News Updates

Meeting of the Near West Side Neighborhood Association – 13 March 2012

Tonight we met at Veda’s house (627 W 7th St). Present were: Veda Stanfield, Cheryl Sweeney, Vernon Sweeney, Steven Janowiecki, Dave Ferrand, Sophia Hauserman, Bill Baus, Barry Wallock, and Isabel Vernaza. Veda provided lemonade and iced tea and many people wore sandals.

Veda called the meeting to order at 7:08pm, and led the beginning of the meeting.

Veda first mentioned that Bill (as new president) needs to take tonight’s minutes and sign over the signature card at Peoples Bank for the NWSNA.

Next, she drew our attention to the BEAD (Bloomington Entertainment and Arts District - http://bloomington.in.gov/bead) organizational meeting to discuss plans to create an art space at the fire station on Rogers. The meeting is March 26th and more information is on the flyer: BEAD_flyer_26Mar2012.

Finally, she emphasized the importance of the Growth Policies Plan (GPP – Growth_Policies_Plan) “Imagine Bloomington” workshops which are currently underway around the city. The dates are listed on the GPP flyer (Imagine_Bloomington) for an interactive workshop that you can attend and give feedback and input to the process. All of the workshops will be the same so you only have to attend one, but you can go as often as you like if you really want to make your point. Veda plans to go to the workshop at Tri-North on March 27th (all workshops are from 7-8:30pm) and encourages everyone to attend if possible. Sophia also mentioned that there is a meeting on April 28th at Bell Trace during the daytime hours if you prefer. Contact her for more details.

New officer elections

Veda read the proposed slate:
–President: Bill Baus (baus@alumni.indiana.edu)
–Vice President: Sophia Hauserman (sofyhaus@sbcglobal.net)
–Secretary: Steven Janowiecki (sjanowie@astro.indiana.edu)
–Treasurer:Burhan Elturan (belturan@indiana.edu)
Bill asked for additional nominations and there were none. Bill proposed that the slate be elected by acclamation. Cheryl moved and Vernon (and others) seconded. Everyone said “aye”.

Cheryl asked if the officers’ emails could be provided, and they are included them after our names on the slate. These minutes will also be updated on the website.

It was suggested that we contact the committees which were formed last spring to see if they still want to exist. At the least, the social committee should be re-formed quite soon (see picnic discussion later).

Newly elected president Bill continues on the agenda. He also discusses the importance of contributing to the GPP and the effects it can have on the neighborhood.

Spring Picnic:

The social committee will plan a spring pitch-in picnic on May 6 in Butler park with Bill’s house as a backup location in case of bad weather. Steven is sending an email right now to last year’s social committee to get re-organized and plan it.

Graffiti on the Indiana Railroad overpass on Adams St:

Bill briefly summarized the history of the painting on the bridge. Originally the neighborhood just west of us worked together with NWSNA to paint the mural on the bridge, and of the Stardust melody (since Hoagie Carmichael spent some time growing up quite close to the bridge). The mural went for many years of no graffiti (and just minor touchups from Bill), although some trucks hit it and knocked pieces off here and there. More recently, graffiti has become prolific and it is in need of repainting. Bill wants to repaint it but needs a couple helpers to direct traffic while standing on a ladder to do some of the painting. Veda wonders if we need to contact the city about it but Bill says we should just do it and no one will notice. Barry said he would check with the city and suspects the city will support it and maybe even help out since they are keen to remove graffiti. Bill thinks it will take 2 or 3 hours to complete some weekend afternoon. Dave offered to help and bring orange vests and maybe a lift truck. Vernon also offered to help and also has a vest and even a stop sign that he can bring.

Access to future-I69 via Vernal Pike:

Bill explained that he noticed after the recent construction on Vernal Pike (for underground pipe work) that it significantly affected the amount of time it took to reach SR37 northbound. The current tentative I-69 plans call for no access at Vernal Pike, but instead for Vernal Pike to be an underpass under the new highway. Bill worries that not only will our travel time to northbound I-69 be much longer, but more importantly that a lot of the folks who currently come into town on Vernal Pike and take 37 S or N to other streets will instead come into through our neighborhood. That could mean extra traffic on 6th and 7th Streets, and long backups at the light at Kirkwood and Adams. Bill wants us to actively lobby for access to I-69 on Vernal Pike. Barry says that he was out near the site recently and that the current plan is to have the underpass further north of the current intersection with Vernal Pike, but will check on those details and get back to us. It’s the MPO (Metropolitan Planning Organization – http://bloomington.in.gov/mpo) working on these plans, although we still need to find out who to contact and how to make our input  heard. There was much support and interest tonight from people willing to help.

New Business:

Barry asked what was the purpose of the NWSNA. Veda and Bill described our mission statement (The constitution is here: NWSNA_Constitution ) which is to defend and represent our neighborhood as single family residences and a core neighborhood in the city. Barry is worried that “private dormitories” (apartments designed for students) will spread to the NWS and had heard that the city tried to encourage something like that. Veda and Bill said the city values us as a core neighborhood and feels strongly about keeping it single family residences, and referred again to the GPP (Growth_Policies_Plan) for more details about this. You should read it if you haven’t!

Finally, Bill asked when we would like to meet next. Second Tuesdays seemed good, and  we decided to meet on Tuesday April 10th at 7pm at Cheryl and Vernon Sweeney’s house  at 702 W 7th St (the corner with Fairview). [CORRECTION: this meeting will be held Tuesday April 17th!]

