Downtown Minneapolis Neighborhood Association
Board of Directors and Annual Meeting Minutes
Wednesday, November 19, 2003
University of St. Thomas Law School
I. Board of Directors Meeting
A. Call to Order
Tom Hoch, the Chair, called the meeting to
order at 6:35 p.m. All other board
members were in attendance, i.e.: Dee Cotten; Andrew Hauer;
Leslie Hirsch; Mark Moller; Kim Motes, Vice
Chair; Gene Nessly, Treasurer; and Carletta
Sweet, Secretary.
B. Consideration of Minutes from October 2003
The minutes from the October 14, 2003 board meeting were unanimously approved.
C. Board Member Resignation
The resignation of board member Mark Moller, effective as of that date, was
unanimously approved.
D. Financial Report from October 2003
The F2003 Budget vs. Actual as of October 2003, the Profit & Loss YTD Comparison
statement for October 2003, and the Wells Fargo check register from October 1-31,
2003 were unanimously received and filed.
E. Consideration of Revisions to 2003 NRP Plan Modification
The revisions to the 2003 NRP Plan Modification Funding Proposal were approved
by majority vote with Kim Motes abstaining.
F. Adjournment
There being no further business, the board of directors meeting was adjourned
at 6:42 p.m.
Signed this ________ day of ________________________, 2004.
_______________________________ _______________________________
Chair
Secretary
II. Annual Meeting
A. Call to Order
Tom Hoch, the Chair, called the annual meeting
to order at 7:00 p.m. In addition
to all other board members, some nonboard members in attendance included: Paul
Barber, DMNA’s webmaster; June Harmon,
financial consultant; Barbara Lichness, NRP staff, and Christie
Rock, neighborhood coordinator.
B. Meet Your Elected Officials
Natalie Johnson Lee, 5th Ward Councilmember, acknowledged the hard work
and diligence of the neighborhood associations in keeping important issues before
the City Council and considers herself and co-councilmember Lisa Goodman the
most ferocious in defending and advocating for their constituents.
Lisa Goodman, 7th Ward Councilmember, made note of the following cool
projects:
·
The progress of the streetscape upgrade on Hennepin
Avenue which she considers a testament to the work
of the Hennepin Theater Trust and DMNA
·
The activities occurring simultaneously at the Orpheum, Pantages
and State Theaters and the associated economic development related to these
events (i.e., parking, dining and shopping)
·
The four new “green” street medians on Third Avenue South all
of which have been adopted by the private sector who will maintain them at a
cost of $100,000 annually
·
The health and vitality of other cultural institutions: the
opening of the Mill City Museum and Mill Ruins Park; the groundbreaking for
the Guthrie Theater; the opening of the parking ramp for the new Walker Art
Center expansion; the opening of the St. Thomas Law School; ongoing development
of the new Minneapolis Central Public Library; ongoing fundraising for the new
planetarium; and support for the Minnesota Shubert Performing Arts and Education
Center
·
The residential developments on the drawing board: Bridge Place
at South 1st Street and 3rd Avenue South; the site across from RiverWest Apartments
at South 1st Street and 5th Avenue South; Parcel E liner project across from
the Guthrie; two Nicollet Mall projects - - one on the power site and one above
the parking transit facility yet-to-be-built on the Nicollet Hotel block)
Lisa commented that the glue that holds this all together is the downtown residents.
There are over 27,500 people living in downtown - - more than Denver,
Dallas and Detroit
combined. It is an exceptional effort that takes constant time and energy on
behalf of developers, the City, residents and neighborhood associations. Thereafter
Lisa answered questions regarding other issues and projects pertinent to downtown
(i.e., a downtown grocery store, the MacPhail
Center, a baseball park, Skyway
Senior Center
funding).
Peter McLaughlin, Hennepin County Commissioner, advised that the Hennepin
County Board is in the process of cutting $100 million off of its annual budget
of $1.7 billion over an 18-month period. Although HCB had a balanced budget
at the beginning of 2003, it ran into trouble when the legislature went into
session and made cuts to the base budget, and even if they receive a 2 percent
increase in property taxes this year and add that to local government aid, they
will still be $8 million in the hole in 2004 compared to what they had in 2003.
Peter advised that there were also categorical aid cuts, i.e., $14 million reduction
in child care assistance, and $3.5 million reduction in probation service.
One of the issues he has and is concerned about for downtown is homeless individuals
- - he will be attending a meeting at the Veterans Administration that evening
regarding a 200-unit housing project along the Hiawatha LRT.
Peter advised that the LRT will officially open on Saturday, April 3rd. There
will be free rides to/from Fort Snelling
on both the 3rd and 4th to introduce the community to the line. The extension
to the airport and Mall of America will be completed by the holidays in 2004.
