GANA Meeting Minutes

GANA (Green Acres Neighborhood Association) Meeting
4/26/06, 7 – 8 p.m.
First United Church on 3rd St.

Attending
Kathy Ruesink, Jelene Campbell, Noriko Hara, Phil Eskew, Stefano Conard, Diane Dormant, Nathan Harmon, Maggie Jessephs, John Gaus, Georgia Schaich, Kadhim Shabaan, John Gaus, Jessica Gaus, Ann Kreilkamp

Agenda

• Pick-It-Up
• PlantShare
• Summer Solstice Festival
• Trees
• Neighborhood Plan Request
• CONA dues
• Sustainability

Summary
We received updates on plans for the three summer events—Pick-It-Up, PlantShare, and Summer Solstice Festival. We heard an update on the Neighborhood Plan Request, and decided to pay CONA dues. We discussed our sustainability goals.

The Process
Georgia Schaich facilitated the meeting which took the usual hour, with break for refreshments afterwards prior to our scheduled speaker, Bill Sturbaum of Prospect Hill Neighborhood Association.

PICK-IT-UP: This Saturday, April 29th, from 10 a.m. to noon. Meet at Phil and Noriko Hara’s, 2415 E. 4th, to receive trash bags and block assignments. Afterwards we will gather at Diane Dormant’s house, 316 N. Hillsdale, for a light brunch. (Rain date is Sunday, April 30.) PLEASE COME HELP PICK UP TRASH FROM OUR NEIGHBORHOOD. THE MORE OF US WHO PARTICIPATE, THE FASTER WE CAN GATHER AT DIANE’S!

PLANTSHARE: Saturday, May 13th, at Jelene Campbell’s, 2521 Eastgate Lane. Also pots, tools, other types of garden stuff. She has a garage in case of rain, and is willing to pick up plants if needed. We will put posters at neighborhood intersections to announce the event.

TREES: No report at this time as this committee has not met.

NEIGHBORHOOD PLAN REQUEST UPDATE: Besides Green Acres, two other neighborhoods are vying to be the one picked by the city—Bryan Park and Elm Heights. The three plans have been passed on to the mayor’s office with a decision due shortly.

CONA DUES: We agreed to pay $30 annual dues to CONA (Council of Neighborhood Associations).

SUSTAINABILITY: This discussion involved three separate aspects:

First, we began with a review of Stefano Conard’s draft of an overall, long-range, visionary flow chart for GANA sustainability that shows possible interrelationships between our neighborhood and other entities. These include the following: the City of Bloomington, Indiana University (SPEA/HYPER); IUPI (for technical support); Community Projects (e.g., community gardens, storm water use, trees, traffic control); Home Projects (e.g., P.V. electricity, green roofs, passive solar heating, food production); Outreach (e.g. newspapers, TV, other community groups); and U.S. Government and Indiana State grants. We then brainstormed about other possible additions to this chart, and added Bloomington businesses and schools as other future partners.

Then, Phil Eskew told about the short presentation on “Sustainability 101,” by the Sustainability Commission at the library during Earth Week that they attended along with about 30 others. The speaker discussed negative impacts (e.g., pesticides and burning fossil fuels) and positive impacts (e.g., local food, recycling), with the goal of getting a community-wide discussion going this year to prepare for a visioning process in 2007. Afterwards, a panel discussion featuring members of the sustainability commission discussed “the three E’s,”—economic, environmental and social equity—as all being equally important. If you wish to see this power-point presentation, log on to www.bloomington.in.gov/sustainable.

And finally, we disccussed the Sustainability Commission’s Proposal for Solicitation of Sustainable Ideas, due in June 2, to be reviewed by the commission and one of them selected by June 8.

By the way, here’s our Mission Statement: The Green Acres Neighborhood Association fosters commitment to our place, promotes vitality, builds resilience to stress, acts as a steward, and forges connections beyond the boundaries of the Green Acres Neighborhood.

Next Meeting
MAY 31, 2006
(Last Wednesday of each month)
7-8 p.m., First United Church on 3rd St.

Ann Kreilkamp
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