FOCUS - Friends of Concord / United South End

Meeting Notes, January 2, 2003

Feb 03, 2003

FOCUS Meeting
January 2, 2003

A meeting was held on January 2, 2003 in the offices of Ransmeier & Spellman to
discuss formation of a neighborhood resident organization that would work with
City officials and others to address traffic, pedestrian and other issues in the
South End. Present at the meeting were the following residents:

Charlie Bauer, Amy Currie, Heidi Douglas, Carol Hargrove, Eric Halter and Randy
Raymond.

The group had convened for the purpose of establishing a neighborhood
organization consisting of residents of the South End. An agenda for the meeting
was distributed and the following matters addressed:

Name of organization: It was agreed that the name of the proposed
organization would be FOCUS, an acronym for Friends of Concord/United South End.

Form of Organization: It was agreed that it is premature to set an
organization format. It was felt that other organizations such as the
Lamplighters of East Concord should be examined and perhaps emulated. At present it was decided to defer a decision on form and name two persons to represent the
group as "contact persons". It was determined that others should be invited to
group meetings and participation expanded. Discussion of organization format was
deferred.

Immediate Concern: A priority for the meeting was submittal of a
letter to the City Council presenting FOCUS and requesting that repaving of
South End streets be deferred pending development of traffic calming proposals
for the neighborhood. It was felt that funds expended for repaving might be
inappropriate if desired traffic calming measures affected pavement widths on
streets such as Broadway, Allison and South. A draft letter to the City Council
was circulated and reviewed. Editorial comments were made and Charlie agreed to
finalize the letter, discuss it with Councilor McGonagle and deliver it to the
City Clerk for the January meeting of the City Council.

Initial Event: It was agreed FOCUS should undertake the task of identifying traffic/pedestrian problem areas in the South End and this should be
done through a neighborhood participation program. A neighborhood workshop could
be the setting for this problem identification phase. Once completed, priorities
could be established and help on traffic calming solutions sought from City
personnel, 2020 resources and Groundwork staff. Discussion focused on such a
workshop. It was agreed to meet weekly to prepare for this session. A target
date of February 15 was set. The desired location would be Rundlett School.

Meetings: The group concluded that weekly meetings would
be needed to prepare for a February workshop. An inquiry provided a regular
meeting place. Consequently, it was agreed to meet on Wednesdays at 7:00 Pm at
72 North Main Street. Accordingly, the next meeting will be on January 8, 2003.