Lindenwood Park Neighborhood Association
Board of Director’s Meeting
Saturday, February 17, 2024 [Virtual Zoom]
Present: Pat Acquisto, Sara Davis, John Harris, Milton Murry, Tim Nowell, Adam Rustige, Jenna Stout, Greg Todd
Apologies: Carol Hofer, Brian Kolde, Bret Narayan, Greg Roggeman, Lisa Roggeman, Emily Yale
Due to inclement weather, the Board met virtually on Zoom instead of Machacek Library.
A motion was made to approve the Minutes from January 17, by Tim Nowell, and seconded by Sara Davis.
Since the general membership meeting is now set to start at 7pm, Adam is working with Ink Spot to get 50 new LPNA signs to reflect the new meeting time. Several Board members need signs to place on their blocks for the quarterly membership meetings. As incoming President Adam will now be setting up and leading the general membership meeting, logistics for the meeting were discussed: communicating time change to Watson Terrace, emailing and confirming all speakers, distributing agenda on social media. Board members will bring cookies as usual. Tim plans to reach out to Lindsay regarding the new time change and to confirm that he’s able to continue brewing coffee for the event.
Neighborhood Meeting: to be held at Watson Terrace Christian Church, March 4th at 7pm (change of time)
- Guest speakers – Gabe Gore, Prosecuting Attorney
- LPNA Business.
- LASM & Machacek.
- Elected Officials.
- Refreshments
Aldermanic Report (Bret not in attendance):
Bret emailed a brief report with the following points:
- Advocacy for an overlay map on the new wards to ensure that the new 4th ward has access to funding.
- Board Bill 60: “As for BB60, which I know has drawn considerable interest from this organization, although the votes were there to pass it on Friday, I wanted to ensure that we took on additional community input and held the bill in order to incorporate that input. Additionally, once Ward funds are freed up and we have a solid picture of the funds, I’ll be arranging a meeting with the neighborhood associations to talk about priorities for Ward capital.”
The LPNA Board discussed the status of Board Bill 60 and the overall lack of community input. It was noted that Alderwoman Cara Spencer expressed concerns over the bill not being reviewed by the neighborhoods. Pat has attempted to directly reach Bret regarding changes to Board Bill 60. Adam and Pat will continue to provide updates.
NIS Report (Brian not in attendance):
Brian sent the following report via email:
- Update on Problem Properties from last meeting:
- 69xx Oleatha – junked backyard. No progress.
- 63xx Tholozan – furniture in the front Contested probate at property. Daughter of deceased property owners has placed furniture that she wants in the front yard.
New Businesses:
- 6901 Chippewa (Laundromat): No updates from real estate on this prospective business as Mohammed Mutan has been formally sentenced. [see Old Business for additional discussion]
- 3112 Ivanhoe (Flying Tiger Motorcycles): Letter of approval sent. The business is in the process of moving into space
Committee Reports
Events:
- Meetup: Meetup will take place at Ari’s on Tuesday, February 27, from 6-8pm. The proposed meetup locations for the year include: Afghan Kabob House – no alcohol, held during Lent (March), El Paisano (April), Biggie’s (May), Pietro’s (June), Chilanguita (July), Babe’s / Vinnie’s (August), Aya Sofia (September), Los Arcos (October), and Trattoria Marcella (November).
- Flea Market: The event will be held May 18 at Watson Terrace Christian Church (same day as their BBQ). Need volunteers. Will work on advertising it on social media soon. Will need help again taking “leftovers” somewhere after the flea market is over.
- LinFest: Emily Rogier has agreed to co-chair with Lisa. John and Jenna have also agreed to be on the committee. Emily and Lisa will have a meeting next week to discuss what needs to be done and get the park permit completed. They will get a “save the date” email sent to all businesses in Lindenwood Park. Emily will be retiring from work at the end of April and will have more time after that to assist with LinFest. Lisa will not be pressuring her to assist before that.
- Lindenwood Live: Tim is in the process of securing permits for this year’s band events. Currently booking bands. Waiting to hear back from Melissa Neal of the Blues Society. Emily previously suggested The Mighty Pines, but their fee was high. Neil Salsich, a member of The Might Pines and former contestant on The Voice, is under consideration. Budget is usually $700-$800 for bands. Discussed potentially bringing back Mark Kloss ($1000 fee) this year: popular band drew record number of attendees last year, but usually don’t repeat bands each year.
