July Potluck and Meeting

Date: Tuesday, July 14th
Time: Potluck begins at 6:30pm with meeting to follow
Location: Kindly hosted by Jane S., 2611 E. 5th

Topics: bypass expansion, GANG update, neighborhood fun

Neighbors Present: Jelene Campbell, Tom Capshew, John & Jessica Gaus, Ann Kreilkamp, Marino Lucas-Lledo, Jen Naylor, Yusuf Nur, Kevin Polk, Jessie Rome, Al & Kathy Ruesink, Jane Spearman, Kimberly Wagner, Katie Zukof

New & Announcements
* Katie placed around flier for "Dine Local Week"; each day different restaurants will have a local special, proceeds from which will got to support the Local Growers Guild.
* Ann shared updates from the garden: Tom & Kevin are ordering the tools and working on a system of storage and labeling that will keep the tools safely at the garden (this is a condition of the grant and just a good practice as well); Tom is building a picnic table for the garden; the garden needs compost bins, but it still being determined what type(s) will work best in the space.
* Tom talked about plans for the Dekist house (house that shares the property with the garden). The plans are to use this space as a Center for Healing and Community. Tom would live in one of the bedrooms and the rest of the residence would be used as cooperative space; meaning it will be for both producers and consumers. Rooms could be used for meetings, classes, movie showings, and much more. The Center would require variances and Tom is working on that. The plan goes before Zoning in August and Planning in September. Tom needs folks to write letters of support for this project. If you would like to write a letter of support, let us know.

Bypass Expansion Project
Neighbors spent some time discussing what they have heard about the project. Most of us have heard that the project is going to happen and that it is too late to stop it. We agreed that if this is true, we would do better to focus our efforts on trying to make changes to the plan. Some of things that we might be able to change include buffering and crosswalks, both of which would help protect pedestrians and cyclists. Jane discussed the recent timeline of neighborhood involvement in the project; timeline is at this link. Neighors are concerned about several issues including: environmental impact (impact study doen 20 years ago), drainage/runoff issues (at one time, the plan included routing drainage through the neighborhood), increased traffic (the plan includes right turn only into and out of the Eastgate Lane entrance) and traffic noise (no sounds dampening walls in the plan), pedestrian and cyclist safety (underpass at 7th is still in the plan). The plan is available at the City's Engineering Division; they recommend calling ahead before you visit, contact info at this link. Ann called Tim Mayer (At-Large Representative on the City Council and Green Acres neighbor) during the meeting and shared our concerns. Tim will be back in contact within 2 days.
Action Plan:
* Al will talk with Mike Satterfield (District III Representative on City Council and Park Ridge East neighbor)
* Jane will contact Matlock Heights neighbors (other neighborhood that borders the bypass)
* Jelene will contact Park Ridge neighbors
* Jessie will lead a letters to the editor project. Al & Tom volunteered to help fact check letters (not a good idea to gain support with bad info). Jessie will solicit letters via the GANA email list.
* Jane will prepare and send a list of contacts, as well as a timeline of recent bypass events, to the GANA email list.
* Neighbors will share information and calls to action via the GANA email list.

We ran out of time talking about the bypass and didn't get to discuss neighborhood fun. In the meantime, think about what type of fun events you would like to see take place in Green Acres and bring those ideas to the August meeting.

The next meeting will be Tuesday, August 11; kindly hosted by Ann K. 134 N. Overhill. Potluck begins at 6:30 with meeting to follow.

Respectfully submitted by me.