The Block Association meeting on June 3rd was preceded by a "meet and greet" for the residents of the block. Refreshments were served, and there were activities that let us meet each other and break the ice.
We started off with minutes from the last meeting.
Heather Anison from the American Cancer Society talked about her organization and told us all about a run scheduled for June 23rd to benefit cancer research. The run will be held from 3-10 pm, with entertainment and food. There will also be a reception for survivors of cancer.
Committee Updates:
The Garden Committee needs some trees for the garden. Andrew mentioned that we might try to get someone to donate trees in memoriam. We could also use a box to surround the base of the tree that's been planted in front of the garden.
The Youth Committee plans on a meeting June 10th or 11th. Kisha plans on hosting a meeting on her stoop, possibly with ice cream afterwards. She also plans on getting a pamphlet of activities out by December for next summer, as some deadlines start in February for summer programs!
The Block Party Committee plans on the party being held on July 14th with a rain date of July 24th. Signs for "No Parking" are going up the Wednesday before the party to avoid confusion. We'd also like to check with the church to see if we could use their parking lot for cars the day of the party.
The Public Safety Committee spoke about their visit to the Precinct meeting. Officer Lyons repeated many of the points he made when he visited us recently, such as watching out for identity theft, and theft from commercial vehicles. There was also a call to check in on the elderly and disabled. They might need our help as the weather gets hot. The police are also starting up a little league. Also, someone asked about how to find information about sex offenders in our neighborhood. You can find a brochure with information from the New York Department of Justice
HERE.The Finance and Fundraising report was given. We're doing pretty well, with 21 paid members, 7 households paid in full.
Old Business -
One vacant house was closed off in the past month. The city put a rolling steel door over the front door and stucco over the windows.
New Business -
The next meeting will be June 30th from 6:30 - 8pm - NOT July 7th!
Interim Elections will be held, so come prepared to vote! Remember, only one vote per household! Kisha plans to run for Vice President.
Someone mentioned that it would be very helpful to have the Department of Buildings send a representative to one of our meetings, as the new construction going on in our block raises a lot of questions.
A few people had a misunderstanding about some towing the police have been doing on our block. Apparently the police said that our Block Association voted to have commercial vehicles towed from the block. It seemed to be a misunderstanding due to our discussions about commercial traffic on Block #2 (Between Franklin and Bedford) and our discussion about legal & illegal driveways (we talk about that at every meeting it seems!)
