Tonight we met at Vernon and Cheryl Sweeney’s house (702 W 7th St). Present: Bill Baus, Vernon Sweeney, Cheryl Sweeney, Isabel Vernaza, Dave Ferrand, Barry Wallock, Steven Janowiecki, Burhan Elturan, Diane Dallis, and Sophia Hausermann
Meeting called to order at 7:06pm, with introductions.
First item: homeless presence in the woods by the park.
There is a set of photos to demonstrate the scale of the problem here. Two examples:
Barry took before and after photos of woods north of the park from the end of last Fall and again today. Notable is a giant pile of trash bags from last Fall, which is now scattered all around the woods, and is spreading out throughout the park and onto the B-line trail. Barry called the police once but they did not come. He is asking for support from the association to help make our voices heard. (He also asks what the status of the Habitat for Humanity project by the park as well. Isabel thinks their plan is not to build for a few years.) (He also also asks why the grass is so tall in the 9th St park, and hasn’t been mowed yet. **UPDATE: the City came to mow the grass the morning after our meeting!**) Are we being neglected by the city? Vernon asks how many people are staying in the woods. Barry says up to 20 people at times, but that there has never been harassment or other incidents. Diane mentions that they leave a mess on the B-line and the Parks dept has to clean it up. It’s a bad situation and there isn’t a clear solution. Barry says there’s already one tent in the woods as of today. Cheryl asks whether it’s a problem for law enforcement. Bill says he’s called the police multiple times and they have come and removed the homeless people. It is private property back there. We next discussed the seasonal migrations and movements of the homeless population around this city and the surrounding area.
Bill’s suggestion is to officially, as the NWSNA, contact the police, follow up on it and make sure that they actually come and take care of the problem. If the problem is not solved, then we can contact the city about it and make it clear that we care! If we ignore the problem, the city will ignore the problem, too. Bill suggest taking turns checking the park fairly often, and staying organized and keeping on top of it. Bill also says it would also be great to organize a big cleanup in the woods some time, with resources (bags/etc) from the city, and volunteer help from any number of groups in town. Maybe by getting the trash out, we can keep up with the new incoming presence. Contacting the Herald-Times was discussed, but going to the police first, then the city, then the H-T after that. Working hard to clean it up only makes sense if we know it’s going to stay clean, through enforcement. Bill says he cleans out any trash/debris whenever he finds it in the woods he owns, and that prevents people from staying around. Bill thinks that the railroad and Habitat would be happy if we cleaned up their property, too. Burhan emphasises the importance of knowing who owns the properties and to hear from the property owners about what is OK to do. Maybe we could work with Maple Heights, too.
Discussion went in a lot of directions, touching on rail history, real estate law, and how the city acquired the land for the B-line from CSX. In the end, we discussed that a neighborhood voice would be an effective way to start dealing with this, contacting law enforcement when the people are actually there, and trying to be consistent and keep it up. Cheryl moves that Bill calls the police. Diane seconds. Bill amends the motion and suggests forming a committee of 2-4 people to frequently check on the homeless presence and call the police. Barry says we don’t need a committee, but that individuals could just report back if they notice the presence. So, let Bill know if you see homeless people in the woods and he will call the police and ask for a report on what happens. Diane suggests also writing to the city about the problem on the whole so that we don’t just waste the police’s time. Bill says if the same people keep coming back that we could deal with that. If we are consistent with this, the homeless population will spread the word that this isn’t a place to live. Cheryl states that the biggest problem is the trash, not any actual problems with the people. She says that a lot of the trash and waste we picked up along the B-Line is electronic. Bill states that most of the trash in the woods is clothing. Both Cheryl and Bill state that most of the trash is stolen from the Salvation Army [and Opportunity House] drop off areas and dumpster. It’s really the trash and litter that we don’t want in the woods.
