Board Members in Attendance:
Keegan O’Connor Dorothy Driver Kathie Weibel
Gerd Prewett Danielle McClure Anne Nolan
Joan Krueger Brett Boyton Alan Ross
Agenda
- Assessment of online membership meeting on April 14 and presentations by Liz Covey
- well presented
- would have been helpful earlier
- glad to see new person attended
- meeting time may be a challenge for getting young families to attend
- Kathie – City said that weeding Hutchinson Park, VFW and Cooper Steps would qualify for volunteer match for grant to fund new roof. Need to establish a date and advertise on Next door. No more than 10 volunteers per site, with social distancing.
- Kathie typed grant is waiting for response from VFW for gutters
- she expects to get that info shortly
- Gerd said the VFW meeting approved $500 match for May 5
- Hopefully will be approved by end of May
- Max 10 people at a time. Can be different days or different groups in the morning or afternoon.
- There are several smaller projects and small teams can work on separately
- Kathie will organize materials
- Alan volunteered to organize a scheduled and people can sign up and keep track of hours
- waste management will pick up at end of project
- space behind building to leave bags and waste management will pick it up
Alan brought up irrigation issues. VFW picked up irrigation system and all the plants died.
Gerd will ask Richard what the VFW wants. Would drought tolerant plants be a compromise?
We may need to be careful about not causing confrontation. Kathie is willing to ask neighbors to sign letter asking VFW to fix up the area. Alan doesn’t want to clean up if we’re going to let the plants die back. We can review this after we get letters
3. Joan and Danielle – Garden tour update. Do you have 6+ participants?
- 8 or 9 houses
- Alan asked about check in concern
- Safety waiver concern
- Alan expressed concern about not having maps publicly available
- Kathie reports that Kubota Garden x-walk on Renton Ave. appears to have stalled but we may be able to file a grant under the Dept. of Neighborhood’s “Your Voice, Your Choice” program.
- SDOT said it would cost $100,000
- We can look at future budget
- Department of Neighborhoods Your voice/your choice may be able in future budget there may be money for this project. They are not taking ideas for any new projects for 2021
- Putting a cross walk is on the list
- Alan – Update on the 51st & Renton intersection. Seems as though they are ready to start construction this year with the main change being an added 4-way stop (which seems terrible, in his opinion) – https://www.seattle.gov/transportation/projects-and-programs/programs/neighborhood-street-fund/current-projects/51st-ave-s-and-renton-ave-s-traffic-safety-enhancements.
- 4 way stop will be installed at Roxbury and 51st and one at 51 and Renton
- Traffic light is not going to be installed
- Anne – RBCC was approached by Bryan Mickelson, the lawyer representing survivors of 2 victims of shootings in the Safeway parking lots. He is looking to file a wrongful death suit against Safeway, its triple net lease company that “owns” the lot and possibly the liquor store. He has said that the police provided them a “binder of incidents and video” and urged them to improve lighting, add monitored surveillance video cams and hire off-duty cops or private security to patrol, especially near the fuel pumps. He seeks our input of ideas to fix the problem.
- Mr. Mickelson is trying to determine what people know about the shooting
- He is indicating that Safeway has more responsibility than they let on
- The police have asked for monitored cameras and off duty officers to patrol specifically near gas pumps
- He’s asking of the board has any suggestions about how to proceed
- As community members we are concerned about safety in our neighborhood but do not feel that we need to take sides in this issue
- Anne – SPD suggested maybe Mark Solomon could speak about the recent shootings at the Safeway and in the neighborhood.
- were going to pass on having Mark Solomon speak at meeting
- Future speakers for May and beyond
- Danielle will reach out to groups involved with Safeway
- Anne needs “blurbs” for May meeting speaker. Keegan will reach out again
- The work on Taylor Creek hasn’t begun but is due to. Cody Nelson will update us on more relevant info than the last speaker
- Kathie would like to get speaker about
- Agenda items for May member meeting
- update on grant
- garden tour update
- outdoor member meeting in person with food truck
Future Guest Speakers:
- May – Larry and Cathie Wilmore, FAST (Fathers and Sons Together). Need blurb
- June – Daniella Nicholas, Tilth Alliance; possibly David Reyes, Friends of Rainier Beach Urban Farm and Wetlands; possibly Juan Peña, Tilth Alliance Need blurb.
- July – Cody Nelson, the SPU Project Manager for Taylor Creek (tentative).
- August – Sally Li – Co-chair of RB Link2Lake improvements at Be’er Sheva will provide update on construction timelines, milestones and funding.