GANA Meeting Minutes

GANA (Green Acres Neighborhood Association) Meeting
6/28/06, 7-8 p.m.
First United Church on 3rd St.

Attending
Betty Byrne, Stanley Routon, Noriko Hara, Susie Velasquez, Judy Serebnick, Julia Jackson, Timi Sharkey, Georgia Schaich, John E. Gaus, Jessica Gaus, Nathan Harman, Maggie Jesseph, Kim Fernandez, Ann Kreilkamp

Agenda

• Solstice Party wrap-up
• Set date for first meeting with Planning Department
• What’s next for sustainability
• New GANA brochure
• Tamantha Sharkey request for small business in home
• Garage sale update
• Ice cream party update
• Block captains
• History of neighborhood project
• CONA update
• Quiet Nights

Summary
With Georgia Schaich as meeting chair, we went through the whole agenda list quickly, made a number of decisions, and some headway on ongoing concerns. See below:

The Process
SOLSTICE EVENT: everybody agreed it was a great success, is glad we did it, and especially happy to see so many children there.

PLANNING MEETING DATE: We decided on Saturday, September 9, for the first of six meetings with the Planning Department to help us plan the future of Green Acres. On this day we will assess our needs, in part by walking the neighborhood to help identify what we like and what we’d like to see more of.

SUSTAINABILITY: Ann Kreilkamp reported that Lois Sabo- Skelton, who was ill the day of the Solstice party, felt thrilled when she heard the parade drums and horn coming down the street. She said that the passing parade made her feel “safe,” and that Green Acres “once again feels like a real neighborhood.” She also mentioned that for the past year on walks with her dog Sammy she has noticed that people are more friendly (unlike before, she said, when they “seemed suspicious of each other”)—that she can feel the energy of the neighborhood changing. Ann showed her the visual presentation of the permaculture visioning process (these materials were laid out on a table at this and the May meeting), and she grew so excited that she “wants to make it part of the permanent record of the city”—and will see that it’s introduced at a city council meeting. Plus, she knows a documentary film maker whom she will get to film that presentation with the aim to document the process over the next few years as we work towards transforming Green Acres into a sustainable village. Also, the Center for Sustainable Living has asked Green Acres to make a sustainability presentation at the Simple Living Fair in October (Alert: I found out that this event date had changed from September to October when I got home from our GANA meeting.)

GANA BROCHURE: Tim Mayer has volunteered to design our new GANA brochure. Julia Jackson, Timi Sharkey, Kim Fernandez, and Ann Kreilkamp signed on to brainstorm the content for this brochure.

TAMANTHA SHARKEY HOME BUSINESS REQUEST: Timi Sharkey, a single mother with four children who lives on 8th Street, is a hair dresser who wants to put in a single chair for a home hair styling business in her basement. Her clients will be by appointment only, will park in her driveway, and she's thinking about offering a discount day for seniors, especially those who walk around the neighborhood! We were all solidly behind her request, noting that we support single moms who wish to work at home, that the business will not bring in a lot of traffic, and that home businesses are in line with sustainability goals to have people work and live in their own neighborhoods. Ann Kreilkamp agreed to write a letter of support on behalf of GANA to the city .

GARAGE SALE UPDATE: Julia Jackson heads this committee for a neighborhood garage sale sometime in September, for neighbors to sell their stuff out of their own front yards. So get ready! You've got two months to clean out those closets and basements!

ICE CREAM PARTY: Our second “Two Scoop Salute” winning entry to Edy’s Ice Cream contest—thanks to Charlotte Zietlow’s no-doubt-eloquent essay—will be held on Charlotte’s South Bryan Street driveway on August 5th. Details still in the works. Maggie Jesseph, Julia Jackson, Jessica Gaus, Timi Sharkey, and (maybe) Stanley Routon all signed on to help. We decided that we will again bring food to this event to donate to the Hoosier Food Bank. Last year our $500-worth donation was much appreciated.

BLOCK CAPTAINS: Georgia keeps promoting this idea, vital to create infrastructure for the continued growth and vitality of our neighborhood association. However, the idea has been slow to catch on. She went over some of the block captain’s responsibilities, and they include the following: get to know neighbors on your block; alert those who don’t have email to any neighborhood events and other important information; come with block report to monthly GANA meetings and report on block; report needed info to and from your block to GANA. (In other words, become the (benevolent) “gossip” of your block! (The now maligned word “gossip” comes from the Middle English “godsib, “ or “god-sib” (sib as in sibling, kinsman), and meant “godparent”— one who looks after another!) Kim Fernandez (Edwards Row) and Betty Byrne (200 to 100 South Overhill Street) signed up as the first two block captains of Green Acres! Thank you Kim and Betty! And may there be many, many more. Please email Georgia (gschaich@yahoo.com) if you wish to take on this responsibility and connect more fully with your nearby neighbors.

NEIGHBORHOOD HISTORY PROJECT: Georgia brought up this idea, something that Prospect Hill, among other neighborhoods has done. Is there anyone who wants to take on this project? You could begin by researching, through county records, the ownership of your own home. It would be a wonderful way for all of us to begin to connect with the roots of our neighborhood. (Suzie Velasquez, a new person to the group, remembers moving to a little house on 8th Street when it was surrounded by fields. Stanley Routon, who has lived on Edwards Row for 50 years, remembers when you could see fields all the way to K-Mart—and there was no K-Mart!)

CONA (Council of Neighborhood Associations) REPORT: Georgia attended the latest CONA meeting and was saddened to see that only four of 37 possible Bloomington neighborhoods attended. CONA wants to get back on its feet, so that neighborhoods can continue to support and inspire each other with what they are each doing. Anyone want to be our CONA representative, and attend once-monthly meetings? A great way to network with others oriented towards encouraging vital and secure communities within the larger Bloomington umbrella.

QUIET NIGHTS: Once again, in September, the IUSA (IU Student Association) will leaflet all neighborhoods with the Quiet Night rules (11 p.m. week nights, 1 a.m. weekends), hopefully, with GANA volunteers to help in Green Acres. More later.

We adjourned at 8 p.m., for refreshments prior to our Speaker, Mark Brostoff of the Community Emergency Response Team.

Next Meeting
(last Wednesday of each month): July 26.

Happy summer!

Ann Kreilkamp
GANA scribe