Beautification:
- Park: Emily emailed her updates.
- Aaron is working with a Boy Scout on bat houses for the Park, but nothing has been confirmed yet. They are currently communicating over email about the project for a potential Eagle badge.
- The Park cleanup is scheduled for April.
- Emily would like Bret to give a timeline on when the playground will receive mulch.
- Parking Building:
- A rollout dumpster has blankets and other items likely belonging to the unhoused individual previously observed in the Park.
- Tim will reach out via email to Brian Kolde to assist with the situation.
- Community Garden & Wabash Garden:
- Milton noted that the daffodils are starting to pop up at the Wabash Garden.
- A mulching / trash pickup event is scheduled for 9am on March 23.
- Green Team:
- Events planned for the year.
- Noted that someone (maybe MDOT) picked up trash along the highway.
- Milton mentioned the need for trash cleanup around the Wabash
- Tim will be contacting First Alarm to confirm grass cutting service again this year at Park.
Communications
- Adam noted that Greg Roggeman is making updates on the LPNA website.
- Greg Todd plans to reach out to Laurie Klein to assist with the communication side of the Block Captains Program.
Membership: Lisa emailed her report prior to the meeting. Adam presented it at the meeting.
- Welcome packs will go out once Lisa gets the 2024 directories (needs around 200). Molly (Machacek Library) has put together some items for the welcome packs too. The welcome letter to new residents has been updated to reflect Adam’s name and contact details. Lisa will contact Block Captains and ask them to help deliver.
- 255 current members (249 in January). Reminder letters were sent out to 18 members who lapsed in January (6 renewed so far). Have posted a sufficiently “guilt-ridden” post on February 4 on social media (2 new members and 6 renewed). Greg will post something in the newsletter.
- Lisa is working on forming a Membership committee of herself, Greg Roggeman, Sara, Emily Rogier and maybe Wendy. Please email Lisa to join the committee. Will have a meeting before the next Board meeting (hopefully).
- Lisa found 3 yard signs advertising membership and an old banner with the old logo. The old banner was put up on the fence at the park (Jamieson Ave.) and the 3 yard signs have been put out around the Park. Lisa used a sharpie and added “join” to the banner! Tim will work with Lisa to order a new banner sign and yard signs through Vistaprint.
Safety:
- The next safety meeting (Monday, February 26) will be a Teams conversation with Officer Gus Karagiannis regarding his reports, etc.
- John Harris is developing a neighborhood survey to focus the activities of the safety committee.
- Adam has scheduled regular meetings for the rest of the calendar year.
Century Homes:
- Committee members met earlier this month. The next meeting is scheduled for Tuesday, March 5.
- Due to renewed interest in plaques, the Committee decided to return to two sale cycles per year. The deadline to purchase a plaque for the first sale of the year is May 15.
- Since the current pricing of plaques for members and non-members is only $10 difference, the Committee would like to set plaque prices for non-members at $15 over member prices (to be set at cost) to incentivize non-members to join LPNA. The plaque vendor has raised the cost of plaques to $80.
- The Board agreed that plaque price for members should be at cost (set at $80) and the non-member price at $95. The Century Homes Program is subsidized by other profits from neighborhood activities.
- The Committee has developed a questionnaire for Century Homeowners (with purchased plaques) to gather information for marketing purposes.
Treasurer’s Report:
- Carol was not in attendance.
Old Business
- Laundromat: After the last meeting, the Board questioned whether Mohammed Almuttan was the Mohammed Almuttan involved in an aldermanic bribery case. Email communication with the real estate agent representing the potential laundromat owners has ended.
- Strategic Plan: This meeting was held on Thursday, February 8 (rescheduled from Monday, January 22).
New Business
- Neighborhood Murals: Adam broached the topic of murals being secured for the neighborhood through the Regional Arts Commission program using ARPA grant funds. Adam plans to look into the specifics.
- 501c3 Status: Milton introduced a wider need for grant writing in the neighborhood. The status of the LPNA not being a 501c3 presents a barrier. The last application was not approved due to lack of charitable contributions. Greg Todd is leading a new effort to gain 501c3 status through a new easy application.
Pat concluded her last meeting as President. She expressed gratitude for her tenure and officially handed off the presidency to Adam.
There being no further business, the meeting was adjourned at 11:12am.
Respectfully submitted,
Jenna Stout