Flowers of Marengo

Mtg Minutes 2/27/00

February 2000 Meeting Minutes

February 27, 2000 Sunday @ 2 PM
 

Attending: Rob Wittry, Judith Saunders, Margaret Baxter, Sarah Bixler, Steve Lipira, Jeffrey Fields, Kevin Houlemard. Lauren Bailey came late.

Minutes:

1) .Old Business.

a) Donation Basket/Voluntary Dues, Tax ID. Deferred

b) Woodbury Traffic Lighting. The lights were supposed to have been reset by now. County engineering still has work to do, but they say everything will be done soon. Same story for the past 6 months. Robert will continue to call.

c) Street Cleaning/School Clean-up.

i) We continue to clean Marengo sidewalk along the border of Washington Middle School the first Saturday of each month (8 AM @ Marengo & Penn).
ii) Margaret will call Bobby Carter to have the Grandview men clean both sides of Marengo on Friday down to Penn.

d) Status of ca/possum trap purchase. Robert's brother has permanently loaned us a trap. Judith will develop a sign out sheet. When an animal has been caught, the person must call the Humane Society to come for the trap. We must go to Humane Department during business hours to retrieve trap. If person borrowing the trap cannot do this, he or she can call Margaret to help with retrieving the trap.

e) Zoning of property at 1890 N. Fair Oaks. The Pasadena City Council votes on this issue Monday, February 28. We need speakers to state their views.

f) New Flowers of Marengo Web-Site

i) www.neighborhoodlink.com/pasadena/flowers. 
The Flowers of Marengo web site needs more visitors and people to add their own messages! Robert has added our minutes, flyer, and planned activities. He reported on how many people have visited this web site.
ii) Pintoresca Public Library will have six new computers soon that people can reserve and use. These computers will have internet access.

a) Treasurer Report.
i) Balance carried over 261.32
ii) Expenses (Fruit basket for Essiens and Flower Awards) 23.28
iii) Income from Dues/Donations 27.25
iv) New Balance for January 266.19

b) Awards for Beautiful Yards

i) The Awards Group consists of Sarah Bixler, Margaret Baxter, Rosa Rodriguéz, and Juana Vargas. This group will draft award criteria for Flowers of Marengo to consider.
ii) We agreed to explore the feasibility of providing yard signs to families who are awarded the Flowers of Marengo Good Neighborhood Yard Award. These could be patterned after the election signs that people put in their yards. Steve Lapira agreed to call for information and report back.
iii) Sarah didn't connect with the rest of the awards group to identify categories or criteria for awards. She did present the following neighbors with a plant for the Flowers of Marengo Good Neighborhood Yard Award:
1^st Brenda Espenoza, 1701 Marengo
2^nd Melanie Berger, 1749 Marengo
3^rd Mrs. Thomas, 181 Tremont
4^th Joy Davis, 1830 Summit.

c) Neighborhood Strengthening Project Meetings.

i) Margaret reported that the mobile unit has been approved and will be posted to Summit first, once it is operational. A bike patrol will staff the mobile unit.
ii) Inez wasn't here to report on the Summit/Tremont store effort to plant flowers to deter dumping.

d) Washington Area Neighborhood Revitalization Project (WANRP)

i) Robert reviewed the group work from the February meeting. Jane Melton and Steve Lapira have developed a letter for the dumping problem to encourage apartment owners and residents to help with this problem.
ii) They have reorganized the task forces by combining two of them (neighborhood enhancement and safety)
iii) Steve announced that there will be a Revitalization Community Meeting April 6. This meeting is focused on safety/crime and will have members of the Pasadena police to discuss problems/plans.
(1) We requested they add the Sheriff's department to the agenda.
(2) A major problem in the Northwest seems to be the lack of coordination between the Pasadena Police and the Sheriff's Department. This spills over into problems for the residents. We live close to the County border, so jurisdiction becomes blurred in some situations.
iv) There will be a Service Expo May 13. There will be music and food. Non-profit, quality of life agencies come together.

e) Christmas in April (April 29)

i) Do we want to participate individually or as a group?
(1) Lucille's house and one other house on Summit have been selected.
(2) We agreed to participate as a group, with the following people commiting to help: Jeffrey, Judith, Margaret, Kevin, Robert. We agreed to ask others, such as Herman and Ron.

f) Community Health Grant Joint Application

i) We have a site visit scheduled, so we have at least survived the first round.

g) Yard Sale Fund Raiser March 4, 2000.

i) Scheduled for Judith M. Saunders' house @ 1789 N. Marengo from 8 am to 2 pm.
ii) Need donations of items and people to help. Robert will be racks. Others have shelves and tables. Sarah will bring things left over to Judith's garage the day before--Judith will leave things unlocked for access.

h) Flowers of Marengo Officer Election.

i) We need to elect officers, so would people think about whom to nominate, who will serve, etc., and bring ideas to the next meeting. Robert has agreed to serve another year as President. Sarah has just begun service as Fund Raiser, and will continue to hold this office. If we nominate people at the March Meeting, we can vote for new officers at the April meeting.

i) We agreed that our Flowers of Marengo Neighborhood Party will be held September 16, 2000.

j) Goals for 2000-2001

(a) Deferred until March. We ran out of time.

k) Next Meeting March 26, 2000 @ 2:00 pm @ Judith Saunders' house..

Respectfully submitted, Judith M. Saunders