Before we adjourned, the officers (3 / 4 present) discussed selecting the 4 at-large board members. Three were selected tonight and are:

Isabel Vernaza (isabelvernaza@juno.com)
Dave Ferrand (davidferrand@mac.com)
Cheryl Sweeney (chersween@gmail.com)

Bill called the motion to approve these at-large members, Sophia moved, and Steven seconded. The officers will discuss who the 4th at-large member will be. These at-large members serve 1-year terms and vote on the board like officers. They often chair committees, but are not required to do so. The board usually meets monthly, although anyone is welcome to attend the board meetings. There are also general meetings quarterly which include the whole neighborhood, and may often be connected with parties or social gatherings.

Eventually dues will need to be collected this year once we decide if they should change from what is written in the bylaws.

Veda motioned to adjourn the meeting, all say “aye”, and the meeting ends just after 8pm, and a good time was had by all.

Respectfully submitted,
Steven Janowiecki

Meeting of the Near West Side Neighborhood Association – June 20, 2011- 7pm

For the summer months, we will be meeting at neighbors’ homes; today we met at Bill Baus’ home on W. 8^th St.

Present: Wayne Young, Cheryl Sweeney, Glorianne Leck, Bill Baus, Sandi Clothier

Bill Baus called the meeting to order. There were no minutes from the last meeting to approve, so the meeting went directly to Committee Reports.

Traffic Report

Wayne gave the Traffic Committee Report. The NWS has received approval from the Traffic Commission for alternative parking spaces along 7^th Street.  Now the proposal goes before the Common Council for first reading.  This will take place on Wednesday, June 29^th, at the City Council Chambers, in City Hall, beginning at 7:30pm.  This is part of the seven page Omnibus Parking Legislation which will be brought to council.  This first reading will be just that, a reading, not a vote.  The Council will vote to approve this legislation at a later date, perhaps the following week.  Both meetings are important to show up for, to voice our support.

Wayne also noted that there has been opposition to this initiative, and that Mr. Bavender has been seeking signatures from neighbors to deny this legislation based upon several issues.  A discussion ensued regarding what neighbors know about this initiative; Glorianne Leck reminded the group that this was begun several years ago when the neighborhood petitioned for traffic islands, going door to door to talk with neighbors about the concerns that prompted their action.  But since then the only notice neighbors have received concerning this new initiative were the signs that were put up by the city prior to the first meeting when this was brought forward to the Common Council, and several conversations that individuals have had with their neighbors.  Sandi recommended that we create a flyer and put the information on our website that would counter the arguments being brought forward, and give some clarity to the reasons for asking for this new parking configuration.  It was also recommended that we send letters of support to the Common Council, and that we go to the meeting in person to make sure our voices are heard.

Garden Tour Committee

Glorianne has been working on a Garden Tour of the neighborhood, and has signed up 8 neighbors.  The date will be Saturday, July 9^th, from 1-3pm.  From 3-4 , those with gardens on the tour will have a chance to tour the gardens. Several people from other neighborhoods have expressed interest in joining our garden walk.   A discussion regarding signs for the tour followed, and it was decided that simple plain paper stapled to stakes be used and discarded afterwards.

Trees/ Sustainability Committee

Sandi reported on the Sustainability/ tree committee that a review has begun of all the houses in the neighborhood to determine where new trees could be added.  Christine Glaser, Burhan Elturan and Sandi Clothier met on Saturday, June 4^th and walked 6^th and 7^th Streets, looking at each property to assess the room/ space for additional trees.   When this process is complete, a map showing the location of all new tree sites will be posted.  This doesn’t mean that an owner must add a tree, but only that the tree committee felt there was room.   In addition, it was noted that some trees appeared to be in need of either trimming or possible removal, so the committee will contact Lee Huss, the City Arborist, to get his feedback on several specific sites.
After this information has been posted on the website, neighbors wishing new trees for their tree plot may contact the tree committee, which is in touch with the City for trees for the neighborhood.

Habitat Village

Bill reported that he and Sandi met with Carol and Dave Gulyas regarding the Habitat Village.  After the letter to the Editor which outlined the negative effects of locating a low income neighborhood so near an active rail line, several neighbors expressed this as a new concern.  Bill gave a review of the meeting held the previous night, and a discussion followed.  The NWSNA is not opposed to the development of the Habitat Village, but several concerns have been brought forward that a letter to the Planning Department will highlight.  At this point the Planning Department does not have a plan from Habitat, but the NWSNA feels that it needs to express these concerns now rather than waiting for the plan to be formalized, especially since any plan put forward by architects is expensive, so letting the City know the NWS concerns should help the planning department in their negotiations with Habitat.

The letter to planning from the Vice Chair will include the following concerns:

Issues with the development of this property include:

• Proximity to active RR tracks- noise, both to development and to the entire area if many trees are removed.
• Keeping density low, not upping the density beyond the 4.5 units per acre allowed on developable land.
• Tree buffer between development and Butler Park, south, and Maple Heights, north, should be wide enough to keep noise down, allow for as much green space as possible.  Also trees within the development should be kept to keep the area as green as possible.
• What part of the area is to be developed, what green space will remain?
• Rest of the green space between the two track lines, now undeveloped, but if this goes through how can we ensure that the rest is not developed?  Does HfH have rights to the rest of the land?
• City UDO- preserve green space, go with Leed when new building is done (does this apply to new low income, nonprofit residential?)

The meeting ended at 8pm.