Two letters shared with the board: SNG board president Sheldon Mains briefly discussed two letters the organization received. The first was a memo from the Minnesota Pollution Control Agency stating that the people involved with the Midtown Eco Energy Biomass Facility had withdrawn their air quality permit application June 10. (The project is now officially dead.) The second letter was a ‘thank you’ note from former Board President Jean Johnstad, regarding the award she received at last month’s potluck.

Campaign to save and improve Matthews Park skating rink: Dave Chadbourn gave a presentation on his campaign to save and improve the skating rink at Matthews Park. The way things look now, Chadbourn said, the rink will be closed permanently beginning the year after next. In an attempt to combat the closure, Chadbourn said he is working to form a planning committee that would devise a plan for how to keep the rink in-use as a more cost-effective operation. Chadbourn said he thinks it is possible to make the rink better, while still operating within the same budget. There is a case to be made that the Matthews Park rink is actually getting more use than in the past because of other rink closures in the area, he said.

A lot of people have already committed to the cause, Chadbourn said. The SNG board voted to pledge its support as well, though SNG Treasurer Diann Anders said it would be moral and not financial support because the organization doesn’t have any money to give at this time.

The planning committee will be advertised in the SNG newsletter as well as the Seward e-democracy forum, Mains said. Chadbourn said anyone who is interested in the cause should also check out the You Tube video on saving the Matthews Park skating rink. It was recently shown to the Minneapolis Park and Recreation Board and proved to be a hit, he said.

Conflicting recommendations on traffic barrier at 22nd Street and 26th Avenue: Sheldon Mains said the Crime and Safety and Community Development Committees each issued separate, conflicting recommendations regarding the traffic barrier that’s been located at 22nd Street and 26th Avenue for the past 16 years.

Community Development Chair Charlie Hoffman said his committee had a “lengthy, heated discussion” over the issue of removing the traffic barrier at its last meeting. Ultimately, a motion to remove the barrier failed, although there was strong support on both sides of the issue, he said.
Crime and Safety chair Ross Gabrick said his committee approached the issue from a safety perspective. From that standpoint, Gabrick said the Crime and Safety Committee voted to ask that the barrier be removed.

Hoffman said given the conflicting motions, he thought it would be best to table them both, send them back to committees and seek more factual data in the interim. Hoffman asked Ward 2 Council Member Cam Gordon if he might be able to recruit a City traffic engineer to give input to the involved committees.

Mains said it would make more sense to send the issue back to just one of the committees. Hoffman said his would “probably be better” because the issue is more community development-based. Gabrick agreed.
Several residents who live near the traffic barrier testified at the meeting. One resident said he would like to see the barrier stay put. “We would rather not stir up this wasp’s nest… We love that barrier… We like the fact that it does slow people down,” he said.

Board member Anne Cronmiller and another neighbor both testified that the barrier had already “served its purpose” and that it was a tremendous eye sore. The same neighbor said the notion that others in the area want to keep the barrier up is silly. There are just as many people who want the thing taken down, he said. The neighbor substantiated his argument by circulating several pieces of paper with six (or so) signatures of neighbors who supported the tear-down.

In total, three people came to the meeting supporting a motion to remove the traffic barrier. Two people came to oppose a motion removing the barrier.

Hoffman said he hoped The Bridge newspaper might get involved with the issue, coverage-wise.

Financial report: A May financial statement was available at the meeting because of the organization’s recent switch from cash-flow accounting to an accrual-based method, Treasurer Diann Anders said. At present, current assets total $17,120.74, while current liabilities total $208,717.24. Anders said Robin Westcott, an independent CPA who currently serves on the Finance Committee, told her the other day, “We now know how big the hole is.”Anders also mentioned that the 2007 audit started today.

NRP repayment negotiations: Sheldon Mains shared a copy of a letter he recently sent to NRP’s Bob Miller, regarding SNG’s unauthorized use of NRP housing funds prior to 2003 and a subsequent repayment schedule. The letter (in its draft form) was reviewed by the Executive Committee several times, Mains said. Speaking about the issue, the board president said he was surprised that a letter sent by Miller to the Executive Committee stated the organization would have to pay back the entire amount of unauthorized funds ($135,069.03), because when Mains spoke with Miller at an earlier date, Miller verbally agreed the organization would only have to payback a portion, Mains said. [It should be noted, according to a statement from SNG’s finance committee in the recently completed 2006 audit of the organization’s finances, “Much of this money was most likely used for purposes which would have been funded if plan modifications had been filed.”]

In a letter to Miller, Mains and the Executive Committee suggest repaying $27,014, or 20 percent of the $135,069, using Seward’s unspent Phase One funds. According to the letter sent to Miller, it’s suggested that “the remaining Phase One NRP funds be moved into a new home improvement revolving loan fund.” Mains told the board he thinks the eventual settlement of the issue will “probably land somewhere between this and what NRP proposed.”

