Lindenwood Park Neighborhood Association
Board of Directors Meeting
Wednesday, October 16 at St. James the Greater Church
Present: Pat Acquisto, Sara Davis, Milton Murry, Greg Roggeman, Lisa Roggeman, Adam Rustige, Greg Todd, Tim Nowell, Karen Clifford, Carol Hofer, Daniel Hill
Apologies: Bret Narayan, Emily Yale, John Harris, Jenna Stout
Guests: James Sanders – Rockwell Brewery
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At the beginning of the meeting, the Board was introduced to James Sanders from Rockwell Brewery. James put forth an idea of having a permanent structure for Rockwell in Lindenwood Park. In the 1800s there were over 80 beer gardens in the City. Now there is only 1 – in Francis Park. There are over 90 unused buildings in City parks.
In Francis Park: open from 10am – 10pm, 7 days a week from mid-February to mid-December. They shut down for 10-12 weeks per year for cleaning and maintenance. They have a 5-year lease on the property.
In Lindenwood Park: They would like to start with talking about the possibility of having a similar setup. Start by talking to the alderman, then Kim Haegele/Greg Hayes. To activate it, there needs to be a Board discussion to see if there is an interest.
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Treasurer’s Report:
Check account balance as at end of September was $11,715.82. CD balance as at end September was $21,270.84 – this is due to be renewed, and it was agreed to renew for 9 months at 4.5%.
The Minutes were not able to be approved as we did not have the latest updated version. This will be approved at the November Board meeting or Jenna can send out the updated version on her return, and we can approve them via email agreement.
Neighborhood Meeting: to be held at Watson Terrace Christian Church, December 2nd, 2024 at 7pm.
• Guest speakers – Local new businesses: Ignite Theater, Down the Rabbit Hole, Flying Tiger, Velvet Magnetic, New Mexican restaurant @ Fyler/Hampton, Murray’s, Seven Brew.
• LPNA Business
• Elected Officials (Cara Spencer will be in attendance, not as a speaker but can mingle)
• LASM & Machacek
• Cookies – everyone to please bring something to share. Tim will bring an extra coffee maker.
Aldermanic Report (Bret not in attendance):
It was mentioned as a reminder that the Board meeting dates for the Wednesday meetings will change in 2025 to accommodate Bret. Daniel reported back on behalf of Bret:
• BB106: Grant to help pinpoint gun shots and gang task force – perfected.
• BB105: Update legislation re penalties for unlawful discharge of firearms.
• BB104: Better coordination of utilities with City and utility companies. ie. Spire & Streets.
• Streamlining the 911 “Peace Act” – currently doing cross training.
• A sample ballot has been mailed out – were advised to fill out the sample ballot and take it with you to vote as it is very long. Daniel was asked to ask Bret to post the sample ballot on social media.
NIS Report:
• 65xx Winnebago – Potholes have been filled.
• Jamieson/Lindenwood Intersection – Bret has been asked about installing flashing lights to the stop signs and possible rumble strips in an effort to slow traffic. All intersections along Jamieson need to be re-striped with pedestrian crossing marks.
• Trash collection has caught up.
• 38xx Tamm – called Streets to put a plate over a large hole.
• Clifton/Mardel – Wheelchair ramp needs patching.
• Chipotle – Neighbor thinks there are too many lights – this is an alley light and not a private Chipotle light. Deliveries arrive at 4am.
• 69xx Oleatha– Hoarder. Karen has contacted an attorney. New court date coming up soon.
• 70xx Oleatha – Empty house – nothing happening with the renovation.
Committee Reports
Events:
• LinFest: Thank you to everyone who volunteered in any way with LinFest. We had 35 vendors, 4 food trucks, 11 artisans, 14 sponsors. 1 vendor cancelled and 1 artisan cancelled. (50 participants – 2 = 48)
• Took in:
$8,935 from vendors/sponsors (2022 = $7,720)
$1,011 from the LPNA booth (2022 = $2,345)
$110 from 4 Hands Brewery as 10% of their event day sales.
Total of $10,056. (2022 = $11,160)
Our expenses to date are $2,210.79 (2022 = $2,190.42)
Total profit is around $7.845.21 (2022 = $6,407.45) – Includes refundable park permit
• Attendance was down by at least half as we were competing with MANY other big festivals. A couple of vendors mentioned that the attendance seemed low – especially artisans, but most happy with the event.
• 25 raffle baskets – all have been accounted for and collected. Amazing job by Amy!
• Thank you emails/letters have been sent to all vendors, sponsors, artisans, volunteers, entertainers, and all City heads of departments.
• Many highs and many lows this time with a lot of hard work. Lisa announced that this would be her last time chairing LinFest.
• Meetup: Next meetup will take place on October 22 at Piccadilly at Manhattan. November is confirmed for – Trattoria Marcella.
• Lindenwood Live Concerts: Rough summer with 1 cancellation, 2 – very hot weather, last one was excellent and we extended it by half an hour. Will look at adding a rain date/cancellation into the contract. Food trucks generally happy and number of trucks seems to work. Tim will offer May’s cancelled band the option to perform in 2025. Tim will start looking at bands in January. There will be an Event’s Committee meeting scheduled in November. The corner banners need something permanently constructed. We need a yard sign plan – Lisa and Tim will work on it.
Beautification:
• Park: Nothing to report.
• Community Garden & Wabash Garden: Still picking vegetables. Will do some maintenance on the beds. Found scrap wood in an alley and some people are erecting small tents to protect their plants.
• Green Team: The next Green Team clean-up is on November 2. Need some cordless weed eaters to trim along fence and median. Will continue doing this next year.
Communications
• Greg Todd helped to update the Shop with the new t-shirts. Currently we have no shopping cart so multiple transactions have to be made separately when purchasing more than one item.
• Carol is unable to change Lindsay’s name to hers on PayPal. Will possibly have to cancel the account and open a new one. Greg R will contact PayPal regarding this. May consider changing to Square. The Zettle device does not record the name of the payee – this is a problem when paying dues at an event.
Membership:
• 42 Welcome packs were delivered in August for May, June, and July new residents. Eileen Bacon (block captain co-chair) helped distribute to block captains. Lisa will continue to source all documents and request the list of new residents and prepare the spreadsheet. 30+ items in each pack.
• 305 Current members. Reminder letters were sent out to 8 members who lapsed in August (2 renewed) and 18 who lapsed in September (7 renewed).
Safety:
• Will reschedule the next meeting due to John being out of the country. The survey seemed to have a positive response.
Block Captains:
• Dates for 2025 meetings have been set. More attendees since Greg T sends out the reminder.
Century Homes:
• Nothing to report.
Old Business
• QT: Will be requesting a meeting with neighborhood associations now that the traffic study has been completed. 4 diesel bays. Owner of the red roof house is excited to have QT next door to him.
New Business
• Fyler/Jamieson proposal – have not purchased the property. 4 units, 2 levels, 2 beds, 2 baths.
• 6651 Chippewa – looking at possible apartments or storage.
• Debbie’s Walk for Hunger – Debbie wants to borrow 3 or 4 tents, and 2 tables. Pat will contact Mary Cahn to arrange.
• Strategic Plan – will set a date for this in Feb 2025 to include sponsorship, park events etc.
There being no further business, the meeting was adjourned at 9.15pm.
Respectfully submitted,
Lisa Roggeman