Eliot Neighborhood Association
Meeting Minutes
February 19, 2018
6:30 – 8:30 pm
St Philip Deacon Episcopal Church NE 120 Knott St

Meeting called to order 6:30pm

Guest Presentation: Boise Eliot Native Grove – Andrine de la Roche, Howard Patterson

• de la Roche and Patterson have planted a pollinator garden on a piece of land by the Fremont Bridge onramp (next to Red Cross parking lot and North Ivy Street); land is owned by PBOT, they secured a letter of permission from PBOT for the project
• de la Roche and Patterson have funding and support from several sources including Boise Neighborhood Association, Friends of Trees, and East Multnomah for compost and plants
• Children from the Boise/Eliot school and Ivy School come to the garden to learn about plants, help with the garden, and play; they also have helped to design some of the garden
• Patterson designed the layout of the garden, incorporating native plants
• In the future, there are plans for more native plants and to add nature play areas, seating, mason bee structure, library boxes, and poetry posts
• If they are awarded a Metro placemaking grant, de la Rocha and Patterson plan to seek out artists to make art and build structures for the garden; they would like ENA support to spread the word about the garden

* Motion to accept January meeting minutes sent to Board via email – Jere Fitterman; Sue Stringer seconds; approved

ENA 2018 Projects

* Motion ENA will work with the City and business associations and alliances in Eliot to install and maintain 10 public trash receptacles in the furnishing zone (parking strip) in key locations throughout Eliot. The costs for this could be $20,000 for the startup year. No expenditures are approved by the Board until partners can be acquired – Sue Stringer; Brad Baker seconds; approved
– Discussion: receptacles will cost $1,000 each ($550 extra for printed art); City is looking for neighborhoods to support by picking up trash hauling cost, perhaps they would consider Eliot

* Motion ENA will fund up to $400 for Neighborhood Watch signs at a cost of $40/sign for blocks that adopt a block in 2018 – Jere Fitterman; Pat Montgomery seconds; approved
-Discussion: Sue S. says people should have a choice to pay for signs if they like

* Motion ENA will support Dawson Park Summer Concerts in 2018 for $500 and Board members Jere, Jimmy, Maggie, Jim, and Shireen will be on planning committee. All Board members will attend and support work during the concerts – Maggie Gardner; Anna Daggett seconds; approved
-Discussion: movies every Wed in July, one concert on a Wed in August; Pat asked if Legacy is helping out monetarily

* Motion ENA will join National Night Out on August 7, 2018 with major support of NECN, City, & Eliot Businesses. ENA budget for this event not to exceed $500 – Jere Fitterman; Jim Hlava seconds; approved
-Shireen Hasan volunteers to work on this event

* Motion ENA Board will work to see if there is sufficient interest in forming a residential parking district in our neighborhood. If there is, we intend to create or be far along in the process of creating a neighborhood parking district. (April General Meeting for this discussion) ENA will buy clipboards, petition copies, and food for canvassing neighbors and for food at a community meeting up to $500 – Brad Baker; Jimmy Wilson seconds; approved
-Discussion: Sue and Maggie say they have extra office supplies that can be used for canvassing; Brad mentions that City has a pilot program for the parking permits, but the deadline to send a letter for the pilot program is March 5th – Brad Baker motions to send a letter of interest to be considered for pilot program; Maggie Gardner seconds; unanimously approved

* Motion ENA will pay up to $1350 for an Annual Clean Up event on May 19th, 2018 in addition to NECN support of $950. We will add a Flea Market, dog parade, and invite vendors – Jim Hlava; Maggie Gardner seconds; approved
-Discussion: Angela Kremer mentions The Well Community Church does their own clean-up event around the time that we do the Eliot clean up; perhaps we can partner with them?

