Eliot Neighborhood Association Meeting Minutes 2012/11/12

In attendance: Board: Allan, Annie, Alan, Clint, Joan, Jim, Kayla, Kirsten, Pauline, Nancy

Clifford Walker negusstudio@aol.com

Katy Asher NECN – katy.asher@necoalition.org

Spencer Burton – spencerburtonforportland@gmail.com

One more member of the public who did not sign in

7:00—Kickoff Conversation.

What do you want the ENA to do in 2013?  Recruitment?

Mentioned that December minutes were approved by board

Clifford Walker (Humboldt Board Member) brought the issue of names of our schools and public spaces.

• The Humboldt NA passed with unanimous vote: “This Board (Humboldt Neighborhood Association) is opposed, as a matter of policy, to retaining the names of schools and other public institutions named for former slave owners and others who did not respect equal opportunity for all.”
• Clifford went to Jefferson HS – graduated in 1961.
• He is looking for our board to discuss the issue and perhaps adopt a similar position
• How does it feel to have a memorial to a slave trader in your neighborhood.
• More about Clifford and his campaign: noslavetraders.com  He is also trying to change the images on our national currency.
• This will be discussed more at the April General Membership Meeting.  Allan to put something in the Eliot News to see the public’s view.
• It was a year of discussion before Humboldt took the vote.
• There was a lengthy discussion of the issue with a number of folks weighing in.  .

Spencer Burton (working on a neighborhood vacant land inventory)

• He is doing an inventory of the Eliot, Boise and Humboldt neighborhoods to see where he could build a permanent public market.
• Wants to do an inventory of areas without street trees, then put people to work planting trees.  
• He is envisioning a plan that would be independent of friends of trees
• Spencer wants to beautify the neighborhood and has the resources to help make it happen.
• Katy Asher (NECN) mentioned that Arbor lodge did this with the director of urban forestry with 15-20 people.  They took 1-2 days and got to see all the data about their results.
• Allan offered that we could put a blurb in the Eliot News about this if we had a date and time that we wanted to corral volunteers.
• Clint pointed out that friends of trees is now giving out free street trees and we still can’t get people with space for them to accept them.  That Eliot may be saturated.  Less than 20 trees were “bought” in Eliot this year.

Board Topics

Meeting Coordination with Boise?

• Allan brought up a December discussion about how Boise and Eliot meet on the same night the same time.
• We could have different dates – could change date far in advance to avoid scheduling conflicts
• We could meet jointly once and potentially talk about overlapping interests.
• We could have 1 person go to their meeting and report back.
• Perhaps it should just be a networking event
• Clint- taking care of business should be separate
• Is this a solution in search of a problem?
• Allan will talk with Boise folks and report back

Bylaws

• Allan: I took a stab at editting the Bylaws.  We are violating our own bylaws in some minor ways like term limits.
• Katy- changes coming down the pike to prevent general membership from having powers other than electing the board
• Lee- traditionally a nonprofit group, has power to elect the board and the members don’t have other power.  Some other non-profit groups give the members a lot more power.
• Anyone who lives, owns property or a business can have a vote at general membership meetings currently
• Allan will send out Bylaws revisions for comments offline and will bring text for next meeting

Announcements:

New Seasons will be presenting next month

Land Use Committee- on-street parking being preserved around New Seasons at our request

Immaculate Heart- Gumbo dinner 2/9 lunch and dinner.  $30 for gumbo, $20 for jambalaya.  Entertainment will be provided.  Contact Pauline Bradford 503-281-6635

NECN Committees for January:

• New Board Member Orientation at NECN – Jan 29th at 6:30 at NECN
• Safety and Livability Team  Meeting Monday, January 28^th, 6:30pm at NECN

SALT will host presentations on funding available for livability projects this month, including a grant fund called the Community Watershed Stewardship Program offering up to $10,000 for projects that improve neighborhoods, address community issues, and also benefit watershed health.

• Schools Committee, Thursday, January 24^th, 6:30pm at NECN

The Schools Committee is focusing energy on Jefferson Cluster Enrollment Balancing efforts and are also considering hosting a school board candidate forum in the spring.

• Community Economic Development Council Tuesday, January 22^nd, 6:30pm, NECN

CEDC invites you to bring your ideas to our January meeting.

• Land Use and Transportation Committee Wednesday, January 23^rd, 7:00pm, NECN

LUTC will review the 1^st Draft of the Comprehensive Plan, due out later this month and make preparations for the upcoming Comp Plan workshop at Beaumont Middle School in February.

Meeting Adjourned at 8:50pm