Committee Reports

Environment Committee: The Environment Committee did not meet last month.

Crime and Safety Committee: Committee Chair Ross Gabrick thanked Paul McDonald, the guest speaker at the most recent Crime and Safety meeting for coming back this month, after a last minute Crime and Safety scheduling change prevented him from speaking at the April meeting.

The August Crime and Safety meeting is cancelled and, instead, will be incorporated into National Night Out events.

Development Committee: Next month the Development Committee hopes to have someone from City Traffic and Engineering attend its meeting. Also, Charlie Hoffman said the owner of Shega Bakery is planning to attend next month’s meeting to talk about potential lessees for the front of the Seward Co-op building. (Shega bought the old Co-op building and plans to move in once the Co-op moves to its new location. However, Shega only plans to use the back half of the Co-op space and is pursuing a tenant for the front of the building.) Hoffman said SNG is hoping to have influence over the potential tenant(s), but as long as the tenant Shega Bakery chooses meets City guidelines for permissible use, the neighborhood won’t officially have a say. Hopes are that the owner of Shega will be interested in selecting a tenant the neighborhood group approves of, too.

Council Member Gordon said someone from Subway sandwich shop franchise had already contacted his office about possibly moving into the space. The news was met with several negative reactions from those at the board meeting.

Archive/ History Committee: The Archive/ History Committee recently put together a “now and then” project featuring six locations in the neighborhood, committee member Jean Johnstad said. The project was organized to coincide with the City’s sesquicentennial celebration.

In a separate discussion, Ivar Vikingstad, a 73-year resident of Seward was recently honored by the City of Minneapolis for his contributions as a long-time tenant of the neighborhood. Both Johnstad and Teri Schweitzer have been interviewing Vikingstad, who’s in deteriorating health, for an oral history project.

River Organization appointment: Environment Committee Chair Carol Greenwood was suggested as a possible representative by Charlie Hoffman. Sheldon Mains said if he didn’t have a volunteer by tomorrow morning, he would talk to someone from the American Indian OIC to see if anyone there would be interested in being a representative.

SNG appointment to the Greenway Coalition: The organization’s one-year appointment to the Greenway Coalition is up this month. Hoffman said his son Gabriel was appointed to the position last year and was interested in serving again.

During discussion of the issue, Bernie Waibel said he would want Gabriel to make regular reports, if appointed again. Hoffman said his son had reported to some committees in the past. Waibel said Gabriel hadn’t written short reports for the SNG newsletter in the past, something Waibel had asked him to do. Hoffman said he would talk to his son (who wasn’t present) about that issue.

Gabriel Hoffman was subsequently reappointed to the position by a vote of the board.

Seward Arts Festival fundraising: Sheldon Mains reported that Erik Riese’s fundraising efforts are going smoothly. At this point the Seward Arts Festival is tentatively scheduled for the first or second week in November.

Peace Garden – up and running: Diann Anders said 16 kids are involved in this year’s Peace Garden program, which started today. The first sale of produce will take place at the Birchwood this Friday. With the exception of the Fourth of July, produce will be sold the next three Fridays at the Birchwood over the noon-hour, Anders said.

Restorative Justice could return to Seward: Anders said the Restorative Justice program might return to the neighborhood in the near future because of a grant from the City. The biggest challenge right now is with liquidity, Anders said. The neighborhood organization does not have the ability to front the money for a coordinator until the grant money comes through, she said.

Franklin Avenue Planning update: Katya Pilling from Seward Redesign shared some of the potential designs to come from the Franklin Avenue Planning taskforce meetings. Mains emphasized that not everything in the plan will come to fruition, rather, most are just ideas that are being played with.

Pilling said the last taskforce meeting will take place this Friday, with members of the Franklin Avenue business community. The next step of the process will be implementation, she said.

Legislative report from Jim Davnie: The meeting concluded with a report from Rep. Jim Davnie (DFL-Minneapolis) about neighborhood group funding in Minneapolis. As many people know, NRP is currently in the 19th year of a 20 year program — with funding to run out next year, he said.

Davnie said he and another Minneapolis representative recently employed a model used by some St. Paul representatives to get a new 10-year funding structure for Minneapolis neighborhood programs. According to Davnie’s handout, “The amount of money available for neighborhood revitalization can now be projected and is dedicated to neighborhoods and not available for any other general fund purposes.”

The next SNG board meeting will take place on Wednesday, July 23, 7–9 p.m. Location to be determined. Contact SNG for details.

Contact:
Seward Neighborhood Group
2323 Franklin Ave. E
Minneapolis, MN 55406
Phone: 612-338-6205
www.sng.org

last revised: June 27, 2008

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