* Motion ENA will fund Albina Cooperative Garden Scholarships for up to 10 residents at $75 each for a) $750; b) up to $500 for educators from outside to run 1 workshop/month in 2018 garden season; c) up to $500 for a mural on the side of the shed, create a garden sculpture, or paint an engaging community sign; total cost $1750 – Shireen Hasan moves to table the vote to fund the scholarships until after a discussion about another proposed garden; Anna Daggett seconds; tabled
-Discussion: David Oberstein in attendance to present about the garden and its offerings to the neighborhood. Sue and Jere – could we vote on each of these proposals separately? There was a prior community garden idea proposal from Shireen that was excluded from our list of ENA Board projects for the year. Shireen will have another person present at March meeting.

* Motion ENA will fund 1/2 of the cost of the painting of a mural with a mural grant from RACC (Regional Arts and Culture Council) up to $2,000; Total of $1250-$4250 includes scissor lift rental ($730), paint estimate, permit cost, and $3,000 artist fee – Sue Stringer, Jimmy Wilson seconds; approved
-Discussion: Suggestion to continue looking for sponsors to help offset costs of mural- Jere Fitterman; Sue Stringer seconds; approved

* Motion ENA will fund Friends of Trees to plant approximately 20 street trees at non-owner occupied housing and businesses in the Eliot Neighborhood:

1. $200 for mailing out information to owners
2. up to $750 for 20 trees and up to $1410 to have trees watered for 2 years
3. up to $250 for free concrete cuts to businesses and landlords ($25 x 10)
4. up to $500 to plant large trees for commercial properties ($50 x 10) *amend: Board will talk to commercial property owners to see if they will buy their own trees if we help coordinate
5. Total cost of $3,060
   Jere Fitterman; Sue Stringer seconds; approved

* Motion that the budget include an annual maximum of expenditures which can be approved via email. This maximum and a process for approving expenditures to be determined after the current year’s budget is approved. Motion to table voting on expenditures through email; Jere Fitterman; Jim Hlava seconds; approved
– Discussion: Jim Hlava will help write a process to apply for funds between meetings.

Guest Presentation: Energy Transition Project: Lenny Dee
The Energy Transition Project will be on the ballot in November; proposal places a 1% surcharge on companies making $1 billion or more nationally

• The estimated $30 million from the proposal would go toward 3 purposes to benefit lower income communities: weatherizing and solar for homes, job training, and food sustainability
• Non-profits apply for funding on behalf of families and folks who would benefit from the proposal
• Many organizations are endorsing this proposal and Dee would like the ENA’s support

* Motion to support Energy Transition Project through a letter of support from ENA – Brad Baker; Pat Montgomery seconds; approved

Guest Presentation: Onboarding Leadership Coordinator proposal: Angela Kremer

• Kremer proposes that she start working with the Board as Onboarding Leadership Coordinator; the position would include training new Board members, research, and finding opportunities for the Board to learn more about racial equity through workshops, training, or through inviting organizations to come present to the board during meetings
• Kremer proposes for this to be a paid position to show the ENA Board’s dedication to pursuing discussion and education about equity issues, given the history of the Eliot neighborhood

-Discussion: The meeting was running overtime, so there is discussion that perhaps Kremer should come to the next meeting and present an outlined plan for what duties this position would fulfill and we can discuss further. Jere mentions that if this is a paid position, ENA will need to have an open call for applications for the position. Jim says that perhaps we should table this discussion for the March meeting to have time for further research.

Announcements: 

PBOT Open House – Lloyd to Woodlawn Greenway on Tuesday, February 27th, 5-7pm at King Elementary Library

Hill Block Project – community awareness meeting on Tuesday, February 20th, 6-8pm at New Song Community Church – EDIT: postponed due to inclement weather

Meeting adjourned 9:13pm

Guests/Residents present: Andrine de la Roche (Boise Eliot Native Grove), Howard Patterson (Boise Eliot Native Grove), Karla Gostnell (Livability committee), David Oberstein (Albina Cooperative Garden), Lenny Dee (Energy Transition Project), Angela Kremer

Board Members present: Anna Daggett, Brad Baker, Jere Fitterman, Jim Hlava, Jimmy Wilson, Maggie Gardner, Monica Choy Salazar, Patricia Montgomery, Shireen Hasan, Sue Stringer