They are also working very hard at the legislature to get the Northstar Corridor
to St. Cloud funded and, long term,
build the connection to St. Paul.
Thereafter Peter answered questions regarding other issues relevant to downtown
(e.g., services at HCMC).
Linda Higgins, State Senator, advised that the legislature is a hostile
place for the City of Minneapolis.
2004 will be a bonding year, a capital improvement year. The City has four
major projects that are a priority for those funds, two of which are downtown,
i.e., the planetarium and the Schubert, and the other two are just outside downtown,
i.e., the Heritage Park
project and a biotech magnet initiative in the southeast Minneapolis
industrial area along University Avenue.
As a member of both the health care policy and funding committees, Linda elaborated
on the uncompensated care issue that Commissioner McLaughlin had addressed.
C. Update on Downtown Programs and Activities
Downtown East/North Loop Master Plan.
Jack Byers from the City of Minneapolis Planning Department, briefed the audience
regarding the DE/NL Master Plan which was designed primarily to address the
challenge of downtown surface parking, and pursue the opportunity of the Metropolitan
Council’s plan for a full service transit system that includes bus rapid transit,
light rail transit and commuter rail over the next 20 to 30 years, all of which
would converge in downtown Minneapolis.
This master plan is a result of a public/private partnership of and funded
by the City of Minneapolis, Hennepin County, Hennepin County Medical Center,
Krauss Anderson, Metropolitan Council, Sports Facilities Commission, Thrivent
Financial for Lutherans, and is comprised of five phases: market analysis (of
commercial, residential, retail, and hotel development); land use; urban design;
local regulatory framework; and phasing and implementation.
Jack advised that the master plan was approved by the City Council in October
2003. The final version will be out before the end of the year in both hard
copy and CD ROM.
For a current version visit their website www.ci.minneapolis.mn.us/master-plans/downtown-east-north-loop.
Thereafter Jack answered questions from the audience.
Hennepin Avenue
Streetscape Project. Tom Hoch advised
that a bridge loan of $300,000 to jump start the project on Hennepin
Avenue between 5th and 10th Streets has been repaid.
The transformation is about 70 percent complete; there’s new lighting, furniture,
planting, and paving. The project has encountered delays as a result of dealing
with the area ways underneath the sidewalk extending from the building to the
street where deliveries were made via dump waiters. Tom also advised that in
some areas the lights are purposely turned out due to the brightness and others
are out due to electrical issues.
Affordable Housing Fund. Kim Motes
advised that one of the big goals for DMNA’s board this year was getting the
approximately $875,000 affordable housings funds out the door and into projects.
The board decided to do so by gap funding for projects close to happening so
that they can complete their funding and get moving. Of the six applications
submitted in response to DMNA’s RFP, three projects were awarded funding totaling
$500,000: St. Anthony Mills Apartments by Brighton Development which will provide
25 units of affordable housing for incomes at 50 percent or below the median
income; The Lamoreaux opportunity housing expansion by Central Community Housing
Trust which will provide 39 units of affordable housing for incomes at or below
the 50 percent median; St. Barnabas Apartments by Central Community Housing
Trust which will provide 39 units of affordable housing for homeless youth ages
16 to 20, and 13 units for working adults. The remainder of the affordable
housing funds will be awarded next year in another RFP process.
Restorative Justice. Gina Gerard gave an overview of this program designed
to address nuisance crimes (e.g., public urination, disorderly conduct, disturbing
the peace, panhandling, drinking in public). If ticketed in Minneapolis
for one of these offenses, it is the offender’s responsibility to contact the
court and make an appointment. Ultimately those who appear in court are typically
given a small fine or warning as a sanction for the offense. However, most
offenders are not responding to the tickets. Restorative Justice is working
at both the front-end and back-end of the criminal justice to ensure an adequate
response to crime in the community. At the back-end RJ works to ensure the
offender makes restitution to the community; at the front-end RJ is working
towards a system change to close the gap between ticketing and sentencing.
D. Consideration of 2003 DMNA NRP Plan Modification Proposal
Tom Hoch briefed the audience on where the
$480,818 of NRP funds is being redirected since prior strategies were no longer
being pursued. After Tom entertained questions, the plan modification proposal
was approved by majority vote with Kim Motes
abstaining.
E. DMNA Elections
Gene Nessly, Treasurer, explained the voting
procedures and supervised the election process. After nominations were submitted,
ballots collected and counted by Margaret Berg from the League of Women Voters,
the following individuals were elected for a 2-year term: David Abele, Delores
Cotten, Andrew Hauer and Thomas Hoch; and Jodi
Pfarr was elected a 1-year term.
F. Adjournment
There being no further business, the annual meeting was adjourned at 9:22
p.m.
Signed this ________ day of ________________________, 2004.
_______________________________ _______________________________
Chair
Secretary