Bill asks for a volunteer to organize a cleanup in the woods here. He offers to help if someone else will lead the effort. No volunteers… anyone want to help organize a cleanup?? [I will send out an email to the list serve asking for help.]
At 7:55pm, Burhan asks for more specific plans and what will we actually do. Bill says we can run the people out, but if the trash and items remain, they will just come back. We need to both have the people removed consistently (perhaps reported via a neighborhood patrol/watch) and keep everything cleaned everything out. We discuss possible health hazards of removing the trash. For now, Bill will call the police, and we should let him know if we ever see people living in the woods.
Adams St bridge painting:
We have some street barricades now, have some paint around and funds to buy more. Discussing possible dates to do it… Saturday May 5th. Barry would like a few days notice to get materials from the city and to let emergency services know about it. May 5th at noon will be the time, subject to good weather.
Traffic calming on W 7th:
No progress from the city. At one point neighbor Wayne Young had talked with Justin Wykoff, who said that it was going to happen, but nothing has happened. There’s a half-complete traffic calming island on 7th St that hasn’t made any progress. They were waiting until the school construction was over but now it’s the time to do it. So all we really all we need to do here is to pass a resolution to send a letter to the city to ask what the date for the construction to start on this project! Burhan moves, Isabel seconds, all say aye. Cheryl wants to know where it is and what good it will do. It is at the corner of Rogers and 7th St, and will deter people from driving fast and from coming into 7th St, similar to the one on 6th and Rogers. [I will draft a letter to the city with this resolution, asking for the construction dates.]
Cheryl points out that there isn’t even a speed limit sign near the school, and thinks an electronic “your speed is”-type sign might help. The city was going to put new signs up in all the neighborhoods. We can request an additional speed limit sign be put up sooner, though. Bill thinks we should also talk to the school about it, since the school-crossing 20mph (“with children present” sign) really relates to the school not to the neighborhood. There is some confusion about what we would like out there. Cheryl wants a speed limit sign at the minimum, or more ideally an electronic sign. Bill says the “20 mph with children present” sign would be more effective than just a 30mph neighborhood speed limit sign. (This is a separate issue from the traffic calming, and would be a separate letter to the city.) Cheryl moves to request a “school children present” speed limit sign, seconded, ayes. **UPDATE: Bill just informed me that there is in fact a 20 MPH sign on 7th. It’s about a half a block away from the Sweeneys, so we’re going to hold off on writing any letter about this at this time.**
Social committee report about the picnic planning.
No social committee has been quite formed yet, but we do have a flyer ready to distribute. We discussed assignments for delivery. (Ask Steven (sjanowie@astro.indiana.edu) for flyers if you need them, and bring me your extras if I gave you too many.) Bill can bring a 5 gallon drink dispenser and plenty of ice. Someone needs to get some lemonade mix and be ready. Bill may have leftover paper plates and cups from the last picnic, just to bring extras just in case. Flyers should be delivered 1 or 2 weeks before the picnic, so next week or so! (Perhaps we’ll even take a walk through the woods during the picnic…)
Bill asks if there is any other business:
Sophia asks when we will next have a meeting. It will be held at the picnic on May 6th.
Burhan asks if we’d like to do garden walks again this year. The people say yes! But when to do it? Earlier than last year so it’s not as hot as last year. Burhan will organize the garden walk, where we walk around as a group and visit each others’ gardens. A Saturday early afternoon (3 or 5pm) around the end of May? May 19th OK? May 19th at 3pm will be the garden walk! Burhan will coordinate who wants to be part of the garden walk. Glorianne made signs last year, and may be willing to do it again. Maybe we could also invite Prospect Hill and Maple Heights? Invite your friends. We should have a poster ready and information up at the picnic, and maybe have a sign-up.
Finally, we pick a June meeting date: Tuesday 12th June. Meet at Sophia’s (625 W 7th) at 7pm.
We’re done at 8:47pm. Meeting adjourned, and a good time was had by all.
Respectfully submitted,
Steven Janowiecki
