NOBL
Tuesday,
March 10, 2009
Welcome!
Meeting was called to
order at 6:00pm. Present were Chair Robert Roosenberg, Vice
President David Swartwout, Treasurer JD Formaz, Executive
Secretary Walter Taylor, Joe Berens, Safety Chair Jayne
Johnson and Phil McConahy.
Presentation from
Friends of Transit regarding the Silver Line millage:
“The
Rapid transit board voted 15-0 to place the 0.16-mil increase on a
May 5 ballot for voters in Grand Rapids, East Grand Rapids,
Grandville, Kentwood, Walker and Wyoming. The increase would raise
approximately $1.7 million in the first year for operating costs.
Fares and state operating funds would pay for the rest of the
operating costs. The federal government has set aside $32 million
for the project and the state has pledged an additional $8 million.
However, the federal monies are only available at this time and,
therefore, this presents the only opportunity to capture these
monies… Over 400 new and permanent jobs (direct and indirect)
may be created, with average annual wages of $37,000. The 0.16-mil
tax increase would cost the owner of a $150,000 home approximately
$12 a year starting 2012, the first year of the increase…”1
Frank Lynn
mentioned that the federal government will not release the funds
unless we can show that we have the operating funds in place, that’s
why now, and thus why the 1.6 increase. They will make
approximately 12 energy efficient buses. If this millage doesn’t
pass, it will be a long time before we get this opportunity again.
Projected cost per passenger will be the same as a regular fare.
www.rapid.org.
They are looking for an endorsement from NOBL.
Approval of Minutes:
Bob Roosenberg requested a motion to accept the Minutes from the last
two previous NOBL meetings: JD Formaz made a motion and Walter Taylor
seconded; all were in favor, and the minutes were approved.
Financial report:
total liabilities and equities are $7,314.31. Bob Roosenberg called
for approval of the financial report; all were in favor and the
report was approved.
Committee Reports
Housing:
Andy Johnson resigned as Housing Chair, so there was no report for
this month.
Safety:
Jayne Johnson mentioned that we should be prepared for summer
because that is usually when trouble increases. On a different
note, if anyone is interested in working with children at the
Walking Wednesdays, contact Jayne or Kristi DeKraker. Phil McConahy
asked if anyone knew about the tagging at the park. A discussion
was held.
BBC: Becky
Karwoski; turned in the BBC financial report for 2008. The
children’s garden will be starting very soon.
Staff Report (as per
Kristi DeKraker)
Submitted garden
grant – award date is in May
Working with
Dyer-Ives Foundation for NOBL membership match
Completed 410
forms for city reimbursement
Crime
Prevention:
Attempted bond
condition on 3 suspects
Referral to PO on
violator
Met with Officer
Gomez on information exchange on cases
Reviewed police
reports
Assisted Officer
Gomez in a service provider meeting
Started the
“Walking Weds Program” at Coit School
Met with Safety
committee for information exchange and updates
Worked with Coit
School on Graffiti
Neighborhood
Improvement
Worked with
Healthy Homes Coalition on workshop
Met and toured
MSU students – They will be doing baseline data collection
Met with lead
housing inspector
Attended ASP
meeting
Attended city’s
Community Oriented Government meeting
Attended
area-wide meeting with City and MSU extensions
Attended
neighborhood organizers meeting with Dyer-Ives
Organizing City
Planners to speak to Board re: legal parking off-street/yard
Coordinated
community events for GRCC nurses
Old Business
Parking:
David Swartwout spoke with the parking people and they can’t
help us resolve our parking issues. Kristi DeKraker spoke with city
planners and we hope they will come and talk to us about what is
legal and not legal about parking.
By-law
committee Meeting: The first draft was given out to NOBL Board
members, the 2nd draft will be worked on and will be
presented in future meetings. The goal is to have the new bylaws
completed by May.
Area Specific
Plan: Kristi DeKraker sat down and discussed out to effectively
get out a plan to where the neighborhood can come up with some kind
of consensus. Suggestions on what can be done the next time…
Job description
about the Corresponding Secretary and whether or not to fulfill the
position: Kristi DeKraker will continue to fill that position
on a temporary basis. Bob Roosenberg requested for a motion to
suspend the Corresponding Secretary position for now: David
Swartwout made a motion and Jayne Johnson seconded; all were in
favor, and the motion was passed.
New business
Appointment of
Housing Chair: Bob Roosenberg asked for nominations. JD Formaz
and David Swartwout both nominated Joe Berens. There was a
discussion. Bob requested for a motion to appoint Joe Berens; all
were in favor and the motion was passed. Joe Berens is now the NOBL
Housing Chair. Kristi DeKraker and Joe Berens will meet with the
Lead Housing Inspector sometime in the future.
NOBL
Fundraising: The Dyer-Ives Foundation is willing to match the
funds that NOBL can procure, dollar for dollar. We will work on
implementing a fundraising effort.
Start a
door-to-door membership campaign
Dumpster Days -
Possibly have people donate in exchange for dumping their large
appliances? Perhaps April or early May would be a good time to
send out an appeal letter. David Swartwout made a motion that
Kristi DeKraker go ahead and draft an appeal letter to increase
NOBL membership; Phil McConahy seconded: all were in favor and the
motion was passed. Kristi DeKraker will create the appeal
letter.
Bob Roosenberg
went on to express the need to talk to block captains and impress
upon them the importance of raising this money. They can then
disseminate this information to the people on their block.
Friends of
Transit Endorsement: Bob Roosenberg requested for a motion to
endorse the Friends of Transit: Phil McConahy made a motion and
Jayne Johnson seconded; all were in favor and the motion passed.
Public
comments
GRFD
Joachin Martinez
The GRFD is no
longer involved in the training of first aid, but if we are looking
for someone to teach us, Grand Rapids Firefighter Joachin Martinez
knows of a person that can teach us at an affordable price. Joachin
Martinez has a smokehouse available to train people on how to
perform under smoke-filled situations or fire dangers.
Consumers Power
will be coming to us this spring about tree cutting.
If there is a
list of trees that we need to have cut down, we need to give it to
Consumers Power.
There was concern
about being able to get the shoes off the wires, but Joachin
Martinez doesn’t know whether (or where) that would fall
under Consumers Powers’ list of priorities.
Joachin Martinez
will also be working with Officer Neil Gomez around the
neighborhood on various issues affecting our area.
The smoke
detector grant from the Kent County Health Department is still
available if we wish to take advantage of it.
The City is in a
budget crisis right now and all departments have been asked to cut
5% of their expenditures. If you like the services you’ve
been receiving from the GRFD and GRPD, contact your commissioners
to let them know that you support your GRFD and GRPD.
Sondra Wilson
thanked Kristi DeKraker for helping to remove the fence on both the
upper and lower portion of the stairway on Bradford by speaking with
our City commissioners regarding the subject. Sondra Wilson would
also like to know who owns the property on either side of the
stairway, and if there is way to clean up the trash and debris
alongside the stairway (perhaps people from the work release program
can do the clean up)? She also asked what is happening regarding
the stair railings.
Adjournment
Bob Roosenberg
requested for a motion to adjourn: JD Formaz made a motion and Joe
Berens seconded; all were in favor and the meeting was adjourned at
7:06pm.
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