Flowers of Marengo

Minutes 1/23/00

January Meeting Minutes

January 23, 2000 Sunday @ 2 PM

Attending: Rob Wittry, Judith Saunders, Margaret Baxter, Inez Ysla, Clara Johnson, Alice Sendejas, Sal Sendejas, Herman Calderon, Juana Vargas, Sarah Bixler, Lucille Pryor, Rosa Rodriguéz, Ana Morales, Vanessa Baxter, Hakim Baxter and Jemille Sparks.

Minutes:

1) Old Business.

a) Donation Basket/Voluntary Dues, Tax ID. Judith explained that voluntary dues follow the calendar year, so everyone owes dues now. We need dues to finance the many projects we have undertaken.
b) Holiday Decorations report. Margaret reported that we put up holiday ribbons and bows at intersections throughout Flowers of Marengo Area. Kids took some decorations down and the wind blew some others. On the whole, the decorations looked great! We will secure them next year with fishing line. We have materials left over, and Margaret will store them.

c) Woodbury Traffic Lighting. The lights were supposed to have been reset by now, but Robert hasn't been able to confirm this, as he can't get the staff member to return his call.

d) Street Cleaning/School Clean-up.

i) We continue to clean Marengo sidewalk along the border of Washington Middle School the first Saturday of each month (8 AM @ Marengo & Penn).
ii) Margaret will call Bobby Carter to have the Grandview men clean both sides of Marengo on Friday down to Penn.
 
e) Status of cat/possum trap purchase: Deferred.

f) Zoning of property at 1890 N. Fair Oaks. The Planning Commission voted not to allow the building of a 72 unit structure in the area that is not zoned for this use. The next battle will be at a Pasadena City Council meeting, so we need to launch a sturdy protest to persuade them that this building is a negative project for Northwest Pasadena.

a) Treasurer Report.
i) Balance carried over                       361.62
ii) Expenses (Christmas Decorations) 106.32
iii) Income from Dues/Donations            6.02
iv) New Balance for January              261.32
 
b) Awards for Beautiful Yards
i) Our area has grown beyond one person's ability to manage these awards, and we reaffirmed our need to develop criteria for the awards. Perhaps the criteria could be different for different award periods: large yards one time, small yards another time, improved yards, etc.
ii) The Awards Group consists of Sarah Bixler, Margaret Baxter, Rosa Rodriguéz, and Juana Vargas. This group will draft award criteria for Flowers of Marengo to consider.
iii) Awards will continue to be given quarterly.
iv) Flowers of Marengo will pay for the plants that are awarded.
v) All areas of Flowers of Marengo will be considered for the awards.
vi) Since the area has grown, we will give four awards each quarter instead of three.
 
c) New Flowers of Marengo Web-Site
i) www.neighborhoodlink.com/pasadena/flowers
ii) We have a new web site: need visitors, people to add their own messages!
iii) Pintoresca Public Library will have six new computers in a month that people can reserve and use.
 
d) Neighborhood Strengthening Project Meetings.
i) Margaret missed the meeting, but understands that dumping continues to be a major concern and focus.
ii) Inez suggested we take a positive approach to the dumping in front of the Tremont/Summit store by planting a garden in the city-owned area between the sidewalk and street.
(1) Lucille will work with Inez to plan this. Several others volunteered to assist with developing the garden when a date is planned.
(2) Lucille has plants she can contribute, and Robert can pick them up in his truck.
(3) Inez will check with owners (City?) for necessary approvals.

e) Washington Neighborhood Area Revitalization Project (WNARP)
i) Robert reported on progress that the WNARP has made in the last two months. They have continued to work on priorities and organization. They will be publishing a newsletter soon.
ii) They have organized around the following five Task Forces (Titles may not be completely accurate)
(1) Traffic Lighting/Street Improvement
(2) Safety
(3) Neighborhood Outreach
(4) Neighborhood Enhancement
(5) Housing and Property Maintenance
iii) Robert will continue to report on WNARP's progress and to seek input to take back. He is our liaison to this group and we have to tell him our continuing concerns if we are to be heard.

f) Community Health Grant Joint Application
i) Inez reported on the process she used to coordinate pulling together this application by going back and forth among key representatives from each of the community organizations that have joined together in this application.
ii) Inez and Judith feel that we have submitted a strong proposal and we are hopeful that we may be one of the organizations funded.
iii) They have described health in very broad terms, so most of our concerns (traffic, safety, high density, crime, etc.) contribute to health problems within the context of this grant.
iv) There will probably be a site visit as the next step of our involvement in this application.
 
g) Goals for 2000-2001
(1) Disaster Preparedness
(a) As an example of project planning for Flowers of Marengo Goals, Judith presented a discussion of goals, objectives, needed resources, budget planing and timelines that need to be considered in developing a plan for disaster preparedness.
(b) The goals included disaster preparedness planning for individual/family and for the neighborhood at large.
(c) This project will need a lot more planning and neighbor involvement, but neighbors had an opportunity to see the value of written plans for Flowers of Marengo Goals.
(2) Goals 2000-2001
(a) We need to agree on our final list of priorities and have people sign up to assist or lead specific projects. Goals without volunteers will be dropped from the list for this year.
 
h) Fund Raiser (Yard Sale and/or Bake Sale)
i) Sarah Bixler agreed to be in charge of Fund Raising events for Flowers of Marengo.
ii) Yard Sale.
(1) We agreed to have a Yard Sale the first weekend in March.
(2) We need to decide on location, etc. Rosa Rodriguéz offered her yard. Judith agreed that we could use her yard again. Sarah will decide location.
iii) Vanessa Baxter presented merchandize for sale through her business, "Vanessaisms". If we partner with her for fund-raisers, she will donate a percentage of the net income from the sale.
(1) General approval was given to pursuing this.
(2) We explore the idea of having Vanessa set up a table at our Yard Sale and having a special sale.
(3) Vanessa will coordinate further plans with Sarah.
 
i) Next Meeting February 27, 2000 @ 2:00 pm @ Judith Saunders' house..

Judith M. Saunders