Minutes

Tenney Lapham Neighborhood Association Council Meeting

April 4, 2007

Supreme Pizza, 912 E. Johnson St

 

Members present:  Gigi Holland, Jim Sturm, David Waugh, Sean Gutkenecht

James Roper, Cheryl Wittke, Roth Rohlich, Richard Friehoefer, Richard Linster, Gay Davidson-Zielske, Susan Baumann-Duran, Joe Brogan, Pat McDonnell, Sandy Ward

 

Guests:  Alder Brenda Konkel, Ed Jepsen, Officer Tim Radke

 

7:05 Call to order

  1. Minutes of March 1, 2007 approved unanimously
  2. EINPC – Report from Sean about last ThursdayÕs EINPC open meeting
    1. About 40 attended
    2. They discussed the desired future role of EINPC

                                               i.     Neighborhood capacity building

                                             ii.     Clearinghouse for information

                                            iii.     Issue advocacy

    1. Next steps they want to take

                                               i.     EINPC staff will start to attend neighborhood meetings on a regular basis

                                             ii.     Increase their volunteer base

                                            iii.     Streamline communication

                                            iv.     Focus on action planning

    1. The City approved their contract for the next year
    2. The job description for the full time staff person will be re-worked. Pam Hathaway is in that position now.
  1. MPD Report – Tim Radke
    1. Car break-ins at Camelot occur on an irregular basis
    2. The death on South Baldwin is being treated as a possible homicide
    3. James Madison Park -- Tim alerted all Central District police to PatÕs report about the dozens of beer cans near the east bathhouse silo
    4. There are no leads in the break-in at the Grocery store (Johnson and Paterson) on early Saturday a.m.
    5. Vandalism on Johnson, Gorham and Livingston on Friday and Saturday nights

                                               i.     2 males in their early 20Õs have been arrested and charged with 4 counts

                                             ii.     One of them lives on the 800 block of Gorham and the other is from out of town

                                            iii.     Daryl Monroe is the detective in charge

    1. Gigi asked about having police get out of their cars and actually walk through James Madison to check for problems.  Tim pointed that this is up to the officerÕs discretion.
    2. House party approach being used by the police

                                               i.     Attempt to talk to those leaving the party to determine if they knew the owners, if they paid for the cup, and how many are at the party.  Focus at this point is not on ticketing those leaving.

                                             ii.     Try to contact/talk to the resident of the house

1.     If the resident is amenable to this, then they get relatively minor tickets for noise

2.     If the resident is not cooperative (wonÕt let the police into the house), then police camp out and write tickets to the resident for every underage person who leaves the party

    1. Cheryl asked about graffiti

                                               i.     Is it gang related?

                                             ii.     Tim will look into this issue and come back with further information

                                            iii.     If you see graffiti in progress, call 911

  1. Alder report
    1. James Madison Park Planning Committee

                                               i.     Members have not yet been named

                                             ii.     We reiterated that we wish Jim Sturm to be on the committee

                                            iii.     Brenda meets with George next week to discuss formation of the committee

    1. BUILD – Plan Commission made a 90-day referral to examine

                                               i.     Transportation issues

                                             ii.     Design guidelines

                                            iii.     Overlap with other plans such as TL Neighborhood Plan and East Rail Corridor Plan

    1. Conservation Districts

                                               i.     Brenda doubts that this proposal will pass the Council

                                             ii.     Many changes have been made and the ordinance may no longer be what is really wanted by downtown neighborhoods such at Tenney and Bassett

    1. Neighborhood Plan will go to Council on May 5th and then be referred to committees
    2. New dance club at East Washington near the Yahara (the old Big Pictures building)

                                               i.     15,000 square feet on three floors

                                             ii.     owner would live upstairs

                                            iii.     Brenda thinks the business plan looks very good

                                            iv.     Mary Schauf is reported to be please with the plan

                                             v.     Traffic will enter and leave via East Washington and should not effect our neighborhood.

  1. Litter problem – Sandy
    1. An introduction to the problem was presented with an emphasis on how litter can negatively impact larger community goals such as owner occupancy of homes
    2. Materials (attached) for an adopt-a-block plan were distributed
    3. Jim moved and Ruth seconded that the Council undertake the Adopt-a-Block program.  All in favor.
    4. Several people signed up to adopt blocks, but many more are needed
    5. Call Sandy at 257-0119 if you want to volunteer to take care of a block
  2. Items needed by schools tabled until other Council members are present to discuss guidelines for making donation decisions
  3. Park Committee – JimÕs report
    1. Jim moved and Cheryl seconded that the Council send a letter encouraging the city of finish the last link of landscaping of the Yahara underpass (under Johnson) by the third week in May. 

                                               i.     Ed will draft the letter

                                             ii.     All in favor

    1. Earth Day cleanup – Saturday April 21st from 9 to 12

                                               i.     Volunteers are needed

                                             ii.     Ed and Susan are leading the Tenney cleanup.

                                            iii.     Sandy is leading the James Madison clean up.

                                            iv.     Jim will call Christ Church to ask them to find volunteers to clean up Giddings Park

    1. The safety islands in the streets need gardening attention
    2. Jim wondered what the Council thinks of people feeding the ducks in Tenney.  It was suggested that this matter be tabled for another meeting.
  1. East Johnson Businesses – report from Ruth
    1. There has been some talk of a local newspaper doing a story about the EJ Businesses. Bad publicity could make it even harder to attract new businesses to the area. The businesses are interested in bringing in more business, rather than talking about how problematic the current vacancies are.
    2. Ruth is now on a DMI quality of life committee
  2. Membership – Richard Linster report
    1. 42 new members since last report
    2. April 17th is the pancake supper at Christ Presbyterian Church
  3. Meeting adjourned at 9:05

 

Thanks to Supreme Pizza for allowing us to use their dining room for the meeting.

 

Return to Monthly Minutes

 

Return to Home Page