SW Neighborhoods, Inc. Empowering Citizens since 1978

Minutes of Maplewood Neighborhood Association MeetingMay 12, 2008 Number of people in attendance: 12

7:05PM – Call to Order – Alexander Ben-Israel; IntroductionsAlexander mentioned that it might work well to have either a flip-chart or a white board at the pre-general meeting each month. The purpose of this would be to create an Agenda to present at the general meeting. This Agenda would be formatted during the Board Meeting directly preceding the general meeting. The majority thought it would be a good idea.

7:10 – Micki Carrier, Outreach Coordinator mentioned that Karen Williams had written a very nice article for last months SWNI news, and was looking for volunteers. Alexander Ben-Israel mentioned that it might be good to have one person write this each month instead of having everyone taking turns. This way the writing style would be consistent and one individual would take responsibility for it. Leanne Hartman, our new Safety Chair, volunteered to do this. Joan Frazer, Secretary, will forward a copy of the Minutes used as a base for this article. Alexander Ben-Israel, Chair will review the Minutes before they are posted on the website.

7:15- a Motion was made to pass last month’s Minutes, with some minor corrections, which have been made. Motion passed based on these corrections.

7:20 – Officer Scott Foster came in and gave his report of the month’s crime statistics for Maplewood. Nothing to report, although there were 21 calls in the last 30 days. Nothing serious – the most noticeable was some fireworks that were reported as possible gun shots. The re-districting will start on July 1. A question was raised about whether the redistricting of this area will affect Officer Scott Foster attending our meetings. He said ‘no’ – he will attend whenever possible, based on his availability.Officer Scott says there is a shortage of police officers in Portland. The Bureau is considering lowering their entrance requirements to include people with minor past offenses. When unemployment in an area increases, the Police and Fire Bureaus get a lot more applicants.Leanne Harman mentioned that she has a friend, well qualified, who has been turned down by the Police Bureau due to lack of experience…when he has a long history of security experience. Officer Scott said Leanne’s friend should try again.Mike Denham asked about the sound in cars, wondering about the exhaust levels. Officer Scott said that officers do not carry decibel meters in their patrol cars, and there is no way of checking for that.Currently, there are about 1,000 Police Officers in Portland. Some handle administrative jobs, and there are about 350 walking officers. A question was raised about motorized skateboards, and Officer Scott said that under 50cc are legal, and kids under 16 years of age must use a helmet.Officer Scott did a bit of ‘show and tell’ with a wallet that was found. Luckily, for the owner, it fell into Police hands, as it contained everything more than necessary for ID theft including; lots of credit cards with passwords and pin numbers; birth certificate; drivers license and more than should ever be in a wallet together. This person would have been a very easy ID theft target! Of course, the Police Department is trying to contact the owner to return her property.

7:30 – Treasurer’s Report – Chris Byrne – Chris reported that we now have $1,099.57 in our account. April Hill Park has $651.05. Last month we received $41 in donations and from the umbrella sale.Chris gave a report on a plant sale she organized at St. Luke’s this past weekend. St. Luke’s has the Grauer Project which provides back-to-school clothing to 700 children in our area. The plant sale took in more than $2,000. in plant donations for this worthy cause.Chris also mentioned that the ‘Meet The Candidates’ as SWNI last week broke all records for attendance at 201 attendees. It was a great and informative evening.

7:40 – Land Use – Chris Mays. Nothing new to report. Work of some sort has started on 51st Street. The owner is tying to develop the property himself, with a two story, two car garage. No action on the property on Texas Street which was condemned by the City, and as a result the house and garage had to be demolished. It is thought that it will remain a vacant lot for quite some time, as the owner is in no hurry to sell.

7:45 – Parks – Dianne Mays – Although we had thought there would be more money going to Parks, it does not now seem to be the case. There will be concerts in some parks this summer. Although April Hill Park would be a great place for a free concert it is not under consideration. Alexander would like to talk to someone in charge to see if the selections can be changed.Mike Denham mentioned that there are a lot of events in the month of July, including the Zoo; Shakespeare in The Park, and several others.Jill Gaddis – Good news is that the Artists in The Park will take place this weekend. Several artists have been lined up, very casual. It will be from 10am to 1pm. Jill needs volunteers to help with the tents. The Bad News is that the grant application for April Hill Park was turned down. Jill received the new via email, and was disappointed that she did not get a personal call or a letter. Jill feels that to help keep a viable, safe neighborhood, parks need to be used.

8:00 – Transportation – Vern Krist – The moving of the bridge to the Pearl will not happen. HALO LID – email needs to be sent to the MNA mail list.Bill Rector suggested that we need to have a neighborhood Task Force that can provide recommendations regarding the Vermont HALO LID. Vern wants to find a way to present this project in the best possible light. He feels we need to have a PR campaign to push the Vermont sidewalk project.It was mentioned that 85% of SW does not have sidewalks, but most agreed that they need to be on the main arterial roads, and not on the side roads.8:10 – Safety Committee – Leanne Hartman – Missed last months meeting. Nancy Hand will send information on women’s self-defense classes.

8:15 – Technology – Mike Denham – spoke with Gary Swanson-Davies – and it was determined that Mike did not have the software to create HTML files. Mike contacted Ruthann at SWNI – there is a blocked out space for us on their website. Mike needs the passwords from other site, which he may be able to get from Gary. Jill mentioned that our website is still operational

8:20 – Picnic Update – Bill Rector. Meeting this week on Wednesday at SWNI. A discussion was help about water for the picnic. Plastic individual bottles are not going to be used, instead a water cooler will be in place and people urged to bring their own water bottles. Bill passed out s list of items and current owners of those items. Bill is looking for an overall manager of the raffle donation calls. It was decided that the list of potential donors will be split up and we will all make some called. Mike Denham will be in charge of the raffle action. It was determined that the Maplewood PTA will not handle the raffle but we will, and the profits will go into our coffers.

8:30 – New Business – Picnic meeting Wednesday 7pm at SWNI office.Mike Denham suggested that MNA draft a letter to be sent to residents requesting a reduction in speed when they drive our residential streets. We are a pedestrian neighborhood and speed endangers our lives, and that of our pets.Another item. A letter was sent from and out of state person requesting information on Maplewood, as they would like to move here. Micki will send them information, perhaps including the SWNI newspaper.

8:35 – Meeting adjourned