San Gabriel

2006 Meetings' Minutes

9 February 2006 Meeting Minutes

Meeting began at 6pm with 11 attendees.

Minutes from the March 2005 Annual Meeting were presented by Julia. No objections.

Treasure??™s report given by Edgar. Funds in bank are $1381.23, & cash held is $13.

New officer elections were held. One person was nominated for each office, without objections. New officers are:
President Edgar Schrock
Vice-President Kirk Critton
Secretary Nathanael Addison
Treasurer Melinda

RTA plan was discussed.

Street degradation was discussed, especially in the Longfellow/Santa Barbara area. Julia suggested that photos be taken & emailed to the authorities to speed up street repair process. Residents on Hayne are complaining about vehicles speeding on Hayne, but no residents from Hayne Street were present at this meeting. Melinda volunteered to gather traffic information to include in a future neighborhood newsletter & spearhead a traffic calming committee. Melinda suggested that more 4 way stops & possibly art islands be installed. Mr. Glock(?) brought up concern that there are so many traffic signs on Alvernon that drivers don??™t look or observe any of them.

Residents in Palomar have noticed that police presence has been reduced since the substation was built. The majority of attendees agreed that Fry??™s seems like a dangerous place. Suggestion was made to have police to camp out in our neighborhood to cite speeders & criminals, but this is only a short term fix. One individual wanted to tackle a city-wide problem of police presence.

Due to block-specific issues, the decisions & priorities will need to made by residents of those blocks. Individuals & groups of neighbors will need to tackle their own issues. SGNA manpower does not exist to tackle all problems.

Lineweaver Elementary is conducting a traffic study to move the crosswalk. The PTA is hoping to move the crosswalk to the middle of the playground. People frequently do illegal U-Turns at Lineweaver. Short of police presence, residents can ??œevil-eye??? drivers that are driving dangerously, & the may straighten up.

Old Business:
Kirk reported that he was successful in getting the Parks & Recreation Department to take on the responsibility to maintain San Gabriel Park.

Kirk reported that the cutoff for submitting applications for a ProNeighborhood grant is April 15. Ideas for grants are: Neighbhood art, gardens, water conservation. Information for the grant may be found in ProNeighborhood??™s Winter 2006 newsletter.

Paseo Grande is a wash that routes water under Alvernon.

22nd / Columbus now has a flood zone behind the Dollar Store & Auto Zone store.

The next major traffic project is to route Bryant water to the Timrod drain.

Kirk is attending MC3 Meetings, including closed sessions, & will publish any significant activity in a newsletter or meetings.

The Schrock??™s donated boulders to the neighborhood. No plants may be planted on any of the traffic islands.

Suggestion was made to keep the alleys/easements clean. There was recently a fire in someone??™s shed on Montecito near the alley that had flames shooting 30 feet in the air. If a property has excessive weeds, call & get to know our neighborhood Inspector Jenkins. Do not feel bad for reporting someone who is violating city code.

There is an abandoned apartment on the Northeast corner near Lineweaver Elementary. The chain link fence is broken & kids can enter the building. Perhaps by reporting this to the city as a health hazard to children, the city may take the abandoned building more seriously.

Changes were made to the city code 1 year ago in regards to ??œblight???. Now any violations on the property will be followed to the new property owner.

Meth houses are suspected on Paseo Grande. This property has significantly more vehicle traffic than is reasonable. Mail theft has also occurred on this street, possibly related to meth. If the police department receives calls from more residents, they may escalate the issue. A crack pipe was found on Montecito.

Julia shared historic stories from the neighborhood.

Scott O??™Mack stated that the City of Tucson has maps created for future & pre-development & is willing to share the website with anyone who is interested. There are also Arizona historical Epherman files & Sanborne Fire Insurance maps. This Neighbhood was platted in the 1930??™s & replatted in the 1940??™s. There used to be different economics & water systems between San Clemente & San Gabriel. (Del Rey Water). Julia??™s hours used to be the water company.

Phil is working with water harvesting. He is also working on preserving visual appeal with water harvesting. He will write an article for a future newsletter on water conservation.

Meeting concluded on schedule at approximately 8pm.

2 November 2006 Meeting Minutes

Minutes of San Gabriel Neighborhood Association Meeting ??“ November 2, 2006

Meeting began at 6:05pm. 15 people in attendance

Minutes from February 2006 meeting were read with no objections.

