Board Minutes

9/21/15

Board Members Present: Alex Bajwa, Sage Holben, Jessica Johnson, Jacob Lambert, Elizabeth Matakis, Carla Riehle, Tong Thao, Breann Tierschel

Board Members w/ Scheduled Absence: Rafael Espinosa, Rob Sebo Lubke

Meeting Called to Order at 7:01 pm by Elizabeth Matakis

Minutes from 8/17/15 approved, motion by Jacob Lambert, seconded by Alex Bajwa

Agenda approved, motioned by Tong Thao, seconded by Alex Bajwa

Guest Speaker:

Harding Name Change: Pat Hill presented on his proposal to change the name of Harding High School, named after the 29th president Warren G. Harding, to Mary Colter. The school was initially named after Warren G. Harding simply because of his popularity, but after his death in 1923 a slew of controversies arose. Mary Colter, on the other hand, was born in Pittsburg but grew up in Saint Paul in the Daytons Bluff neighborhood. She was an educator and a distinguished architect that designed the iconic buildings in the Grand Canyon, which is now listed as a National Historic Landmark. Pat Hill is only introducing the idea at this meeting. He will be back at a later time to ask for formal support.

Rush Line: Mike Rogers presented on the Pre-Project Development Study for the Rush Line Corridor. Please see the attached document for details.
Swede Hollow is still on the table for further study because it was good enough to pass through the technical analysis. The land use around the proposed Swede Hollow route supports transit and it is still owned by the Ramsey County Regional Rail Authority. If it is taken off the table now, it will eventually still need to be studied. Sage Holben asked: Is it the elderly that’s mostly in poverty, if so where are they, who are they, and how long have they been in poverty. Mike Rogers responds that basically, poverty rates and concentration of poverty is high across all of the East Side. Sage Holben also asked if the Rush Line will displace any of the residents. Mike Rogers says that because there are some properties that are legally binding low income housing, and others are market rate, it will be more difficult to displace families. Guest Pat Hill asked what the chain of command for the Rush Line looks like, Mike Rogers explained how the chain of command works from the technical team, to the policy advisory committees, to the committees that are seated by public officials all along the corridor.

 

Big Events:

Radio Station:

The “unofficial” kickoff event was during 7th Street Live, which coincidentally coincided with National Radio Day. The first time WEQY went on air was August 21st and has been broadcasting 24 hours. Currently there are 6 programs on air that are going to be grandfathered into the program schedule. A programming committee is being formed to make decisions on which programs WEQY should air.

7th Street Live:

There were a lot of people who were interested in seeing another 7th Street Live event next year. Although successful, the DBCC staff learned a great deal about hosting an event on the streets such as needing more volunteers to fill different roles and holding the event on a weekend instead. Nicole Pressley gave a shout out to board members that volunteered a great deal of their time to support the event; Breann, Jacob, Carla, and Rob.

Board Elections:

The ad hoc committee met two weeks prior to the full board meeting to discuss changed to our election system. Some of the PROPOSED changes are:

–       This year’s annual meeting will remain in October, but there will be no elections. This is because it did not make sense to elect someone in October, then wait until January to onboard.

–       Elections will be held in February (22nd) instead, and new members will be on boarded before the March board meeting.

o   The terms for outgoing board members will be extended to February for this purpose.

o   January’s board meeting will be the last meeting of the year.

–       The December meeting will just be a holiday party with no official business.

–       The new election cycle also comes with new committee structures, since each board member is elected to represent their sub-districts, each sub-districts should have its own committee.

o   Board members are expected to do outreach to their neighbors in their sub-districts to recruit committee members and potential board members.

o   The idea behind this is to build a stronger sense of community.

–       A friendly vote took place to move elections to February from October, approved unanimously. (This is not a formal vote)

Committee Reports:

Neighborhood Development Committee:

Hosting a cleaning sweep of e. 7th St. on October 29th, from 6-7pm. All are welcomed and encouraged to help.

Land Use:

Will be holding a meeting to discuss the new tenant moving into 908 Mound Street and their program for women.

Motion to adjourn at 8:37pm – Approved