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SNO Minutes
February 24, 2003
John Akre called the meeting to order. Introductions were made. Tom Taylor was not present. Dawn Rae Davis read the minutes from the January meeting. Eeris Fritz moved to accept the minutes as read. Mike Romens seconded. The minutes were approved as read.
Seaen MacKay gave the treasurer's report.
Comments regarding the Excel Energy Emissions Reduction project had a deadline of last week, so the Board took an interim action and passed a motion made by Tom Taylor to support MERP's resolution. John Akre entertained a motion to restate the resolution passed through the Board's interim action which was: that the Sheridan Neighorhood Organization formally state to the Minnesota Public Utilities Commission during the public comment period that the Sheridan Neighborhood Organization does support the MERP proposal for the Riverside Generating plant with the suggested improvements made by the Clean Energy Now! coalition.
Mike Romens moved that we accept the MERPS resolution as stated. Seaen MacKay seconded. The motion passed.
Deferred Loan Program and Down payment Assistance Program Guidelines. Jenny Comacho, Don Snyder, and Denise from the Housing Resource Center passed out copies of Sheridan's Contract Amendment Summary pertaining to its deferred loan programs. There was some discussion. Daryl Boone asked how people in general find out about SNO's home assistance programs. John Akre said SNO advertises the programs in the Northeaster. Mike Romens made a motion that we accept the both changes to the guidelines for the three programs and the budgets for the three programs. Eeris Fritz seconded. The motion passed.
Joe Holliday from the Arts Action Plan announced that brochures regarding the Arts Action Plan were available on the back table, and he described the Arts Actions Plan which is the non-profit group that organizes Art-a-Whirl each year. The Arts Action Plan is a 15 year old comprehensive plan addressing needs of artists, growing changes in northeast Minneapolis and the implications of that growth for artist communities and vitality. Charles Schotz spoke about the AAP's plan for developing an arts district that will include Sheridan Neigborhood. This would be the first time in the city of Minneapolis that would be an official arts zone and it would be in Northeast Minneapolis. He also announced plans to discuss an identification plan regarding that district. They are looking for the support of the neighborhood to enable the signage objective related to the identification project, and Charles said they will return to later SNO meetings in order to update us on the project. Those interested who would like more information about AAP may contact the group's web site: nemaa.org.
Bob Sorg said that the SNO Business Committee might be interested in using some of its own NRP money to go towards signage planned by AAP. Jenny Fortman said the Marshall Street Planning Committee had also discussed using the corner at the new library site for a possible artwork to mark a gateway to the arts district, and she suggested there is a partnership possibility between AAP and the Marshall Street plan.
Jim Bartlett and Loren Brichaman from Sherman and Associates spoke about some property Bartlett purchased a long time ago that was zoned for industrial use; however, he reported, due to the future of the river, the city communicated they didn't want to see the proposals Bartlett had for the property, but rather wanted to see housing on the site. Bartlett and Sherman and Associates subsequently came up with a housing development plan. In order to implement that plan, they would have needed to buy neighboring properties; however, those property owners have not expressed an interest in selling and Sherman and Associates was not as successful with acquisitions as they'd hoped. Therefore, they've scaled back their plan. Loren Brichaman then presented drawings and details of the most recent project and took and answered questions. There was a lot of discussion regarding the plan. Primary issues included by the discussion were: height issues that are not in accord with AFCAC guidelines, the philosophy of development, and issues of rental versus home-ownership pertaining to the property. John Akre suggested that a sign-up list go around for a working group to meet on a regular basis with Sherman and Associates regarding this proposed development.
Terrence Kwame-Ross from New City School came to introduce to SNO the school at 229 13th Ave, a new charter school for the city of Minneapolis. Teachers who founded the public charter school are interested in the integration of social and academic learning, and arts also play a large role in their curriculum. Open House for the new school is Thurs. Feb. 27 6:30-8:30 PM. The school intends to open September 2003 and will house grades K-5.
Craig Harris and George Sutton from Ballet of the Dolls gave an update on the Ritz Theater. Ballet of the Dolls continues to look for corporate funding to enhance the monies from the McKnight grant awarded this year. They are meeting regularly with MCDA working on plans for how to get the building sealed in order to keep it from deteriorating any further. The building needs a new roof. They are still working on details of exactly what their costs are with the renovation. They have about half the money pledged that they need for completion. They are also currently working on zoning issues related to parking and ready to initiate the zoning process. They would like to be able to get the marquee lit on a more regular basis.
Announcements:
Lynn Olson announced that she and Frank Stone are doing the curating in Paul Osterow's and Don Samuels's offices, and she announced the names of the artists and the date of an opening in the city council persons' offices. She also made an announcement regarding the East Side Coop and urged those who haven't joined to please join, and she announced a fundraising dinner for the Coop next Saturday.
Jenny Fortman announced that the extra soda pop from the SNOBall is for sale at the close of the meeting.
John Akre announced the monthly SNO Shoes walk this Sunday at 5 PM to begin at the kiosk next to 212 Pottery.
Open Microphone:
Charles Krens expressed his unhappiness with the 331 Bar at University and 13th Ave saying that there were gunshots there recently.
Committee Reports:
Events Committee: Trish Schilling announced that the SNOBall sold a total of 415 tickets and earned approximately $6,000 based on the estimates she had today.
Business Committee: John Akre announced that there will be a prioritizing meeting of the committee.
NRP Committee: John Akre announced that March 31st at 7 PM is the next NRP meeting and there is lots to work on. The committee also needs money for the ads for the Northeaster regarding the housing programs. Seaen MacKay made a motion that SNO allocate up to $500 dollars to the NRP Committee to get advertise and print the Fix and Paint applications. Eeris Fritz seconded. The motion passed.
MEND Update: Mike Rainville gave the report regarding the Marshall Street Plan. He said he didn't think the county consultant was listening to neighborhood requests regarding having traffic on Marshall slow down; they seem to want to put traffic through there faster. The Marshall Street Plan Committee has been pushing that the road not get any wider and asked for two lanes of traffic; the county came back with four lanes of traffic. The Committee wants parking, bike paths, two lanes of traffic and this group includes neighborhoods all the way to 37th. Rainville reported that 85% of traffic during the morning rush hour is coming from suburbs going downtown. He said they were looking for a group of people to drive their cars with large signs on them saying "We live here, slow down" as a strategy for raising public awareness. There was additional discussion on the Marshall Street traffic issue.
AFCAC Update: Chuck Sullivan gave the report. They've changed their meeting date to the 4th Tuesday of the month and are working on the issue of buildings along the river and how they should conform with the overall Above the Falls plan.
New Business:
Micheal McBrady will be building a duplex on the empty lot on the 1400 block of 6th Street (where there was a fire last year that destroyed the house) and he showed the preliminary drawings for the house to be built there.
Dawn Rae Davis made a motion to adjourn. Mike Romens seconded. The meeting was adjourned.
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