Melinda reported from traffic calming research that the city discourages 4 way stops. Some residents in the neighborhood gathered together in smaller groups and got speed tables. People on the street must do the traffic study and get assessed for the table. 60% of people need to agree in order to obtain the table. Traffic study was done for Montecito/Longfellow intersection. The city did not want to do a 4 way stop. Slow for children & yield signs are ignored. Melinda shared other literature for traffic calming. Police will not camp out, except maybe Columbus or Alvernon.

Treasury funds have not changed since February 2006.

The bank has an ex-officer from 2001 on the account. Treasurer proposed that we move account to local credit union ??“ no objections.

ProNeighborhoods is again offering grants for arts, mosaic, benches, and gardens. It is best to handle the grant block by block rather than an entire neighborhood. Ideas must be submitted by April 15, 2007. Hearts to Hands were done through a ProNeighborhood grant. ProNeighboroods likes to see partnership with a community and business. I.e. Home Depot Donated supplies and kids in the neighborhood interviewed seniors in the neighborhood for the Hearts to Hands project.

Water Harvesting materials are available on table.

Kirk gave an MC3 update. MC3 is about Davis Monthan Air Force Base & their impact on the city of Tucson. Committee participants are from many walks of life. Associations were able to attend meetings, but not allowed to speak. MC3 proposals are available tonight for attendees to review. Many proposals relate to flight changes. A proposal that may affect us is the Real Estate disclosure forms that lets buyers know that the houses are in a high noise area. Questions raised during the MC3 meetings were: What if they crash in the neighborhood? Is jet fuel raining down on us? Are there health issues? Health issues and noise related health issues do not have funding for research.

There is a flight recovery pattern (approach landing strip, and then do one loop around) that goes right over our neighborhood. SGNA proposed to Col. Hines at Air Force: instead of flying over our neighborhood, fly over the golf course, driving range, and drive in theater. Supposedly, there was an agreement with Randolph to not fly over the golf course, but there is no agreement in writing. Col. Hines initially agreed to move the flight pattern. SGNA President & Vice President met with Nina Trasoff and the Air Force, at Trasoff??™s office. Maps were shared of current and proposed fly routes. The Air Force said that their jets should not fly north of 22nd Street ??“ the jets flying over our neighborhood must be the Marines. Kirk read Col. Hines??™ last email. SGNA proposal is being considered as part of MC3 recommendations. The Air Force will fly and see if the pattern is reasonable. The process will be deliberate (slow), as analysis will need to be thorough. In the end, residential areas more important than a golf course.

Suzanne asked ??œWhat about the Air Force incinerator???? The plans to build the incinerator at the current Air Force site have been blocked. The incinerator will still be built, but a new location will be selected.

Kirk gave a report on the Historic Society, including how anyone can do research on the history of their home. Kirk wrote his story after completing research at the Historic Society as well as interviewing the son of the original owner of his home. Kirk encouraged others to do the same. Nathanael completed Hearts to Hands historic stories, explaining the stories behind the tiles in San Gabriel Park and they are available for viewing. Any stories completed by the residents will be collected and submitted to the AZ Historic Society to become part of their historical records.

The Martins have historic photos of 1946, and neighboring houses.

Get your email on the website for neighborhood communication.

San Gabriel??™s New Logo was presented & described.

New Business / Discussions:
Becky ??“ There are so many rentals in the neighborhood. Can owners of properties advise the association when new residents move in? Response: The best SGNA can do is to get the address and name of the owner and submit a ??œWelcome to the Neighborhood??? pamphlet of neighborhood responsibilities to the new residents. SGNA cannot monitor all rentals ??“ the pamphlet will be distributed only on request. Becky also reported that her rental neighbors block their driveway with ugly plants; they place garbage cans on her property, and block her driveway. Connie said that she has had good luck with neighbor issues simply by talking with them.

There is no longer a neighborhood violation (weeds, cars) inspector due to changes at DNR. Individual inspectors have been condensed to a team of 20 that handle everything. When residents call SGNA officers to escalate, DNR is contacted. DNR was overloaded during the summer with peak calls of 150 calls per day. DNR hired temps and the orders weren??™t even in the computer ??“ and from computer to inspection is another month. At one point, 9 On Your Side was called into the neighborhood to help escalate issue. The City??™s response was that they were overloaded due to West Nile & nothing was done. Paul Durham from Trasoff??™s office did not appear at this meeting ??“ he was supposed to be here to address DNR issues, but did not notify SGNA of canceling his attendance.

If hotel guests are violating parking, call the cops. New Park-Wise restrictions were presented.

Someone had a trailer parked on 17th street ??“ was reported as possible smuggling scheme, and the officers showed up within 30 minutes & the trailer was removed.

Watch mail theft.

Graffiti Hotline presented.

Meeting adjourned at 7:20pm.