Toonerville Trolley Neighborhood Association

17 April 2008 - Meeting Minutes

Jul 14, 2009

Toonerville Trolley Neighborhood Association
Meeting Minutes
4.17.08

?„} Attendance: Aaron Jent (vice president), Jodi Bessinger (secretary), Ethel Hazard (treasurer), Kim & Taylor Inge, Kenneth Plotnik, Gail & Dale Tucker, Irene Spicer, Jackie Brown, Hugh, Marty Rosen, Ken Herndon, Kristin Furnish, Dennis Lisack.

?„} Opening ?¡V Welcome and Round Table Discussions
Aaron opened the meeting promptly at 7:00 pm

?„} Review of Minutes from Last Meeting
Reviewed and accepted.

?„} Financial Report: Ethel reported that we have $2051.83

?„} Ongoing Business

TTNA Park Wall Repair- None
Two-way Streets- None
PIC: Nothing
~Zalu: Nothing
~OLNC: Nothing.
~Crime and Safety: Nothing

?„} New Business
Guest Speaker: Mr. Bill Schrek from Codes and Regulations (C&R) visited our meeting to address property maintenance and zoning. Mr. Schrek discussed the state of foreclosure in Old Louisville and reported that Old Louisville is not doing so poorly in terms of foreclosures. He reported that there are 5500 vacant structures in Louisville currently. The difficulties with foreclosures are that from the time that the occupant/owner is delinquent with payments to the time that the foreclosure is complete could be a few years. During this time, the owners are still responsible. C&R will place liens on the property, but the owner will often ignore these. Discussed fire on 1ST and Ormsby Streets. Bill also discussed the house on Brook that burned next to Toonerville Park. C&R will most likely go after the owner, completing inspections and assigning fines to where the property will be foreclosed on. Dale Tucker inquired about movement towards legislation to force owners to care for buildings and not to abandon them. Mr. Schrek reported that we are one of the leading cities that offer urban programs. Furthermore, we are in a state, which has very firm property laws geared towards protecting the landowners. Mr. Schrek discussed laws regarding abandoned properties for more than one year; taxes are tripled on the property. Mr. Schrek discussed the urban renewal programs.

Mr. Schrek reported that buildings need to be vacant or abandoned (no human legally living in it) for one year and that it has to have code violations on a stable block. An unstable block is defined as having more than five vacant buildings. Fines range from $100-1500.00 and can be given out as much as there are violations. Residents can call Metro Call at 311 to report building and code violations. C&R provides property owners 30-90 days to correct infractions and fines come after the days allowed to fix the violation.

Mr. Schrek is proposing that TTNA come up with a list of buildings that we feel are ?¡?§blighted?¡?¨, then we can work together with C&R to obtain the property. Mr. Schrek requested sending C&R a list of properties that he can review, provide TTNA with information regarding these properties and discuss which buildings would be beneficial to move forward with action.

Movies in the TTNA Park: Ethel discussed having Movie Night in TTNA Park. She reported that Louisville Parks would charge $750.00 for the vending charge of selling anything for profit on their property. Ethel reported that Criterion (a movie rental business) would charge us $800.00 for four movies to be shown in a public setting. It will cost TTNA $25.00 to have the event in the park, totaling $225/per movie night. Aaron also discussed seeking Independent Film groups to show their movies as well. Ethel reported that she is working with the New York Film Society to show pre-release films. To move forward, TTNA needs to decide quickly if we want to do this. We discussed soliciting Unsel for donations towards Movie Night. We discussed forming a sub-committee. We discussed selling food out of someone?¡?¦s back yard, which borders against the park. Dennis Lisack discussed cons of the idea and concerns about participation and work-investment. We discussed goals of the idea being to bring people together and demonstrating that the park is being used. Discussed contacting the Louisville Film Society about what they are doing with movie night. Ethel made the suggestion to table the discussion, pending the action and information of the sub-committee and expect an outcome at the next meeting.

1251 S Brook- Aaron discussed and encouraged neighbors to contact Metro Call; 311 if they see drugs, prostitution, vandalism or garbage occurring on their block.

Meeting Adjourned; 8:25 pm