DMRA Board of Directors Meeting Minutes
LaSalle Aparments - 3/21/95
Called to Order: 7:00 p.m. by PB
Reports:
- Secretaries Report (PB)
- Roll Call:
- Present: George Rosenquist (GR), Paul Barber (PB), Andy Hauer (AH),
Donald Hicks (DH), Delores Cotten (DC), Mike Olson (MO).
- Absent: Marsha McKinnie Davis (MKD)
- Guests: Frank Brust, Minneapolis Downtown Council; Charlie
Casserly, LaSalle Apartments resident; Peter Millington, Lake Area News;
Peter Bruce, Community Enhancement & Organizing; Officer Tom
Sawina, Minneapolis Police Department - S.A.F.E. Team; Linda Robert,
DMRA Community Organizer.
- Note: Janet Parkin, current Board Chair, is moving out of the
neighborhood and thus has resigned from the Board of Directors.
- Minutes from the February 21, 1995 Board of Directors meeting were
approved with the following amendments:
- Mike Olsons name was moved into the Present category.
- Adult Businesses heading was changed to Norwest Cup.
- Note: Since the minutes have been delivered late the past few months,
the new deadline for agenda setting and getting any documents to be sent out
with the monthly Board mailing, will be two weeks prior to the meeting
instead of 11 days. The objective is to have the mailing delivered to the
Board Members and the others on the Board Mailing List, at least one week
prior to the meeting.
- A new mailing list was sent with the minutes, please check it for
accuracy and report any changes to Judy Miller.
- Treasurers Report (AH)
- S.A.F.E. Team Report (Officer Tom Sawina)
- A new anti-panhandler program is going into effect. Wallet-size card
will be distributed that indicate that it is against the law to panhandle. They
will also indicate the addresses of community help organizations. Posters
with the same information will also be put up in downtown.
- Community Organizer Report (Linda Roberts)
- A grant proposal has been made to study the effects of adult businesses
in our neighborhood and what can be done about them.
Old Business
- NRP/First Step Update (AH)
- Linda Roberts has put together a draft Participation Agreement and
distributed it to the Downtown NRP (DNRP), Inc. Board of Directors. The
DNRP Board should review and provide feedback to Linda.
- Office Partner Update (PB)
- Summary of Last Months concerns with Judys
announcement that shes moving out of the neighborhood:
- The Board wants someone at the meetings to take minutes, a tape
recorder is not sufficient
- Although it is very desirable to have our Office Partner located in
downtown, it is not absolutely necessary
- There was concern about whether we were getting our moneys
worth. Regardless of who we have for an Office Partner, we would like the
hours tracked.
- What Paul did:
- Contacted Judy and told her of our concerns. She indicated that she was
not really interested in attending the board meetings, since would have to
travel farther now. She said shed do it for another $50 a month. She
also wasnt interested in tracking her hours since that will just add
overhead.
- Contacted the two Downtown Office Help agencies (listed in the Yellow
Pages) and both were not interested. Did not contact any Temp Agencies
since we want a permanent contact.
- Faxed out a notice with a job description to all residential buildings and
other contacts. Received two responses. One did not have an office or
equipment. The other, Sally Westby & Marsha Wagner submitted a
bid.
- Linda Roberts found two prospects from Stacey Sorensen of NRP. One
of them declined but said she would pass the word. The other, Kathleen
Riley-Danielson, submitted a bid.
- In addition to the two bids, Judy Miller, had an idea that a retired
resident of the Towers could attend our meetings, take minutes, and Judy
would provide all services that required office equipment. She would
provide this person with mailing labels so they could do some ad hoc
mailings.
- The board recommended that we invite all three to meet with us. Paul
will arrange.
- Residents Information Book (AH)
- The final proof will be ready on Thursday, March 23. Andy, Peter, and
the artist will review it.
- The book should be printed by Friday, March 31.
- Linda Roberts will setup outreach meetings in various buildings the next
week to kickoff the distribution.
- Its possible that Gittleman Management will distribute it to the doors of
the residents in the buildings they manage. That will take care of around
30% of the households.
- For the remaining 70%, Peter will work with the building managers or a
resident contact to make sure they get distributed. Above all, no building
policies will be violated during distribution.
- Andy and Mike will work on a list of organizations (City Council,
Downtown Council, etc.) that should receive the extra copies of the
book.
- Follow Up from Annual Meeting (GR)
- Adult Businesses in the Downtown Neighborhood
- George will follow up with Jackie Cherryhomes on her suggestion to
form a task force.
- A neighborhood coalition has been formed with some grant money
received by Elliot Park, Loring Park, Stevens Square, Philips, and DMRA.
The coalition is focusing on undesirable elements in the neighborhood such
as detox centers and adult businesses. Representatives from the coalition
met with Paul Farmer, the new City Planning Director, about zoning issues
that have resulted in such a high concentration of these undesirable
elements.
- Filling Board Positions
- With Janets departure, we have only seven of the nine board
positions filled and four open alternate positions.
- George will talk with Janet about a someone from The Itasca.
- Linda will try and recruit others from the buildings we are not
represented by during her outreach program.
New Business
- DMRA on the Internet (PB)
- Paul has an Internet account at the University of Minnesota will be
placing DMRA documents, such as our Board Meeting Schedule, By-Laws,
General Meeting Notices, Board Meeting Minutes, etc. out there for those
with Internet access to browse. There will be no costs involved.
Adjourned at 8:30 p.m.
Respectfully submitted by Paul Barber.