Scott Engel announced that the next Implementation
Committee meeting would be held
Scott then advised the board that the NRP Policy Board will hold its annual
election on November 18, and that each neighborhood association in the city
approves an elector to elect policy board members. Scott’s prework
related to this process uncovered that, on behalf of DMNA, George Rosenquist
(a member of the Implementation Committee) willing
to represent Downtown West as a policy board elector, and Joan Wilshire willing
to represent
Since the last Employment Committee meeting was canceled, no
update was available, and committee members agreed to meet immediately following
adjournment of the present board meeting. The Chair then entertained the motion
to elect Al Smith, Chair of the Land Use Committee, to also sit on the Employment
Committee. Andy moved and
Scott mentioned that no update was available, but that
Jonathan then announced the neighborhood pre-workshop meeting for the Light
Rail Project station design per
The meeting was adjourned at
Signed and approved by
______________________________
______________________________
Chair
Secretary
Exhibit 1
[Insert Andy Hauer’s Motion No. 1]
Exhibit 2
[Insert Andy Hauer’s Motion No. 2]
Exhibit 3
[Insert Andy Hauer’s Motion No. 3]