Summary of May 19 D1 Board Meeting

The District 1 Community Council Board of Directors met on Monday May 19 at the Saint Paul Youth Services building to talk about how the council operates and about its committee structure. Prior to that discussion there were a few updates:

Fundraising Opportunity – President Paul Sawyer mentioned that there are artistic eastside maps available for sale for $20 each. These maps were created by the East Side Area Business Association (ESABA). $10 from each sale will come to the D1 Council, $5 will go to ESABA, and the rest of the money is used for production costs. Maps are approximately 24” x 36”. Several board members expressed interest in selling the maps and will follow up with staff for details.

Gateway Corridor Update – Land Use Chair Garneth Peterson gave an update on planning for the Gateway Corridor. Part of the planning includes a Citizens Advisory Committee which both President Sawyer and Treasurer Gordon Westerberg are a part of. Recently, a Station Area Planning Committee was formed which several board members are part of (Peterson, Sawyer, Westerberg, Melendez) as well as City of St Paul staff and representatives from local organizations and businesses. The committee will be meeting every other Tuesday until August/September and has a very aggressive timeline. It’s a fairly broad project that will look at surrounding zoning, economic redevelopment, and access issues as well as the design of each station. Everyone is encouraged to give feedback to the members of the committee, so they can bring it to the larger group for discussion.

Discussion of Committees Structures and Purpose – 

Each committee chair was asked to provide information about their committee.

Community, Outreach, and Safety Committee (COSCo)

The COSCo committee is responsible for the D1 newspaper, crime prevention, National Night Out. The newspaper is always looking for volunteers to help write, edit, take pictures, and submit article ideas. The cross cultural dialog project should be spearheaded by this committee. Outreach is geared toward finding out how the community is changing and then focusing on what we can do to bring everyone together.

Youth Task Force

This committee oversees activities related to youth in the neighborhood and will be involved in the development of our Youth Council.  A chairperson is needed in order to help focus the group.

Land Use

This committee was originally formed to respond to city notices regarding zoning, yard issues, etc. and serves as advisory to the city. Over the last year, the group has been focused on larger planning issues that require more time and involvement such as the Bikeway Plan, Gateway Corridor, and CP Rail. This group has been given authority by the board to vote on and give comments on behalf of the entire council and then report back, so that issues may be resolved in a timely manner.

Finance

The Finance committee has been combined with the executive board, but it’s possible that the two may be separated in the future so that the Finance committee may have more focus on fundraising opportunities.

New board members were asked to choose a committee. The group split into the four committees and were asked to answer the following questions:

1.   What is the single most important thing this committee does?
2. What hasn’t worked for this committee in the past?
3. What are you most excited about this year?
4. When do you plan on meeting?

Responses:

Community, Outreach, and Safety Committee (COSCo)

1.  Communication, especially the newspaper
2. Lack of a strong working board, so there wasn’t any direction. Typically reactive vs proactive
3. National Night Out
4.  2^nd Monday of each month at 6:00pm

Youth Task Force

1. Forming the Youth Council
2. Lack of a chairperson and structure
3. “Adults talk about us, but they never talk to us.” – excited to change this.
4. TBD

Finance

1. Treasurer’s Report
2. Sales for ads in the newspaper
3.   Developing a formal Finance committee, because we need something to generate money. Would also like to see more formal meetings with a defined agenda.
4.  TBD

Land Use

1. Providing comments back to the city and playing an advocacy role for larger issues and complete the District 1 Community Plan.
2. Knowing where to spend time/balancing the work
3. Dealing with redevelopment and vacancies. Find ways to make connections that will better foster our position to help investment in the area.
4.  TBD

Saint Paul Healthy Transportation for All

The Saint Paul Healthy Transportation for All meeting will be held on October 25, 2014. Goals for the event include:

·         Challenge and empower participants to take the lead on creating transportation systems that improve public health, equity, economic vitality, and environmental sustainability

·         Provide participants with information, resources, and skills to be community leaders

·         Provide opportunities for participants to connect to and network with neighborhood, city, regional, and state transportation representatives

Meeting adjourned at 8:05p